Ticketing for the Van Gogh show was a hot mess, then they announced they were opening in some sketchy Sodo warehouse. I went to check it out thinking it might be a total scam. Not a scam. Cheesy, but surprisingly fun. My story is in The Seattle Times here.
The seriously talented guy who built the mini Rosebud Motel from "Schitt's Creek" last year is at it again. For Halloween, he made the Bates Motel from "Psycho," all in black and white. (It's on the 2600 block of 10th Avenue West on QA.) My story is in The Seattle Times here.
Because I can't resist a good photo op, here is all four of us, in gray scale, at the Bates Motel.
Did you love Beverly Cleary's books too? Klickitat Street is a real place! We binge-read the Ramona Quimby series, then went on a walking tour of the Portland neighborhood where the stories are set.
My story is in The Seattle Times here.
One new playground in Everett, two in Renton, THREE in Kirkland, one in Kent and one in Seattle. My story and photos are in The Seattle Times!
Totem Lake in Kirkland: Looks a lot like one of our other favorite playgrounds, Surrey Downs, and it has an elevator too! Also, why is the Eastside so clean and shiny? The playground is next to a big shopping center with a Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and movie theater with a Salt & Straw in front.
North Kirkland Community Center: Outer space-themed playground! This one isn't big, but it's really cool. Get a little astronomy lesson in with your playground time.
Junita Beach in Kirkland: Literally 3 minutes away from the community center with the space playground. Everything's right by the parking lot, so you don't have a long schlep to the beach. Super clean, and brand new bathhouses. I can't even look at Golden Gardens anymore.
Forest Park in Everett: This place is enormous! The playground goes on forever, and then you get to the spray park.
Sunset Neighborhood Park in Renton: I didn't exhale until both my little monkeys were safely back on the ground again. The top of that thing is level with a FOUR-STORY BUILDING. I was so scared I couldn't even look; they thought it was awesome.
Loyal Heights in Seattle: This is the only one that is kind of meh. I was all excited (it's only 11 minutes from our house) but when we got there, it was overrun with rowdy summer campers. Any mom would have told a kid who was acting up to KNOCK IT OFF, but the college-age counselors tried to reason with him. See those kids hanging off the edge of the big slide? Yep, both of them hit the mulch a nanosecond later.
West Fenwick Park in Kent: It's a life-size Chutes and Ladders! Which has been the reigning board game in our house for the past four years in a row.
Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park in Renton: Saved the best for the last. This park has a massive playground, and when you're done with the massive playground, you can go explore the massive rest of the park. We found a Kidd Valley right in the park, and ate an impromptu lunch looking over the water. Perfect summer day.
Joseph, eager to read the newspaper because there's a story with him in it. We stopped by the library to check out the playground story in print.
I wrote the cover story for this week's Seattle Times At Home section about a SERIOUSLY talented self-taught muralist. You can't look at her work and not feel happy! She also has a compelling story as the mom of a special needs kid. Here's a link.
When you think you're going sightseeing but you have kids so you wind up at the playground. Here are some of the playgrounds with the best views.
I can't bring myself to drive the kids up to the snow solo, but Ballard is easy and fun. The principal harpist for Pacific Northwest Ballet lives this cute house near Golden Gardens, and he displays up the figures from the retired Sendak/PNB production every year. So cool! Story here.
Olympic Manor is less than a mile east, and walking around that neighborhood was way better than any of the ticketed holiday light drive-throughs we've seen this year.
To the people who live in Olympic Manor and created these incredible light displays, THANK YOU. It took a lot of work to set them up (and it'll take an impressive SPU bill to keep them going). We loved them all.
Did you know that, as long as it's not 100 percent glitter-encrusted, gift wrap is recyclable? Even if it has bits of tape on it. Even if it has metallic ink. Or crayon or stickers. One thing Seattle does right is make it easy to recycle.
I love the holidays, but I despise the amount of waste it generates. Some ideas for eco-friendly gift wrap in my story for The Seattle Times.
Joseph saw me wrapping gifts for this story and he got SO excited. Sorry kid, these are random empty boxes. Shot in my studio (the kitchen counter) under a softbox (the skylight) on white seamless (the back of an old poster). 
A holiday show in a parking garage?? Last night we went to scope out Starlight Lane at the Lumen (CenturyLink) Field garage. It was strangely spooky. Lots of laser beams and disco balls. I don't know if it was festive, but it was something to do. Here's my review on ParentMap.
