Today we picked at Larsen Lake Blueberry Farm in Bellevue.  We would probably go there again – the berries were close to the parking lot and they had real bathrooms.

We took Sarah with us today.  She is in kindergarten with Wesley (and she was also in his preschool class).

They are ready to GO!

Sarah suggested we stop for another picture on the way...

We found a row to pick on.

They got right to work!

Showing me her favorite berry.

He could not decide - so he chose two.

Jillian just did it because the others did it too.

He was very proud of his way to use both hands.

We finally made it to the “lake”.

A few more pictures with the berries and the lake in the background:

So much love!

Such good friends!!

After picking for an hour – they were done.

And I picked 1.17 pounds.  And the price was really good too – 2.39 pounds = $2.98.

We really did have a good time!

Yummy! Let's eat them.

 

Yay... they were both looking.

Look at that air!

She tends to run down the slip-and-slide.

What a nice way to cool down. 

 

They were so cute riding together.

Wesley mostly rode the .32 mile loop.  He rode around at least 6 times.

After a couple of laps around the park they cooled off in the sprinkler.

And blowing bubbles.

Filling her tub so she can get Wesley.

She is throwing her water onto me...

Then they started dumping water onto their heads.

I love how he is holding his nose.

Full dump with no nose holding.

Then I tried to get a picture of them together…this is the best I could get:

Jillian: 4y 0m 24d Wesley: 5y 9m 11d

Then they warmed up in the sun.

A bit of playing on the playground was next.

Monkey Bars!

40 minutes of bike riding rounded out the rest of our visit to the park.

We sure did enjoy our last day of summer vacation!

 

They put up this new sign while we hiked.

Sauk Mountain may be my favorite hike. It is short, with great views the entire way, and with only a little effort you get up above the tree line. I’ve hiked it more times than I can count. Sometimes alone, sometimes not. Last Friday we hiked it all together and it was great.  The weather was perfect and it wasn’t that crowded (sometimes the parking lot gets so full you have to park down the road a long way from the trailhead).

We took it really, really slowly. The GPS says we averaged 1.08 mph for the trip (that includes the descent). When we stopped at switchback number 10 for lunch we’d already been gone longer than it takes me to hike it alone. But, and somewhat to my amazement, both kids hiked all the way to the top without needing to be carried. They needed some encouragement, but they made it. It took two hours and five minutes, but we made it! Hurray!

Excited to be on the summit!

Wesley on the summit.

Jillian on the summit.

Near the summit there was still some snow. This was a huge, exciting thing for the kids. We insisted they not slide around until we were on our way down. Good thing, too. They got so cold they both had a few tears. I think the time in Texas may have softened them up.

Getting really cold hands in the snow.

The area around the lake was also covered with snow. And the lake itself had more ice in it than I can ever remember. Wesley when he got to the top and looked at the lake and mountains said “Wow! This is so beautiful!”. Hopefully he won’t complain so much before the next hike.

Ice in Sauk Lake

On the way down Jillian did get to ride. This made the descent a lot faster. And for a mere $1 bribe, Wesley walked all the way down to the car. The best $1 I’ve spent in a long time.

We didn’t see any Pikas this trip. But we did see a chipmunk or two (Redmond was furiously flipping over rocks trying to get at them) and several Marmots. This one just stood up the entire time and looked around. He didn’t scurry off until we were 25 feet away.

Marmot doing a Meerekat impression.

Like I said, it was a nearly perfect trip. The wildflowers were in bloom, the kids were cooperative and in good spirits and even Redmond was well behaved.

Bicolor Lupine

He loves to hike even more than me.

And of course the view was wonderful.

Looking East over the Skagit Valley

We even got to see the Elk east of Lyman on our way to drop the kids off at my mom’s house. It was a great trip and I can’t wait to do it again next summer.

Our hike on Google Maps.

 

At the East entrance to the tunnel

The tunnel is 2.3 miles and almost perfectly straight. It is also nearly pitch black and 55 degrees inside compared to the bright sun and 75 degrees at the entrance.  Armed with sweatshirts and nearly all of the flashlights we owned we had a ton of fun walking in the dark.  The kids managed to walk all the way in one direction and a portion of the way back.

Not ones to let nearly total darkness stop us from taking pictures we did manage a few inside the tunnel (thanks to a very bright flashlight).

About midway down the tunnel.

Without the flashlights it looks like this:

The view most of the way.

At the west end of the tunnel are some picnic tables and probably the nicest compost toilet I have ever had the privilege of using.  The view isn’t bad either.

Looking East over I-90 from West end of tunnel.

At the ends of the tunnel you do get a bit of light and you don’t need your flashlights right away.  It does get dark pretty quick, though.

Heading back to Hyak.

The trail, especially after the recent work, is so wide (you could drive a train on it!) and flat that we played games on the way back. Running and chasing, hiding and general goofiness ensued.  The only major concern is bicyclists. There are lots of them. Bikers outnumber walkers at least ten to one.  Most have lights and most probably wish they had brighter ones. We didn’t have any problems, but we were sure to move over and give them plenty of room.

Isn't she beautiful!

And how do you celebrate a successful hike on the I-90 corridor? In our family that means root beer floats from XXX in Issaquah. Well the kids had root beer floats. I had a root beer shake and we all shared some fries and onion rings.

