MOXIE MOM on Life & Kids
Good-bye
Today is the last day of Neighborhood Kids, and I had every intention of posting several times in the last two weeks. But somehow parenting took over. Both my kids are moving up a level, one to middle school and one to high school, and the sports commitment is already wearing me out (at the high school level). School hasn’t even started yet, and suddenly I have new respect for all the overwhelmed and distracted high school parents in my life. Parenting babies and toddlers is time consuming, but I’m learning that you stay busy, really busy, the whole way along the parent journey.
Meanwhile, I am sorry I will no longer be blogging for Neighborhood Kids. Over the time I’ve been doing it, I have enjoyed passing along recommendations, reflecting on the parenting life, and passing on travel tips that I can’t help being excited about. I have no idea what my readership is, but thank you to all of you who have read my posts over the years.
Good luck and good times with your own families.
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Farewell news
Last night our family arrived home from Stehekin, a small community at the north end of Lake Chelan, and after being unplugged for a few days, I turned on my computer to learn that Neighborhood Kids will be going offline. It was sudden news to me as much as to all of you who use the website.
On the one hand, I am very sorry to see the site go. I love being able to recommend it to new families (and old families) as a resource for what’s going on in town. I also love blogging for it (although, yes, I have been a flaky blogger this summer).
On the other hand, I also know the amount of work it takes to sustain a site for nothing, and the energy drain it can be, both in time and money. A Seattle friend of mine maintains a family travel website for Pacific Northwest families, and she went through this exact angst a couple months ago. I think enough of us talked her into keeping it going that she’s giving it a second whirl, but it might not last.
So, while I am sad to see Neighborhood Kids go, I can understand why it’s going.
Sigh.
In the meantime, we have until August 31. Stay tuned. I can’t wait to tell you about Stehekin. It’s such a cool place.
1 commentNighttime Visitor
We have a new cat door coming today via UPS, whose arrival we're anxiously awaiting because we're leaving town for ten days on Friday, and we have an an unwelcome visitor most nights who tries to get into the house through the cat door (now that we've taken to locking it, the catfood is no longer disappearing, but the cats are still peeved they have to stay inside when we lock up).
About a month ago, we noticed when we got up in the morning that the catfood was gone, the water bowl was a mess, and the food bag was tipped over. On the second morning, we found Ty's lunchbox by the backdoor with a peanut butter sandwich expertly pulled out through a 3-inch opening and peeled apart. Hmm, awfully sophisticated for cats. And when I saw kibbles in the water bowl, my first thought was, that is the action of a raccoon.
Raccoon? Surely not. Not with a magnetized cat door.
On the third day, when Curt was out of town, I stayed up late with the cats to watch a movie. After it was over, the three of us ambled into the kitchen, where I felt a presence in the air that put me on double alert. Or, rather, I sensed a presence had just left the kitchen. Not a thief, though. Or at least not a human thief. The cats felt it too, and I looked at them, and they looked at me, and we all looked at the cat door and then back at each other. And I was thinking, well, that's just great, I'm in charge here. There's nothing quite so unnerving as feeling in charge -- with cats -- when something creepy just happened. How is it my husband manages to miss all the big moments (the two times I barfed during pregnancy, the day I found a dead possum in the garage, the weekend our cat died, and now the night we're feeling on edge and no solid, male presence)?
But we're tough. Thank goodness we don't live in Alaska, though, where the predators are so much bigger. I opened the backdoor in time to see a ringed tail waltzing off in the dark toward our fence. The cats flew out the door and huffed around the patio with their tails puffed and their backs arched, ready to take on the wildlife world. Um, yeah, kitties, hate to break to you, but you will not win this one if you engage in a fight.
Well, what to do except bring the cats in and lock the cat door, much to their chagrin. At least we determined who our visitor is.
And so because we don't like the idea of a raccoon going through our cupboards, we've been locking the cat door ever since (we figured out it is ever so easy to open the cat door outward from the outside with something like a little nail, or a raccoon fingernail, as must be the case -- unless the bugger is buying magnets on the black market.)
But we're investing in a raccoon-proof door so we don't have to remember to lock the cat door every night because whenever we forget, that rascal is in the kitchen in a flash. The other night I heard the door banging around, and I went down the stairs to stare through the [locked] cat door window at the little raccoon face on the other side. She/he stared back for 30 seconds and then took off.
