Federal Way Town Center Spray Park!

Towards the end of July I was really struggling with being in a bad mood. I had gone to my Naturopath and she had put me on some herbs to help, but I was still moody. I'll be posting an update about my depression soon. Anyways I thought a change of scenery might improve my mood. I needed to run a few errands so we did those first and then we ended our trip by going to the new Federal Way Town Center. I knew that the park had opened earlier in July and that there was a sprinkler park, but we just hadn't found the time to go yet. My friend Melinda had taken her two boys and said they had a great time so I thought it was worth a shot. 

There is a nice spray park with these 3 monoliths They spray water out the top and then there is water that is rushing out from the base. There are also other areas around the concrete circle that randomly spray water. My only complaint about the water park area was I felt they needed to make more of the sprayers go off at one time. There really was only couple of them spraying water at one time so all the kids would rush over to the those and they'd be filled up in no time. Then they'd switch to a couple other ones spraying on the other side and then ALL the kids would go rushing over there. I just felt like it might be better if they had a few areas spraying water at the same time so that one area wouldn't get rushed by all the kids. 

To the left of the spray park were some play structures. The zipline was a huge hit of course!!! 

Owen spent a lot of time riding them over and over. 

Jackson also had fun on the zipline. 

He not as crazy about it as Owen, but he did ride more than I thought he would. 

Here's another view of the spray park. The building up above is going to be a new Arts & Events Center. 

Here is the view of the field. They are still trying to get the grass to grow so they have it roped off in sections. If you look down at the horizon you can see Mt. Rainier. The parking garage on the right is the transit center where I used to catch the bus to work everyday for the last 3 months of my pregnancy with Owen. 

Speaking of Owen he just loved those monoliths....he would go stand right in the middle and just get soaked! 

Zeke man is more apprehensive when it comes to spray parks. It was so hot though that I finally just grabbed him and ran through the middle. It felt so nice to get cooled down and he was giggling so he enjoyed it too! 

Right past the zipline area is a littler kids play area. 

This was my other complaint about the park. I didn't like that the slide for the littler kid play area faced away from the other toys. I was trying to keep my eyes on all the kids so I sat down on this little hill that had big rocks on it. I could see everything....the spray park, the spiderweb climbing toy and the zipline. The only thing I couldn't see well was this playarea. 

I ended up hanging out over in the little kid playarea so Ella and Zeke could enjoy it and that's when I saw Owen heading straight for me on the zipline! 

The ziplines are designed so you only ride one way and then get off. There are platforms on both sides so the kids can form lines. So the whole idea is you ride one way and then get off and then another kids gets on and rides it back to the other side. 

Well some of the kids weren't doing that. They were riding it one way and then letting their momentum carrying them back to where they started. That meant that the kids on the other platforms weren't getting a turn. I was trying to explain the whole thing to a little girl and she was so sure she was right and I was wrong that I finally had to tell her I wasn't going to talk to her anymore. I mean seriously I'm already moody I don't need someone else's kid trying to tell me what's what! 

The big kids have been having so much fun playing with each other. 

Owen was chasing Jack and Ella and instead of them freaking out about it they were actually having fun! 

Jackson made it to freedom, but Owen took Ella captive! 

I love that she was enjoying the game though. Not too long ago she would have been screaming at Owen to let her go! 

They were struggling and smiling and laughing! 

Owen was trying to drag her into the water! 

Finally Super Jack decided to step in! 

Here I come to save the day! 

Let go of my sister! 

Come on Ella! 

Run! 

Phew...we're safe! 

After that fun they all decided to go over to the spiderweb. This thing is so cool! 

There are so many areas to climb on there can honestly be 20 kids on it at one time. 

Zeke was trying his hardest to get to the middle area, but the last gap up to it was just a bit to far for his little legs! 

Ella and Zeke wanted me to put them on this little hammock seat so I did and then I rocked it around like they were riding on a horse. They thought that was fun and a little scary! 

At the end of our trip Zeke got up the courage to ride on the zipline. This older girl was so sweet to help him get on the seat. It's nice to see him going out of his comfort zone trying to act like his older siblings! 

As for my mood.....it didn't really help I was still a grouch, but we did have a good time. The very next evening was when I got to go away for the weekend with my girlfriends and relax. A couple days away is always good for my state of mind! 

First Day Of Summer Vacation!

Michael hasn't taken any vacation days off this year at all so he decided it would be fun if he took the last day of school off so we could have a fun family day. 

Normally we get MCD's and take it to Michael's work so we can eat with him. This year we were going to get DQ instead. It's usually a rush since Michael only gets a half an hour lunch break. It was so nice to not be rushed. Thank goodness too....DQ was SLAMED! It took a really long time just to place our order. I got 3 of there $5 lunch meals with chicken strips and then I got the Turkey BLT sandwich....yummy! Owen and Ella were still hungry so I did end up buying one more $5 meal. Each of the $5 meals includes a small sundae so after eating lunch I went up and got the ice cream. 

The kids wanted to go to a park after lunch so I thought it would be fun to go to The Centre at Norpoint. We normally only go there for the water park, but it was actually a bit breezy that day and I didn't have their swimsuits. The kids didn't mind though....they are normally so busy with the water park area that they don't normally pay attention to the play equipment much. 

Ella just loves that she can swing herself now. Jack has been working on teaching Zeke how to do it so maybe before the end of summer all 4 kiddos will know! 

