Nature Walks with Owen and Parkroll

It was a great week for Owen and I re parks! We made two great discoveries. Now, maybe all five people who read this blog already know about Carkeek and Idylwood Parks, but their fabulousness was news to us. For the five people who live elsewhere and read this, next time you come for a visit, let's hit these up! We had a great time hiking yesterday, and Owen was an entertaining nature walking guide.


Nature Walking with Owen

Owen: "Mom, I know you think that the trees look lazy (sounds like: twees wook wazy), but they're busy."
Me: "Oh yeah, what are they doing?"
Owen: "Making clean oxygen for us to breathe."

*****

Owen: "Mom, do you think that you could build me a house with no rules (sounds like: woools)?"
Me: "No, you live with us now, and you don't get houses with your own rules until you get older. That's one of the nice things about getting older."
Owen: "But I'd be just next door. You could come over. I'd keep food there."


Idylwood Park

Idylwood Park in Redmond is kind of crazy awesome. It's right on Lake Sammamish and there is a huge section of open lawn where you can picnic and wade in the lake. There are hardly any people over in that area and you can just sit quietly and look at the lake. Then, parallel to that section and separated by a thin green belt is an area with a huge playground, nice bathrooms with changing areas, a rental area (for kayak and SUP rentals), and a swimming area in the lake with lifeguards. DELIGHT!

We headed over with our friends Shira and Emuna and had a lovely picnic and some play time. We were there for over three hours and there was no boredom induced whining from either munchkin.


Carkeek Park

Yesterday, Owen and I headed out to explore Carkeek Park, which is kind of in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle. It is such an amazing area! There is some amazing kid friendly hiking, which Owen totally dug, and a great play area with a giant salmon slide (see pic). There is also access to a beach that has nice sand and also a sufficient number of rocks for skipping. In addition to all of this wonderfulness are sculptures throughout the park. There's a neat .3 mile walk that you can do and take a look at all of the art.


Two thumbs up for Carkeek!