Anyway, If you need to solve your own cat door problems, feel free to give me a shout. I've done the research. Don't ask me to help with dead possums, though. I learned that's my limit.
leave a comment!Summer Travel … and Winter
Every summer, I look forward to getting out of town, preferably east over the mountains for a shot of dry heat. But this year, we’re thinking of going to Vancouver Island because no one in my family is as keen as I am to log miles. And close as it is, the island is almost unknown to our family. Why would you travel close when you can go far? That’s my motto, anyway, and it leaves me (and my kids) woefully ignorant of certain nearby surroundings.
If you, too, are considering a local journey this summer, whether to save gas $$, to minimize travel time, or simply to stay Cascadia, I highly recommend taking along a copy of Lora Shinn’s Northwest Kid Trips. You can pick it up in the Northwest section of Village Books.
Lora is a Seattle travel/parent writer and author of the travel website, Cascadia Kids, and her travel preferences align well with Bellinghamster sensibilities. The book focuses on Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, and Victoria, with some of the surrounding areas thrown in (Whistler, for example). The mother of two kids under 11, she’s got families in mind, and her book is well laid out and thorough, catering to a variety of family tastes and styles. You’ll be glad to have the book along.
One of the reasons I can handle staying on the west side this summer is the winter trip we’ve got up our sleeve. At long last (I’ve been yearning to go for years), our family is heading to Hawaii next winter. Now that Alaska Airlines flies right out of Bellingham, it’s just so easy. Our focus is the Big Island, as well as a bit of time with friends who live on Oahu. As luck would have it, there’s a book out there for us.
Bellingham friend and author Dana Rozier wrote a kids’ book for fans of Hawaii, which you can also pick up at Village. Natural Hawai’i: An Inquisitive Kid’s Guide, geared for those 12 and under, features color photos and kid-friendly information about Hawaiian plants, animals, marine life, and volcanoes. If you’re considering a trip to Hawaii (even if you’re not), this book is fun, accessible, and full of great information. Your kids won’t even realize they’re learning.
Dana had a presentation at Village Books planned recently, but the fine weather kept everyone outdoors, so she is rescheduling for October. Locals, keep your eyes open for the announcement.
In the meantime, happy summer travel.
leave a comment!Ski to Sea Mania
On Saturday morning, Ty and I headed to Lake Padden, along with the rest of the town (judging by the parking situation), for a little Junior Ski to Sea action.
Despite the rain and cool temperatures, the atmosphere was as lively and celebratory as last year’s sunshiny event, and our boys nabbed a third place finish, thrilling them all. One of the team’s dads coached Ty, the team’s runner and first leg, on how fast to go out and why it would be good to place in the top 15, but Ty powered his way to fourth place by the hand-off, surprising even himself. (Last year, I coached him on why it was important not to go out fast, and he listened all too well, finishing about two-thirds back. Clearly, I need to stay out of it.)
Now the adult version of the race is just days away, and instead of participating along with half the Northwest, we will be leaving town to take advantage of the three-day weekend.
It seems I much prefer cheering to competing. Well, and this: none of the events speak to me, and consequently, I just don’t care. Horrors. I usually keep these thoughts to myself because it’s like saying, well, it’s like saying you don’t like the Pickford (to be clear, I love the Pickford). It goes against all things Bellingham.
I did try the race a couple times. Years ago, I did the run, and though I was in good shape at the time, and I thought it would be okay (my knees were fine), I couldn’t get out of bed the next morning. I have never felt so damaged. It took me a week to feel normal, threatening the following weekend’s ultimate Frisbee tournament. Never again did I risk ruining the ultimate tournament that falls the weekend after Ski to Sea.
Another year, I did the mountain bike leg, which was fun and involved no recovery, but now it’s more technical and I don’t even count as a fair weather mountain biker. I can’t downhill ski, the x-country ski mass start intimidates me, I have no business being in a canoe (plus I still remember the year someone drowned on the river during training), and I certainly have no business being on the bay. That leaves the road bike. But then I would have to train. Wow, when did I get so lazy?
There you have it. I’m a Bellingham wimp who doesn’t care. I think I must be the only ‘Hamster in this category. Oh, and perhaps my husband. He’s a great x-country ski racer who can do any team justice, and he had a blast in the canoe one year (while I envisioned log jams and rushing water), but he’d rather go climbing if he had a choice. I guess you could say we have different priorities.
But you can catch me at the Junior Ski to Sea race as I cheer on my boy (who will be listening to other parents’ advice). We live the Ski to Sea spirit through him. Thankfully someone in our family cares.
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