Neighborhood-Kids All Local. All for Kids. All the Time.

I am one of those Luddite parents that believe in staring out the window on road trips. Or playing word games or listening to books on tape or, you know, just talking. (I draw the line at Brady Bunch singing.) Needless to say, our kids have never watched movies in the car, and we still don’t own a portable DVD player -- we are perhaps the last (American) family on earth without one.

And yet, on our recent road trip, we were totally wired. I didn’t even realize it until after several hours of silence in the car. Ty was busy on his DSi playing shoot ‘em up games, while Leah was in the front seat (to help with motion sickness, she says) with her iPod Touch and all its available apps.

You know what? I love the silence. No fighting at all. (It helps that Leah is now in the front seat). I mean, really, who needs the requisite bickering that goes with road tripping?

When I wasn’t driving, I sat in back with Ty and read The Girl Who Played with Fire while he busily punched buttons. Once in a while, a pang of guilt would wash through me for not making him shut down and focus on a landmark in the distance or interact with the rest of us (but since we weren’t interacting, what did it matter?), and then I’d keep reading and get deeper into the plot and forget all about him, while Leah played her apps and Curt focused on the road.

Apps, apparently, are it. I didn’t really know it until last week when my mother-in-law sent us an article from the New York Times on good apps for kids on road trips (for next year, I guess).

Uh. Am I supposed to know what apps my kids are using? There are apps with sexual overtones? Really? (Okay, geez, I'll start checking.)

Judging by the number of articles in the NYT, apps are the new wave, and my daughter is riding the crest. Ty is begging for an iPod for his birthday, and I suspect he'll be riding that crest soon, too. But little kids are onboard as well. I found another NYT article with a list of recommended apps to keep your 3-year-old from melting down, probably in the grocery line. When my kids were 3 and 4, apps didn’t exist, and honestly, I’m grateful they didn’t, all of 10 years ago, even if I did suffer the indignity of tantrums. Something about 3 and 4-year-olds not needing electronic input -- and the word "tranquilizer."

But, yeah, I have to admit, I do love the new silence in our car. What took me so long? Tranqilize away.

How can we already be at the end of July? Every summer at the end of July, I realize just how short summer is.

But we did get some traveling in (also the reason I have been so slack about posting). We did a road trip through Oregon and northern California with heavy emphasis on family. On our way south to the Monterey Peninsula, we stopped at the Lava Beds National Monument in Northern California. Ever heard of it? Probably not. It only gets 100,000 visitors a year.

Kids love this place, and if you’re in the neighborhood, I recommend it. There are more than 700 lava tubes with about three dozen developed for the public. The tubes were formed by volcanic eruptions from thousands of years ago. The lava flows cooled around the outside, leaving a molten middle that flowed away, leaving pitch-black tubes perfect for exploring.
Some of the tubes were closed while we were there because they were hosting baby bat populations, and we also opted not to visit the caves that required crawling, which left us with the best of the best.

Golden Dome was our favorite: manageable ceilings that required some stooping but not crawling (watch out for “headache rock” as you enter), long tunnels, and a glittery gold ceiling formed from water droplets adhering to a coating of hydrophobic bacteria. Sounds gross, but it’s not. Looks a lot like fool’s gold. We didn’t get lost, but because the cave has a figure 8 shape, you could easily go around in circles, and I must admit, I did find it a little worrisome. But then the kids started to recognize various boulders and entrances to tunnels as places we’d been before. “This way,” they would say. Whew.

You do want to wear a helmet (we had our bike helmets with us) to protect against head bumps—plenty of those to go around. We met families without them, who looked at ours rather enviously. And you definitely want flashlights, which we checked out from the visitor center.

If you’re heading to California, the Lava Beds are a great stop.

Last night we went to our local Fourth of July block party, per usual, a party we’ve been attending for about six years now. Just so happened we’d been going through photos from these parties the night before and exclaiming how young our kids were when our neighbor started throwing them. Here's a photo of yesteryear's fun. That's Leah in front.

So last night’s party felt particularly poignant as I realized the young kids lining up for their turn to light a firework were not kids I knew. The kids I knew, many of them now 13, 14, and 15, were roaming around and chatting, a few lighting fireworks but most not. The lure of fireworks has dulled for them, especially for the girls (until they start throwing their own Independence Day parties, I suppose--now that's a scary thought).

On Facebook this morning, I saw a few photos of families who had congregated one block over from us, families with toddlers, preschoolers, and soon-to-be kindergartners. The same phase I was in six years ago. In six years those kids will be on the cusp of adolescence.

For my daughter, six years is just about half her life. For my son, it's two-thirds of his. Forever.

For me, six years is nearly one-eighth of my life and getting fractionally smaller every year. In other words, a couple fleeting steps and then my kids are gone. Kinda freaky.

Stephanie Dethlefs, a friend and fellow writer, is the founder of Young Writers Studio, a fantastic resource for Whatcom County kids that she’s poured her heart and soul into. The Studio is having a fundraiser book sale, and I wanted to pass the word along.

Here’s what Stephanie has to say:

As you may know, our organization has been incorporated as a nonprofit and is on its way to obtaining 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. And to celebrate, we are going hold a fundraiser!

On Saturday, July 31, we will be having a gigantic used book sale, with 100% of the proceeds going to support Young Writers Studio programming. With financial assistance available for our low-cost workshops and free support given to the public schools, we rely greatly on the generosity of our local and regional community to keep our programs up and running.

And here’s how to help:

1. Donate books!
Let me know that you have books to donate, and I will come pick them up (contact is info@YoungWritersStudio.org). One book or one hundred...whatever you can donate is great! Books for all ages, of all genres, all styles, all sizes welcome...as long as they've been just gently loved. In return you'll be given an IOU donation receipt which can later be used to obtain a tax-deductible receipt once our 501(c)(3) status is granted (this fall...fingers crossed!)

2. Shop our book sale!
Mark your calendars for Saturday, July 31, 2010, 12 - 4 p.m. at the Center for Expressive Arts and Experiential Education, 1317 Commercial St., Suite 201, Bellingham 98225. All books priced at $1; 12 for $10 & 25 for $20.  A book-lover's paradise!! :-)

 3. Pass the  message to any and all who might be interested in donating or attending!
 Find out more about our program at www.YoungWritersStudio.org. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for supporting the Young Writers Studio.
 
Sincerely,
Stephanie

If you’re a Northwest parent and you’re looking for fun places to go this summer with your kids, I recommend visiting Cascadia Kids for ideas and inspirations. Lora Shinn, the founder of this family travel blog, is a Seattle-based freelance writer who loves family travel.

But family travel articles are hard to publish, so she started this blog for the love of it and to help out the rest of us who have no family travel publications to turn to. (Of course the beauty of a blog is that it's up-to-the-minute up to date).

Why “Cascadia” and not “Northwest”? Besides recommending areas in Washington and Oregon, she also covers southern B.C., the Lower Mainland, an area not nearly enough Northwest families think to visit. Well written and meticulously accurate, this blog is a great resource for Northwest regional parents. Check out her recommendations.

Another blog I learned about recently is The Fun Parent, a blog started by a mom who wants to pass on her recommendations for fun things to do with your kids (especially helpful when your brain has gone on auto pilot). This blog is aimed at the younger set, 8 and under, and is geared for anyone caring for kids.