Garden Monkey

Well, a little update on the garden...we have a huge watermelon, a tiny one, and a couple fist sized cantaloupes. Also we are happy to report there might be a Casper pumpkin for Halloween. The tomatoes are still doing their thing, and we had broccoli for dinner last night. We have Cosmo flowers that I have to clip for Pyper by reaching over my head, and we have a small second round of raspberries and strawberries. The neighbor's Italian plums are delightfully perfect right now, we dried a batch already because I'm too lazy/pregnant to make jam at the moment. Kale is still going strong as I let the lettuce go, and carrots are plump and long for the picking. 

The garden has been good for all of us, and seems like the only way we can get Pyper to eat certain vegetables. She'll only eat a self pulled carrot from the garden, she won't touch any other. 

She pulled a beet from the garden and we made an awesome colored frosting. 

More carrot fun!

Run for Aiden 2015

We did this run last year, and to prepare the kids for the kids run, Anna and I met up earlier in the week so the kids could run. 

This year's fun, last to finish the 5k, but I did it!

After a lot of running in the park, they love to hangout on this rock. Then and now, last November. 

Our First House Guest: Cousin Eddie

Well, we had our first house guest! Cousin Eddie had some school prep to take care of while his parents and brother headed to Portland for Uncle Jeff's high school reunion. He stayed three days. How to entertain an eleven year old that is used to TV and video games in a household of a pregnant lady with a three year old and no TV?

The first day after taking care of the school prep, we got a call for a play date for Eddie, great, that takes care of entertainment for sure. The second one we decided to....you guessed it, Geocache! 

We headed to Mount Vernon to complete their 2015 Geocoin Challenge. It was a successful mission as all ages had a ton of fun finding, collecting, and playing. We also got a cool coin out of it. Eddie went by the caching name of Mr. Pugbert. We had fun, hit up the farmer's market, finished the challenge, and tired everyone out. Mission complete!

Date Night

Scheduling a date night isn't quite as easy as one might think. First you must enlist the helpful hand of someone you trust, and in our case there aren't that many we trust with our one and only. Next, the participants of the date need to have the same days off as the helpful hand. So the stars finally aligned after a couple of months, and Sharon came over, and we went out. 

In the previous post/s I talked about some of the lab caches that are milling around the Seattle area during the Geocaching Block Party. Somehow I convinced Andy that this was going to be a fun endeavor, luckily it was.

We headed to Ballard, where we had no luck at our first geocaching spot because we lacked the aid of a black light. But we happen to be in "beer town" so we made a stop at NW Peaks to quench Andy's thirst drown his disappointment from not finding our "code word."

We ended up with finding all 16 lab caches and learned a ton about Ballard's past and present. Andy wondered why we didn't buy a house in Ballard after getting a wiff of the Chocolate Cakery in town. We had a ton of fun, thank you Sharon for making it a night to remember!

Block Party 2015

2015 Geocaching Block Party always falls on Interational Geocaching Day. And since the Head Quarters for Geocaching is in Fremont, we get to celebrate with people from all over the world that fly in for the event. During the week of the Block Party, the organizers put together all sorts of activities that keep folks entertained. My favorite activity is called a lab cache. It's a cache where there is no physical cache container, but the coordinates bring you to a cool place, activity, or history lesson. 

They started lab caches at the 2013 Block Party with a Brewery Tour and Block Party Tour. Last year they added two fun tours for visiting folks, which was fun for us too. One of the tours was the iconic downtown Seattle touristy places, and the other one was visiting quirky Seattle places, which was super fun and entertaining.

This year they added two more tours to the mix where you learned about the history of two Seattle neighborhoods. One was Georgetown, and the other was Ballard. 

Pyper and I started in Georgetown earlier this week making new friends and spitting geocachers everywhere while enjoying new sights and new foods. 

Iconic Georgetown boots at Oxbow park sit right next to a cowboy hat of the same proportion. Making friends and getting fresh Greek yogurt at Ellenos, Pyper chose ginger raspberry. 

