Burfoot Park

We decided to spend an hour or two at the Heritage Park Fountain today only to find out that it is closed on Wednesdays.  How disappointing!  Who closes the only fountain/sprayground in the city during the summer?  Since we were most of the way there, and since we really wanted to find some water play on one of the few hot days we've had so far this year, I decided to try Burfoot Park.  We hadn't visited this particular park yet so today was as good as any.  (The only reason we even know it exists is our church is planning a picnic there later this month).  It turned out to be a pretty nice park.  It also happened to be low tide so we found some cool critters, though fewer critters than we've found at other beaches.

This is what the shore and view looks like.  You can't really tell, but the Olympics can be seen in the distance.   Like nearly every beach in the area, it has a rocky beach.  (I really miss sandy beaches and look forward to some day taking my kids to see one.)

A couple of boys showed us a shrimp they found.  They thought it was a lobster. 

There were the usual tiny crabs.  Sorry the photo is so bad; I didn't have my camera with me and was limited to just the camera in my phone.

If she could talk well, she'd be saying, "Look mom!  I found a crab."  She had no fear of small crabs.

Another horrible photo, but we found this dead needlefish on the shore.  I didn't want to touch it so I used to clam shells as tongs to pick it up.  LOL  Here's a link to a better picture of this variety of needlefish.

Here's Mika walking the shore with her new beachcombing sifter.  She bought it with her own money.  Unfortunately, the Pacific Coast doesn't have abundant shells.  She wants to go to Florida because they have good shells there.  We did find two large moon shells, including one that wasn't tucked into the shell, and a few tiny hermit crabs in their shells. I found a clam with a broken shell and was showing it to the kids when it suddenly stuck it's foot out, startling me into screaming and dropping it.  She also found a small unoccupied moon shell and a very tiny gastropod shell that wasn't occupied. 

Of course, there was no keeping the littles out of the water.  Other people were much further out.  It was obvious from how far out they were that the ground slopes very gradually.  I don't understand how anyone can go into the water around here knowing what lives in the water.  I do not like living water...where's the pool?

After a while we headed back up the trail (uphill with lots steps carrying Madelynn all the way) back to the main park.  This is the playground which is surrounded by lots of grass and plenty of shade trees.  There were plenty of picnic tables and a small shelter as well.  We played for a while before heading back home.