4th...uhhhh, 3rd of July.

OK, so Poulsbo, WA is the viking community of the peninsula noted in a previous post.  And, as vikings, they apparently do whatever they want when they want to.  They don't celebrate the 4th of July on the 4th even though it is the one holiday that really seems to insist that it is associated with a given date.  Instead, they celebrate the 4th on the 3rd of July.

I'm OK with this.

A new found friend lives in Poulsbo and got invited to a party on the 3rd and invited us.  This is how we got to meet our Man Of the Year nominee, Brent Johnston.   

Brent lives in a beautiful house above a sloping hill with a view of the sound across from Poulsbo.  The previous owners of the house had a large annual 3rd of July party and, since they were only moving next door, insisted that if he were to buy the house, he would have to continue having this annual party and invite them.  He did.  It has grown.  In fact, they do this.

Why yes, my slip-n-slide can be seen from space.

OK, there is a lot going on in this picture.

Yes, that is a 40 yard long slip-n-slide.  The smoke arising from the top left of the photo is a wood burning stove surrounded by metal coils where the water pumped from plunge pool is heated before being pumped up the hill to lubricate the slide.  That isn't a porta pottie, it is a shower, heated in the same fashion by the same wood burning stove that heats the hot tub in the bottom of the picture.  I am taking this picture from a wooden deck where a feast of meats and prepared dishes was placed.  The neighbors and Brent brought more food than the crowd could eat.

So, how did the kids like the slide?

INCOMING!

I appreciate your courage but, protect your head!

Nicholas torture.

You can tell he hates this.

Michael too.

Yes, they all survived.

Eventually even the adults got involved.

Michael called this "The Penguin"

It takes concentration

Loved this picture of Mikko

Then, when you were finished sliding and cold, just hop in the hot tub.

If you can find room.

Tired and full of fantastic food, we decided to walk down to Ruthie's house.  Because of course it was Ruthie who invited us to all this awesome.  Ruthie equals awesome.

She has a nice little place down by the water with a better view of the fireworks.

Sorry about the blur. 

That's the 'treehouse' hanging over the water.  It is an extra bedroom

There was even a bonfire.

Then the fireworks started.  Turns out I still need work on my fireworks photography skills.  Something to work on.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

So today we are off on a hike and maybe some more fireworks later.  Since we have Nana and Nicholas with them, we must torture them while we can.

Green Mountain.

This is how we do things.

Last night, after the kids went to bed, but before, obviously, we went to bed, Sarah says she wants to do something today.  It was past time for a hike.


So, she selected one from her previously researched file and we went to Green Mountain today.

OK, so she may have mentioned wanting to do this hike before, but we hadn't done it yet for one reason or another.  Anyway, today was the day.

Green Mountain is the second highest mountain on the Kitsap Peninsula, according to the website we found.

WTA very useful.

They list the hike as 5 miles with 1000 feet of elevation gain.  Not too shabby for the kids.  I printed out the above linked page and we took it with us.  Good thing too.  While the trails are marked, there are several of them winding through the area and it is easy to get crossed up.  We decided to follow the guide and take the Gold Creek trail up and the Plummer Trail/Beaver pond back down.

We started out in the parking lot and hiked through a relatively flat tunnel of berries in various stages of ripe.  We stuck to the salmon berries and the occasional huckle berry.  Tart, but tasty.  The thimbleberries aren't quite there yet.  We will return.  This whole area is just coated in edible berries.  And the flowers...they are awesome.

The berries were a bit picked over, but still plentiful

 

Foxglove I believe.

 

There was plenty of wildlife on hand as well.  Our first character of the day was a red headed woodpecker straight out of the cartoons.

Hu hu hu ha ha.

Yo!

Then we crossed over this nice little bridge and started our ascent in earnest. 

Backpacker Max

Even Satchel got in on the action.

During the climb we ran across these little guys.  Pretty cute.

Oh, Hi!

Please don't eat the snail.

or the huge slug

Another little cutie.

The flowers and plants were still there too.

Michael informed us these were Pine Sap.

None of us knew what these were.

Pretty stinking cool though.

It was mostly forested area, but every once in a while we got a glimpse of some of the scenery through the trees.

The Brothers shrouded in clouds.

Tehouya lake, or something like that.

After a few hours we reached the top.

For the record, I am skipping over much of the frustration of hiking with a couple of kids and a dog.  Satchel is great off leash.  He listens and goes where you want him to.  As soon as the leash is on though, he thinks it is the Iditarod and starts pulling.  I've taught him all sorts of things, but I can't break him of this.

And the kids...as soon as the berries fell behind, they started getting grumpy.  There were 10 or 15 thousand things they would rather be doing.

Tough.

But, we made it to the top.  And it only took a couple of hours.

Pretty clear day.

I think those are Canadian mountains

Look close and you can see a shiny little superbowl trophy.

Then, after a snack and some water, we headed back down the mountain.  We were making really good time until Sarah hurt her ankle and I had to selflessly carry her two miles down the mountain. 


OK, so that last part might have been a slight over dramatization of what really happened.  Maybe.

The way down, we took another trail which promised better views of the Olympic Mountains.

Yet another awesome little as yet unidentified flower.

Mt. Elinore peeking out from the clouds.

The uncertain trail marking left us wondering more than once if we were on the right trail, but we managed to find our way back down in good time.  The kids and dog were pretty beat, but none the worse for wear.  Sarah's ankle improved enough that she was back in form before too long.  It was a good enjoyable hike.

Trees are so awesome.

The trail continues.