The past few weekends we have been trying to get some work done on our house. We’ve demoed the basement. Moved all the stuff that was in the basement into a storage unit. We’ve bought a lot of construction stuff for when we can start. We’ve mapped out where all the new lights/switches/outlets will go. We’ve applied for permits. (Chris had to draw up the floor plans-blueprints of our house how it currently is. Then he had to draw the proposed version of the house. We’ve had to have a structural engineer come a few times since we are taking out a load bearing wall.) We’ve had bids for electricians, plumbers, and HVAC. I feel like we are slowly but surely getting all ready to start our big project as soon as permits come through. (Right now they have reviewed them, but are waiting on us for a few things, and we are waiting on our structural engineer on a few things.) Although its been a awaiting game, we have been able to get some stuff done. Its the slower going, more tedious stuff. The stuff that would slow us down once we were in the midst of the remodel, that hopefully we’ll have all done so the remodel will go more quickly, and more smoothly.
Since we have been working on house projects we still try to get out with the kids so they can do fun things. This particular weekend we noticed it was pretty warm and sunny out so we wanted to go on a small hike. I did a quick google search of hikes to do near us and I pulled up Shoreview and Boeing Creek Parks hike. It looked easy and fun, and best of all it is just over a mile from our house! According to Washington Trails Association (WTA) there were 1.9 miles of trails with very little elevation gain. There is also playground equipment for the kids to play on after the hike! Seemed perfect for our late afternoon trek!
We pulled up and it really was a great day out! It looked like it was going to be a blast! We were super excited to be there and the kids were excited to be able to run around and play! Chris handed me the keys and I put them on my purse, then I put my purse in the center console, manually locked the doors, and we shut all the doors. Chris needed to grab something out of the car and he told me to unlock the door. I told him I didn’t have the keys, he did. And he reassured me that, I, in fact had the keys. I took a minute and remembered that I probably did have the keys, but if that was the case they were locked inside the car! Lame! Let me explain what was going on in my head. When I drive the car I always take the keys and hook them to my purse as soon as I turn off the car. Then I manually lock the door. (I’m actually surprised I haven’t done this sooner.) I manually lock the doors because the car won’t lock until the sliding doors are shut and I don’t like to sit and wait for them to shut. I can lock the doors manually even if the sliding doors are open and since I’m not patient, I chose this way 90% of the time. Also when Chris drives most of the time he keeps the keys with him and doesn’t hand them to me. He gave them to me this time because I had the house keys and he had the car keys and he wanted me to put the house keys back on the key chain. Normally when I do this I just give him back the keys. This time out of habit and without me realizing it, I put the keys on my purse. Now I put my purse in the center console because we were hiking and I didn’t want to carry with me, but I wanted it out of the way. I had put my keys on my purse, but I didn’t register that I had done that. (Stupid muscle memory.) I normally don’t manually lock the door when Chris has the keys either…not sure why I did it then. I will also say this is the first time I have locked my keys in the car. Totally my fault and a huge bummer!
Since I locked the keys in the car Chris told me and the kids to go play on the playground, he’d call our roadside assistance and come meet up with us. A few minutes later he came down and told us we had about 45 minutes before they came to unlock the door so we could do a short hike while we waited for them. (This was at 4:15 PM). There was a sign that said we were pretty close to Hidden Lake. We thought that would make the perfect destination! Hidden Lake is a man made lake that was constructed for William Boeing to be a private fishing and hunting preserve. This was in the 1920s so quite a while ago. Boeing donated the land to Shoreline to use, initially, as a school site, but the city decided on using it as a park instead. (All this information I got on the WTA webiste!) The area is really beautiful, a forest, a lake, a creek, with mountain and Sound views!
Getting to hidden lake (we turned left instead of right) was super easy and a quick little hike down to the lake. Since we still had time we decided to keep going and follow the trail along the creek. We reached a point where the trail had eroded away and we had to scramble around the creek bed. Once we passed that were weren’t sure exactly where the trail picked back up and we weren’t sure how much further that trail would take us. Hidden Lake is a loop trail so we figured we could keep following that trail and loop back. We just weren’t sure how long that would take and where, even, the trail was. We decided that that was a good time to turn around. As we were getting close to play areas of the park Chris checked the time and saw that it was 5 so he left us and went back to the car and we went to the park again. The kids had a really good time climbing and playing on the equipment. The view from the park was so pretty and we were able to watch the sunset over the mountains!
At about 5:15 I took the kids back up to the car and saw Chris on the phone talking to someone. I guess he got a message form the towing company that they were still 45 minutes out! It was pretty frustrating that the last time we talked to them they were 45 minutes out and that was an hour before. We decided to let the kids play for awhile at the park since we had more waiting to do. Soon it was getting pretty dark and most parks close at dusk here so we were a little nervous of getting locked in. Luckily that didn’t happen! At 6:00 PM Chris called the towing company again and they said they were a half hour away. (So what turned into 45 minutes, turned into an hour, turned into an additional 45 minutes, which turned into another half hour.) It was dark, we were cold, the kids were getting a little scared and we were frustrated. Chris called Roadside assistance again to see if there was anyway we could use a different towing company that was closer. They said they would send someone else out to us. About 10 minutes after that one of the tow companys tried calling us. (We think it was the first company.) I guess they couldn’t find the entrance to the park and were looking for us. They called Chris to try to find us and Chris’ phone died. So he tried calling them back on my phone, but it died as well. So we were locked out of our car, with the tow truck looking for us, and both our phones were dead, plus it was dark and cold. Luckily a few minutes later the tow truck found us! They were able to unlock our car and about 6:15 we were able to head on back home.
For the most part we had a good time at the park and hiking. I just hate it when stupid mistakes ruin a whole evening! The next evening we wanted to go hike the whole Hidden Lake Loop so we told the kids we were going back. Lillian was sure to tell me that I was not allowed to touch the keys, only daddy! We followed her advice and I am happy to say that we did not lock the keys in the car this time! (And I haven’t since!) This time when we hiked Hidden Lake Loop we went right instead of left and we were able to follow the trail longer. There was still plenty of scrambling and creek crossings. I was amazed at how well both kids were hiking, especially Ryan. They both had improved so much from last summer! Ryan didn’t need any help and there were some steep scrambling spots too! After awhile we were able to see where we had ended the day before and we were able to do the whole loop. It was a lot of fun and like I mentioned really beautiful. We ended the day by playing at the park again, but this time the upper park that is there. The kids had a blast! I was telling Chris how cool Washington is, because I feel like we’ve done a lot in our two years here, but we still find gems like this that is only about a mile form our house!
