Columns Archives - Page 2 of 21

Playtime: Rock climbing gym in Lynnwood, plus art and cooking classes

Thanks to a new zero period and lack of previously expected transportation, we’re adjusting to a new back-to-school routine. With more moving parts, there are more days of the week where we repeatedly call out things like “homework,” “PE clothes,” and “turn that off now” as if we’re auctioneers or playing some sort of parents…

Just Around the Corner: First public flight Sept. 8 for Spirit of St. Louis replica plane

The first public flight of the Spirit of St. Louis replica plane will take place at 9 a.m., Sunday, Sept. 8, at the Arlington Municipal Airport. According to the plane’s owners and builders, Heather and John Norman: “Our plan is to make a few flights around the airport so that folks can see the aircraft…

Playtime: Keeping kids safe when strangers approach

With each report of a luring attempt, we’re reminded of that heart-sinking feeling and the anxiety involved in approaching and teaching our children how to stay safe. Social media, multiplayer video games and the internet in general have expanded the conversation about the appropriate way to interact with people we don’t know. But in the…

Playtime: Ways to give back, get help as school year nears

In an email I got from the Foundation for Edmonds School District, I found out that over the last year, the Celebrate Schools 5k grants funded projects benefiting thousands of students, across all grade levels. For example, it went to “afterschool reading and math tutoring, a Festival of Cultures, 5th Grade Law Day, Family Math…

Healthy Eating: Celebrate bounty of garden with a hearty couscous salad

This has been a cool summer in my garden — especially temperature-wise. Usually we get enough heat that by mid-July my supply of greens and lettuces has started to bolt. But this year, due to the cool temperatures in Juneary, Julyary and Augustary (creative combination of January with June, July and August!), I have been…

Kids are Bookin’ It: Spellbinding writing, amazing photos in ‘Explore the Salish Sea’

Explore the Salish Sea: A Nature Guide for Kids, by Joseph K. Gaydos & Audrey DeLella Benedict Recommended for all ages, especially 5th— 8th grades Put on your virtual flippers, underwater mask and oxygen tank, we’re going for a dive into the Salish Sea to explore all the amazing creatures and sights. Yes, sights. The writing in…

Fitness Corner: How to get motivated

Motivation can be elusive even for the most disciplined and driven of us. It ebbs and flows through different phases of our lives . . . as our goals change . . . as we change. As a coach and trainer, motivating my clients is one of the most important aspects of my role in…

Playtime: Kindergarten Jump Start, Moonlight Beach Adventure, outdoor movies

I don’t want to break the seal on “Back to School” topics and not because I’m an eternal summer kind of person, but because that means it’ll be Christmas at Joann’s and Michael’s any minute. Plus, I am still recovering from seemingly endless 4th grade book reports and jockeying Skyward/Canvas/Google Classroom as the parent of…

Playtime: The benefits of joining your school PTA

I recently went to my first school board meeting. As someone who has carefully avoided manning the games at our school’s Harvest (read: Halloween) festival since 2011, that is certainly not something I could have forecasted, but there I was taking my three minutes during a public comment portion. The road from occasional, reluctant classroom…

Healthy Eating: Carrot top pesto packs a nutritional punch

It’s been “officially” summer for about one month. The summer market has been brimming with local produce for weeks, and my backyard garden has been producing strawberries, raspberries, green beans, herbs, lettuces and lots of delicious carrots. For years I have tried to figure out what to do with the parts of produce that normally…

Military Wire: How one movie changed America’s attitude toward our military

The Vietnam War is often viewed and remembered as a boondoggle for America. When U.S. Marines first landed in Danang, March 1965, politicians thought it would be a simple win. But to the contrary. When the last troops left Vietnam in March of 1973, more than 55,000 Americans died in that conflict and the returning…

Kids are Bookin’ It: Children are the heroes in ‘Brainwashed’

Crime Travelers – Brainwashed, by Paul Aertker Recommended for ages 8 — 12, Middle Grade Happy summer vacation! Time to take a trip. Pack up and join the Crime Travelers on their exciting adventure to France. Large groups of kids and even babies are being Brainwashed and disappearing. Danger lurks from page one all the way…

Fitness Corner: A ray of sunshine, gone

Once upon a time there was a girl named Amy Fuller who worked at Harbour Pointe Golf Club in Mukilteo. Harbour Pointe (or HP as the regulars call it) is a beautiful and challenging public golf course in our very backyard. It also has the distinction of hosting vibrant Men’s and Women’s Clubs filled with…

Playtime: Celebrate Harry Potter with upcoming library events

Last summer, we piled into the van and headed to the Granite Falls Library for Hogwarts Summer School. We ate snacks, watched a magician, and the kids made Harry Potter-themed crafts. Since it was about a 45-minute drive, we turned it into a bit of a day trip, stopping on the way home at Funko…

Service Club Corner: Lynnwood Kiwanis

Welcome to this new column aimed at showcasing the work of fraternal and service organizations in Lynnwood, Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace. Our first profile is on the Kiwanis Club of Lynnwood. Founded in 1963, the Kiwanis Club of Lynnwood is branch of Kiwanis International, which started in Detroit in 1915. They are a club focused…

Military Wire: How one woman veteran is impacting employment opportunities for all veterans

When the general public hears the word veteran, studies show they rarely identify women as being veterans despite women having served in the United States military for generations. Women — aka -moms, daughters, sisters, wives have served in such capacities as the Women’s Army Corps, Women Accepted for Volunteer Services and Women Airforce Service Pilots…

Healthy eating: How to combat food cravings

Have you ever stared at a pile of cookie crumbs or a nearly empty potato chip bag, with a belly full of shame, and wondered, “How did I let this happen?” I can relate. I think almost anyone can relate. Besides driving you to eat, cravings can drive you nuts–making you feel like an out-of-control failure who…

Playtime: Options for kids who want to give tennis a try

After my middle schooler suffered a concussion in his main sport this winter, we found out just how important exercise and, additionally, a team sport/group activity was for him. He went from hour-long practices twice a week and a game on the weekend with locker room time before and after, to not only no sports,…

Military Wire: How Saddam Hussein taught me to be a better father — Lt. Col. Bill Riley

How can one learn from one of the most notorious dictators in history? Saddam Hussein, known as the “Butcher of Baghdad,” his government and military forces responsible for killing more than 250,000 of his own people, ruled Iraq with an iron fist. His mother wanted nothing to do with him when he was born, so…

Playtime: Fun ways to keep your kids reading this summer

This week, I am writing my column about summer reading inside the library. I’d like to say that it is because I am going to cover all of the local summer reading options and the fun Sno-Isle Explore Summer events and I wanted to immerse myself in the environment that I was writing about, but…

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