Deck Forts

Papa and Jo enjoy the simple pleasure of making a deck fort out of laundry put out to dry, (and Pee-Wee Herman,) one of their favorite activities this summer. This is just one incarnation, there have been many.

Maybe we can move it indoors when the weather gets cold/rainy/dark.

Kiwanis Tot Lot #1

We visited Kiwanis Tot Lot #1 early one evening last week. We closed the place down/stayed until it was too dark to play anymore! This park was a big hit for both kiddos. The older one liked all the places to climb up and relax, the younger one LOVED the train theme.

The train play area on the south side of the park has a tunnel and slide and some fun things to play music on. That's one of the 2 sets of train tracks that run through Kent in the background. A train passed by just before we left and we got a wave from the conductor. Super exciting stuff for a 2 year old!

On the left of the photo, you can see a digger to dig in the sand. There are 2 of these and one seems like it is wheelchair accessible.

There was also this balanc-y teeter-totter thing that the 12 year old and I tried to bounce each other off of. Here she is standing on it.

 There are some swings and a north play area as well. It looks like this....

Can you spot the toddler climbing the "rock"

This park also has full court basketball. You can see it behind my girls swinging.

Behind them you can also see the large open field There was a port-o-potty here but it was locked. They may open it during the day. We also wondered what the small mobile workspace (looked like a small portable) is used for.

There is a picnic table here and a grill right next to the north play area. There is also a pretty rad, train themed "racetrack" suitable for tricycles or running on foot. 

Like I said, we didn't want to leave this park, just had to when it got too dark.  I had to promise we would go back, and we will.

Vancouver Lake Park

We traveled south to Vancouver, Washington for a Biesanz family reunion this weekend. Vancouver is about 2 hours from where we live. Se we made a vacation out of it. I'll write about that later.

My husband found Vancouver Lake Park while looking at the City of Vancouver Website.It was the only covered picnic area left available to rent while we were planning the reunion. We booked it sight unseen for 50 bucks for the afternoon. What a deal! That is half of what we paid to rent a park in Kent. We booked the South part of the Heron shelter.

We showed up to the park not knowing what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised to find these awesome things.

• a large covered picnic area with a sink, counter space, a grill, electrical outlets and plenty of space for our reunion
• plenty of close parking and easy access for everyone in the family
• we were super close to the fun playground with swings, a balance beam/teeter totter combo, and plenty of spaces to climb, slide and explore
• the bathrooms were right next door to the playground and they were clean and had a baby changing area. 
• there was a large grassy field surrounding our shelter which we used for running, kicking balls around, and general merriment
• we could walk down to the water but were warned upon entering the park that the lake wasn't safe for swimming while we were there

There was a park greeter at the entrance that warned us about what my nephew called "swamp crotch" and directed us to our picnic area. The park is big and directions were necessary and I didn't want anything happening to our crotches so was thankful for the friendly greeter.
  
The only thing we didn't understand when we rented the shelter was that by renting half of the shelter we were really renting half of the shelter. There was a 40 year high school reunion going on in the north part of the shelter. If we had known there would be no clear line separating the 2 picnics, we would have brought something (like streamers) to define the 2 spaces. We didn't mind sharing the space, however, we did have a few high school reunioner's wandering over to our table and grabbing some food. Not a big deal, we had plenty and it was an honest mistake. There was nothing saying "this is ours and that is yours" and the spaces were basically mirror images of each other.

This park was cool. Definitely a place where we could spend more time. It was fun to visit a park out of our area. the best part was seeing the Biesanz side of the family. 

Ikea is a cheap date

After the little one's dentist, we stopped at Ikea for dinner. It was on our way home and it's cheap and we know what to expect there. We ate for under $11.00 for the 2.5 of us. That amount fed my husband, myself and the 2 year old. The 12 year old was with her grandparents.

Ikea can always be trusted for good quality cafeteria style food and wearing the 2 year old out. We could have stayed in the kids section the whole day. She especially loves climbing up on the beds and pretending to sleep.

 I would say we got out of there without spending money on anything else, but that would be a lie. We bought some tan curtains to replace the red ones I have hated since I put up. We also picked up some storage bins. The kiddo picked up a baby doll that she is already loving and cuddling with for sleeping.

International Children's Park-Seattle

We happened to be driving through downtown today after an awesome lunch at The Jolly Roger Taproom with some friends. The Jolly Roger is awesome. Great beer, nice location, delicious food (we had the sliders) and I was surprised when the bill came that we spent under 40 bucks. Seemed like a pretty good value for all the deliciousness. We stayed off the freeway and meandered south through downtown Seattle, checking out the tall buildings, people, and various modes of transportation.

We decided to stop in the international district for a bit and headed to Daiso and Uwajimaya for some browsing. I think I could spend years in the Seattle's International District and not see it all. Our family would love to eat our way through it. If we hadn't already been full from lunch, there would have been some dim sum happening.

