Picnic Quest: Snoqualmie Falls

I did a few picnics while I was here in Washington my favorite was at Snoqualmie Falls. We drove up to walk around and have a little picnic. This time I didn't cook the food(and it felt so off! lol) but we did pick up some tasty stuff! We had fun walking around and looking at the falls. But, I have to say they weren't as amazing as they used to be...maybe because we went to Niagara not too long ago.

The Falls. They were very pretty and you could get some really nice views. They trails to walk down to them were closed off so that was a bummer. I'll have to go back when they open the trails again.

I loved the way it looked when the falls hit the river below.

Mom, Landon & I at the Falls.

Little getting ready for our picnic.

They had quite a few nice tables to choose from. I just wish they would have had some grass space also.

Picnic goods!

YUMMMMMM!

Our last night.

I can't ask for a better two weeks then I have had.  J should have left weeks ago but things changed and we were given extra time. I was so thankful for the time we got. J got leave and we spent 5 days doing nothing but family stuff (as you can tell by the pictures. lol).

When we have leave and time together I always know way ahead of time what I want us to do. This time was no exception. I do know that we can't do something everyday or we get burnt out so I try to do something every other day and sometimes on those days we would do a few things to get as much in as we could.

When J comes up with something that he wants to do it makes it so much better. I love when it's his idea. He told me that the last thing he really wanted to do was go to the beach and maybe have a picnic. I thought it was a great idea! So the night before he left we got dessert and went to the beach for a dessert picnic. It was the most amazing way to end our time together.

Justin and I laid the blanket out and snuggled while Landon played in the sand & water. He was having the best time and J and I were over the moon happy watching him.

Landon is all boy. He can play in the dirt and sand forever and never get tired of it.

This is J's great picture taking skills.

The water was cold! But Landon didn't care. He loved it. J was even too much of a wimp to go out into it past his feet.

I think this is my favorite picture from that day. This beach is so beautiful and it holds some great memories. It was hard coming here the next day to watch the boat leave when the night before we were cuddling on a blanket in the sand.

I read on the blanket while Landon and Justin made me a sand castle. I loved watching them build it together and Landon thought that it was the best thing in the world. These two pictures crack me up. They are always doing the same exact thing without trying to.

This is what we saw at the end of our picnic. J & I sat on a bench swing talking and laughing while Landon played on the playground.

I really couldn't have asked for a better last night together.

Picnic Quest: Bushnell Park

The day that we got our family pictures done, we did a breakfast picnic first. It was a lot of fun to do something different.

I made mini bagel sandwiches, banana muffins, jelly filled muffins (that I'm going to be putting the recipe up for) and we had a bunch of sliced fruit. It was soooo good! I don't know why I've never thought to do a breakfast picnic before, but I'm in love with them now.

I liked this park, but have to say that driving an hour to it isn't really worth it. We had to park in a parking area that you had to pay for since it was in the middle of the city. They have concerts and such there in the summer and the lawn for that is huge! You can see the capitol building from the big lawn also. They have a really neat memorial arch for sailors & soldiers. The best part was by far the carousel. It's old and beautiful! Only $1 to ride and the rides are a decent length.

All in all it was really fun. I'm glad we went, even if we never make the trip up again it was a day to remember for always.

Picnic & Food Quest!

The other day we were driving around and J said he wanted some Ice cream. We looked up "other" in the food section of our GPS and found a place called Cows & Cones. So we went!

Cows & Cones

What we got:

J- he got oreo coffee ice cream in a waffles cone (He LOVED it)

K- I got a banana split with brownie dough ice cream, hot fudge and marshmallow! (The best ice cream I've ever had. seriously)

L- He got a vanilla cone dipped in cherry (he got one once at DQ and has been obsessed ever since)

We walked around the grounds while we ate and saw all of the animals, they have cows, sheep, chicken, pigs and bunnies. The grounds are really beautiful and the animals are tons of fun to look at.

They had a few benches, bistro tables and even some picnic tables you could sit at to eat. We chose a table up by the chickens away from most of the crowd. We ate in peace then walked around a bit more. You could even bring a blanket to sit on the hill above the animals if you wanted to.

This place isn't far from the base here, so if your ever near there on a hot day, stop by and get some amazing ice cream!

Picnic Quest: Dinosaur Place

We've been to the Dinosaur Place before, about 2 years ago. We had such a great time and I knew I wanted to go back this summer.

Last time we went I noticed they have a few nice areas for a picnic. One inside the grounds and one outside. When we went this time, we sat at the outside one. I once again made Chicken Parm and made a different kind of pasta....we loved the pasta today! Sooo good! The Carmel apples from the carnival were perfect for the end of the meal to!

After we ate, we went and walked around the park for a long while. It was nice when we went since not a lot of people were there and they had added a few things since we were there last (like a HUGE maze). We even made it around in time to see the volcano go off.....the wind shifted and I got soaked! J thought that was great, let me tell ya.

This place is so much fun! If you plan on going, pack a lunch! You will work it all of on the trails I promise!

Picnic Quest: Bluff Point!

Since the weather has been nice, we've been going on a ton of picnics! I love here that they have so many different places that we can go. We've been to Bluff point a few times but only to have a picnic or walk the trails, never have we done both at the same time.

