Who’s Walking Over My Bridge??

Today I decided it was time to take Jaryl to the Fremont Troll. So we trekked down to Fremont and explored! we used the Fremont Center of The Universe sign to find our way around.

 We found many amazing places including Ophelia’s Books! A great used book store with a beautiful spiral staircase and plenty of scripts and monologue books. (We each picked out a new book).

 On our way to find the Fremont Troll we were in search of “Rapunzel”. I read in a Washington Tourist book that she was on the Fremont bridge. But I was disappointed to find that she was just a neon light.

 

After This……

That’s right a RECORD store.

And This…

And This…

We  finally were on our way …..To the Troll.

Unfortunately there was this……

We tried to go past it…… but we could not.

 No Troll for Jaryl….Thanks alot construction. The worst part is I had just told some tourist to go see the troll…. SORRY random guy at the Northgate Mall. I had no idea.
Another Day…..Another Day..

Day 25. Taking advice from Sting.

So today was a really long day.  We just got home a few minutes ago.  And on the way home Madison said to me, lets write a message and put it in a bottle.  What a great Idea Madison!

Step 1- Stop at safeway.

Step 2-Buy a bottle of Perrier.

Step 3-Drink Perrier.

Step 4-Spit out Perrier.

Step 5-Let Madison Drink Perrier because I forgot I hate it.

Step 6-Write a letter to…Someone.

Step 7- Let bottle dry out.

Step 8-Stick letter in bottle.

Step 9-Seal bottle. 

Step 10-Drop Bottle in Ocean.

So here we have it.  We’re writing a message.  We aren’t going to send it until later though.  We want to be at the Washington coast for that. 

Where will it end up?  Well the currents around Washington go to Alaska or even California and Mexico.  But the truth is…we have no idea.  That’s why we have written our email address on the letter.  Hopefully some day we’ll see where this bottle ended up.  My mind races with the idea that maybe our friend Melissa will get it in Australia, or Robert will pick it up while he’s walking on the shores of Alaska,  we may not know until later in our lives, or maybe not at all.  I guess we’ll have to keep our e-mail address for the rest of our lives.

I give this Activity a 8/10  Only because we have to drink the Perrier.

Madison Says, “Maybe a whale will eat it and it will shoot out its blow-hole and a penguin will see it and be like whoa dude, a bottle”.

Day 18. Don’t eat the yellow snow.

There is something so peaceful about snow. I remember the anticipation and excitement it caused as a child. The feeling of no school, the beauty of snowflakes, and just the hours of fun with my sister outside in the winter wonderland. Now as an adult it is hard to get the same feeling. All week Jaryl and I have had to worry about getting to work, rehearsals, keeping the house warm and the flickering power. Not to mention my first experience driving in snow and the very scary slide out I had on monday. Yes the feeling of snow does change as an adult. But somewhere deep down inside is that excited child just praying for a snow day.

It was time to bring back the enjoyment of snow. So today, Jaryl and I had our first ever old-fashioned snow day together. I showed him how to paint the snow with spray bottles and food coloring, while he encouraged me to sled down a huge hill. We spent the day exploring our snow-covered neighborhood, making friends with other snow lovers and I even splurged and allowed myself to have a hot chocolate (drinks with calories are very rare for  me these days). We even tried to build a snow man but the snow had trouble packing and so, as you will see below we made a volcano instead. (I know that sounds silly, but Jaryl and I both blurted out the idea at the same time, so as you can see we are 2 nerds meant for each other).

When Jaryl took me to the biggest hill in our neighborhood with my quickly made sled, (a boogie board my mom and sister gave me with a ribbon tied on it for the handle) I was scared. I had never slid down a hill that big. But this year was about risks, and I had a blast! I even started a trend! Soon the vacant hill had a dozen adults sledding on it! I have to say I was jealous of their actual sleds but what can I say…. Fred Meyer was sold out!  One lady on a wooden sled like I used to have when I was a child, went down on her belly with goggles for about half a mile! She never lost momentum and zipped right through the neighborhood out of sight. There were also people on snow mobiles parading the streets and even a lady skiing!

Needless to say it was a great day!

We give today a 10/10

Jaryl says “sledding was absolutely incredible. As for the colorful snow I am afraid of the repercussions but it will be worth it.”

Day 15. SNOW DAY!!!!

And now folks after 2 weeks of new activities and blogging, finally a word from Jaryl.

Today in Seattle…it snowed.  So Madison and I decided to do something crazy, something we have always wanted to do, something, in the words of Barney from How I Met Your Mother…Legendary!!!  But let’s go back to the morning first.

Madison and I awoke with no snow on the ground, we got into the car and drove to work.  As we were driving through Inglewood a snow flake hit our car.  “Was that snow?” we asked each other simultaneously.  It sure was.  We always reference Inglewood as being Narnia because when ever its cold, it snows there and nowhere else.  But today, It snowed everywhere.  Now we flash forward to tonight.  Where Madison and I did the unthinkable…

“What are we going to do today for our new thing?”  Madison asked me as I was engrossed in a puzzle of three dogs and some converse tennis shoes.  “I dunno” I answered.   Then she asked me the only thing that would take me away from the puzzle.  “Do you want to bury me in the snow?”  My eyes widened, my smile looked like the smile of the Grinch, and my hands reached for the puzzle piece I had looking for.   ”SUCCESS!!! I FOUND IT…Wait, what did you say? ” Do you want to bury me in the snow?”  She repeated.  Then, My eyes widened even wider, my smile grew 3 sizes (much like the Grinch’s heart), and I threw my hands in the air.  This was better than finishing a puzzle. 