Our older girl is getting into Manga and she picked up her first Manga and Manga tips from a friendly shopper in the Uwajimaya bookstore (another place we could have spent a lot more time in.)

I changed the toddler's diaper in a nice open space on 5th and Weller. We also drank our Boba Tea from Oasis Tea Zone (real fruit juice in these bad boys) there. There were rocks to jump off, people to watch and birds to try to pet. FYI...this is a private space, not a public park.

We walked a few blocks to International Children's Park which, according to my husband, has been renovated. We all got excited when we saw it. It's a small park but has so much to do packed into it's small space:

• Covered picnic tables for a small group
• A rad dragon sculpture that can be climbed on
• A grassy area for lounging
• A shaded play structure with a fast metal slide, ropes and bars to climb, and a "secret" climbing wall
• A modified merry-go-round/spinning disc (which was the 12 year old's favorite thing)
• lots of nooks and crannies to explore

I think we could skip an amusement park and bring the kids here for some spinning action. They had their brains jumbled to contentment on the spinning disc.  Both kids took a lovely nap in the car on the way home.

Biking to Pacific

Today we biked on the Interurban Trail from Kent to Pacific (which is the south terminus of the trail.) We wanted to find a play park on going south on the Interurban and Pacific Park met that demand.

Link to Pacific Park website: http://www.cityofpacific.com/parks.html

We only had the toddler with us today and she was thrilled to get to the park after spending over an hour in the bike trailer. About half of that time was spent without any pants on as my water bottle had leaked in the trailer, rendering her pants (and her backup shorts) drenched. I hung them off the front of my bike and my husband put her changing pad between the seat and her and we made it to the park.

Pacific Park is really cool. There are restrooms, big open fields, a covered stage, picnic tables, and a great play structure. The play area had swings (including 2 toddler swings), 4 slides, a bridge, a climbing wall, 2 tunnels, an old school metal climbing thing, a hang-off-of spinning thing. My husband and I used the spinning thing, the toddler couldn't reach it. There were

We walked over to the river and threw in some rocks. My husband showed off his expert rock skipping skills. The toddler loved throwing rocks even if they landed on the ground right in front of her.

Then we climbed back onto our bikes, and dry-by-then bike trailer and headed home. It was so cool to see so many people on the trail today. The blackberries are getting ripe, too so we indulged in those as well. Free food is awesome.

It was also cool to see the town of Pacific itself. It has a nice, small town feel. I've driven by so many times on the 167 freeway but never really stopped to spend any time. It was so nice to slow down and check this place out. 

We did stop by a small store in Pacific for some snacks and water. I couldn't help but think how nice a beer from Northwest Brewing sounded, but that was one mile further south and we weren't sure of the bike paths.

We made it home safely. We picked up the pre-teen and headed back to the Supermall (which we had passed on bike earlier) for some shopping. It was strange/cool to drive the distance we had biked earlier in the day.

Kiwanis Tot Lot #4

This park is fun!

Here is the link: Kiwanis Tot Lot #4

It is located at: 5th Ave and W Crow street


We had a lot of fun in this cozy neighborhood park. It's much larger that the tot lot close to our house so it was fun to explore. At one point, the toddler said "it's like our park, where's the steering wheel?" I like the location...really close to downtown Kent but in a quiet neighborhood.

There are 2 entrances but it looks like only parking at the East entrance. The North entrance is boarded by a home and an apartment building.

There are 2 full play structures plus some extras.

 The East play structure appears to be for bigger/older kids but both our 12 year old and 2 year old preferred this one. There is a tunnel to crawl through and a tunnel slide. There are also 2 twisty-turny slides. There are some interesting monkey bars and lots of climbing opportunities. There is a steering wheel on this one, just like our little one was looking for.

Separated from the main play structure is what looks like money bars done by Salvador Dali. They are in the shape of a worm/snake/camel's back. My husband and older daughter had fun climbing to the top of these. Our little one was sad she couldn't do it.

The mid section of the park has 2 swings. One of them is of the toddler variety.

The West play structure appears to be for the younger kids but has lots of challenging things to do. There is a rolling bar (these always make me think of Fred Flinstone - don't know why), a slide, again lots of climbing and a slide. There is also a rocking car (like a rocking horse - but a car) that our whole family loves. The biggest among us like to see how fast and high we can get it going by rocking it with the smaller ones in it.

This park is great. There were a few kids when we were there, but it has never been super busy. There is a drinking fountain and picnic tables. No bathroom, so plan ahead. It is so close to the train tracks that we were able to wave at the train that passed by while we played, which was our little's favorite thing!

Van Doren's Landing Park

We had the pleasure of visiting Van Doren's Landing park the other night.

