Fresh Air Without a Mask

City, county and State Parks opened up for us here in Washington on May 5th! To say we are excited is an understatement! A lot of parks still have parking lots blocked off and no bathrooms or picnic facilities open. Playgrounds are still blocked off too but we are excited to be able to hike and go to the beach! Camping is not open yet which is a bummer. We should be heading out for a long Memorial Day weekend of camping but we have other plans in store now. Most places we have visited have been surprisingly empty. Part of that may be because we are there early in the morning. Everyone we have encountered has kept their distance and we have had no issues. We haven’t felt the need to be wearing masks outdoors as we have not had issues keeping our distance from others! The fresh air has been good for all of us! The bathrooms being closed still limits where we go. Thankfully we live in such a great area that we have a variety of places we can get out in nature that are close to home. It has felt good to get back into a somewhat normal routine.

You better believe it, we were out there the morning of May 5th! I let the kids choose where we went. They both decided they wanted to go to the State Park that is the home of their forest school. It was a little emotional visiting the stump circle (our main classroom area). Odin and Aspen both started sharing memories from the program and talking about what it would be like when they are able to go back. It made my heart happy to hear all the positive memories but also so sad that they can’t be making more memories right now. I was so grateful to be back in this space. I think the kids are too.

We spent the morning wandering around the park just soaking it all in. So many things sparked memories for the kids and I enjoyed every story they shared with me. We climbed logs, found so many slugs, snails, and millipedes. The Bald Eagles made their presence known early on. We listened and searched for the woodpecker who sounded like he was right next to us but remained hidden. We noticed how much the park had changed since we were there last. Flowers blooming, maple leaves filling out the trees, and ferns and moss still growing strong everywhere.

Odin and Aspen ran wild in the big open grass field! They were loud and laughing as they chased each other around. I sat with Freya and just took it all in. I love seeing their smiling faces as they ran up to me asking if we could stay longer. It only took a few more laps before they were both tired out and ready to call it a day!

Freya has really been missing her time on the trails too! She knows the word “hike” very well. Every time she hears me mention it she starts doing happy circles by the door so she doesn’t get left behind! We have been busy exploring familiar trails with renewed appreciation!

I am so happy we were able to see some Trilliums before they were done blooming! These are Odin’s favorite wildflower. He talks about them all year and even shares his knowledge about them with others. I was really sad thinking we may miss our chance to see them this year due to everything being closed. I wish we could have been out a few weeks earlier but it was still exciting to see them. Usually they have bright white petals but often start to turn pink as they near the end of their blooming period. These are amazing wild flowers we are so lucky to be able to experience here in the PNW. Seeing the Trillium is something we now look forward to each spring!

Beach days are back! Most of our recent beach days have been during low tide. This has been super fun because we have been finding lots of cool stuff! Exploring during low tide allows us to see things that are normally covered by the water at higher tides. Tide pools are great for observing sea life. We discovered lots of invertebrates and had fun looking them up in our field guide. Low tide also allows the kids a lot more areas of sand to play in and build sand castles.

**Red Cancer Crabs. The biggest one was about as long as my foot!**

Moon snails are always an awesome find! Have you ever found a clam shell with a smooth hole punched in it? That means the moon snail ate that clam. It uses its toothed tongue to scrape a hole and eat the clam. This one was on the smaller size and about the size of my hand.

**Huge Leather Sea Star! It was bigger than my hand!**

The weather was so warm on Mother’s Day weekend! We got out for an evening paddle around the Marina by our house. It was Odin’s first time taking his kayak in salt water. He did such an awesome job! Sam is shockingly the only one who fell in!