03-2014

Falls View Trail

61 images · 3 videos

   
20140303 163631 Learning to rollerblade so we can all play hockey! 20140303 163654 A new way to get comfortable on skates - basketball skating! 20140303 163704 20140303 163910
20140303 163933 20140305 165701 Ben is really getting into building Lego sets now! He loves it! 20140308 103338 Artist with his pieces (bottom left) :) 20140308 103350 I think you can read the titles? On left: "My property, Big Maple and Dad." On right: " Playing hoops while Dad makes dinner."
20140308 113637 This final game of the basketball season was CLOSE! Wow! Sam's team did a great job. DSC00676 20140308 173255 Wilkes Auction - this was a favorite item to bid on. Thankfully a friend won it so we are going to be happily rounding up a work team in April :) 20140309 140010 Out for a nice walk with Daddy at Fort Ward. They love to look at stones and collect them.
DSC00679 DSC00680 DSC00681 A nice tradition :) DSC00682 How many of these selfies do you think we have, Dave, from hikes? I think we do this just about every time?
DSC00684 DSC00687 DSC00688 20140309 144744 "Minecraft Walk"
20140309 145730 20140309 145804 "Robot Walk" (or something - honestly can't remember I was laughing so hard at the time!) 20140309 145926 Steering them off trail through the woods. 20140309 145935
third grade concert 002 On our way to the Third Grade Concert! : third grade concert third grade concert 005 VERY hard to get a picture! : third grade concert third grade concert 006 Still trying, though, because he looks so nice! : third grade concert third grade concert 008 : third grade concert
third grade concert 012 : third grade concert 20140313 184735 Trying to get a picture for you! 20140313 184755 20140313 184817
third and fourth grade talent show 001 Then, the next night, on our way to the Talent Show! : third and fourth grade talent show third and fourth grade talent show 003 Again very hard to snap a picture! : third and fourth grade talent show third and fourth grade talent show 004 Abbey Road! : third and fourth grade talent show third and fourth grade talent show 006 Catching up with friends on our way in :) : third and fourth grade talent show
third and fourth grade talent show 007 : third and fourth grade talent show third and fourth grade talent show 008 Look on left page toward bottom. : third and fourth grade talent show cubing competition 002 On our way to the Cubing Competition. This is a game of Gogoz - you try to flick and knock them down. : cubing competition cubing competition 004 : cubing competition
cubing competition 006 Kai is with us to cheer Sam on. So nice to have a great friend who is also a neighbor! Funny picture, guys! : cubing competition cubing competition 007 : cubing competition cubing competition 008 Take a look at the crowd... : cubing competition cubing competition 009 This is a briefcase full of cubes. : cubing competition
cubing competition 010 : cubing competition cubing competition 011 Not feeling so hot, so just chilling out. : cubing competition cubing competition 012 The line-up. : cubing competition cubing competition 013 Practicing. : cubing competition
cubing competition 017 Briefing. : cubing competition cubing competition 019 Representative from the Word Cubing Association going over regulations. : cubing competition cubing competition 020 This is where they scramble them and then return them to the cubers. You get 5 tries; they throw out the highest and lowest, then average the remaining three times. : cubing competition 20140315 102251
20140315 105952 Here's the 2x2x2 time card. See Sam's initials on each one? Pretty "official." cubing competition 021 : cubing competition cubing competition 023 Signing off on another time card for the 3x3x3. : cubing competition cubing competition 025 This part was the most fun for Sam, I think, just hanging out with other cubers and trying different puzzles. : cubing competition
20140315 105854 20140315 105920 20140317 081341 Out on a run - nice to see the sun. 20140317 081851 Love this bush every spring. So pretty.
