Alki Beach

 Columbus Day meant no school so we went on an adventure to Alki Beach in West Seattle.  It was the first time driving into Seattle since we moved back but mostly I was excited to see the ocean.  It's been a long three months without going to a beach so I checked the tide schedule ahead of time in hopes we'd hit low tide.  Well, it was definitely a disappointment.  Apparently low tide in the summer is not the same as low tide in the fall because the tide was still really high and the beach was a rocky, smelly mess.  We found a lot of sea anemones and I taught the boys how to make them squirt water so that was kind of fun and Ethan tried desperately to pull some starfish from a rock.  It didn't work. 
The beach adventure only lasted about twenty minutes before we'd had enough.  I bought a groupon for a cool bike rental so we headed over to the rental place only to discover it's closed on the weekdays.  Such a disappointment!  But the boys wasted no time playing on all the locked up bikes and it didn't cost me a dime so free fun is always good.  We ate lunch at a fish and chips place that was pretty tasty and then played at a park for awhile. 
It was good to get out and explore with my boys.  I'd forgotten how much I love doing that and I'm so glad we live in an area where there are endless opportunities to do it.

Bean trying to pry off the starfish

Marcus and friend Matthew grossing out at the seaweed

Not being able to drive anywhere didn't seem to matter.  They had fun anyway!

Landon liked this one the best

fried seafood is always delicious

This neighborhood park kept them entertained for quite awhile

These tweens think they're so cool

Matthew is the youngest of 5 kids so when he said, "lets do Titanic" and Marcus looked confused, Matt said, "Duh.  Everyone knows about the Titanic movie."  Not Marcus.  But he played along while I laughed hysterically.

Bean getting run over by the boat

An endless supply of rocks to throw in the water meant we could've stayed here for days

Glad my boys have seen the real Statue of Liberty in New York so they know how lame this one is