Beaver Creek Trail- We did about 1.5 miles out and back, little elevation gain
Pass-? Difficulty-1/5 Rating-2/5
For some reason this week has been busier than normal. Probably because we are out of school for the summer so we spent more time exploring. Plus we had great weather all week!
Since the kids were out of school I wanted to make sure we made an effort to go outside and do things! I think we were successful. Monday was a holiday so we had Chris around. Tuesday we went to Discovery Park and hiked which the kids really liked. Wednesday I asked Lilly if she wanted to hike again. She said, “Umm, no. I go for walk in the stroller?” So that is what we did! We walked around Magnolia and it was beautiful! I am so grateful we live in such a pretty place! Ryan walked most of the way, but since we have a double stroller he hoped in some of the time. On our walk we walked by the Magnolia Park which is just two swings, but has a bunch of picnic tables and good views of The Sound. Ryan told me walks should have time for fun so we stopped and swung on the swings for a bit.
Thursday we decided to do that walk again and of course we saved time for the swings!
Friday I needed to go to Costco so we didn’t have time for our walk. There aren’t any super close Costcos to us, like we had in Chandler. All of them require a bit of a drive. I was feeling crazy so I went to one of the further Costcos since there is a Cafe Rio near by. It was actually only five more minutes further than the Costco I like and normally go to. Lets just say it was worth the drive! I think the Costco in Lynwood is newer so that was nice. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as the ones I’ve been to in the past. (Of course I went when it was a colder day, so maybe that had something to do with it.) The parking was my favorite. It wasn’t all chaotic like the other Costcos are! I was able to get my Cafe Rio fix as well! I think that was the first Cafe Rio I have been to that didn’t have huge lines. It worked out great!
Either Thursday or Friday we went to a new to us park (The Bayview Park?) in Magnolia. Ryan and Lilly both had a good time there and we ran into one of Ryan’s preschool friends, Jack. That was a lot of fun!
Friday after Chris got home from work we wanted to go on a picnic. We took him to Magnolia Park. Ryan wanted to show him how good he has gotten at pumping the swings. I made quesadillas for the kids (and plain tortillas) and I made egg burros (burritos which one is it that only Arizonans say? -Or is just the Gila Valley….who knows.) and off we went! The kids had a great time showing off for Chris. Lilly ended up eating a few egg burros instead of her quesadilla. Ryan ate his tortilla first and went to swing and left his quesadilla. While we were watching him swing the crows came and ate the quesadillas. Oh well.
We also went and walked around the park for a while. There is an old tree there that I guess the city was cutting down. They had to stop mid way through it because they found a Bald Eagle nest there and they aren’t allowed to disturb it during nesting season. They will resume cutting down the tree in August. We found the Bald Eagle nest, but we didn’t see the Eagle. We also saw a cruise shop floating along there which was fun to see.
Friday was national donut day I guess, and there were a lot of posts on Facebook about where to get the best donuts. We didn’t do anything on Donut Day, but there was a donut place that I read about in Washington near Tacoma. I LOVE donuts so I wanted to make the drive to get one. I knew Chris wouldn’t go for an hour drive just for a donut, so we decided to go back to the Northwest Wildlife Trek. We went there when we first moved here and ended up buying season passes so it worked out for us to go back! It was fun to go in the late spring/early summer and see all the baby animals. Plus the kids play land was finished and opened this time and the kids loved playing on it. The donuts were pretty good, not worth just an hour trip, but I would go back if I was in the area!
The Northwest Wildlife Trek is getting closer to Mt. Rainier. We decided that since we were SO close we should just keep driving and go into Mt. Rainier National Park. We found a small restaurant to eat at and we were off. We made it to just before the entrance of the national park and we decided that since we didn’t know what we would do there and it was getting later we would just turn around and save it for another day. We didn’t want to waste that time so we found a hike nearby (Beaver Creek Trail). It was a small hike and we didn’t go far, but the kids had fun. The drive and the scenery was awesome and well worth it, I think! I love drives though!
Sunday was a hot day here in Seattle. We reached 90 degrees, which is nothing on Phoenix. The only problem is we don’t have AC and the church doesn’t have AC. It was a hot afternoon and night! Our house was in the low 80s, not awful but uncomfortable. The kids ended up sleeping naked and I felt bad there was nothing we could do to cool them down.
Today my visiting teachers took us out for donuts at Top Pot (the big donut chain in Seattle.) We then walked to Kerry Park, a park with a great view of Space Needle and Mt. Rainier. It was a fun day with them. Ryan especially liked it and my visiting teachers were great with him and Lillian. Ryan said they were good eggs.
This week my mom and sister are coming and so is cooler weather! We are really looking forward to both!
