11-12 October 2013 Skykomish and on to South Prairie

October 11  Today we went to Remingler Farms near Carnation with Jason's family and Skykomish elementary school kids. Remingler Farms has developed a mega facility for small kids fun to take advantage of the fall Halloween season. Allison is a teacher's assistant at the Skykomish pre-school and was on duty, keeping track of the pre-school kids.

Patrice and I came here with Katrina and Jeff and kids about 12 years ago. The area of the fun stuff has about tripled, as far as we remember, and it has become a big operation. Busloads of school children arrived at intervals throughout the morning.

Our first stop was the hay maze and hay jump pit (it's all really straw). Jason James and Madeline were here last year and knew what fun was offered! Off came the boots and socks and straw was everywhere!

Jason (left) and Allison (far end) monitoring the exit of the hay maze  

Jason James gettin' down in the hay pit

Madeline delighting in it all

Following some carnival-type rides we all caught the 11:30 train ride. Locomotion for six passenger cars is provided by a real steam engine. The ride lasts about 20 minutes and goes along the Snoqualmie River before circling around the farm, passing through a tunnel, and back to the station. About 50 scarecrows lined the fences along the route and we saw alpacas, donkeys, and pigs in pens--it was a fun ride! Following the train ride Allison and Madeline went to the petting zoo and found some other rides. Jason and Jason James found some tractors and a fire engine. Jason James was in his glory and spent the rest of his time in this area pushing buttons, handling levers, and "driving." Grandma Patrice's job was taking pictures. 

[Jason is wearing a Swandri, a type of overcoat that we bought for the boys on our

trip to New Zealand, when Jason was 17 years old!]

Daddy has infinite patience

Patrice found these artsy shots along the way through the kids fun area.

Decoration in the "party room"

We traded our entry stickers for one pumpkin each on our way out of the fun area. Patrice and I grabbed our pumpkins and headed to the building that holds the Remlinger Farms Store--fresh produce and all kinds of farms stuff. Gathering the troops, we all headed out, and stopped for lunch at a great Thai restaurant in Duvall before we returned to Skykomish. 

October 12  A sad day for us as we left Jason and family in Skykomish for our next stop in South Prairie. We will camp at the South Prairie RV Park for a week while visiting our two daughters and families in Puyallup and Auburn. The drive down was through some heavy traffic along I-405 and Highway 167. We arrived at South Prairie, set up our rig, and headed to Puyallup to spend some time and have dinner with daughter Kelly and granddaughter Mikayla.

Lovely Kelly

   Sweet Mikayla

Kelly is the proud mom of Matthew, who recently graduated from Central Washington University in Ellensberg, and now Mikayla is a junior there and came home to visit with us. She finished her Associates Degree in Puyallup, and is working in her major--we think it is to be in physical therapy with sports medicine. She's a lovely smart young lady, and we are so proud of her.