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And the Seattle Aquarium diver!
More break fun
The Pacific Science center, which never gets old.
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And the Seattle Aquarium diver!
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And the Seattle Aquarium diver!
Monthly Archives: December 2019
The new Burke
The new Burke building is really special. Chris is a skeptic but I predict it's going to win a ton of fancy design awards. The boys came up with their own scavenger hunt (a running tally of their favorite pieces of the museum) and this underwater video installation made the top of the list.
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Zoo
Some unusual creatures spotted at the zoo...
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Merry Christmas
Making gingerbread houses while wearing cocoa mustaches, watching "snowflake" bubbles fall, skating on the tiny Fisher Pavilion rink. This is how we do the holidays in Seattle.
From the Pacific Science Center's photo booth.
Photo by Chris.
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Abstract reindeer. This is crafting with boys.
Photo by Chris.
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The pros... and our version.
Photo from Magnolia Winterfest.
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Twenty-five years of Garden d'Lights at Bellevue Botanical Garden. Butterflies, bees, flowers — so pretty. This is the third light show we saw this year, the smallest, and definitely the most charming.
Christmas morning, pausing for a picture before busting into presents.
From the Pacific Science Center's photo booth.
Photo by Chris.
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Abstract reindeer. This is crafting with boys.
Photo by Chris.
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The pros... and our version.
Photo from Magnolia Winterfest.
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Twenty-five years of Garden d'Lights at Bellevue Botanical Garden. Butterflies, bees, flowers — so pretty. This is the third light show we saw this year, the smallest, and definitely the most charming.
Christmas morning, pausing for a picture before busting into presents.
Swanson’s decked out for the holidays
Swanson's Nursery goes all out for Christmas every year. Here are Joseph and Paul this year, vs. two years ago.
WHOA.
I wish they'd stay small, but only if they got along like this all the time.
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We made the requisite stop at the reindeer; the boys were marginally impressed. Paul really loved the trains this year.
WHOA.
I wish they'd stay small, but only if they got along like this all the time.
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We made the requisite stop at the reindeer; the boys were marginally impressed. Paul really loved the trains this year.
Fort building
Still the best "present" ever. Rescued this box from recycling at the neighbor's curb. Who needs a Nugget?
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Macy’s window
Last year to see the Macy's holiday window... Macy's downtown closes in February and the building turns over to Amazon.
Enchant vs. Lumaze
It was a terrible job, but someone had to do it. These kids went to BOTH Lumaze and Enchant to see how they stack up. I also wrote about the new and improved Enchant for ParentMap; that's where all these pictures are from.
Lumaze: Lost in Lights is new this year, and Enchant Christmas is back in Seattle for its second year. Two big, spendy indoor light shows competing for your holiday dollars. We’ll break them down so you can decide which one to take your family to.
Size:
Lumaze fills the 100,000-square-foot-plus cruise ship terminal at Pier 91; Enchant claims to be the world’s largest light maze covering 300,000 square feet of T-Mobile Park.
Is bigger better? There’s just more of everything at Enchant. Lumaze has some holiday market and food vendors; Enchant has many, many more. We spent three hours at Lumaze and felt like we covered it all. At Enchant, I cut my kids off after three hours (it was a school night) and all the way to the car, they asked when we could come again.
Price:
No winners here — both are incredibly expensive.
Lumaze tickets are $19.99-$22.99 adults and $14.99-$16.99 kids, plus $15 for parking. Enchant tickets are $19.99-$32.99 for adults and $14.99-$23.99 for kids, plus $20 for parking. Note that the cheapest tickets are only available during times not conducive to families, like weeknights and late entries.
Finding it:
The exterior of T-Mobile Park is all decked out in strings of glittering lights. It’d be pretty hard to miss that something very special (Enchant) is happening inside. We actually drove over the Magnolia Bridge on our way home from Enchant, and there’s no way you’d even know there was another major light show happening on the pier below. Lumaze seriously needs some giant, lit arrows pointing the way.
Best Santa photo op:
Hands down, Enchant. Santa’s Landing is a beautifully designed landscape where Santa sits on a crescent moon surrounded by mountains. It’s all perfectly lit. You can take personal photos for free, and the cheapest pro option, a 4x6 print, is $12. Come wearing your cutest Christmas clothes, because this photo is going to be a keeper.
At Lumaze, Santa’s chair is covered with lights, but Santa isn’t lit. You’re going to get a bad photo with underexposed faces.
