Meadowdale Beach Park

Daddy found this short little hike just north of where we live called Meadowdale Beach Park.  It's a 1-1/4 mile long nature hike along a stream and through an old forest with very tall trees.  It ends at this cute little beach on the Sound.  We've been there a few times.  We usually pack a picnic and spend some time on the peaceful beach before we make the up-hill trek back to our car.  

Me, checking out the passers-by.

Can't see them, but they had a cute doggie!

Oh, how I would love one of my own!

Me & Mommy sitting on the driftwood at the beach.

Me, Daddy and the whoopty tree.  

Look at the crazy branches... 

or are they roots posing as branches?

Here I am after the hike stretching MY legs 

and testing out my climbing abilities at the park.  

I'm pretty good if I do say so myself.

Bubbles

It's the little things that bring shear joy to our lives.  Like seeing new things through Sophia's eyes.  It's chasing a cat through the house or running and screaming through the spray of the garden hose.  It's the delirium of being sleepy but doing anything you possibly can to stay awake.  It's not walking any more, but running any place our little legs take us.  It's a sunny day and all we want to do is go outside and play.  And then there are the bubbles.  Those little spherical rainbows of fun.  They appear in multitudes, float on the breeze, and disappear just as soon as we catch them, but while they are here, they make us squeal with laughter.  That's shear joy.  

Mommy's Journal: Counting Our Blessings

It was a little over a year ago (13 months, 4 days and 5 hours to be exact) that our little miracle named Sophia arrived in this world.  Her birth was a long time coming and words alone are not enough to express how happy we are to have this spunky little bundle of energy in our lives. Every day we count our blessings.  During the 42 weeks she was in my tummy... yes, she was two weeks late... I imagined what she would look like, how soft her skin would be, how loud her little cry would sound, what she would smell like, what kind of personality she would develop and what kinds of things would she like to do.

I will continue to count my blessings, especially after seeing this video on youtube called 99 Balloons.  (PUDDLE ALERT: Only watch this if you are somewhere you don't mind shedding more than a few tears)  It is a video of a dad reading letters to his son.  The family is from Fayetteville, Arkansas.  Their son was born with Trisomy 18.  It is a chromosomal defect with a high infant mortality rate.  I had never heard of this condition until our doctors suggested that we get tested for it during our second trimester.  We were very thankful when our test came back negative. 

This video touched my heart so much that I wanted to share it with everyone who reads our blog.  I am thankful that our little girl was born healthy and has continued to develop into a healthy, independent, high energy little girl.  (I am happy to say that a little over a year after this video was make, this couple had a healthy little girl named Hazel.)  I LOVE YOU SOPHIA.  THANK YOU FOR COMING INTO OUR LIVES.

Dinner time

Mmmmmm!  Delicious!  I love my spaghetti!

I think I have mastered the fork.

Yep, sure have!

Water fun

We are currently experiencing an unusual dry spell in and around Seattle.  Today is day 28 without any measurable precipitation.  Spring in the Northwest is usually pretty damp.  As a rule of thumb, don't expect summer to arrive until AFTER the Fourth of July celebrations.  If you plan on going somewhere to watch the fireworks, be sure to bring warm clothes, hot chocolate AND a rain coat.  As you can see from our back yard, we have had no rain for quite some time and the usual emerald colored grass is now the color of Kansas wheat that is ready for harvest.  But, I am not complaining.  Because of the wonderful warm weather, I have had many opportunities to go outside and play in the water.  

Denny Creek Hike

Amazing how the bubbling sounds of Denny Creek can mask the rumbling freeway that is just above the trees and over our heads (to the left) in this picture.  See how tiny we are compared to the trees and the massive I-90 overpass?

What a pretty hike.  This was one of the many small falls that we got to see along the river.  

Even though the storm that blew through a couple of weeks ago damaged one of the foot bridges and knocked another one completely down we had a good time on this hike.  Well, after it stopped raining that is...  (Seattle is still on track for a record breaking dry spring.  We were in the mountains where any type of weather goes.)  

As usual, we got to the trail head and realized that we didn't have our State Park parking permit so daddy and I stayed at the trailhead to eat lunch while mommy looked for the ranger station to get our permit.  During the 15 minutes that she was gone, the sky decided to open up and drop buckets of rain on our heads.  By the time she got back daddy and I were drenched.  We almost gave up and went home, but after eating lunch in the car, the rain stopped, our spirits improved and we decided to tough it out and hike for awhile.  We are glad that we did.  

We had already decided that our final destination was going to be the area of the hike they call the Water Slide.  After the slide, the trail gets steeper.  ...Daddy says I am a bit heavy to carry in the backpack so he will have to work his way to to steeper hikes as the summer goes on...   The water slide is a huge flat rock in the shallow part of the river where you can cool off on hot summer days.  Today was a bit cool to get in the water, but maybe one of these days will come back so we can play.  This is also the area of the hike where the second bridge had been washed away so it was good that we had already decided to turn back at this point.  All in all, we hiked a little over two miles round trip today.  Near the end of the hike I was able to get out of the backpack and stretch my legs a little before the ride back home.  Where, oh, where will we go next?