Tag Archives: Kirkland

132nd Square Park – Kirkland

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We tried out a new-to-us park recently – 132nd Square Park is located at NE 132nd St and 132nd Ave NE in Kirkland, about a mile east of Evergreen Hospital.

They have a multi-purpose synthetic turf playfield for soccer and more, a smaller grass field for softball or baseball, an all-abilities playground with zipline, year-round restrooms, and three picnic shelters. They also have a walking labyrinth and a reflexology path with raised stones to massage your feet while you do a walking meditation.

The big yellow hill is a fun and unique thing – bring a big flattened cardboard box to sit on and you can slide down that hill. On the playground there is also a communication board with symbols that a nonverbal person could use to communicate – it’s a nice opportunity to acquaint you and your child with this adaptive tool.

Find more local parks and other activities in the Seattle area. For non-locals, you may also appreciate these ideas for fun toddler activities you can find anywhere.

Summer Movies 2025

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Whether you’re looking for outdoor movies to enjoy those warm summer evenings, or indoor movie clubs for those hot summer mornings when you really just need some A/C, or a drive-in movie, here are some options in the Seattle / King County area for summer 2025.

Kids’ Summer Movie Clubs

As you may remember from your own childhood, these are probably the cheapest, easiest way to entertain your kids for two hours on a summer morning…

  • Cinemark: Wednesdays. Lincoln Square in Bellevue and Totem Lake in Kirkland,  9:30 am. June 2 – Aug 7. $1.75. Schedule here: https://cinemark.com/summer-movie-clubhouse# 
  • Regal Summer Movie Express, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 11 am. $1. June 10 – Aug. 6. The website doesn’t explicitly say which theaters are participating, but in the past, it’s included ,Bella Bottega, Redmond; Crossroads, Bellevue; Thornton Place, Seattle; Meridian, Seattle; Issaquah Highlands; The Landing in Renton; Alderwood, Tukwila.

Outdoor Movies

Below, I list all the outdoor movie series in King County. All information is current as of 6/9/25- but check individual websites for updates or changes!

Note: all outdoor movies start around “dusk”. In  the Pacific Northwest, that means starting around 9 – 9:30 pm in July and 8:30 – 9 in August, so outdoor movies aren’t compatible with early bedtimes.

Get some handy tips / etiquette advice for outdoor movies here and here. Top tips are: go early for good seating location, bring a sweatshirt and blankets, as the weather cools quickly after dark, and if you bring a chair, make sure it’s a low profile chair so you don’t block anyone’s view. It doesn’t hurt to have a flashlight to find your way to the bathroom or port-a-potty – just be sure to shine it only at the ground in front of you.

Tuesdays

Movies in the Park at Bellevue’s Downtown Park on Tuesday evenings, from July 15-August 19. Pre-movie entertainment will begin at 7 p.m. and movies will begin at dusk. Free. July 15, Moana 2; July 22, Detective Pikachu; July 29, Grinch, 8/5 Cars; 8/12 Miracle, 8/19 Monster U.

Wednesdays and Thursdays

  • Movies at Marymoor Park in Redmond. 7/2 – 8/20. $10 per person (5 and under free), $5 to park. Seating opens at 7:30 early in the season and 6:30 later on. Live entertainment, trivia, food trucks, vendors. Movies include: 7/2 Goonies, 7/9 Lilo and Stitch (original), 7/16 Legally Blonde, 7/24 Wild Robot, 7/31 Guardians of the Galaxy, 8/6 Up, 8/13 Pirates of the Car, 8/20 Wicked

Thursdays

Movies in the Park in Crossroads Park on Thursday evenings, from July 31 – Aug 21. Pre-movie entertainment will begin at 7 p.m. and movies will begin at dusk. Free. 7/31 Cool Runnings, 8/7 American Tail, 8/14 Wicked, 8/21 Wild Robot.

Fridays

  • Sail-In Cinema – Everett. Watch from your boat or the shore! 7/25 – 8/22/25. Free. Details TBA.
  • Movies at the Mural at Seattle Center. FREE. 7/25 Ratatouile, 8/1 Princess Bride, 8/8 ET, 8/15 Say Anything, 8/22 Wicked
  • Movies in the Park, Pierce County. Meridian Habitat Park, Puyallup. Food Trucks. 7 pm.  FREE, 7/11 Mufasa, 7/18 Wild Robot, 7/25 Dog Man

Saturdays

  • Cinema Under the Stars – Columbia City / Seattle. 8/9. Food bank donations accepted. Rainier Arts Center
  • Movies in the Park, Marysville. FREE. Jennings Park. 711 Capt. America Brave New World, 7/18 Fall Guy, 7/25 Inside Out 2, 8/1 Moana 2, 8/8 Snow White
  •  Outdoor Summer Movies. Kirkland. Note: they have a super bright screen, so they can start before dusk, which makes this a good option for younger kids – double features show at 6 pm and 8 pm. Juanita Beach.  7/12 Despicable Me 3 and Wonka; 7/19 Migration and Madame Web, 7/26 Kung Fu Panda 4 and the Marvels. Free

Fridays/Saturdays

More options

The Seattle Times lists additional movies in Seattle and Puyallup.  This article includes 2024 listings, with some I haven’t covered here.

Drive-In Movies

There aren’t many classic drive-ins left…  Here’s what’s still open within a two hour drive from Seattle:

The only other one in the state is Auto-vue Drive-in – Colville, WA. 6 hours from Seattle. www.facebook.com/Auto-Vue-Drive-In-Theatre-120740527937813/  There’s more info on the drive-ins in the Seattle Times article.