Best light maze:
Lumaze has a little of everything. It was fun to walk around and discover all the different shapes, from Santa’s sleigh to cupcakes to a fairytale castle all done up in lights.
The sculptures at Enchant are strictly holiday themed: ornaments, presents and trees. So, more visual uniformity, which appeals to my design aesthetic, but not as interesting for kids.
Both shows have a fun feature where you can jump on lights to change the color. The Lumaze version worked a lot better, so kids got that instant gratification.
Best non-maze kid activities:
Lumaze wins this category.
The kids zone at Enchant is just an area with some squishy foam blocks, which you can play with anywhere. And you didn’t drop $20 on parking for your kids to watch a movie at the Enchant cinema. The ice rink is popular, maybe a little too popular. We passed on the $10 rental skates and bumpy ice.
My kids loved the indoor playground at Lumaze. There are LED light-up swings and seesaws, and a gingerbread house-themed play structure. We also loved the mini train ride (no extra charge).
Overall holiday spirit: Enchant just felt more polished. A toy soldier greets visitors at the entrance (not a guy in a polo shirt). At the exit, pointy-eared elves hand out gold medallion chocolates embossed with an “E.” Enchant really thought out the details.
The first floor of Lumaze felt cramped and dark. You really can’t compete with the spaciousness of a baseball stadium. I also disliked the turf flooring at Lumaze, which was a sloppy safety hazard.
The bottom line:
If I had to choose one to take my kids to next year, it’s Enchant. It’s more expensive, but it’s bigger, more polished and better.
Lumaze: Lost in Lights is new this year, and Enchant Christmas is back in Seattle for its second year. Two big, spendy indoor light shows competing for your holiday dollars. We’ll break them down so you can decide which one to take your family to.
Size:
Lumaze fills the 100,000-square-foot-plus cruise ship terminal at Pier 91; Enchant claims to be the world’s largest light maze covering 300,000 square feet of T-Mobile Park.
Is bigger better? There’s just more of everything at Enchant. Lumaze has some holiday market and food vendors; Enchant has many, many more. We spent three hours at Lumaze and felt like we covered it all. At Enchant, I cut my kids off after three hours (it was a school night) and all the way to the car, they asked when we could come again.
Price:
No winners here — both are incredibly expensive.
Lumaze tickets are $19.99-$22.99 adults and $14.99-$16.99 kids, plus $15 for parking. Enchant tickets are $19.99-$32.99 for adults and $14.99-$23.99 for kids, plus $20 for parking. Note that the cheapest tickets are only available during times not conducive to families, like weeknights and late entries.
Finding it:
The exterior of T-Mobile Park is all decked out in strings of glittering lights. It’d be pretty hard to miss that something very special (Enchant) is happening inside. We actually drove over the Magnolia Bridge on our way home from Enchant, and there’s no way you’d even know there was another major light show happening on the pier below. Lumaze seriously needs some giant, lit arrows pointing the way.
Best Santa photo op:
Hands down, Enchant. Santa’s Landing is a beautifully designed landscape where Santa sits on a crescent moon surrounded by mountains. It’s all perfectly lit. You can take personal photos for free, and the cheapest pro option, a 4x6 print, is $12. Come wearing your cutest Christmas clothes, because this photo is going to be a keeper.
At Lumaze, Santa’s chair is covered with lights, but Santa isn’t lit. You’re going to get a bad photo with underexposed faces.
Best light maze:
Lumaze has a little of everything. It was fun to walk around and discover all the different shapes, from Santa’s sleigh to cupcakes to a fairytale castle all done up in lights.
The sculptures at Enchant are strictly holiday themed: ornaments, presents and trees. So, more visual uniformity, which appeals to my design aesthetic, but not as interesting for kids.
Both shows have a fun feature where you can jump on lights to change the color. The Lumaze version worked a lot better, so kids got that instant gratification.
Best non-maze kid activities:
Lumaze wins this category.
The kids zone at Enchant is just an area with some squishy foam blocks, which you can play with anywhere. And you didn’t drop $20 on parking for your kids to watch a movie at the Enchant cinema. The ice rink is popular, maybe a little too popular. We passed on the $10 rental skates and bumpy ice.
My kids loved the indoor playground at Lumaze. There are LED light-up swings and seesaws, and a gingerbread house-themed play structure. We also loved the mini train ride (no extra charge).
Overall holiday spirit: Enchant just felt more polished. A toy soldier greets visitors at the entrance (not a guy in a polo shirt). At the exit, pointy-eared elves hand out gold medallion chocolates embossed with an “E.” Enchant really thought out the details.
