Bike Riding - Summer Bucket List

Went for a bike ride on Sunday morning before it heated up. It still quite warm when we started.  It was a request on our Bucket List.  We rode the cascade trail.  We parked in Sedro Woolley and started the trail. We ran into quite a few people walking their dogs and a few bike riders.

We think we road about 12 miles round trip.  Kevin liked it because it combined geocaching and bike riding.  I liked it because it was nice and level.  We saw lots of different things - horses, pig and piglets, turkey, lots of cows, and even an EAGLE.

 

The Cascade Trail follows the Skagit River along an old rail bed of the Burlington Northern line, between Sedro-Woolley and Concrete. The trail parallels State Route 20 through cultivated fields, open space, scattered woodlands and river bottoms. The nearby river provides for some great fishing and nice river views, as well as scenic vistas of Sauk Mountain and other Cascade Range peaks. - Trail Link

Playground Deconstruction

Playground empty

The time has come to par down our playground set.  The kids are getting older.  We aren't in need of a full play set.  We plan on just having on having swings.  Our Aspie loves to swing.  It is very calming to him.  So we plan on making a play set with just swings and making a smaller footprint for our play yard.

Our set in California
 

Our swing set just set up in Washington

This playground set has been a hub for our neighborhood as it can be seen from the street.  I love that all the kids loved to come over and play on it.  Nonna bought it for us when we lived in California and we moved it to Washington.  It has been part of our lives for least 10 years.

a favorite addition to our set
was the ever popular banana swing
Cody with a Mohawk

Amazing A on the swing

Big E riding the banana swing

Last Slide before it was dismantled

The "Love Note Bandit"

Heart made with a squirt gun

Recently, I have been receiving these notes - little "I love You" notes. I am calling my youngest the "Love Note Bandit".

By the car in the Garage with chalk

Love Note on My To Do List

Love Note to Nonna - I wonder did she find all of them?

I wasn't the only one to receive these little notes. I think everyone could use a "Love Note Bandit" in their life.  So go spread the LOVE!

Geotour Stops - Dash, Saltwater, and St Edwards State Parks

It is always so surprising for me to see State Parks in really urban areas.  All of them we visited on Sunday were in those kinds of areas. We started our adventure in Tacoma and really took the scenic industrial urban route.  We working on finding all the Washington Centennial Geocaches - "100 caches in 100 parks to celebrate 100 years."". 

Our first stop was Dash Point State Park.  This took us on a little trail to this humongous tree trunk.  Wow, I can only imagine how large this tree was.

Saltwater State Park was our next stop. Our search was in the large parking lot.  It appeared to have easy access to the beach. It was raining pretty steady here so we grabbed the cache and ran so to speak.

Both Dash and Saltwater Park were ranked as one of the worst State Park in a Seattle Times Reader poll.  They said these parks were too close to civilization and trashy. Dash park was pretty busy when we visited and seemed quite clean.  I will say that the camping was quite a hike to the beach. Saltwater was virtually empty when we visited probably due to the fact it was quite rainy.

Lastly we visited Saint Edward State Park.  This place is really unique. It once was a Catholic Seminary. The cache took us on one of the many trails in the area. 

There is also a really cool playground here which the boys really enjoyed playing on.

I think this says quite a lot as my boys are older. This park was rated by a Seattle Times poll on Washington State Parks as one of the Best State Parks for Kids

We have found 17 out of 104 geocaches in the Washington State Park Centennial Geotour.

GeoTour Stops 13 and 14-- Kopachuck and Penrose Point

The alternate title could be "Geocaching so easy we took a 92 year old along" or conversely "Geocaching so HARD we had to take a 92 year old with us to find it". 

Kopachuck State Park
Cody, Charlie, Pappy
Cody is holding our State Park Passport

Saturday found us once again on the hunt for more Washington State Park Centennial Geocaches - " "100 caches in 100 parks to celebrate 100 years."".  We ventured over to Kopachuck State Park. Pappy was riding shotgun.  We all made it to the cache even though Pappy had to do a little off roading with his walker. 

Pappy Off Roading

Something about how we should trick out his walker with all terrain tires.  The path was a little like a cow trail according to Pappy. We ran into some other geocachers out caching as well. We didn't make it down to the water here.  The park was quite busy here on a sunny Saturday.

Penrose Point

 

 

Next we visited Penrose Point.  The trail was a little more than Pappy wanted to tackle so Heather and him hung out by the water.  The point was quite busy.  The tide was out and their was a lot of people out and about.  Pappy and Heather saw 2 bald eagles.  They have a nest nearby.

Tacoma Narrows

After all our adventures, we headed to Pappy's favorite clam chowder place, Steamers. Steamers has a great view of the Tacoma Narrows bridge. It is also near Titlow Park which appeared to have a rather busy and awesome splash park.

Booking It 2013 - June

I am linking up with Life as Mom Booking it 2013. Check out what everyone is reading.

I read  A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson.  I actually read it in one day.  It has an intriguing story that kept me reading.  Subjects such as homosexuality and adultery are touched on in this book so if that makes you uncomfortable this book is not for you.

I also read two fiction books about son's accused of murder with completely different endings.

Defending Jacob by William Landay.  This book is getting a lot of buzz. This book is about the son of the assistant district attorney who is being tried for murder.  The book explores whether there is a genetic gene that links one for violence.  Also how far a parent will go to protect their child.  I really disliked the mother in this book to be honest. There was a couple parts in the book that I was yelling at her.  A part of me just wanted to shake her. It was an interesting read.

House Rules by Jodi Picoult. In this book a boy with aspergers is accused of murdering his social skills tutor.  I love how each character gets to tell the story.  I don't always agree with all the generalizations about aspergers but in general a lot is spot on - black and white thinking and ruling following.  It made me realize how much my neural typical son has to give up and the line I have to walk between accommodating my other son without unintentionally punishing my other son. It also brought up how crazy all this accommodating looks to the outside world. On top of that, it brought up how selfish and self centered aspergers can be.  I hadn't really ever seen that way. I don't think it is selfish but it is definitely self centered. That is heavy stuff. It was an excellent read.

Whttling down the Summer Bucket List

Yesterday we did some whittling.  My child actually asked me if I was only doing this for the photographic opportunity. LOL  It was a rainy day and we needed to do something. It wasn't on the summer bucket list but it should of been.

The Giant Man Child had won two pocket knives so I decided why not give the children knives to whittle. IT was surprising how all the safety stuff from Girl Scouts came back to me almost instantly when my littlest picked up a knife. The younger of the two took right to it.  The 14 year old thought I had lost my mind.

I see a lot of whittling in our future summer plans.