Four killer views of Washington, D.C., from 500 feet up. The Washington Monument is actually 555 feet and 5 1/8 inches tall, making it the world's tallest structure when it was completed in 1884.

Tickets to the observation deck are VERY limited because it's a tiny space. The trick to snagging tickets is to log onto recreation.gov 30 days in advance of the date you want to visit, and be ready to POUNCE at exactly 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Be quick!

The HVAC had gone one out when we visited, so it was about a million degrees up there. Absolutely worth the stickiness.

Crossed off a big bucket list item today: took the kids on a White House tour! Been wanting to do this for years. We didn't see the president, but the Secret Service confirmed he was there.

Pictures off my phone because they are STRICT about what you can bring in (nothing).

To get a White House tour, you need to contact your senator or representative (only ONE, or the White House will reject your request) ideally at least 3 months in advance. You submit all your info to the White House, then cross all your fingers and toes and hope for the best. The White House notifies you 2 weeks before whether you are accepted. Remember when we were kids and you just lined up for a tour? Simpler times.

That view of Mount Rainier gets me every time.

I write about a lot of playgrounds, and this one is extra special. I talked to Mika's mom about the new inclusive playground in Edmonds built in his memory. Mika was a 10-year-old boy who loved playing outside with his friends. At Mika's Playground, there are no wood chips to get stuck in wheels, wheelchairs can roll right onto the merry-go-round, the swing is big enough to lay on and the slide is extra wide so you can go down with a friend.

Here's a link to Seattle's Child.

Birthday season

I wrote about creative kitchen and bath storage solutions for The Seattle Times. Link to the story here, with specific product recommendations from pro organizers.

We saw the corpse flower today! Complete lucky accident. I booked Amazon Spheres tickets 15 days ago not knowing the corpse flower was about bloom.

The corpse flower blooms only once every 5-10 years, and only for 48 hours. It's called the corpse flower because it smells like rotting flesh. If you've never smelled rotting flesh, it smells like a combination of hot compost, feet and feces. Yum.

Amazon Spheres are open to the public the first and third Saturday of each month. Tickets are released 15 days in advance, in 15-minute increments. Book here.

Parking is FREE in the Day 1 Amazon garage (same block as the Spheres) weekdays after 4 p.m. and all day weekends!

Seattle ranks No. 2 among this summer’s top travel destinations in the United States. Here's the lowdown on where to take your out-of-town guests, with all the insider tips. Full story here on ParentMap.

Shooting in bright sunlight directly overhead is the WORST possible lighting situation. I pulled out all the tricks out of my photo bag for this assignment: long lens, layering, playing with flares, looking for shadows, getting up high. I think I did ok!

The story is about the new inclusive playground at Lynnwood's Meadowdale Playfields, where the theme is blue, blue and more blue.

All the details here at Seattle's Child.

It's blueberry season! The bushes at Larsen Lake Blueberry Farm are dripping with big juicy berries. The season runs NOW through early September-ish. 

@larsenlakeblueberryfarm started in the 1940s, and today covers 14 acres.

• 700 148th Avenue SE, Bellevue
• Hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday to Saturday; 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. • Closed Monday and Tuesday.
• $2.50 a pound, $5 minimum
• Free parking lot, and free neighborhood street parking.
• Restrooms!
• Blueberries contain high levels of disease-fighting antioxidants!