Showing posts with label hiking with children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hiking with children. Show all posts

Friday, September 25, 2009

Padilla Bay


We are finally getting up to Bellingham for a weekend! We left early on Friday so that we could stop off at the Padilla Bay Nature Reserve on the way. Here's the link http://www.padillabay.gov/. It is a short enough walk that I can hope Baby will walk by himself but if he doesn't I can carry him. He did decide to walk most of the way!

While the leaves at our house are barely even turning color, some of the trees in Padilla Bay had already completely dropped their leaves. So, it felt like Autumn. The boys could kick the leaves around while walking through them.
For extra credit in science ;) Baby explored both deer poop, complete with full plumb pits and coyote poop. I did not take pictures of the poop, sorry. Baby also experimented with eating Rose Hips, which he did not enjoy. He did enjoy the herd of cows in the field next door. Shortly after we passed by the entire herd started lowing. It was unexpectedly loud for a mostly city girl like myself. The children were delighted! We have been reading the "Big Red Barn" for a week now in celebration of the Harvest.
We also found a tree containing a honey bee hive. It was still awake and we could hear the buzzing. Wow! I want to try and stop by next time we go up as well. I wonder if the bees will still be buzzing as it gets closer to winter.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Tiger Mountain

Today we spent most of our day hiking at Tiger Mountain with our Wednesday Hiking Friends. It was a lovely day. Brother petted slugs and watched them squish up, waded in a little pond, and made friends with a duck I wouldn't let him feed. Mean Mommy! Being 6, he wanted to run ahead or hide behind us. Often I couldn't see him, which made me a little nervous. I want to honor his need of independence, but at the same time, there was a bear and a cougar caught in Seattle this year. It just reminds me that wild animals do exist and the do live in the forest at Tiger Mountain, especially if they can survive in the parks of Seattle. WOW! At the same time, they do tend to be shy, and it is very low risk. So, deep breaths MaMa.

After we got home, I needed to make my grocery list and take us to the store. That is what soured part of the day. If I had my list before we left and we stopped on the way home, then it would have been no big deal. But, coming home and then leaving again tipped the kids over. So, my goal next week is to get that all finished the night before. If I am really on my game, I'll have snack done Tuesday night as well. But, baby steps.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Shoreview Park



Our hike this week was at Shoreview Park in Shoreline, WA. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a lot of fun. I love the trails because they are a little primitive. We also pass through a few different types of environments. In one part the ground is very sandy and more dry weather plants grow. After hiking down a hill, we walk along a lake and then along a creek. Then back up again into an evergreen forest.