This was a dream come true.  Bury Madison in the snow.   I was handed a snow shovel, Madison grabbed some trash bags and put them on her legs as if she were wearing M.C. Hammer pants, and we trekked out into the snow.   I scooped some snow and Madison laid on the ground.  “Quick hurry!  It’s really cold.”  she said as she shivered.   I picked up some snow with the shovel and dumped it on Madison’s stomach.  I then picked up some more and tossed it on her legs.  You couldn’t stop me.  It was one scoop after the other.  Scoop…place…scoop…place…scoop…place.   I had found my inner mobster, my k9 instincts, my pirate persona.  I was unstoppable.  I watched Madison as she laughed at me and laughed at being buried.   Finally…we were finished.    She lay on the ground…motionless.  Okay, not motionless, she was laughing really hard.  I mean, who wouldn’t.  She did something she had never done before…be buried.  And today, I did something I had never done before….Bury someone.    She stood up and the snow fell from her clothes.  She shook herself off and we went back inside.

Madison gives this legendary adventure a freezing 10/10

I give this legendary aventure a 100/10.  That’s right I said  100. 

This was amazing, Incredible, absolutely the greatest aventure ever! And for the price of a shovel, you could have the adventure of a lifetime as well.   If you haven’t buried someone or been buried in the snow, do it!  Right now!  Don’t wait! But make sure that they want to be buried.

Day 13. Stop the car!

You drive down the road and you see it, a cool store, park or something else. You say to yourself “I’m going to check that out one day” but you never do. We all have these places, some of them we drive by every day. Not this year! Together Jaryl and I have vowed to leave no stone unturned, no food untasted and to boldly go wear…. well you get it. So today we stopped at one of those places.

Big Finn Hill Park. We drive by it almost everyday. On the side of a back road in the middle of no where. The sign for the park has always been visible, but that is it. The rest of the park is somewhere down the road in the woods. We have always wanted to go back there, we just never have.

Well let me tell you that sometimes it is worth the stop and sometimes it is not. But you will never know until you try! Big Finn Hill Park is a lonely park. At first glance it is just baseball fields. 3 to be exact. If you happen to turn the right corner you will find the sad, cookie-cutter, nothing spectacular playground. The only thing worth mentioning there is the rope climber. Which of course I dominated and climbed to the top (see pic below).  The other two children there told me the rope climber was very juggley. Jaryl and I had a good laugh at that and have added the word to our vocabulary.

The only other thing worth mentioning at Big Finn Hill Park is if you walk down the muddy trail you might spot a golden crowned kinglet. They were so adorable and had a brilliant bright orange hue on their heads.

We give this trip a 4/10 but we won’t let that discourage us from future mystery stops!
We want to know where is somewhere YOU have always wanted to go but you just haven’t gotten around to it?

Day 5. Into the Woods…..

The creepy woods was definitely a top choice in the polls. However it is not why Jaryl and I choose this as our daily activity. First of all we have really great weather today and secondly someone voted in the polls and said “Do NOT explore the creepy woods”. And we all know when someone tells you not to do something it makes you want to…..REALLY bad. And perhaps that was this person’s intention all along, or perhaps this person was my Mom protecting me. We may never know. But creepy wood nay-sayer, this activity is dedicated to you.

Now as some of you  may know Jaryl was very sick last night and you may be thinking “How is he well enough to go out into the wilderness?” Well, after about 15 hours of sleep he woke up ready for anything. Couldn’t we all use a little more sleep?

Two years ago Jaryl and I moved into our condo. After a long day of unpacking and settling in we were ready for bed. Just as we were getting ready to turn out the lights we heard it. The low growl of a cat. The growl got louder and angrier. Soon we realized it could not possibly be a house cat. “Great!” I thought, “some sort of large predator lives in the woods 50 feet from our house”. It wasn’t long after that when the news reported lynx fighting in a near by neighborhood. And so our fear and curiosity of the woods began.

To get to the woods is quite a quest. first there is a six-foot rock wall. Then there is about thirty feet of woods, and finally a mysterious chain link fence. Behind the fence is a vast forest.

Step one. Find the easiest way to get up the wall. After a few failed attempts we climbed the middle section of the wall and were finally in forest number one. There were sounds all around us, rustling, woodpeckers and who knows what else. Not to mention the 2 feet of old maple leaves below our feet that I was sinking deeper into with every step. (At 5’2″ it does not take much to sink deep).

I looked a t Jaryl and asked “Does poison ivy kill you?”

“I think so.” he said.

By this time our nosey neighbors were staring. Jaryl thinks they were just jealous. I think they were just looking for another way to report us. (Home Owner associations are the worst.)

As we got through the massive ferns we finally hit the chain link fence. Was it there to keep us out? Or to keep something in? A little further down on the other side of the fence I thought I saw a hippity-hop. Jaryl thought I meant a bunny so I explained to him it was a ball with a  handle that kids bounce on. This meant other people had been up here! But upon closer examination we discovered it was definitely not a hippity-hop. (see pictures below) Not only that but there were more of them. Strange balls of all sizes with a hoop on top. Some were plastic and white or yellow. A few were metal and looked like mines from Finding Nemo. In fact some of them were hidden under bushes like some sort of video game.

It was decided. We were definitely not going back there. But Jaryl still wanted to prove that he could.  So we climbed back down and went to the edge of the parking lot where we could climb up the steepest part. It was fun and great practice for when we try rock climbing. Then Jaryl approached the fence (by this point we are far away from the mines). And he climbed up and pushed himself over!

So all in all a successful expedition. We give this activity a 10/10 for fun but a 5/10 because the woods are only half explored.