Rutledge Corn Maze

Yesterday we drove down to Tumwater and continued our tradition of doing the corn maze at Rutledge Farm.  Scott, Corey, Terrell, Nova and I made it through the maze, hitting every check point in just one hour.  It was a lovely fall day and even much warmer and sunnier than they forecasted.  We rode the cow cars which was my favorite activity.  Scott and I tied this year for two correct guesses for the Farm Mystery.  It was the duck with the pitchfork in the outhouse! Corey had one correct guess and Terrell had none.  We enjoyed the giant bubbles and all the fun games.  Nova even hit one of the targets with the corn cannon!  Afterwards we ate a yummy lunch at Brewery City Pizza.  

Terrell put Nova in with him, but she wanted to ride all by herself like a big girl.

Getting buckled in.

Corey wanted to ride in Milkshake because she liked that name best.

This cute tractor sang songs and blew smoke!

I was too slow and Nova ran away before I got a pic with her face!

Brewery City added a little arcade to the restaurant and Nova was very interested in the pinball machines.

Volunteering

Scott & Gabby spent Saturday morning up in Seattle volunteering for National Public Lands Day. Here is Gabby's write up and some pictures of the event. 

Dad and I volunteered at the Ballard Locks for National Public Lands Day. Our park ranger said this is the biggest public volunteer event in the country! I had seen the event on their sandwich board sign a few weeks ago when Ethan and I went to the Locks to see the salmon run. Volunteers had the option to help plant a pollinator garden or clear invasive plants, and we opted for the latter. We forgot to take a before picture, but we ended up clearing a huge patch of invasive Himalayan blackberry and native Fireweed stalks (which was just dead and ready to be removed). You couldn't tell when we started, but our pruning revealed a lot of native plants underneath the invasives, like Snowberry, Salal, and some native Trailing Blackberry. It felt good to volunteer and see how just a few hours of labor can yield a big result. After our shift, we headed back to the apartment to change clothes and grab brunch at Greenwood American Bistro, which Ethan and I had not been to yet.

A nice friendly spider.

Gabby working hard.

 

Sister Fun in Seattle

On Friday Corey & Nova drove up to Seattle to visit Gabby and explore MOHAI.  Here is Gabby's write up and some pictures of their fun event!

I got the Museum Pass for Nova, Sissy, and I to go to MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry) on 9/19. I had never been to this museum before, but I saw they had a kids' play exhibit and thought it would be fun to check out. The museum is focused on the history of Seattle, and the second floor was a big loop where you could walk through time, from pre-colonization to modern day. The third floor had the kids' play area, and there were lots of different toys to practice building, like blocks, gears, and magnetic ramps. Nova picked out a book for Sissy to read, but it was in Spanish, so we didn't understand much of the story. We didn't end up going to the 4th floor or doing much on the ground floor, as we were hungry and decided to hit the museum cafe for lunch. Afterwards, we got to tour one of the boats docked at the museum, which was cool.