carscaddon.com

H and L at the Shore Run finish

I find June to be one of the toughest months in Seattle.  It’s summer by the calendar and warm everywhere in the country, but still mid-50s and rainy here.  Summer doesn’t really start in the PNW until July 4.  However, this weekend was beautiful and we took full advantage.  I was perhaps a bit too enthusisatic about the weather and singlehanded two toddler excursions that really required a one-on-one parent ratio.  The first was “Toddler Trails” — a one hour nature walk around Seward Park (one of Seattle’s many gorgeous parks) organized by the Audobon Society.  It started off innocently enough — hanging out inside, reading nature stories and watching a turtle eat apples – but quickly moved into a pretty intense nature hike up steep, muddy paths (I think the Audobon Society defines toddlers as 3-4 year olds, not 22-month olds).  It would have been fine if the girls hadn’t both insisted on being carried for the majority of our 45 minute hike — ouch.  Twenty-two pound toddlers are definitely bigger than anything I’ve been lifting at the gym lately.   After we all recovered with a nap, I took the girls to the playground to meet a friend and her 8 month old daughter.  Again, really a two parent activity given that the girls are big enough to run to the top of big structures (usually in opposite directions) with huge drop offs and wage epic battles with each other over who’s turn it is to be on the rocking spring-loaded animal thing.

Team Carscaddon! (H and L)

Today, we did the Shore Run, which is a beautiful race along Lake Washington.  It starts at Seward Park (site of the Toddler Trails adventure) and ends in Madison Park, near where we live.  Allan and I have both done the race every year since we moved to Seattle (okay, I had a brief hiatis when I was 8-months pregnant with twins).  For the last two years, we’ve brought along the girls in the double- jogging stroller.  Luckily, I’m not pushing since that double BOB is getting heavier and heavier.  Allan has been training though with lots of weekend runs with the girls, and crushed several spirits as he charged past a pack of runners on a huge hill, while pushing 75 pounds of toddler+stroller.  We ended up toward the front of the pack and got a nice shout-out from a spectator of “fast family!” 

Freshening up after the race