The bigger boys spent a lot of time at the zip line....Owen more than Jack. It was nice that the park wasn't that busy so they didn't have to wait in line forever for their next turn! 

Daddy and Zeke chilling in the shade! 

Behind the park is this huge field that I always forget about. I keep meaning to bring a frisbee or a soccer ball with us when we come. Michael challenged the boys to a race. He figured he give them a leg up by jogging backwards! 

They actually gave him a really good run for his money. Not sure if they actually won or not....it was hard to see all the way across the field. 

Pretty Ella Grace.....her sandals didn't stop her from running around! 

Daddy tried to get us all to play Zombie Tag, but most of us didn't want to. We did a bunch of running around and it felt so nice to be out in the sun playing with the kids so that's what matters. The kids did have some issues getting along so some tally marks were taken away, but we tell the kids...tomorrows another day and you get a clean slate so try harder tomorrow! 

We don't have any huge vacation planned this year so Michael is planning on taking off a few Fridays to stretch out his vacation. We are planning on going on a few days trips to go hiking so it will be nice to do those trips when Michael has a long weekend. 

Let the summer fun begin! 

Jefferson Park!

Last weekend we actually had nothing on the calendar on Saturday....that hasn't happened in months! The kids were dying to go to a park, but Michael was totally wiped....later we found out he had a sinus infection and that's why he was so fatigued. While Owen and I sat in the recliner together searching for a fun park to go to. We didn't really have too much luck. The boys...Jack joined us were quite certain that the park had to meet their requirements. After a good half hour of searching I finally dawned on me that my friend Jen just posted pictures of her kids at an awesome park in Seattle. We hadn't been looking north we'd only been looking south of our house. I found on the park on my phone, brought up the pictures for the boys and it was settled...we were heading to Jefferson Park! 

I had no clue this park even existed and it's HUGE!! Like SUPER HUGE!!! It's actually built over the top of a water reservoir. It seriously has everything. Skate park, tennis courts, driving range, golf course across the street, huge open fields to set up volleyball nets or an easy up to have a BBQ, play structures, two ziplines, two big slides that end at a sprinkler area, covered pavilion you can reserve and you have an amazing view of the city. 

One of the kids prerequisites is that the park had sidewalks for them to go around and around on with their scooters. Of course this ended up being the thing they did the least! 

  

I asked Zeke if he wanted to take his helmet off, but he said nope. He certainly was the safest kid there! 

There were so many different fun challenging things to do at the play structure area. 

Climbing the rainbow ladder! 

My cute boys are still so light they couldn't really move the seesaw very well so I ended up standing in the middle and moving it for them....man that's a workout! 

This thing was hilarious....I was trying to show Owen how to hold onto the chain rope and step on the foot holds and then pull himself up to the next level. He did fine on the first and second ones and then he freaked out. I told him that he was closer to the top than the bottom and then I helped give him a shove. When he got all the way up he didn't want to us these monkey bar type things to come down so what did he do.....he just jumped! Seriously child!! 

Taking a rest from all the playing! 

Ella was so excited there was a climbing wall that she could do! 

Cute cheeser! 

These kids really did have so much fun...climbing....

swinging...

sliding...

navigating...

challenging...

overcoming...

and balancing on all sorts of fun contraptions! 

This is Ella's go to outfit! She loves this black tank top of hers. The funny thing was later on at the park we saw a girl that was maybe 5 years older than Ella in the exact same outfit! I almost asked her to pose for a picture with Ella, but then figured she'd probably think I was a weirdo!

This thing is the craziest thing ever. It's one of those buckets you sit in and then from the weight of your body and the way it's positioned it just keeps spinning and spinning. When we first got there this was Ella's first choice of what to play with. Michael and I were sitting on a bench a little bit away from her so we could keep an eye on Zeke riding his scooter and see the whole play area. We were watching her going around and around and around and around. Poor thing could not stop herself! She didn't even cry out! Michael ran over there and stopped her and her head kept leaning to one side...she was so dizzy! She's had issues in the past with spinning or flipping over due to her Hydrocephalus, but over than being dizzy she got over it fairly quickly. I did ask her why she didn't cry out and she said, "I was too scared!" 

Cute red face from playing so hard! 

The next thing we went to explore were the ziplines. 

Each of the older boys went 3 times and had lots of fun, but the big slides were right next to the ziplines and they wanted to give those a try. 

One of the slides is a tunnel and the other is open. Of course the kids favor the tunnel slide! 

For added exercise you can just climb up the hill instead of taking the stairs. 

Here's the whole view of the slide/sprinkler park area. There were some older kids there and they were coming down on their bikes from the top of the area where the tunnel slide is. 

Of course I didn't bring the kids swim clothes! 

I told the kids to only get their feet wet and for the older kids that's possible because you know their legs are longer, but for this cute shrimpo that has barely any legs it was impossible for him to only get his toes wet without getting his shorts wet. 

Of course he was soaked! 

Owen really wanted to ride his bike up the hill that was next to us and then come back down so he was doing that while the other kids were playing in the water. 

They even started riding their scooters through the water. We stayed for a couple of hours and had so much fun! One of the things I noticed that stood out to me was the fact that we were in Seattle, but I never once heard a bad word, I never saw any street people, I never heard any fighting and I never saw any sort of questionable behavior. There were just lots of families with their kids enjoying a beautiful day at the park. Loved it!!!! This is definitely a park we will be coming to again and again!