The first floor of Lumaze felt cramped and dark. You really can’t compete with the spaciousness of a baseball stadium. I also disliked the turf flooring at Lumaze, which was a sloppy safety hazard.
The bottom line:
If I had to choose one to take my kids to next year, it’s Enchant. It’s more expensive, but it’s bigger, more polished and better.
New indoor light show: Lumaze
There’s a new indoor light show in town this year, and it’s called Lumaze.
Last year’s hot new holiday ticket was Enchant, held at the Mariners’ stadium. Lumaze enters the Seattle scene with an enormous light maze, train ride, live music, indoor playground and Santa visits in the 100,000-square-foot-cruise ship terminal at Pier 91.
Lumaze holds shows in 10 cities in Denmark, across Canada, and for the first time this year, in the U.S. (Pittsburgh and Seattle are the two state-side stops.)
The theme of this year’s Lumaze is “A Fairytale Christmas.” In the light maze, you’ll see festive snowmen, presents, Santa’s sleigh — and a horse-drawn carriage and glittering castle where you’re greeted by actresses dressed as Belle and Cinderella.
Everywhere you look, there are tons of photo ops. The photos don’t even capture how magical it is in person, with twinkling lights, tinsel and ornaments.
The light maze takes up the entire second floor of the building. It was bright and open and fun to explore. When we visited on opening night, it didn’t feel overcrowded.
My 8-year-old’s favorite thing about Lumaze was the scavenger hunt. There are six super-sized presents tucked in the maze, each one staffed by a Santa’s helper who will stamp your card. When you collect all six stamps, you get a prize! (It’s a candy cane.) The scavenger hunt was challenging enough that I had to send my husband to scout out the elusive presents.
My 4-year-old’s favorite was the hopscotch part of the light maze. There are a bunch of plastic discs scattered on the ground, and every time you hop on one, it changes color.
Downstairs on the first floor, you’ll find the train ride, live music stage, Santa, playground, marketplace and food truck area. You can buy food and trinkets, but there’s no extra charge for any of the activities. I felt like Lumaze offered more for little kids than Enchant (where ice skating is the only activity apart from the light maze).
There’s no skating rink at Lumaze. There is, however, a mini train (the “Glowcamotive”) that takes passengers on a two-lap ride. The train is supposed to be for kids 12 and under, but our whole family got on board and the conductor assured me he’s “very lenient.”
The indoor playground was a big hit. My kids loved the gingerbread house-themed play structure with four slides. There are also five light-up seesaws and 10 light-up swings that change colors. My 4-year-old found out the hard way that the swings are meant for gentle swaying, not for going fast or high.
You know about Rody horses, right? There’s a coral of about 50 bouncy unicorns. (Maybe they ran out of reindeer?) There are also kid-sized tables stocked with coloring supplies and a light stick wall. We spent most of our time in the awesome light maze, but I liked that there were other kid activities too.
There was no wait for Santa when we visited. Unless you have a good flash, though, it’s hard to get a good picture with the big guy. Santa’s chair is covered with lights, but the room is dark so faces will be underexposed.
The marketplace is hit or miss. We saw holiday-appropriate vendors like fudge and light-up toys, and also booths hawking long-lasting lip color and Renewal Windows by Anderson. (Merry Christmas, honey?)
You do have to watch your step, especially on the first floor which is darker. Lumaze rolled out green turf over the cruise ship terminal’s industrial carpeting, and it’s easy to stumble on the edges of the turf or on one of the many ripples. Some of the edges are taped down, but they were going to need a lot more tape to do the entire building.
Unlike Enchant, Lumaze doesn’t restrict strollers or bags — so helpful for young families! You can take an escalator or elevator to get to the light maze on the second floor. The building processes hordes of cruise ship passengers from April to October, so it’s designed to handle a crowd. There are plenty of restrooms, all clean and tidy with changing tables.
Last year’s hot new holiday ticket was Enchant, held at the Mariners’ stadium. Lumaze enters the Seattle scene with an enormous light maze, train ride, live music, indoor playground and Santa visits in the 100,000-square-foot-cruise ship terminal at Pier 91.
Lumaze holds shows in 10 cities in Denmark, across Canada, and for the first time this year, in the U.S. (Pittsburgh and Seattle are the two state-side stops.)
The theme of this year’s Lumaze is “A Fairytale Christmas.” In the light maze, you’ll see festive snowmen, presents, Santa’s sleigh — and a horse-drawn carriage and glittering castle where you’re greeted by actresses dressed as Belle and Cinderella.