It's a great place to picnic. You can choose one of the many picnic tables right when you get there (we chose one over looking the water) or you can hike and pick a spot as you go. When Mandy and I went a few months back we found a really great place to stop and picnic (about 1 mile in)

I made all the food and we were off!

If you've been reading my blog for a while then you know that J insists that I make the same thing every time we picnic. Chicken Parm and Pasta (he likes pickle pasta but I switched it up this time!).

Can you guess what J contributed to the meal?

These are a few pictures from the trip. The top left is Landon and I in the car waiting for J so we could go. The one under that is me watching them skip rocks on our walk. It was getting cold to I put my hood up, J laughed at me forever due to how silly I looked, but I stayed warm!!!! The others are self explanatory. The last one on the bottom right was after J told me he didn't like posed pictures, they aren't real enough. So I took this one. Serves him right.

These are from our walk. This place is just so beautiful. We happened to be walking back as the sun was setting, it was the most amazing thing to see. I love watching the sun set over water.

We had a really great time walking and laughing together. I love picnics.

Aquarium & a picnic!

While on spring break last week we tried to stay very busy! That weekend we didn't have the best weather so we couldn't really play outside, so since Hannah & Emily were going to head over to the Aquarium so we decided to tag along. We had the best time! We had a lot of fun hanging out with them so much over break it was amazing!

Pictures from top left-

• Landon watching the Beluga Whales. They were so graceful in their tank. I could have watched them forever.
• Landon with the penguins. This little guy stayed right next to the glass the whole time! It was so cute and Landon loved it!
• Landon's favorite part was getting to pet the sharks. He loved it and could have stayed there forever.
• Petting the shark!
• The nemo tank. It had a little eel looking thing that kept popping out and spitting sand, we stood there and laughed for quite some time.
• (I Think this is my new favorite picture of Landon). We went to the picnic area after to eat our lunch. The picnic area isn't amazing, but it works. They had about 10 tables to pick from.

I hope everyone is doing great! We have been super busy and I hope to put quite a few pictures and such up within the next week or so!

This is a fun place to picnic before you go in(or after you get done) they have a few picnic tables set out and while it's not the most amazing place to picnic it is nice that you have the choice to eat outside.

Picnic Quest: Devil's Hopyard State Park

Last weekend we decided to go on a picnic since the weather was getting nice and J was getting ready to leave. I decided to hit another picnic quest spot! This time we went to Devil's Hopyard and we loved it!

When you drive in you can pick from tons of different places to stop. You can sit on the grass or they have a ton of picnic table you can choose from, they even have grills if you want to grill some food right there! We drove down to a spot we'd been before and sat at one of the tables right next to the river. It was so nice!

The view of the bridge from our table.
The boys getting ready to eat. I made different food this time and J was mad....I'm supposed to make the same thing EVERYTIME! lol.

After we ate we hiked for a little bit. I wanted to see the Falls and it wasn't far to walk, so off we went. We went to the little ones first and went to the bigger one on the way back. I want to go back once the weather gets nicer....what an amazing place to walk around!

The streams and everything were just beautiful.

He cracks me up. Always making a show. I don't know why he can't just stand still and let me take pictures.

My boys.

Landon. We tried to get the dog up there with him but he wasn't having any of it, I couldn't get any good pictures of the dog that day.

"Look mom, it looks like I'm running, but I'm not!"

The grounds were just so beautiful, I wanted to take pictures of everything (and I did, but I will spare you 20 photos)

Lol. He's doing the MJ walk.

J wanted to take a few pictures of Landon and I. Not bad. This was after we were walking for a little over an hour and it was a bit chilly!

Going back to the car. Landon got up there and started yelling "Fi FI FO FUM, I'm a troll!" He's so funny!

.

I love this park and plan on going back quite a bit while we live here!

Picnic Quest: Harkness Park!

Like I have said, everywhere we move we always hunt out the perfect picnic place. We went to Bluff Point a few times but it just wasn't right. While Justin was gone Mandy and I went to Harkness Park and I just knew that was it...the perfect spot!

Onto the quest park of this blog. I bought a book at one of my favorite stores in the Mystic Village it's called "Traveling Connecticut with a picnic basket" so how could I not buy it! Anyway I was looking at all the places that they say you should go and have a picnic this past weekend and decided that we are going to go to every one of them before we move. Crazy enough Harkness was on the list. So check one! I will update every new place we go. It might take a while since Justin will deploy a few times before we move but we WILL do it!

Here are the pictures I took from our picnic yesterday.

This is of the actual picnic. We use the amazing quilt Justin's mom made for him when he was younger. It's the perfect size for all three of us to stretch out on. I always make the same food. Chicken Parm and Pickle Pasta (JENN!) I will post both of those recipes on TATT this Tuesday.

We promised Landon we would play baseball at the park. So we did. Justin even tried just throwing the ball to Landon to see if he could hit it. He did on the first try. It was so great!

Then we had a candy necklace fight. Justin and I used to have them all the time in high school. What you do is you separate the necklace so you have just one piece of candy on the string and you put it in between your front teeth so your biting it in half, pull back and bit all the way down. it will shoot far and they hurt so don't aim for the face.

Harkness even has a beach. We walked down and the boys were skipping rocks. I love just sitting back and watching them.

After we did all that we got cleaned up and walked around the rest of the park. Here are just a few of the great pictures I got.