Movies start at dusk… see note above. If you go to a drive-in, PLEASE spend lots of money at concessions!!! That’s what will keep these classic theaters open in future summers!!

Learn more about these drive-ins. (And in this article)

Parent Guides to Media

If you’re looking for advice on whether a particular movie is kid appropriate, check out Common Sense Media which provides reviews of movies, books, TV shows, games, apps and websites. In their movie reviews, they look at educational value, positive role models, positive messages, violence and scariness level, sexy stuff, language, consumerism and substances, providing information so parents can make their own informed decisions about what’s right for their child.

Kids in Mind also offers film reviews which rate, on a scale of 1 – 10, the level of sex/nudity, violence/gore, profanity and substance use in a movie. They also give detailed descriptions of each incident they counted, for parents to consider.

I also wrote a post on “When to Introduce Your Child To ______” which talks about things to consider when deciding whether your child is ready yet for favorite series like the MCU, Star Wars, and more.

Other Kid Activities:

If you’re looking for other fun ideas for the summer, find outdoor live theater options, check out my series on “Cheap Dates with Toddlers and Young Kids”,  or reviews of Eastside Parks or find hands-on STEM enrichment activities for kids age 3 – 7 on my other blog at www.InventorsOfTomorrow.com.

For school year activities, if you have kids age birth to 7, check out info about fabulous parent education classes at local community colleges that are great for kids AND include parent education for you – register now for fall, before they fill up!!

Support Restaurants in Downtown Kirkland

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We live within walking distance of downtown Kirkland, WA, which means we are blessed to be within walking distance of LOTS of great restaurants. During the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve been doing what we can to support those restaurants. We get takeout once a week, pizza delivery twice a month, and occasionally walk into town for a takeout treat from a bakery or café or boba shop.

But there are SO MANY restaurants within walking distance, that despite these best efforts, we have not yet managed to visit them all during pandemic! So, we decided to make a checklist and a spreadsheet to track who we have not yet supported. I’m sharing it here to encourage other folks to support all these great businesses. Every one of these 61 (!) eating establishments is in the downtown core between Kirkland Urban and Marina Park.

Here’s the PDF checklist

kirkland-restaurants-1Download

And here’s the Excel spreadsheet, if you like being able to sort your list by cuisine, or by cost (according to Yelp ratings), or by whether you’ve visited them yet.

kirkland-restaurants-1Download

In the spreadsheet, I made notes about seating options during COVID. All these restaurants do takeout. Some have uncovered outdoor seating. Some have outdoor seating that is heated and/or covered. Some have “garage door” style windows that roll up for lots of ventilation and may allow indoor seating in phase 1. (Some restaurants will allow indoor seating up to 25% capacity during phase 2, but I have not made note of this option.) There are also some restaurants who participate in the “Dine in Your Car” option at Marina Park.

For our family, we only do takeout, and we always wear masks when we pick up. We don’t eat at the restaurants, either inside or outside, because we want to minimize any risk to the workers. And we always tip 20 – 30% on every order.

Also, we order directly from the restaurant, and pick up there. We do not use GrubHub, DoorDash, UberEats, PostMate… They take substantial cuts out of the restaurants’ earnings. If your goal is to support local restaurants, it’s best to pay them directly so they get the full amount.

If you’re looking for recommendations on the best restaurants to try first, check out the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/EastsideRestaurantSupport. It’s a great resource.

Thanks for supporting our local eateries!

For more ideas of COVID compatible activities, check out my posts on:

McAuliffe Park – Kirkland

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After 30 years on the Eastside, and 6 in Kirkland, I had never been to McAuliffe park. I’d driven by on 116th countless times, but from the road, it didn’t look like much, so I never stopped in. But then on the Kirkland Rocks Facebook page, people would often post that they’d hidden beautiful painted rocks at McAuliffe for kids to find. So, finally we went. And this park is a unique gem!

It’s at 10824 NE 116th Street; halfway between Totem Lake and Juanita Village.

It’s 11.6 acres, with lots and lots of wide open lawn, shady orchard trees to throw out a picnic blanket below, a playground, picnic tables, nature trails, a community pea patch with 35 plots, an antique barn, 2 windmills, and lots of ancient rusted farm equipment and old gas station memorabilia to explore.

The community learning garden features permaculture principles, annual vegetables grown with organic practices, a new rain garden, and water and resource conservation. The Tilth Alliance offer classes at the park.

The property was homesteaded in 1877, and only two families owned it between that time and when the Kirkland Parks department acquired it in a series of purchases from the 1990’s through 2017. Read more (and see more pictures) on Active Rain, and in the Master Plan report. (Note: the master plan from 2005 had grand visions for the site, but it does not appear most of them were implemented.

We visited in the midst of coronavirus season, and there were maybe 30 people we saw there, spread out over 12 acres, so easy to socially distance! The playground was closed when we were there, due to quarantine, but people were hard at work in their plots in the community garden, and a few families were relaxing in the shade. It struck me as a great place to take 3 – 8 year old children where the parent(s) could sit and relax and the kids could run quite a ways, and play while still being safely in the parents’ sight. There’s even some nice low climbing trees.

It’s a park well worth visiting when you’re in the mood for a little wandering around and exploring or a little sitting under a tree reading a good book.