Tasty onion rings at XXX.

If you want to hike the tunnel it is now open. It had been closed for the last several years for repairs. And don’t forget that for safety reasons it isn’t open in the winter. They gate the tunnel closed November 1st through the end of April.

Just for fun I tracked the hike using the gps on my cell phone. Just curious what it would do. You can see that we started at Hyak, magically popped out at the other end. The big empty section between the blue lines is the tunnel. It is so apparent on the map because they keep the trees cleared for the power lines that run over the top.

Google map of our hike

From the GPS we know it took us exactly 3 hours and 4 seconds to make the 5.6 mile round trip journey.  You can take a look at the interactive map and view the data here. Heck, download it into google earth if you want.

Hike information: Snoqualmie Tunnel – wta.org

 

First we needed to groom Snickers (the horse).

Helping Auntie Ashley lead the horses out.

They are ready to go!

Ashley and Crystal lead the kids around the yard in a circle for about 15 minutes.

She is having such a fun time!

Then Wesley got to go for a little trot on Snickers.

And he really liked to go fast!!

All done... but they could have been up there all day.

I even got to ride too. And yes, in a circle too just like the kids. This is my first time ever to be on a horse.

Thank you Ashley for a fun day!

While Ashley and Crystal were taking care of the horses, Wesley and Jillian got to ride some power wheels.  And boy did they have a fun time.

 

The actual adventure!

And 3 seconds later: It leaks!

 

Here we are testing out the sleeping arrangments.

And what would a camp out be without S’mores?  We didn’t have a campfire, but the grill worked just fine.

We thought we’d taught the kids how to eat. You know, mostly with the inside of their mouths. We were wrong. They promised some of the marshmallow went in.

To their credit, and to my surprise, they both slept in the tent all night long. It rained pretty hard (and constantly) shortly after we got in the tent, but we all stayed dry. They really had a good time and are ready to camp out again.

 

The kids insisted that they were SO hot – and that they needed to cool down in the pool.  (Even though it was only 65.)

Pool time!

An hour later they were freezing and asking for hot chocolate.

Warming up and watching some cartoons.

Then in the afternoon we went to Picnic Point Park for a couple of hours.

Helping with the sand toys as we cross the train tracks.

Getting to work right away.

And running through the water.

Keeping busy with the buckets and shovels.

Pretending the log is their boat.

Telling me how much work it is to drive the boat.

Digging as the tide comes in.

Going in really "deep"

And rushing back.

Wesley's castle and the cool rocks he found.

Burying his feet.

What a GREAT way to spend the first day of summer!

 

Jillian saw a commercial for it and saw that Dora would be there.  She was so excited to go and see Dora and Boots.  But she is rather scared of large fuzzy costumes…but she said she would not be scared and that she could not wait.

We got to the fair and it was starting to drizzle on us.  So we did some inside activities before we went to see Dora.

We went to the pig barn first:

He held his nose the whole time.

Next we went to see round one of the Dock Dogs competition.

We got a good spot.

In the round we saw - this dog was 2nd place - he jumped about 18 feet.

Now it was time to go and see Dora!  Hooray… Jillian was so excited.

Until she saw her!

She would not go near the line or even look at Dora.  And she was upset that Boots was not there.  She kept asking me why he was not with her.  She decided that he did not like the rain so he stayed home.

Next we went to the cow barn.  We got a to “milk” a cow.  It was filled with water – but it gave the kids the idea.

He said it was hard work and it made his hands sore.

Jillian got too close to the cow and got scared... poor thing!

Next was the Ag Magic show.

Watching so intently.

The kids were yelling back ” Thank a Farmer” after everything.  Thank a farmer for your toilet paper & for baseballs…  It was a bit strange but the kids enjoyed her.

After the show.

On our way to get some lunch the monster trucks were driving into the arena.

It was SO loud!

The last truck was very stinky...

I think Jillian was a bit shocked by the whole thing.

After lunch of curly fries and cotton candy, we went to the kids play room.  There was a lot to do in here:

A double sided Frigits' board.

Cool magnets to build with - this one looked like a dumbbell.

Free face painting.

It was a cool airbursh kind - it did not wear off.

For his left cheek: a spider and a web.

For her left cheek: a butterfly.

And for their right cheek: W - a lizard & J - a lady bug.

Then we saw all kinds of snakes, spiders, turtles, bugs and a bird.

This chameleon was very cool!

We took pictures in the garden.

Looked at a big spider through a microscope. (I was very proud of her since she is VERY scared of spiders.)

Ground some corn.

Made a bug hat.

And we made potato people. This one is Jillian's.

And this one is Wesley's.

Then it was off to see Dora one last time…maybe Jillian would see her if we tried again – and she wanted to try again.

Dora was on a break when we got there...So Wesley got his picture with just Backpack & Map. Jillian would not eve go for this.

She is waiting for Dora to come back - but up on Dad's shoulders where it is safe.

Wesley was excited to have his picture with Dora - but he did say after that it was a bit scary.

And then we went home.

All in all the Spring Fair was fun.  It was rainy – but it did not matter.  We were not planning on going on any rides anyway.