We made it to the Block Party! Our third one. Supposedly, this is also the last year the block party will be held, it's the 15th anniversary of geocaching as well. There's always a great big logbook, fun photo ops, and great caches all around. 

 

The inflatable logbook, Pyper did the signing. She came as a princess for the party. 

Pyper enjoying some of the caching activities of the Block Party. 

We are looking forward to what next year will bring. We've had a fun filled year of caching, traveling, and learning. 

First Tomato Harvest and Carouselling

We came into our first tomatoes of the season, a little later than most, but I'm proud to say we grew them from seed. The best part about having a garden is that there is no issue with Pyper eating her veggies, well in this case, fruit. 

Notice the half eaten tomato in her hand, and I think that's an interpretive carrot dance. 

Another trip to the zoo now that we have a membership. This zoo is so big I'm glad we can just hit up sections and save other parts for another day. Today she earned a carousel ride, and was adamant  about seeing the pigs, lemurs and owls. She enjoys whipping out the map to plan our next move. 

A little more zoo fun in the "Savannah", feeding the birds, riding the historic carousel, and of course geocaching. 

The Last One

So Andy is home and joining us on our celebratory last State Park. Yes, technically we have completed the 100 State Park Challenge, but because there were 103 State Parks participating, we decided to fill in all the blanks on our passport.

We decided to save Cama Beach for last for a couple of reasons. The first one is that I was going to have trouble sending my hard work through the mail system, hoping that it got to the right spot. Second, it's fun when Pyper gets her special coins handed to her in person, she'll get two for this mission since we combined both the 50 and 100 State Park Challenges. Third, there happens to be a really cool craft at the park to do. Fourth, we get to go camping. Fifth, we will be attempting what's known as a 5/5 geocache, the hardest ones around. I probably could go on and on...

Cama Beach #103, Camano Island #104, Beach Treasures, Crazy about camping

While camping Pyper said, "This is home!" Love it that camping is so normal for her as it is for us. 

5/5 Cache, flying her kite, meeting Ranger Tina to get our coins, making amulets. 

We found a great spot to camp, enjoyed some time by the water, made all sorts of amulets, found our 5/5 geocache, collected our coins, and found a great cafe. 

Our next mission is to make a killer photo book...hopefully that will make the birth deadline. 

Around Home

Mighty-O Donuts and the zoo always make a good combination. 

The road trips have been all sorts of fun, but we have been having fun while home too. We usually use home time to rest and take care of the house chores that accumulate while we are gone, like the garden, but there is just so much fun stuff to do in the summer. This last week Pyper went on a stand-up paddle board with me, though she was sitting and I was kneeling. 

Getting bigger, First to Find geocache, running around with princesses, lots of water time. 

Last Big Road Trip

Well, all good things come to an end eventually. We completed our 100 parks on this trip, with a couple bonus ones. All I can say is "WOW" to this part of the state. It's amazing to see this area with a different perspective. Yes, we lived here shortly, but we never quite explored like Pyper and I did on this trip. 

Day 1:

Forks of the Sky - Index Town Wall #90

Lake Wenatchee #91

Peshastin Pinnacles #92

Squlichuck #93

Wenatchee Confluence #94

Twenty-five Mile Creek #95

Hitting the road again feels great. 

Visiting some old haunts. We stocked up on provisions at Anjou Bakery, then she insisted on visiting the helicopters when I told her we were close to where I worked on the rappel crew. Now that and "ice cream social" has been included in the schedule at the base, I think we have a new rappeller in the making.  

Day 2:

Lake Chelan #96

Alta Lake #97

Bridgeport #98

Cool trails by the lake, a morning swim, three delicious crepes, and just some slow exploring of the land today. It's nice not to be in a hurry. 

Day 3:

Steamboat Rock #99

Sun Lake - Dry Falls #100

Daroga #101

Lincoln Rock #102

We made it into Steamboat the night before and enjoyed our time here. We got the second to last camping site available. 

Headed towards home after ticking off #100. 

Well, that's it! We have officially completed the challenge. But there is just one more park on the list... The Challenge is 100 of 103 parks, so at this point we should tick them all off, just for the sake of doing so right?