Bloedel and Dining Out

Figuring out new places to explore while in lockdown is getting a bit tiresome. The kids are mostly game to do hikes and bike rides but that kind gets old after a while. We changed it up a little by heading over to Bainbridge Island last week to walk around Bloedel Reserve. I know, I know, it's pretty much a "hike" through a garden so isn't really outside the box but because it requires reservations to get in, it's not very crowded at all and is a nice little stroll (2 miles) through very pretty grounds. The kids had a mostly good time running around while the grownups oohed and aaahed at the gardens. The last time we went was when Evie was first born, and it was pretty much as we remembered it.

Anyway, we couldn't get a reservation until 3:40pm so we took the 1pm ferry over and then passed time by hanging out at Old Man House Park in the Suquamish reservation area. I'm a bit bummed that we didn't go check out Chief Sealth's (aka Seattle) burial site since it was right there!

After the Bloedel Reserve, we had lots of time to kill before getting on the ferry so guess what? We went out to dinner for the first time since March! We went to Doc Marina's, ate out on their covered deck and I think the followed precautions really well - max of 4 people per table, tables spaced far apart and if it wasn't at least 6 feet away, they had these plastic shower curtain looking things to divide the space. I'd say the deck was really only maybe 30% full so everyone was pretty spaced out anyway. All staff wore masks of course, and they required you to wear masks when walking through the restaurant to the bathroom etc. We've gotten takeout or delivery only a handful of times (Scott is wary of germs and thinks it's too expensive for what you get) so going out to eat to have someone else cook and serve food, and then do cleanup, felt so luxurious!

The kids were zonked out by the time we got them into bed. All in all a good day.

Evie with all the goodies she found on the beach.

We were twinsies!

Running through the fields

SO MANY wildflowers!

bridge

Green everywhere

Big tree!

Doing laps around the reflection pool

Kids table at the restaurant

Marina art

Found this photo of when we went to Bloedel when Evie was only 3 months old!

Comments

Family time

I had to do a quick trip to LA towards the end of July to say goodbye to my Uncle Pang, who passed away a few weeks earlier. I have fond memories of fun cousin time at his house in Palos Verdes and Uncle Pang taking us to the beach when we were younger. I remember how he delighted in making us kids squeal with laughter by pretending the car ride was a rolleroaster - we'd take sharp turns and all of us kids would slide to one side of his Volvo station wagon or he'd slow the car down to a roll and we'd all chant that we couldn't let the car stop and it would inch slowly forward at a stoplight. Although it was a sad reason to get together, I think he would be happy to know that the weekend was also a wonderful get together with family. Because it was fairly last minute, none of the kids flew over which meant us "adult cousins" were able to have long talks and linger over food. Kin and Meredith were able to host a summertime bbq at their house and we had a nice t...

Happy new year!!

Goodness, it's already 2025! It's been a really long time since we posted! We had a very lazy new year. We flew back from LA on the evening of the 31st so spent the last remaining hours of 2024 cozying up on the couch and then fell asleep before it even hit midnight! On New Years day, we slept in, cleaned up the house and then did a quick hike the next day. All in all, a good start to the year! Nora's new blanket hoodie. Cold and muddy trails. We're not in LA anymore! We hiked the Primrose trail that follows Coal Creek.

Cousins trip: Banff!

Just 2 weeks ago I was in the beautiful town of Banff enjoying girl time with my cousins and taking in the picturesque landscape and now I'm holed up in front of my computer doing work. Oh how I wish I could go back! This was my second trip to Banff (first time was back in 2019 on a roadtrip with the family ) and I got to check out other parts of this beautiful National Park while laughing it up with these girls to celebrate Frances' big birthday.. We all met up at Calgary airport on Friday morning and after a quick lunch at Calan Noodles for hand-made beef noodle soup (yum!), we hopped in our rental car and drove the 90 minutes to Banff. I was surprised and impressed at how easy the drive was - even easier than driving to Whistler because of the wide and well maintained freeway. That first afternoon in Banff we walked around town and did some shopping before making our way to Brazen, a bistro serving "Modern Canadian" fare. What's Modern Canadian you ask? We di...

Simpsons in Seattle

Search This Blog