Everywhere you look, there are tons of photo ops. The photos don’t even capture how magical it is in person, with twinkling lights, tinsel and ornaments.
The light maze takes up the entire second floor of the building. It was bright and open and fun to explore. When we visited on opening night, it didn’t feel overcrowded.
My 8-year-old’s favorite thing about Lumaze was the scavenger hunt. There are six super-sized presents tucked in the maze, each one staffed by a Santa’s helper who will stamp your card. When you collect all six stamps, you get a prize! (It’s a candy cane.) The scavenger hunt was challenging enough that I had to send my husband to scout out the elusive presents.
My 4-year-old’s favorite was the hopscotch part of the light maze. There are a bunch of plastic discs scattered on the ground, and every time you hop on one, it changes color.
Downstairs on the first floor, you’ll find the train ride, live music stage, Santa, playground, marketplace and food truck area. You can buy food and trinkets, but there’s no extra charge for any of the activities. I felt like Lumaze offered more for little kids than Enchant (where ice skating is the only activity apart from the light maze).
There’s no skating rink at Lumaze. There is, however, a mini train (the “Glowcamotive”) that takes passengers on a two-lap ride. The train is supposed to be for kids 12 and under, but our whole family got on board and the conductor assured me he’s “very lenient.”
The indoor playground was a big hit. My kids loved the gingerbread house-themed play structure with four slides. There are also five light-up seesaws and 10 light-up swings that change colors. My 4-year-old found out the hard way that the swings are meant for gentle swaying, not for going fast or high.
You know about Rody horses, right? There’s a coral of about 50 bouncy unicorns. (Maybe they ran out of reindeer?) There are also kid-sized tables stocked with coloring supplies and a light stick wall. We spent most of our time in the awesome light maze, but I liked that there were other kid activities too.
There was no wait for Santa when we visited. Unless you have a good flash, though, it’s hard to get a good picture with the big guy. Santa’s chair is covered with lights, but the room is dark so faces will be underexposed.
The marketplace is hit or miss. We saw holiday-appropriate vendors like fudge and light-up toys, and also booths hawking long-lasting lip color and Renewal Windows by Anderson. (Merry Christmas, honey?)
You do have to watch your step, especially on the first floor which is darker. Lumaze rolled out green turf over the cruise ship terminal’s industrial carpeting, and it’s easy to stumble on the edges of the turf or on one of the many ripples. Some of the edges are taped down, but they were going to need a lot more tape to do the entire building.
Unlike Enchant, Lumaze doesn’t restrict strollers or bags — so helpful for young families! You can take an escalator or elevator to get to the light maze on the second floor. The building processes hordes of cruise ship passengers from April to October, so it’s designed to handle a crowd. There are plenty of restrooms, all clean and tidy with changing tables. New Mill Creek natural play area
There’s lots of room to run and play, climb and hide at Mill Creek’s new Exploration Park. Your little adventurers get a taste of nature here – climbing boulders and tree trunks, exploring a streambed and scaling a mountain – all without a long drive by you. The 1.2-acre circular park is located in the North Pointe neighborhood just off 35th Ave SE.
Half of the park is a grassy play lawn, which was still fenced off when we visited. The other half is nature-meets-parkour course. Kids can summit a mini mountain, duck through the tunnel underneath, cross wooden bridges and dig in the gravel-filled den. Playground equipment includes a hillside double slide, a balance beam, and a Kompan rope climber and swing set. A dry streambed filled with rocks leads down to a frog pond.
The new picnic tables are wheelchair friendly and the concrete sidewalk circling the park meets Americans with Disabilities Act standards. It’s a great route for beginning bikers. A little boy practiced his balance bike, his dad trailing him with baby in the stroller. “You can keep going, bud! You can go wherever you want,” the dad called out. That’s something you don’t hear in the city.
Building this new park cost a mind-boggling $1.25 million, with half the money going to grading, drainage and irrigation work. (No more soggy grass!) The park closed from April to October, and its North Pointe neighbors got to listen to construction vehicles rumbling for six months.
But what a payoff. This park was specifically designed as a neighborhood park, primarily for the 225 homes in the North Pointe development. It’s intended for families within walkable/bikable distance, not as a destination park. There are only 22 parking spaces built into the circumference of the park.
