Discovery Park - West Point Lighthouse!

A couple Sunday's ago we decided to play hooky from church and we go on a family adventure. The day before had been a rough one and I really needed some good family time. One of the things on our summer bucket list is taking the kids to a lighthouse. We have a lighthouse close by us at Brown's Point, but the only problem is it's south of us. During this particular weekend Michael was on call so he has to be able to get to the district within 20 minutes and going any further south from our house will put him outside that time frame. So I got to clicking on the computer and found a couple options. Alki has a lighthouse, but seriously it was a gorgeous Sunday and I did not want to be around a ton of people so that was out of the question. The only other option was West Point Lighthouse in Seattle. It was 40 minutes from home, but since it was north it was only 20 minutes from the district. Thankfully Michael didn't get a call so it didn't even end up mattering. 

The West Point Lighthouse is located in Discovery Park. It's a huge park that used to be a military base years ago. It's so big that the park lots are forever away from the beach. Thankfully I read online that if you have small kids you can stop by the visitor center and obtain a parking pass for 1 of 8 spots that are down by the beach. This is a parents dream!!! We stopped at the visitor center and after actually bringing one of our kids in she gave us a parking pass...seriously what was I think...she'd just believe me! :) :) 

On our way to the lighthouse we saw this huge bell. The kids had fun throwing sticks and rocks at it to hear the different sounds it made. 

The lighthouse was so cute and quaint! Since it was at the further west point of this section of land it really didn't need to be tall. It was very visible! 

You can't go in the lighthouse...I didn't think you would be able to, but we did check. It was crazy windy out there and even though it was a super hot day it was almost chilly out there. 

This is the view north of the lighthouse. 

After letting Zeke walk to the lighthouse we figured out that just wasn't going to work! I walked back to the van with him and put him in the Mai Tai. He still loves to be carried around like this. I have a feeling this will be how he gets carried around a lot on vacation. 

The tide was way out on the beach so the kids go to look at all sorts of fun stuff.

This beach had lots of hermit crabs! 

King of the rock! 

Wild woman!!! 

Such a pretty view! 

I'm not a photographer at all, but this picture to me looks frame worthy! 

Since the tide was out there were a bunch of little sand islands. The kids had so much fun traipsing through the water to get to them. 

Of course all of our shoes were soaking wet! 

There was quite a bit of seaweed in the pools so we had to watch out for that. 

See how huge the beach was! There were a lot of people there, but it was also so big that it felt like it was just ours! 

While were were there we saw two shipping container ships coming in. This particular one was honking at that silly little sailboat on the left. They were right in the way of the HUGE ship! 

Rushing to the next pool! 

Some of the water pools between islands were too deep so the kids had to turn back. 

Pretty girl finally stopped long enough and gave me a smile! 

Looks like Jesus walking on water! 

Happy boy safe and dry! 

After we were done at the pools and terrorizing the clams....Owen loved to throw rocks at the ground to make the clams spit up...we headed for the beach. There were a bunch of drift wood forts that people had made. 

Checking out the inside of one of the forts. 

Mama and my girl! 

Fun little place to take a rest! 

The Christmas card pose! 

Zeke has recently taken to Daddy so much! He is 2 and that's when the other boys did. He loves his daddy! 

Jackson Daniel - 6 years old! 

Zeke Russell - 2 years old!

Ella Grace - 4 years old! 

Owen Michael - 7 1/2 years old! 

The kids were freaked out to climb up on top of the fort, but I showed them it was safe so we all got up there for a photo op! 

This was by far one of the funnest family adventures we've ever had. The outdoors had something for everyone to enjoy and it was absolutely free! The only money we spent was on the gas to get there. If you have kids you have to go explore Discovery Park.