Old Settlers

Every year (since 1895) Ferndale has a Whatcom County Old Settlers Picnic and Grand Parade. Last night I took the girls to the kids parade. I love this parade. None of us are fans of big crowds and this parade doesn't have tons of crowds, is super cute and short. It's perfect for us. The girls had fun watching all the kids going by and they even got some candy that was thrown out - happy girls!

Chillin'

 

Miss Kennedy is still young enough that she doesn't remember a lot of stuff from year to year so it's so fun watching her experience things as if for the first time. She has fun no matter where she is.

We ran into some friends after the parade and headed down to Pioneer Park to check out the fair. Kennedy and her friend Jake were holding hands and happy as clams until I asked them to let me get a picture. I'm not sure what her face is saying but it's pretty funny nonetheless.

Again with the face.

I hate to admit this after living in Ferndale for more than 9 years but we've never explored all the log cabins at Pioneer Park before. I'm not sure why but little kids and lots of old stuff might have had something to do with it. When we entered Pioneer Park there was a table and the ladies were handing out scavenger hunt sheets for the kids. They had a table of prizes and the kids got to pick a prize when they brought their scavenger hunt sheets back completed. Well, that's all it took for them to want to do it. For the scavenger hunt we had to go into each log cabin and look for a certain star. Near the star was the answer to each of the scavenger hunt questions. I couldn't believe how neat these log cabins were and also how big they were when you went inside. Some had upstairs and downstairs in them. We had fun finding the answers and exploring the cabins. Of course when kids are on a mission you can't look around too much but I definitely want to explore these further. It really was amazing. Above is Madison turning the crank that turns corn kernels into corn meal.

Kennedy having a go at it.

This is a picture of one of the bedrooms that was upstairs. Thankfully it was roped off or we would have been in big trouble.

Another view of the room. What was surprising to me was how big the room was. Granted, there was probably several kids sharing a room of this size but it seemed big to me.

This was another bedroom in the same house and also the answer to our scavenger hunt. The questions was asking what the mattress was stuffed with to make it soft. The answer was horse hairs.

This was in an upstairs room of the General Store where the pharmacy was. It is a very old dental chair. Not exactly the heated massage tables of today's dental offices.

Benches just call for a quick rest and a chance for a photo. On the count of three say FERNDALE!!

We could hear the sounds of Hells Bells (an AC/DC tribute band) playing while we were doing our scavenger hunt. Nothing says fair like AC/DC.

I happen to love the idea of a chalkboard for schools. Not very practical anymore but look at all the paper (trees) that would be saved. Kennedy liked the idea too.

Mission completed and prizes chosen. Kennedy and Sarah chose sunglasses. Madison chose some bendy bracelets and Jake chose a little animal. They also got ribbons and were very proud of themselves. It was a really fun activity to do.

Afterwards I got the girls an ice cream cone and myself a lemonade and we started walking back to the car.

It was such a beautiful evening that I decided to take a detour and led the kids to the fountain instead of the car. They had so much fun playing in the fountain and enjoying just being kids.

I feel very lucky to live in such a beautiful place. If you look closely you can see Mt. Baker in the background of this picture. The mountain has been even more beautiful this past week than normal to me. The skies have been so clear and the mountain almost doesn't look real it's so perfect.

The girls got soaked and laughed and laughed.

I realized Eric might be getting close to home at this point from his trip back from Wenatchee so I called him and he had just taken the Ferndale exit. He surprised the girls when we were at the fountain and they were so excited to see him.

Kennedy's skirt got so wet she had to take it off because it was heavy and holding her back.

A gorgeous day in a gorgeous place with my gorgeous family. I am one lucky momma!