There’s no restroom here by design, to discourage people from outside Mill Creek coming here. (Adding one would have cost another $1 million.) We planned ahead for that detail, though – there’s an Albertson’s and McDonald’s on 132nd St SE. Exploration Park makes for an easy outing: kids get to explore a bit of man-made nature (surrounded by cookie-cutter homes), and parents have the convenience of big box stores around the corner.
Because of the hillside play area, parents don’t have great sight lines. But on a weekday morning, the park was quiet enough a couple of moms could catch up at the picnic tables, and hear their kids playing. With all its nooks and crannies, Exploration Park was made for an epic game of hide-and-seek.
The swing set includes two regular belt swings and a basket swing. We watched a baby having the tummy time of her life in that basket swing. Later, we saw a determined toddler scramble up the faux-rock steps to the top of the mountain. This park is really all ages – a super fun obstacle course for bigger kids, but accessible for waddlers and tots too.
The beautiful landscaping around the play area includes a frog pond/rain garden, which is designed to collect and filter stormwater runoff. You do have to keep an eye on kids around the little pond, if they’re the kind prone to toppling in. Rocks the size of ostrich eggs in the streambed proved irresistible to a gaggle of preschoolers. We saw them heaving the rocks into the pond, and it’s just a matter of time before that pond gets filled up.
I asked my 4-year-old what he liked best about Exploration Park, and it was the slide. At first he was scared and wanted to hold my hand, but then he discovered that the slide is super slow. So slow he could stroll up and down the slide in his sneakers. It was an exciting discovery.
There’s a ton of fun packed into this half-moon-shaped playground. It’s well worth putting on your circuit, even if you don’t live in the North Pointe neighborhood (shhh). Just plan a potty stop before and after playing.
This story ran on ParentMap here.
Half of the park is a grassy play lawn, which was still fenced off when we visited. The other half is nature-meets-parkour course. Kids can summit a mini mountain, duck through the tunnel underneath, cross wooden bridges and dig in the gravel-filled den. Playground equipment includes a hillside double slide, a balance beam, and a Kompan rope climber and swing set. A dry streambed filled with rocks leads down to a frog pond.
The new picnic tables are wheelchair friendly and the concrete sidewalk circling the park meets Americans with Disabilities Act standards. It’s a great route for beginning bikers. A little boy practiced his balance bike, his dad trailing him with baby in the stroller. “You can keep going, bud! You can go wherever you want,” the dad called out. That’s something you don’t hear in the city.
Building this new park cost a mind-boggling $1.25 million, with half the money going to grading, drainage and irrigation work. (No more soggy grass!) The park closed from April to October, and its North Pointe neighbors got to listen to construction vehicles rumbling for six months.
But what a payoff. This park was specifically designed as a neighborhood park, primarily for the 225 homes in the North Pointe development. It’s intended for families within walkable/bikable distance, not as a destination park. There are only 22 parking spaces built into the circumference of the park.
There’s no restroom here by design, to discourage people from outside Mill Creek coming here. (Adding one would have cost another $1 million.) We planned ahead for that detail, though – there’s an Albertson’s and McDonald’s on 132nd St SE. Exploration Park makes for an easy outing: kids get to explore a bit of man-made nature (surrounded by cookie-cutter homes), and parents have the convenience of big box stores around the corner.
Because of the hillside play area, parents don’t have great sight lines. But on a weekday morning, the park was quiet enough a couple of moms could catch up at the picnic tables, and hear their kids playing. With all its nooks and crannies, Exploration Park was made for an epic game of hide-and-seek.
The swing set includes two regular belt swings and a basket swing. We watched a baby having the tummy time of her life in that basket swing. Later, we saw a determined toddler scramble up the faux-rock steps to the top of the mountain. This park is really all ages – a super fun obstacle course for bigger kids, but accessible for waddlers and tots too.
The beautiful landscaping around the play area includes a frog pond/rain garden, which is designed to collect and filter stormwater runoff. You do have to keep an eye on kids around the little pond, if they’re the kind prone to toppling in. Rocks the size of ostrich eggs in the streambed proved irresistible to a gaggle of preschoolers. We saw them heaving the rocks into the pond, and it’s just a matter of time before that pond gets filled up.
I asked my 4-year-old what he liked best about Exploration Park, and it was the slide. At first he was scared and wanted to hold my hand, but then he discovered that the slide is super slow. So slow he could stroll up and down the slide in his sneakers. It was an exciting discovery.
There’s a ton of fun packed into this half-moon-shaped playground. It’s well worth putting on your circuit, even if you don’t live in the North Pointe neighborhood (shhh). Just plan a potty stop before and after playing.
This story ran on ParentMap here.