Dandelion Puffs

The latest obsession for Jasper and Gid are dandelion puffs. Being somewhat of an environmentalist, I know that the spreading of this weed's seeds is not the best thing for our little patch in the world, but to stop my three and one year old from this simple, pure joy of childhood would be heartless. So, here's to a few more seeds blowing in the wind...





Ahh, these two are becoming serious best buds. They adore one another. So much fun ahead this summer. Lot's of camping and hiking and family bonding.

Vancouver BC

We went up to Vancouver BC two weekends ago. We had a great time and fell in love with British Columbia! I'm a member of a woman's organization called PEO which helps to promote educational opportunities for women. They have a Bed and Breakfast program between members and we were able to stay at one up in Surrey. It was so nice. Stayed with a wonderful, kind woman and her son in a beautiful home. The boys thoroughly enjoyed her two dogs and backyard :) Rob and I enjoyed a homey Canadian experience.

Our church recently built a new temple in Langley, outside of Vancouver which was open to the public for only a few weeks. We've been talking about visiting Vancouver ever since we moved to Seattle so it seemed like the perfect time to go see the city and the new temple.

We were able to spend some time hiking around a really neat park called Lynn Canyon Park with a fabulous and terrifying suspension bridge.









We also visited Stanley Park and learned a bit about totem pole history. We wanted to get out and play a bit more, but the rain was coming down and the kiddos were pretty cold and tired.



The next morning we visited the Museum of Anthropology. It was really fascinating. The museum, in itself, was one of the most engaging, beautifully arranged museums I've ever seen. We then went down to Granville Island, ate lunch, listened to some street music, and took a boat ride! The highlight of the trip for the boys, I think. They were both really sad when the boat trip was over.







We will definitely try to make it back up there before Rob finished school. Maybe in the middle of the summer so we don't have to worry about the rain :) We really had such a great time, despite the weather, though. It's so nice to spend time as a family and do a little traveling too.

Tulips in Washington

We are so lucky to live in Seattle. I love it here. I really, really do. I'll be so sad when that day comes that we must move away. I'll be heartbroken if it's somewhere in the middle of the country where we don't have mountains or the ocean. I'm determined to make the most of every beautiful day. The forests and beaches here are full of adventures waiting to happen and secrets waiting to be explored. This is seriously going to be such a fun spring/summer! I'm so excited to be Jasper and Gideon's mom and help them discover all the beautiful things this corner of the world has to offer.

Okay, so back to the topic of this post. We went up North to see the tulips a few days ago. There are incredible fields of tulips up in the Mt. Vernon area and surrounding towns. Every year, there is a tulip festival when they are in bloom and you can drive up and see the glorious display of color. We put our bike rack on the top of our car, loaded up the bikes and trailer, and drove an hour up to La Conner. Once there, we got the kiddos loaded up in the trailer and took off. We biked about 4 miles and arrived at our first field. It was incredible yellow and contrasting red tulips, side by side. Truly beautiful.









The moment we arrived at the fields, we took note of the enormous mud puddles all over the pathway. Rob and I looked at each other and could see the anxiety in one another's eyes as we realized that we had not packed boots for the boys or a change of clothes. Darn. It was easy enough to convince Jasper to hop over the puddles rather than through them. Gideon was another story. He immediately ran straight toward them and threw a serious fit when we swept him off his feet just in time. The next 30 minutes were a bit challenging. Rob and I kept switching off and on Gideon duty, as we tried to take a few pictures and enjoy the scenery, while keeping him clean/dry. We'd just begun our tulip tour and didn't want to have a screaming, soaking wet, muddy kid right off the bat. Well, it was my fault that he finally did make it into the mud. Rob took Jasper to the bathroom and I was a bit distracted for a moment and Gid ran with all fervor toward a slippery puddle. The moment his foot hit the mud, he slipped, flew up into the air and landed flat on his back in the middle of a rather deep puddle. He was soaked head to toe on the backside! Poor little guy. Of course, he just wanted to do it again and again once he'd figured out how fun it was! Until he got cold about five minutes later. We packed the kids back in the trailer, rode 3 miles back to our car with two screaming kids, cleaned up and dried off, drove by a few more fields and then back home.

I wouldn't say our tulip trip was a flop. We had a great time, really. It was just a little bit muddier than I had expected. Now we know better for next year, right?

Seahurst Park!

We were supposed to go to Vashon Island to help at our church farm, but we missed the ferry! Jasper was really upset in the back seat and kept saying, "Please can we go on the ferry boat? Please can we go to the farm? Please can we go on the ferry boat", over and over again. We decided to make the best of being in West Seattle and found a great park to explore. We will definitely be going back when it is warm. It was pretty cold to the bone on the beach but once we started hiking into the woods it turned out to be quite pleasant.

There is a great rocky beach, a playground, a paved walking trail along the waterfront, and hiking trails into the woods. Here are some pics-






Not due to any parental coaching, I'm sure, Jasper is becoming quite the naturalist. He LOVES hugging trees (seriously) and learning the names of plants. Here he is being very gentle with a Tellima grandiflora or "fringecup" plant :)




Gideon's on the loose!


Jasper looking up at the trees


The boys found some stumps to sit on, perfectly sized for a 3 year old and 1 year old.


This was the best part of the day- a seriously huge muddy, sloshy section of the trail. After tromping around in it for 30 minutes and getting completely filthy we decided to call it a morning.