Doing Summertime Right

We've been experiencing a bit of a heat wave here in the Seattle area, with temperatures in the upper 80's and 90's. For a region with generally mild conditions and almost no one with home air-conditioning, it can get a little oppressing. What to do? Well, get outside and enjoy it. After all, hot or not, this is the time of year we all look forward to when we're hiding inside our rain jackets and avoiding puddles.

I'd been itching to get outside and I think Jasper had too (baby brother Joe doesn't make it easy to get out and play as much as we'd like to). So, on Saturday, as soon as Anastasia got home from her part-time gardening work, Jasper and I loaded up the bike and headed out. I packed snacks, sunblock, sandals, and plenty of water in the bottom pocket of our child carrier backpack, strapped that to the back of the child seat on my bike and off we went.

A short ride from our house is Meadowdale Beach Park, a gorgeous 108 acre park accessed via a 1.25 mile hike down Lund's Gulch. The hike itself is very lovely, as it meanders down a well-maintained dirt trail, winding its way alongside a babbling stream where salmon spawn every fall, while Douglas-firs tower overhead.

I don't know where Jasper gets his inspiration for these poses: 

Here and there, evidence of the truly massive trees that once lived here still exist and offer many photo-ops:

Jasper has always been a ham, but lately has really cranked up the sillyness when his picture is being taken:

I don't know where he gets it.

Jasper made it most of the way down the trail on his own. He slipped a number of times, but I was holding his hand so we avoided any scraped appendages. About 3/4 of the way down, he got tired, so I plopped him in the carrier.

At the bottom of the gulch, the park opens up to a large, grassy field--a perfect place for tossing a ball or Frisbee around. There are many picnic tables--some sheltered, some not--and some grills. I sometimes see people with all kinds of picnic supplies down here, including full coolers and I think, that sure can't be fun carrying all that stuff back to the parking lot 450' up.

At the west end of the park, there is a tunnel used by both fish and humans to get access to the beach on the other side of the train tracks:

They just recently installed this metal grating over the water that flows through the tunnel. The 18" of concrete on the left side used to be the only place to walk without wading through the stream. Even with the grating, however, you must be prepared to possibly get your feet wet traveling through here.

Whenever Jasper enters a space like this, he yells, "Echo! Echo!"

Beach time! This beach is situated alongside Brown's Bay on Puget Sound. It is pretty much right in the middle between the Edmonds ferry terminal to the south and the Mukilteo ferry terminal to the north. Standing here, you look out at the south end of Whidbey Island, the north end of Kitsap Peninsula, and the towering Olympic Mountains in the distance.

The water felt nice, but I don't think Jasper was too keen on feeling the seaweed touching him:

And of course, when a train goes by, every child stops whatever they're doing and watches:

Snack time:

Beach panorama:

Someone was very sleepy on the hike out:

Hey, it's Joe! This was Sunday, while Anastasia was away volunteering with the Master Gardeners. I'm very proud of my Master Gardener wife.

On Sunday evening, "Nana" (my mom) came over for taco dinner and brought Jasper this cool stegosaurus shirt. Jasper had fun handing out blueberries to everyone that he'd picked himself in the front garden.

After putting Jasper to bed Sunday night, I left his room to find the house all lit up in a strange pink glow. I walked outside and... Wow.