Here is the link: Van Doren's Landing Park

The address is: 21901 Russell Road, Kent, WA

We brought along our dog Bernie. He loves riding in the car and was pleasantly surprised when we got out at the park instead of Holiday Kennels which is his doggy hotel.It is right next door to this park.

This is such a nice park. We were here on a Monday evening, so not busy at all. Plenty of parking available in 2 lots. This park borders the Green River Trail which I could, and probably will write about in the future. The toddler liked to wave to the passing cycles/cyclists. She's pretty cute (I'm biased) so they all waved back. There is an interesting cycling statue that we like to check out every time we go.

There is a huge open field separating the 2 covered picnic areas. There is a south picnic area (close to the restrooms) and a north picnic area (close to the playground). The field is awesome. There is a small hill leading up to the green river trail that borders the field. It looked like it would be good for rolling down. There are some hidden picnic tables between the green river trail and the green river itself and I believe there is river access, but we didn't explore that.

Both picnic areas have 6 picnic tables, 1 or 2 grills and a water faucet. We are looking for a park to reserve for an upcoming party, and this may be it.

The play structure is fun! It clearly lists on it that it is for ages 5-12. This probably explains why our 2 year old had to be spotted as she crossed what I can only describe as uneven-monkey-bars-made-for walking-on-rather-than-hanging-from. It has lots of places to climb and 2 slides that were curvy enough to be fun for bigger kids but not too tall to feel unsafe for little kids.

There are 2 swings. No toddler swing here, but I've been showing the little one how to sit on my lap and swing with me, so we did that.

This park has a restroom, which is a major plus for me. There is also a drinking fountain and doggy clean up bags. 

To top it off, there were some really nice families at this park. It looked like everyone was really enjoying themselves. Some had set up a badminton net in the giant field, others were firing up the bbq in the picnic area. One family biked in and played with us on the play structure. I love this location. Even though we are an urban/suburban area, Frager feels like a quiet country road. Sure you can see and hear airplanes and sometimes the dogs barking at Holiday Kennels, but that adds to the charm of this great park.

Ours was the only dog there. We keep him leashed always and he was perfectly happy to be tethered to a free bench in the playground area and watch us play.

We had a great time at Van Doren's Landing Park!

Kiwanis Tot Lot #3

This park is walking distance from our home and we visit it on the regular.

Here is the link to it's website: Kiwanis Tot Lot #3

It's on Scenic Hill between Chicago and Seattle Street.

Things we love about this park:
- 2 swings (one toddler swing and one big kid swing) to accommodate both kiddos
-  awesome play structure with:

• 2 small slides that the toddler loves
• one big twirly slide that both kids love
• a suspension bridge to walk across
• at least 3 methods of climbing up
• 2 parallel bars that form a slide for brave big kids
• an Indiana Jones type sliding bar, perfect for pretending you are careening over a pit of snakes
• ground covered with wood chips making for a soft landing when jumping off the structure.
• an animal puzzle that the kids can spin around
• a steering wheel where my toddler likes to pretend she is at Starbucks. She offers me a Venti Iced Mocha every time. That girl knows me too well.

- 2 picnic tables and a bbq grill
- a few neat old trees with holes in them that look like gnomes could live there
- a path that spans the entire length of the park between Chicago Street and Seattle Street. This makes for a nice cut through on a bike.
- Always well stocked doggy clean up bags. These are well used by the park patrons. We have never seen a dog mess in the park.
- A grassy area for running around/relaxing on.
- Lots of shaded spots for warm days.
- Enough parking on Chicago for 6 cars.


Keep in mind that there is no restroom at this park.

This is a great little neighborhood park. It is situated on a lot in a residential area and you wouldn't necessarily know about it unless you live close by. It's quiet, we are usually the only ones there.


  

Why We Are

Hi! My name is Kari and I live in Kent with my lovely husband and equally lovely daughter's (ages 12 and 2). I grew up here and have lived here most of my life. My parents still live in the house I grew up in, about a mile from where we live now.

I started this blog because, until recently I was not-so-proud to be living where I grew up. Most of my childhood friends have moved someplace "hipper." Our family enjoys visiting other places, but I realized how much fun (and mostly free fun, at that) we were having in our own town.

It could be that we like hanging out together, but I think it's more than that. Lately we have been finding super fun-having opportunities in our own backyard.  Right here in Kent and the greater Puget Sound area.

We hope everyone will get out there and enjoy the public spaces and free events that are available to us. We are going to do our best to let you know what is out there. Throw in some cheap treats (we don't mind paying for our fun, as long as we get a good bang for our buck) and brief area history (I'm a history nerd) and that's our blog. We hope you enjoy what we have created.

Please send us your fun free (or cheap) stuff to do. We'd love more ideas! Our hope is to keep this space positive and constructive so everyone can enjoy it and use it as the resource it is meant to be.