A Ride to Remember

Yesterday Tadd had to take the morning off so that we could go sign some papers. The weather was fine and the kids were clambering to play with daddy. How could he go back into work? So, we played in the yard, rode scooters and skate boards and took afternoon naps. And then we heard the Snoqualmie Trail calling. So, we hopped on our bikes and took off. We rode it the opposite way we usually do. First up was a stop off at Centennial Fields where the kids played on the toy structure and Ezra rode around the bike trail by himself a couple of times.

Centennial Fields is one of our favorite parks. It has a walking/biking trail all the way around it, a field full of elk (70-100 head) next to it, a play structure, bathrooms and several ball diamonds.

I had this picture rotated, I'm not sure why Blogger flipped it. Caroline was giving me fits by climbing onto this pole all by herself and trying to slide down. She wasn't scared in the least.

He's getting quite independent on his wheels. Daddy tried taking the training wheels off today, but it was a no go. He doesn't quite have the right attitude for two wheels yet : )

We love this trail. It follows the Snoqualmie river through the woods. With the sun pouring down, the birds singing, the river bubbling and the kids giggling--it truly makes each ride memorable. I don't like to ride the trail alone because of all the wild animals and people I might encounter. Yesterday it was crowded with runners, bikers and horse-back riders. Once last summer when I rode the trail into North Bend alone with both kids in the trail, I was stopped by a man and warned that he had seen a black bear and a cougar both on the trail the day before. It was precisely that point where I turned around and rode for home.

Caroline's ride. We got this trailer off of Craig's List a little over a year ago at about 1/5 or less of its retail price. The previous owners had used it about 5 times. We used it that many times the first week we owned it. It is easy for me to pull (as easy as it can be to pull 70 pounds of kids and a trailer when they're both in it) and easy to hook up as well.

We stopped at a dog run area to walk the path and take pictures of our very own beautiful Mt. Si.

Last Friday we had an inch of snow on the ground and only 3 days later we are basking in 70+ degree weather. There is a little snow on the top of Si as a reminder.

The path around the dog field led us to another fork of the river. One of the kids' favorite occupations is to throw rocks in the river. But this drop off behind them was a little too dangerous, so we skipped that activity this time.

Getting ready to ride some more.

At the end of the trail we cross an old bridge where high schoolers ignore the warnings and jump off every year. Then we precariously carry all three bikes and the trailer down a steep set of stairs to the bottom. From there it's a street ride home.

We finished off our 2 hour ride with dinner at home and some vanilla ice cream with fresh sliced strawberries. If we're going to have a little glimpse of summer in the midst of our unseasonably cold spring--we'll use it up for all it's worth!