Henry Moses Water Park

Friday, for a special treat, we joined the Martins at the Aquatic Center in Renton for a picnic dinner and water park fun. Monica was the only one of the four kids tall enough for the giant water slides, but they all enjoyed the lazy river, wave pool, and other attractions.

Northacres Park

Last Thursday I took our kids plus Abigail and Oliver to Northacres Park in Seattle. Meanwhile Sara and Nick were home finishing up packing for their trip to England. I was excited to see this park, which coincidentally is almost exactly in the middle between the Carters' house and our new place. The website promised forest trails, a playground, and construction on a new spray park to be completed next summer. Unfortunately, construction has apparently not started yet because all we found was an abandonded wading pool:

The kids played on the playground (which was pretty old and sparse) and then had a snack. They did like the cool "climbing wall" though.

After that we took a hike on the trail and watched the dogs in the off-leash area. (Kind of like a free zoo!) We only managed to walk around half the park, as the trails were rather confusing. So, not the greatest park we've been too, but maybe the new spray pool will liven up the place next summer.

Late July Pregnancy Update

Well, only one month to go! I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy has gone... and how much there is left to do in our lives before this little guy makes his entrance. Everything is continuing to go well and in general I still feel the best that I have in any pregnancy at this point. Of my current complaints, heartburn is high on the list. Thank god for Pepcid AC! In fact, when we were camping we had a pretty spicy chili for dinner one night and I just decided, why wait for the eruption of fire, let's just take Pepcid WITH the meal! Another issue of course is discomfort, especially while trying to sleep at night. Trying to roll over in bed is like small earthquake taking place. Meanwhile Anton and the cat have so little room, they are practically sleeping on the floor. Anyway, none of this is unexpected and in the grand scheme of things: very little to complain about. We are increasingly excited to hold our new son and begin our lives as a 5-person family.

Daily Swim

The weather has been warm. I am hugely pregnant. And my kids love the water. All of this adds up to the necessity of finding a place to swim as often as possible. Without Hood Canal right off our front porch this summer we've had to be a little more creative with finding places to swim. Yesterday we were guests of the Greaves at their neighborhood pool and had an awesome time.

Today we brought a picnic lunch to Great Nana Josie's (complete with cupcakes!) and then had a swim in the lake.

Day Sleeper

Our kids seem to have opposite sleep preferences. Monica goes to bed early and is up at 6 AM playing in her room. Jack would prefer to babble and sing in his room after bedtime, but then sleep in the next day. This photo was taken yesterday at 9 AM. Sweet little guy... still sound asleep!

Kramer-Martin Campout: Day #3 Mount St. Helens

On our way home Sunday we went to Mount St. Helens National Monument. I'm embarrassed to say having lived here all my life, I have never been there, so we were ALL excited for the trip. It was definitely as cool as everyone says and we had perfect weather for it. Since the mountain blew on Anton's 5th birthday, we considered the trip a makeshift birthday party for him.

Here's Jack and Tyler all ready to see "the bolcano!"

Informational movie about the blast. The kids thought it was so awesome to get to go to the movies on a camping trip.
Mount Adams in the east. The view of the volcano was spectacular and we all found the science and story of the mountain fascinating.

We had a great Kramer-Martin campout. Time to plan next year's adventure!

Kramer-Martin Campout: Day #2 Camp Baldwin

On Saturday we visited Camp Baldwin, BSA. Tim's brother Greg joined us for this part of the trip as well. Tim worked at Baldwin for four years in high school and college. We had a great time and I have now checked yet another camp off my list to visit (I'm trying to hit all the camps in WA and OR in my lifetime). Here are some photos of our visit. The first is the staff dining hall. They do all provisional cooking at Baldwin (meaning the patrols cook and eat in their campsites all week). The idea of having 3 staff meals a day sounds good to me!

Their waterfront area is minimal and I believe the lake is man-made. They don't offer many program items here, but then again, troops probably don't choose Baldwin specifically for the aquatics.

Baldwin has mountain biking and mountain boarding right near their climbing wall. There is a makeshift mountain boarding course set up, which I'm sure is a big attraction for the scouts.

Campfire bowl:

The camp is huge with lots of hills. The kids did very well hiking around, but someone needed a ride from Dad towards the end.

At last, the corral! Baldwin has a horsemanship program with around 40 horses in residence. The kids had fun watching them and feeding them.

As with all my scout camp visits, here's a mini evaluation....

