Welcome Fall: Rain, Adventure, and Scrapbooks of Kindness

The Season of Cozy (and Creativity)

In Washington, fall arrives with a hush: the leaves shift to fire, the air smells like cedar and rain, and kids start bouncing off walls because the parks and pools are no longer options. Parents, this is your cue. Autumn isn’t about shutting the door on adventure - it’s about opening a new chapter. Literally.

This season, why not start a family scrapbook of adventure and kindness?

Imagine your kids flipping through pages a year from now - tickets from a local theater show, a photo of everyone with paint-splattered ponchos, a pressed leaf from Cougar Mountain, a note about helping clean a trail.

These books become more than souvenirs; they’re lessons in culture, empathy, and gratitude.

When you run your fingers over souvenirs of experiences, and you time travel.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Begin the Scrapbook Tradition

Give each child a journal or scrapbook at the start of fall. Every outing - whether a zoo trip, museum ticket, or paint-splattered canvas - goes in. Add silly photos, doodles, and reflections. Encourage them to write or draw about what they learned. Over time, these scrapbooks teach kids to treasure experiences over things.

2. Try “Slow Tourism” in Your Own Backyard

Slow tourism isn’t about racing through checklists. It’s about immersing in a place, respecting its rhythms, and giving back. That can mean:

• Volunteering locally: Join a park cleanup, help with trail restoration, or cook for a community kitchen.

• Hands-on learning: Seek out workshops where kids contribute something meaningful. At Wicked Rae’s, fall brings immersive art workshops hosted onsite at the Salmon Hatchery in Issaquah and the Cougar Mountain Zoo. Sometimes you’ll make enrichment toys for animals, sometimes you’ll craft keepsakes for yourselves, and every session connects directly to the ecosystems you’re learning about. A portion of your workshop costs even supports the centers.

3. Make Rainy Days Magical

Instead of dreading the drizzle, make it the backdrop to new traditions:

• Take kids fossil hunting at Stonerose Fossil Site and add their ancient discoveries to the scrapbook.

• Visit Seattle’s Underground Tour - kids love the tunnels’ mix of mystery and history.

• Or keep it cozy indoors at Wicked Rae’s splatter studio, where the rain outside only makes the neon paint glow brighter.

  
  

4. Teach Empathy Through Adventure

When kids see themselves as contributors - not just consumers - they grow into more empathetic, curious adults. Volunteering at a hatchery, painting enrichment boards for zoo animals, or simply smiling at fellow volunteers becomes part of their scrapbook too. These pages matter. They remind kids that kindness is a culture.

Wrap-Up: Build a Year of Wonder

This fall, don’t just get through the rainy season - celebrate it. Start your family scrapbook of adventure, one outing at a time. Each ticket stub, each photo of your muddy boots, each page of kindness builds something bigger than memories: it builds perspective.

👉 Get ready to join Wicked Rae’s fall workshops at the Salmon Hatchery or Cougar Mountain Zoo or book a rainy-day splatter session in the studio - workshop dates will be announced soon!

When you mix art, adventure, and giving back, you don’t just make a scrapbook - you make a legacy.