Big Day of Play

While on a neighborhood walk on Friday evening, we happened to walk into a frenzy of folks setting up for an event in Magnuson Park. Being curious as we are, we asked about it and found out that they were preparing for Seattle Parks and Recreation’s “Big Day of Play.” What is that you ask? Well, it’s a day of fun, free activities in the park. There were games, face-painting, golf, laser tag, live bands (including a big band) and water activities like canoeing, kayaking and paddle boarding. 

We were having too much fun “playing” to take too many photos but we did snag a few of the fun things we did. Of course, we had to try out laser tag! We were definitely the oldest competitors during our game, so we ended up playing “big kids versus little kids” and had a blast!

 

We also ended up taking a “Wetland Walking Tour” through the swamp lands of the park. Our tour guide was the exact stereotype of what you would picture for an Wetland Adventure leader – awesome :)

 We ended by taking a little glimpse of the critters living in the swamp water (and trust me, after seeing a few of them, I won't be taking a dip in there any time soon). 

Just like the laser tag, we were again a little over-the-age of the typical “adventurers” for this walk, but we still had a good time sporting our binoculars through the park :)

 One of the other fun features of the "day of play" was that you earned free food by participating in activities. For example, if you played a round of golf you got a voucher for a free ear of corn, if you juggled, you got one for a free salad and if you played chess, a piece of fruit. They literally had enough activities and food to feed you an entire meal! Plus, it was all delicious!!! We had thai-style barbequed corn, quinoa salad, herbal iced tea and fresh peaches! Here is Tom, earning his salad voucher.

 

Over the course of the day we ended up with a TON of swag! Free t-shirts from Magnuson athletic club, sunscreen and first aid kits, from Seattle Children’s Hospital, some granola bars, a DVD…the list keeps going. We only intended on dropping by but we ended up staying from 10 am – 2 pm! What a great day! (sorry the picture uploaded sideways for some reason).

 

To cap off our day, Tom and I joined a bunch of my incoming classmates on the patio at the Eastlake Bar and Grill. Facebook is incredible this day and age and all my fellow med students have been planning events nearly every day (brunch, walks, bike rides, drinks, bonfires—you name it!). We hadn’t ventured to one yet, but we gave it a go last night. We thought it might be funny to walk in and pretend that we were both medical students (because no one would be the wiser except Josephine who took my PreMat class with me) but we decided to be honest. Sunset conversations with new friends was a great way to cap it all off. (I didn’t snap any photos last night but I thought you should see the amazing atmosphere this place has so I stole this picture from online somewhere).