A visit to the trees

A few weeks ago we were invited to visit the Issaquah home of some friends of ours.  Their parents / in-laws are very creative and constructed a gorgeous treehouse in the bottom of the garden for their grandchildren to enjoy.  Its whimsical and magical, overlooking a ravine and in the trees at the same time.  

At first, Wren was apprehensive about climbing the curved wooden staircase which has a railing on only one side.  However, by the end of the day he was very confident.  The house was unlike anything I have seen outside a coffee table book.  The windows open and have glass panes.  There is a built in bunk or two and a flying-fox from up the lawn to hit you into a large tree (if you don't put your feet out).

"Don't look, DON'T LOOK, I am not ready. You can't see me!"  Wren hides his face because he wants me to film him climbing UP the stairs, rather than descending.

Frost was thrilled with the treehouse and the other discoveries around the house - a green tree frog,  a brown pond frog, a hot tub and a rumored snake (seen by the girls later).   Wren kept returning to the pond to see if he could find another frog.   When they proved elusive, he imagined he saw them under the rocks, hiding.   Frost was thrilled to hold a green tree Frost Pascal captured.  The frogs like to sit on the side of the hot tub (for warmth?) but, wisely, do not go it.

The kids played hide-and-seek and hot-tubbed as well as eating a lot and watching movies on a big screen TV.

Another excitement was the golf-cart.  The family has a golf-cart to make the journey down the steep lane to the access road where the mail is left.    Neither Frost nor Wren had ever ridden on a golf-cart - and the excitement was our equivalent of a trip to a horse-ranch.

Pascal took the kids on a ride down the lane on the cart while I took pictures of slugs, kids and fungi with the new camera.

Frost enjoys the thrill of golf-cart speed.

Wren holds on tight as they return from the long-journey down the lane.

The green tree frog displayed on the back deck.
 (That's Pascal, inheritor of the creative-bushwacker-tree-builder gene,
in the background).