Our Summer 2012 Neighborhood

Last time we announced our "epic" summer vacation. How big is epic? So big that we found a house to camp in while we were there, since it was cheaper than a motel for the length of our stay. Truly epic, yes? Our destination was Seattle, and our summer digs were in the Beacon Hill neighborhood. And now for a little tour of fun things around us (note that everything featured in this post was less than a mile from our place). Here's a terrace garden we passed by a lot:

Note the stadium, Puget Sound, and big buildings in the background at this intersection we passed during one of our walks (and transit fans can note the trackless trolley wires).

This park had perhaps the smallest playground we've ever seen, but it was fun to discover anyway.

Also in the neighborhood was Katie Black's Garden, a small Japanese garden that was donated to the city after Katie Black's death. The kids had fun exploring the winding paths.

One of Mom's favorite things about Seattle is all the flowers everywhere, like this garden patch. A large part of the photos Mom took this summer were flower pictures.

Yes, it's a bus stop, but see the map on it? Most of the bus stops around the city have local art of some sort on them, especially in the more residential areas. Just fun to see.

There was a great little library nearby, and best of all it was part of the citywide library, which meant we could order in whatever we had a hankering for. The kids loved to visit, and the older three Muffins all completed the summer reading program and earned a book as a reward. For the record, Curtis was the first to finish; he loved having people read to him.

The crowning jewel of the neighborhood, though, as far as the Muffins were concerned, was definitely this playground. Not only did it have swings and this fun climb/slide structure . . .

. . . it also had spinning things. There was this thing that one or two kids could spin on:

But even better was this merry-go-round, where the kids spent quite a lot of time over the summer.

Our little neighborhood also included easy access to public transportation and a some small stores within walking distance. The home we stayed in was probably the nicest one we've ever lived in. All in all, we loved it.