Gasworks Park

Yesterday we headed out on the bikes for a picnic lunch at Gasworks Park. Except for Ryan, who had done the route to his office the day before and was having some issues with a sore knee. He drove over in the car and met up with us there. Our friends, the Redpaths, had invited us and chose the route we took. A little scary early on as you're riding in a very narrow bike lane (which cars often decide to partially park in) down a busy road, but once you get through that segment you're on the Burke-Gilman trail the rest of the way. We could've taken less busy roads down, but the trail is discontinuous over by us, which seemed like it'd be a little too nerve-wracking with so many younger ones along.

Gareth got to ride the "new" 20-inch bike he inherited from Redpath's youngest and I pulled Malcolm and the food/blankets in their trailer. The weather was a bit iffy, but rather nice for riding. Cool and sprinkles of rain here and there.

Malcolm enjoyed getting to eat lots of junk food (chips and cookies), which Gareth enjoyed as well but he also ate some healthy food. While we ate we sat and enjoyed watching the boats out on the lake. I forgot my camera, but snapped a couple pictures on the phone (which I hate doing because you can't see the screen and what you're actually getting the the picture very well outdoors):

And here's one stolen from their blog that shows our whole group, minus Ryan who hadn't joined us yet, and Redpath's oldest who was taking the picture:

It was rather nice that Ryan drove up because that meant I didn't have to haul Malcolm and the trailer back home. The ride to the park is mostly downhill (down the busy street), but you climb a little over 300 ft on the way home. Not a big deal without the trailer, but definitely more difficult with it. But this is a ride that I'll likely do again (almost 10 miles round trip) over the summer, so I'm sure I'll get plenty of chances to get the workout riding home with the trailer provides!

Afternoon at the Park

We've had such nice weather lately that we decided to head to the park with some friends after school today. It was a bit crazy trying to get there since we had another friend with us and had to get home from school and pack up water and snacks before heading out again in the car and then we ran into traffic from construction, but we made it. And were so glad we did! It was gorgeous weather and there was almost no one else at the park. If only we had discovered weeks ago how empty the park would be in the after-school hours!

We ended up with 6 boys in our little group and they all had a great time. They ran around the playground for a bit and Malcolm came across another 2 year old who he mostly tried to ignore and looked at rather warily when the other kid tried to interact with him. Apparently kids his own age are pretty threatening, while 7 and 8 year olds are totally awesome to hang out with.

One of my friends took some pictures while we were doing a short hike up the hill and of Malcolm sliding down the salmon slide (salmon are a big deal here). They're a bit dark on the shady hike, but here they are anyway:

Gorgeous day!

Malcolm loved the slides today. He's been in this weird mood with slides lately where he seems to want to do them and then gets up to them and is scared and won't do it anymore. But not today. He was incredibly sad when it was time to leave - as was I. It's hard to go home when we get beautiful days like this and the kids are having a great time. It definitely got me in the mood to plan some summer fun for once school is over in a couple of weeks.