Negatives:

-As many troops have described to me, Baldwin is very hot and dusty, being on the east side of the mountains. Not my idea of a great time, but they can't do much about it.

-As with Camp Hahobas, the camp lacks a central lodge or historical building that encompasses the heart of camp. However, because of winter snow I had to remember that they tear almost everything down in the fall making it difficult to have many permanent structures

-Aquatics was fairly nondescript as I mentioned before. The lake is pretty, but the camp is not particularly scenic. Campfire bowl doesn't have a view for example.

Positives:

-HUGE property that extends to outpost areas. Lots of potential here and it sounds like they make good use of it with hikes and horse overnights.

-The horse program seemed awesome and is clearly a defining feature of the camp program.

-While I'm not wild about provisional cooking, Baldwin clearly has a good system down that works well. I doubt this will be the death of the camp, the way it was at Omache.

-Several interesting programs (like mountain boarding) that will attract older scouts.

-I did not see their staff in action (although some of them looked awfully young compared to what you see at Parsons), but just by visiting we could tell there were elements of pride and tradition that is so important in delivering a quality program.

We were exhausted after our trip to Baldwin. The kids were real troopers and we all left hot and dusty. There was time for one more swim in Trillium Lake before dinner and another campfire.

Kramer-Martin Campout 2010: Day #1 Timberline Lodge and Trillium Lake

We made it! Let's go exploring... C'mon Smokey! Timberline Lodge, here we come...

Wow- snow in July! I couldn't believe how many people were skiing and snowboarding on such a hot day.

View of Mt. Hood from behind the lodge
We walked all over the lodge and visited the "museum" area in the basement. We saw the spot where Tim proposed to Keri. I threatened to make them re-enact it, but in the end I let them off the hook.

The timber beams and columns were so impressive. Definitely something from the past.

Mt. Jefferson is just peeking out in the background.

Time to set up our campsite. We stayed at Still Creek campground, which is in the Mt. Hood National forest. We had two adjacent campsites. Our plan was to use one site as a "home base" for meals and campfires. We started by setting this up at the Martins' but soon realized that theirs was not big enough. Rather than take down the net tent (which we always put over the table) the boys just walked it down the road to the other site. It was one of the more humorous spectacles I've seen.

Finally, our little campsite all set up:

Before dinner: time for a swim! It was a 5 minute drive to Trillium Lake from our site.

And finally that evening: s'mores on the campfire. What could be more perfect than that?

Kramer-Martin Campout: A tradition in review

We just got back from a fabulous camping trip in Oregon with the Martins. We started an annual campout together back in 2004 when Monica was 1 1/2 and Kyle not even a year yet! Here's a glance at campouts past...

2004: Lake Ozette and the Washington coast

2005: Mount Rainier

2006: Lake Easton State Park

2007: Hurricane Ridge and Sequim Lavender Festival

2008 and 2009 we were on full summer staff at Parsons, so we moved K-M Campout to Brinnon and called it good. The Martins would come to Parsons to see a campfire, go for a hike, etc. But this year Kramer-Martin campout returned in its full glory. Stay tuned for details in the next entry...

Tukwila Spray Pool

Today we took a short trip to the Tukwila Spray Pool with the Martins. Monica whined all morning that we weren't going to a "real" pool and apparently just down the road Kyle and Keri were having the same argument. But funny thing... the minute I turned into the parking lot and the kids saw the spray pool it was suddenly the coolest thing ever and they couldn't wait to go in it. We stayed for about an hour until everyone's lips were blue. Monica especially liked the bucket that dumped on you every minute or so!

Tequila

Today Jack opened up the kitchen drawer (yes, we basically have only one) and asked for the "Husky music thing." He meant the bottle opener that plays "Tequila" when used. I found it for him but had to grab a bottle of Alaskan Amber out of the fridge to gently activate the song without actually opening the bottle. Then I mindlessly left the bottle of beer on the counter and left the room. A few moments later (when the song had ended) I went back into the kitchen. Jack had opened the fridge, taken out another bottle of beer, and was trying to use the opener on it. I burst into laughter to which an annoyed Jack said, "What Mommy? I just want the song!"

Hooray for 3.0!

My dear friend Amy was kind enough to coordinate a celebration for our new addition. It was great to see some girlfriends, especially high school friends who are not all in the area but miraculously were able to join us. I felt ultimately spoiled and celebrated!

Jack must think that having a new brother means nothing but fun for him because here is what he did with the balloons I brought home: