Hunt Family Adventures : July 2019: Part I

July started off super sunny, so of course I had to take the kids to play outside. Tyler also started attending the summer program he participated in at Martha Lake church last year (which we call "church camp"). The first day was so exhausting he fell asleep in the car on the way over to the YMCA later that afternoon.

The next day was predicted to be a bit gray, which was also the day of the Scout picnic and rocket launch. That was supposed to be the only rainy day, but unfortunately the gray skies and cold stuck around for about another 10 days. According to Cliff Mass we had a JAWS (July Atmospheric Weather System), a rain system much more typical of wintertime hitting the pacific northwest.

The next day was still cold and wet, but the kids really wanted to see the gumball machine we'd passed at the fireworks vending area on our way to church camp. I wish I'd taken them on our gorgeous Monday instead! They played a little bit and completely soaked their shoes. We also picked up a few fireworks since it's legal in our area on July 4th only.

That evening we went to the Everett YMCA where Tyler randomly decided to run 50 laps around the adventure zone. He's got a lot more stamina than we thought!

The next day was July 4th, so we drove downtown to enjoy the Independence Day festivities!

We started at the children's museum. It's nice and empty during the parade, which I really don't care for (too much advertising and politics and not enough floats).

Unfortunately the First Baptist Church didn't do their usual carnival, but there was still the Public Safety Open House where the kids were able to do the firefighter simulation. They had a lot of fun! Allison was much more into it than she was last year. She even went up the slide in boots.

From there we drove up to Legion Memorial Park and let the kids enjoy the bounce houses with little to no lines.

The slide bounce house is the one that always has the longest wait. It was nice to get it done before we came back in the evening when the line was HUGE. They need to bring the obstacle course bounce house back that was here our first visit in 2015.

After they were good and worn out we took them back home for naps. Tyler required Melatonin, but eventually he conked out too. While we were walking back to the car we told Tyler to look both ways before crossing the street, to which Tyler replied "I can't look both ways! I don't have two heads!"

When they woke up we went around to a nearby neighborhood and set off the fireworks I'd purchased the previous day. We met some of the neighbors there who said they put on their own show with about $300 worth of fireworks every 4th. They invited us too, but we'd already promised the kids we'd take them back to the park for the big show. Maybe next year!

Here they are having fun with the snaps/poppers we had leftover from last year.

Sparkler fun!

The 4 for $12 snowcones I bought were better than I'd expected. Watching Allison react was just as enjoyable as watching the fireworks. She was terrified at first when we were close to the sparks, but once we backed away to safety she loved every moment.

This is the most expensive single firework I bought ($10). I think it was called Purple Haze. I got it for Allison since purple is her favorite color.

They finished off with their sparkler swords. They were neat, but the effect was too short for the $6 pricetag. They would have been entertained much longer with $12 more of cheap sparklers.

That evening we found a fairly good parking spot and the kids went back to bouncing around with a gorgeous view in the background.

Cute kids showing off their new Mario socks!

Allison continued jumping until the Bounce Houses closed while Tyler went over to crafts and the playground.

Silly Allison head banging while she rode the dinosaur.

Allison wore herself out on the playground until the very last moment. Tyler and Oscar had gone back to our chairs already, but I was pushing Allison on the swing when the fireworks started exactly at 10pm. We'd thought it would 10:15 since it wasn't completely dark at 10:00. We rushed back to our seats and enjoyed the rest of the show.

11 seconds of fireworks! Both of us wanted to enjoy the show, not hold our arms up filming it.

The next day I took Ria and the kids down to Wild Waves. It was originally predicted to be sunny, but it turned out cloudy and cold. The sun never came out, so the few minutes we spent in the waterpark were way too cold. The water was barely heated. Even the hot tub wasn't very hot. At least they enjoyed the rides.

Allison is scared of the Paratrooper and Coastal Clipper this year, which were some of her favorites last year. She wouldn't go on the Paratrooper at all and was very timid on the Coastal Clipper. She did enjoy watching patiently and waving at Tyler and Ria on the Paratrooper, which is something she never would have done last year.

This year she's learned how to fly the spaceships and planes up. Last year I had to put her with Tyler or she'd just get sad that she couldn't get her vehicle to fly.

Allison was walking up the stairs in the dark and ran down to us crying "there's an arm!"

Tyler likes the game Chutes and Ladders, so he made his own version called Stairs and Stones one day at church.

Tyler did Vacation Bible School the 2nd week of July. We finally had some decent weather too, so he camped in the backyard with daddy one night.

Sweet Allison singing at the Children's Museum while Tyler was at VBS.

After his final day of VBS I took Tyler down to Wild Waves on a warm day to enjoy the waterslides. We did a few rides after, but mostly slides. While we were there Allison played in the backyard in the hole daddy made for the zipline he was building.

Cute Allison singing and stomping around to "We Are the Dinosaurs."

Cute Tyler with his picture of Jesus!

After VBS week Tyler started attending church camp with Fillip, our neighbor who waits at the same schoolbus stop. Often he comes over here or Tyler goes over there after the program ends. It's nice to see him playing with a friend rather than watching screens all day.

We had some more decent weather, so I took the kids to play at Silver Lake on Tyler's day off church camp. It was Tyler's first time successfully crossing the monkey bars.

Allison splashed and stomped while Tyler built. Pretty typical of my kids.

That Saturday the kids had a very fun Saturday at the Children's museum building roller coasters and launching rockets.

Tyler usually goes down to the Art Studio, but when Allison and I saw the rocket launching at the outdoor playground I couldn't let Tyler miss out on it. Even she was begging to make and launch her own rocket.