20140317 141711 This rooster head fell from the sky (from an eagle's clutches?) at the playground. I thought it was artistically pretty cool. Could actually be a Rhode Island Red hen - some of them have very large combs. Hard to know. 20140321 105355 I got 4 new hens today! I now have 2 roosters and 12 hens. The new four are getting acclimated in the run on the right while the others check them out. I gave all corn to distract them. Really the integration went AMAZINGLY smoothly. It is so nice to integrate grown hens, vs. smaller pullets with a flock of mature birds. I won't bore you with the details, but after trying to get the new girls in the coop tonight I finally gave up and decided they needed to figure things out. I went back out after dusk and guess what I found - 4 new girls tucked in nicely next to Merlin. How awesome to have that work out! Now I just need to get the coop open before feathers fly in the morning. Rolling Bay Romp 003 Setting up "camp" for rock cracking on our walk. : Rolling Bay Romp 20140321 134114 Rolling Bay Romp - started with 8 boys then were joined by 2 more at Bay Hay, and another 2 more later on the beach. This was a long walk broken up by snack stops, rock hunting and cracking, and ice cream. We had a great time! Notice I have "patrols" with flags to help with street walking, and that Ben is spending a lot of time with the whistle in his mouth :)
Rolling Bay Romp 005 Ben cracking rocks - I turned my hammer over to him because Ben needed some help. It was so funny to hear the boys - I told them to back up a bit more when I was cracking and they go "Yeah, Miss Alli is pretty scary with a hammer in her hand!" It was so much fun to share in their excitement over cracking open the rocks to see what minerals lay inside. : Rolling Bay Romp Rolling Bay Romp 006 : Rolling Bay Romp Rolling Bay Romp 007 : Rolling Bay Romp Rolling Bay Romp 008 They are exclaiming over their finds in a little huddle so I tried to grab a quick picture :) : Rolling Bay Romp
Rolling Bay Romp 009 : Rolling Bay Romp Rolling Bay Romp 010 Here's what they had... : Rolling Bay Romp Rolling Bay Romp 011 Nice work, Ben! : Rolling Bay Romp 20140321 141121 On our way down we ambushed a house with two boys whose mom was THINKING about coming...turns out they weren't home. We hope this was their house :)
Rolling Bay Romp 012 Nice finds, Chris! : Rolling Bay Romp Rolling Bay Romp 013 Sam was really pleased with his agate and blue sea glass. : Rolling Bay Romp Rolling Bay Romp 014 A final water break before walking uphill to Jiffy Mart for ice cream. At this point they've already done about 3.5 miles, and now they're carrying rocks home...whew! : Rolling Bay Romp 20140321 143510 Cracking Camp :)
20140321 143520 See whistle still in mouth (Ben on right)? Rolling Bay Romp 016 At Jiffy Mart! : Rolling Bay Romp Rolling Bay Romp 017 They are cracking up because someone lost a big blob of ice cream on the ground... : Rolling Bay Romp Rolling Bay Romp 018 But guess who will get it? : Rolling Bay Romp
Rolling Bay Romp 019 Yum! : Rolling Bay Romp Rolling Bay Romp 021 : Rolling Bay Romp Rolling Bay Romp 022 : Rolling Bay Romp Rolling Bay Romp 023 Enjoying a nice walk home. I am so proud of these kids and their parents, for trusting me to embark on this outing. They all had a great time and really did a good job hauling rocks home, up hill! : Rolling Bay Romp
Rolling Bay Romp 024 They loved being with their friends, and I heard a bunch of nice comments like "This was the best hike since the last one we did at Fort Ward" or "This was really worth it - let's come out again." (Note for my family - Sam and Ben were sick so I am especially proud of them for being interested and game to go in the first place, and for being so stalwart on the walk when the going got tough.) : Rolling Bay Romp Rolling Bay Romp 025 The other half of the group. : Rolling Bay Romp Rolling Bay Romp 027 Notice Ben still with whistle in mouth :) : Rolling Bay Romp Rolling Bay Romp 028 : Rolling Bay Romp
Rolling Bay Romp 029 That was fun, see ya next time! And welcome to the island, new friends! : Rolling Bay Romp 20140321 195210 Ben built this ALL by himself - he loves it and is pretty proud of himself. I want to ride in it! 20140322 125331 This poor chicken got picked on by another hen and her eye looked horrible! I took her out immediately and put her into my chicken infirmary. We took her out to the lawn for special grazing time, gave her yogurt and other treats, and nursed her back to health. Within three days the swelling had gone down and her eye re-emerged! She had not lost it after all! She looks totally normal now and we are so grateful for a small miracle. DSC00773 This is funny only to me. I hope I remember why in 30 years when I see this...
