BackYard Tourism #1: Rose Hill Woodland Park

This afternoon I took the boys to the East side [of Lake Washington] to try out a new playground in Kirkland called North Rose Hill. Frost, Alex and Wren had a great time in both play areas and on the walk across the middle of the park, through winding trails and wetland. Here is the new part of the park, opened a couple of years ago.



In the first playground the bigger boys had me set up obstacle races for them. Alex counted loudly while Frost raced and announced how many seconds he took. Frost responded with hostility to the anxiety this produced and kept arguing about the times Alex made up. He did not count for Alex but kept trying to negotiate on the 'scores'. I had no part in this argument because I was help Wren to play on the firetruck/aka digger he liked to climb all over.



Wren loved Kirkland because there are so many construction sites. He saw some of the biggest diggers ever doing road work and leveling large construction sites. Every corner has a mail truck parked alongside green lawns and even the houses seem more 'storybook' archetypal than those in Seattle. At one point I wondered whether Wren found more to look and shout about because the physical environment of the East side is like life in flashcards: things are spaced out with borders, created from the catalog imagination and very repetitious. OK Eastsiders you can heap it on me now.

Other things I noticed was that nowhere else have I seen kids with as much bling in their Crocs. In some shoes there was not a hole free! One little girl let me count her charms and she had 16! I am buying some for Frost for his birthday and he will thoroughly cherish the 4 he is getting.

Other than my moments of critical observation we had a fabulous visit. The parkland is lovely and the bigger boys loved running ahead and having Wren chase them. They also helped him find salmonberries in the wetland, or rather he found the salmonberries and ate them and they picked them for him. There was a great abundance of salmonberries and they seemed very sweet to me. Wren likes them more than raspberries and it confirms my intention to take them berry picking the week after next (next week Frost will be in camp). If your kid would like to come berry picking with us, let me know. Here is a picture of Wren pointing to the salmonberries he wants Alex and Frost to pick for him.


During the day I couldn't help but think about Wren's heart condition and whether he had any trouble with exercise, tiredness, rapid breathing and all those awful details I was asked at cardiology clinic. Just to reassure myself of his energy levels I have this movie of Wren running.



Here are some photos of him too. In the one he is running towards me being naughty. I can't remember what his game was but he has a rascally expression on his face. In the other picture he has a toy snake in his mouth. He found this in the grass walking to the playground and we were sad when he dropped it. When it was found on the way back he realized we were upset when he dropped it and made a big play of holding it and dropping it then running away. No matter how closely the boys "spied" on Wren they seldom noticed the moment he dropped it and I would not let them take it away to save it. So, here Wren enjoys teasing the boys by holding the snake in his mouth.





FACTS:
It was developed in 2006 and is called North Rose Hill Woodland Park.
Address: 9930 124th Avenue NE
It is 20 acres.