June Adventure – Remlinger Farm

June Adventure seems so long ago!  I know we went to the farm, we packed a lunch, we rode the train, we saw the animals, we worried about rain and sunburns at the same time, but the adventure seems sort of like a blur. 

From what I remember - for the June adventure, Emilee and her kids were in town.  I had read on some random blog that anyone who was anyone - that lived in WA, had been to Remlinger Farm.  After reading about the farm, we found a wonderful Groupon deal for 1/2 priced admission and figured it would make the perfect adventure.  I mean, the definition of our adventures was to do something a little out of the ordinary and we definitely would not ordinarily drive to Carnation to ride rides at a local farm.

When we got to the farm, the rain was just starting to sprinkle.  You know, misty Seattle type sprinkle.  The kind where you won’t know you are getting wet, but you will be wet when you go inside.  We covered the boys up and headed into the farm to meet the cousins for pony rides. 

Evan was skeptical of the ponies and would not get on one.  He decided to keep his distance and simply stand with Steve as every other cousin took the ride. 

After the ponies, we headed to the sand box, the animals, the hay maze, and the rides.  To my COMPLETE surprise Evan actually rode and LOVED the spinning ride that resembled “the Scrambler” from the days of my youth at Lagoon.  He rode the ride over and over with Owen and Ryan and I was very fearful that he would puke. 

As the kids rode the rides the sun came out.  You know, blasting, Seattle, summer sun.  The kind where you are silently getting a sun burn while you sweat your brains out!  We all crowded into a very small patch of shade and were able to try my new homemade sun screen.  I am happy to report that, much to our surprise, the sun screen worked perfectly and we were one step closer to chemical free living!  (Here is the recipe if anyone is interested: Sunscreen). 

As a side note, since that time, we have moved from the homemade recipe to simply using plain coconut oil.    Yes.  Oil for sunscreen.  Seems counter intuitive, right?  But, it works.  I promise.  Have you seen my kids?  They have fair skin.  Ok, who is kidding who?  Can you have fair-er than fair?  See-through skin?  Yes, that is probably more accurate.  All summer long I applied coconut oil to their precious bodies and we had zero sunburns.  (Well, that is not completely true, we actually had a few sunburns, but those were on the days that I didn’t apply anything.  Turns out fair skin doesn’t do so well after HOURS of sun exposure.  Who would have thought?)  On the days that we were going to be in the sun for long periods of time or maybe at the splash park we applied the homemade stuff.  On all other days we applied coconut oil.  Such a relief that there actually is an alternative to lathering them with poison! 

As another side note, Steve teases me and says that the boys are going to look back on their childhoods and have memories of their wacky mom and her wacky natural remedies.  That may be true.  In fact, I hope it is true.  Hopefully I can spice things up a little bit, rock the boat, make waves, color outside of the lines… you get the picture.  The boys will hopefully be better, live better, feel better – because of me.  And if not, I hope they will at least look back and think how hard I tried.  :)

Back to the June adventure.  After the hot sun and the rides, including the broken down car ride that broke down with us on it after waiting in line for about one hour!, we headed home.  We had sweaty, tired kids and another fabulous adventure!