Happy 9 years old!

Move-a-thon day at school! Twenty laps around the baseball diamond in 45 minutes, on the hottest day so far of the year. Phew!

I bought a piano SIX years ago and just now got around to getting it tuned. Good news! The piano tuner says my Craigslist special is well made, in great shape and apparently, quite a steal.

Celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander heritage month with a good book! Here are 10 fantastic picture books by AAPI Seattle-area authors and illustrators:

• Tricky Chopsticks, 2024, by Sylvia Chen (Kirkland)
• Brave Mrs. Sato, 2023, by Lori Matsukawa (Bellevue)
• Chloe’s Lunar New Year, 2024, by Lily LaMotte (Port Townsend)
• Let’s Do Everything and Nothing, 2022, by Julia Kuo (Bellevue)
• How to Hug a Pufferfish, 2022, by Ellie Peterson (Kirkland)
• Mamie Tape Fights to Go to School: Based on a True Story, 2024, illustrated by Michelle Jing Chan (Seattle)
• Apple Pie 4th of July, 2002, by Janet Wong (Gig Harbor)
• The Runaway Dosa, 2023, by Suma Subramaniam (Bothell)
• Quackers, 2016, by Liz Wong (Edmonds)
• Love Grows Here, 2024, by Chloe Ito Ward (Seattle area)

Happy reading!

Here's a link to my story for Seattle's Child.

Fun day trip with kids! Right next to the Bremerton ferry terminal, there a great park with big fountains and a FREE naval museum.

The naval museum has a cute kids play room on the second floor and friendly volunteers. Not far away, there's a navy ship you can tour too, the USS Turner Joy (admission $22 adults, $15 kids).

Our favorite was the harborside fountain park. There are pretty sculptures, and a series of huge fountains that erupt every now and then. Are they submarines? Orcas? Volcanoes? It's open to interpretation.

The last time I was in Bremerton was for a job interview at The Kitsap Sun in 2009, in the post P-I daze. (I did not get the job, which saved me from sleeping under my desk because final edition wrapped up after the last ferry!) Way overdue for a visit.

Nice little walk through the Theler wetlands in Belfair. It's a small reserve with a 3-mile trail with boardwalks over the wetlands. There's a tiny playground at the start, and cool birds to be seen.

Skansie Park is the core of the harbor and super cute to walk around. There's a fun seating area on the rooftop of the clean public restrooms. Free life jackets to borrow if you'd like while you're exploring the dock. I searched and search for the parking meter before I realized parking is FREE in downtown Gig Harbor.

This dog's got the right idea!

Compulsory playground stop. This is Gateway Park, recently renovated with a big zip line and a splash pad. Big covered pavilion and restrooms, too!

A ride on the ferry always feels like a tiny vacation.

Happy birthday! Officially a teenager!

The tulips get shorter every year, and the smiles are tougher and tougher to coax out of my subjects. (I settle for not frowning from the older one.) But I'll take these two to see the Skagit Valley tulips for as long as they'll let me.