Go Climb A Mountain - Free Entrance Days in the National Parks

Here is the Pacific Northwest we are lucky to be surrounded with amazing options for outdoor activities.  Within an hour we can be hiking deep into an old growth forest or climbing mountains.  One of the reasons we have this bounty available to us, is the commitment to preserve these green spaces for public use.  In addition to the many state parks and community spaces, the National Parks System has several parks within driving distance with the most famous being Mt. Rainier and the Olympic National Park.  This weekend, no matter where you are in the United States, you can enjoy these historic wonders for yourself.  As part of it's 100th Birthday, the National Parks Service is opening all of it's parks for free!  That's right, no entrance fee at the more than 400 National Parks throughout the country.  So grab your hiking shoes, pack a lunch and go enjoy the tranquility of nature.

If You Build It- Adventure Playground

In a time where people are perhaps too focused on protecting their kids from every bump and bruise, there is a place you can take your kids where they can hammer, saw, construct and watch their imaginations take shape.  

Adventure Playground, located in Deane's Children's Park  on Mercer Island, is a build-it-yourself play zone that will satisfy anyone's craving for design and fabrication. 

Upon checking in at the front, kids are given a toolbox, safety gear (including a hard hat and goggles) and nails.  After that they are let into the construction zone.  

The current construction zone has a tree house theme!

All children under 12 must have adult supervision, but really, why wouldn't you stay to create with your kids. 

All in all we spent several hours 

hammering,

Sketching, 

Climbing, 

and building. 

 The best part was watching all of the various projects slowly emerge from the materials at hand. 

Adventure Playground is open Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. from July 5th through September 25th. The program is run by donation.  All participants, including adults, must have closed toe shoes to enter. 

Eat from the Street - Beacon Food Forest

Seattle has long been a place where urban living and nature have coexisted.  We boast being one of the top 10 cities in the US for access to parks.  We are called the Emerald City even.  So it should come as no surprise that planning and construction is underway for an entirely edible and FREE forest of food.  The Beacon Food Forest is underway next door to Jefferson Park in Beacon Hill.  The Food Forest is being designed to mimic a natural ecosystem but substituting edible nuts, fruits, veggies and herbs throughout.   Phase One, consisting of building the fruit and nut tree grove, has already begun.  The Food Forest will progress over the next several years.  If you like to visit and/or volunteer at the Forest, more information can be found here: http://beaconfoodforest.weebly.com/

Spare Gutter + Soil = Recycled Planter - Create A Custom Window Box

Historically our house has had a love/hate relationship with gardens.  We love to garden and hate it when our plants die.  This year the 4-year-old has made it his mission to change that.  He has been the driving force behind our renewed gardening efforts.  He has selected the plants, set a watering schedule and loving placed random toys in the planters.   We needed more planting room in a limited space so we created our own planter from a recycled gutter.  First we drilled some drain holes along the bottom of the gutter about 18" apart.  After cleaning the gutter, we filled it with soil and planted some lettuce and basil. A couple of zip ties to attach it to the railing and our planter was done.  Our balcony is beginning to look like an oasis thanks to our little green thumbed gardener. 

Go To A State Park For Free! -

To celebrate Washington State Parks Centennial,  Saturday, March 30th is a "free day".  So go and explore some of our beautiful state parks.  The other "free days" this year are:

April 27 - 28: Recognition of National Parks Week
June 1: National Trails Day
June 8 - 9: National Get Outdoors Day and WDFW Free Fishing weekend
Aug. 4: Peak summer season free day
Sept. 28: National Public Lands Day
Nov. 9 - 11: Veteran’s Day weekend

Create Fire(Starters)

Spring is upon us and therefore camping season is right around the corner.  We love spending time under the stars, roasting marshmallows over a campfire.  And one of the best ways we've found to ensure we have a roaring fire is to make sure we have plenty of these fire starters on hand.  These are made from stuff you would normally throw away so some pre-planning is necessary. 

You will need:
an empty egg carton
dryer lint
paraffin wax
a tin can to melt the wax in

 Start with a simple double boiler to melt the wax.  Fill a sauce pan with about 1 1/2 to 2 inches of water and place your tin can in.

 

Add your block of paraffin wax and turn the stove to medium.

 While that melts, move on to the next step. 

Take the dryer lint and stuff it into each of the dimples.

Once you have stuffed each of the dimples with lint it's time for the wax.

Pour your melted wax evenly over each lint pocket.

And that's it... let it dry and store it with your camping gear.  When you need a fire starter, break off one or two of these and add them to your kindling.  They work great.   

Watch The Sky Fall - Leonids Meteor Shower

It's not often that you can play Chicken Little, but this weekend is one of those times.  The Leonids Meteor Shower is an annual event as the Earth passes through the tail of  the Tempel-Tuttle comet.  The best viewing will begin Friday evening with the peak happening early on Saturday morning. (3:00 a.m.)   I don't usually encourage my 11 year old to stay up until the wee hours of the morning, but this may be an exception.  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/11/121112-leonids-meteor-shower-shooting-stars-space-science/

Modern Treasure Hunting – Geocaching

Signal the Frog - Official Geocaching Mascot

The world around you is full of hidden treasure. Geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunting game in which you us a GPS or GPS-enabled device to locate hidden containers called caches.  The containers come in every shape and size, from a huge treasure chest to micro containers as small as my thumbnail. The larger containers usually have an assortment of toys and tchotchkes that you can trade with and all of them have a log to sign to show that you have found it.   The best part about Geocaching is that you probably already have the tools you need to do it.  If you have a Smartphone there are several great apps that you can use to get started: NeonGeo , GeoBucket , and the Groundspeak Geocaching App available for iPhone, Android and Windows 7 phones. You’ll also want to create an account at Geocaching.com. There are both free and paid accounts, with the paid account giving you access to more caches. Beyond the traditional cache, there are multi-caches, puzzle caches, travel bugs and more… but I’ll post more on those later.  Happy Hunting!

Go For A Hike - National Get Outdoors Day

With summer fast approaching, the weather is quickly encouraging us to get out and hike.  And like an open invitation, National Get Outdoors Day happens to be Saturday, June 9th.  On Saturday, many State Parks and Recreation Areas will be free of charge with special events.  Even more impressive is free entrance to every National Park in the country.  So get out and go for a hike, or swim, or walk or whatever your favorite outdoor activity is...just get out and get moving.
www.nationalgetoutdoorsday.org    National Parks - Washington