20140322 133257 This silly Australorp decided to go foraging in the woods to lay an egg. I finally found her under this cozy fern! How sweet! I found her egg later. Unfortunately, she loved her freedom so much that it ended up costing her life - she got snapped up by a coyote a few days later. We could not keep her contained in the garden. Poor girl. Sam said "Well, at least she died doing what she loved." 20140322 155123 Out on a walk - these are pretty cool starfish! BIG, too! 20140322 155138 Low tide walks are fun. That is Seattle across the water. 20140322 155846 We're on a gem hunt. Someone said gems are washing up on shore so we decided we needed to go have a look.
20140322 171431 I'm the sherpa. We have many rocks collected in that blue thing. Sam is hunting for agate. 20140322 172024 Found this geode - Sam carried this huge rock all the way back to the truck - a mile across rocky, uneven ground. 20140322 172108 Ben carrying his new camper - a very bad idea, really, to do across rocky ground. One wipe-out and can you imagine all those Lego pieces everywhere? And a sad guy? But I couldn't resist letting him bring it because he REALLY wanted to. So we did. Daddy would not have done that, perhaps he is more sane. 20140323 121355 Messing with Daddy a bit - getting a haircut AND a funny style, a la Calvin and Hobbes :)
20140323 121449 Oh yes! Of course we ran into teachers in the market afterwards as well! 20140324 163639 Ben is a good "sneaker goalie"! This was such a funny time - Sam and Kai on skates and another friend on wheelies down at the other goal. 20140325 112055 See poor hurt hen? Her eye is MUCH improved!! 20140325 112342 Now she's roaming around just fine looking for us at the house!
20140325 112346 "Hello?! Anyone there?" 20140325 112746 Moss with dew on it. Looks like garland. This is in our woods. 20140325 112758 20140328 102103 On a field trip to the Marine Science Center in Poulsbo. Froze my butt off helping with experiments but it was really cool! This is a live view of water critters - they have a microscope hooked up to the computer screen so it is like watching a movie!
20140328 102111 20140328 102130 The facility with access to the water down the middle. 20140328 102142 This was my task - help with taking water temperature readings at 6 different depths. I hauled that thing up 120 times! 20140331 123521 Emmy! She is getting nicer and nicer to hang out with - not so spooky and uptight. She even recognizes the yellow truck when I arrive at her home to take her out for a ride or lesson. She actually comes most of the time when she sees me arrive. So fun!
20140331 145505 Looking for agate under the Agate Pass Bridge. Sounds like a reasonable plan, right? Except for shoreline access issues and uptight barking dogs! See Ben in the background? He posed this way and made sure I got a picture of him doing this. 20140401 153325 The guys loved this sign. 20140402 131229 Spring Break fun! I'm cooking SPAM up on the fire while the boys shoot hoops and run around in the woods with their friends. 20140402 133914 Ah yes - nothing better than SPAM with ketchup!
20140402 133920 Funny boys! It was so great to have NO PLANS for break and just hang out whenever friends arrived! 20140402 135726 Ben is upset that he dropped his marshmallow here, I think. I'm a bit behind on labeling pictures. This is now a hazy memory but I thought his face was so classic ;) 20140402 135734 Ian dressed up his marshmallow with chocolate chips like a face. 20140402 135744
20140402 191607 This is forsythia, planted by Dad during a visit a year ago! It is doing really well!