The Sightline Institute’s Daily Score blog posts thoughtful research about transportation, land use, economics, climate change and other environmental topics, with a focus on the Pacific Northwest.
Today’s post is about transportation. And cute kids. You may recognize a couple of them.
After a frustrating hour on the phone with US Airways….
Her: And what is your wife’s middle name?
Me: Anne.
Her: With an “e” at the end?
Me: Oh god… Yes, I think so. No wait, no, no “e”. Hold on, let me try to look it up….
Her: [Laughter] Is this your wife?
Me: [Sighing] Yes.
This is what a failure looks like.
We got off to a slow start, but the day picked up, with a hike in the afternoon followed by an evening birthday party at Skateworld!
Our forest fairy.
When we started off on the Spencer Butte trail—a one-mile trail to the top of a mountain south of Eugene with fantastic views of the city—a forest fairy played a panflute somewhere in the woods above us. We never saw our musician (perhaps because, as Chris noted, when forest fairies stand still, they camouflage themselves as trees), but her notes wafting through the yellow leaves added a general magic to our hike. Elena searched for forest fairies in any likely hollowed log or hole in the ground on the way up.
Both kids reached the top with no (very little?) whining. I’ve been avoiding taking both kids up here alone, because I didn’t want to have a whiney melt-down (or deal with the kids having one), but they were both troopers. Skittles helped (four each on the way up, two on the way down).
Smiles and yogurt-covered raisins (or raisin-covered raisins, if you're Elena).
Mr. S looks so tall and thin in this photo. He took the slippery rocks like a pro. He naturally got low to better balance and slide if necessary. Time to take this one rock climbing.
After a quick hike down, which included a troll under a bridge (Sylvan the troll chasing some college girls [wouldn’t you have thought I’d have at least another six years before that happened?]), a family of five hiking with seventeen dogs (okay, seven), and a feral chicken, it was on to Skateworld! Okay, Tecnu showers and then Skateworld!
Our addition to the 70s-themed potluck. This and tater tots. Did you know that Easy Cheese is actually mostly cheese? I didn't mean to disappoint you.
Yes, that's a My Little Unicorn with a disco ball atop Rachael's cake. And Jiffy Pop on the table.
Sylvan trying out the skates. Chris confident in his 70s shirt. Sylvan was actually way better on skates than he was last year. He was slow, but he didn't need a hand. He didn't skate long, but he tried it out. Kindergarten's changing this one, and all for the better!
Elena's frustrating game of air hockey. Did you know that air hockey's really hard when you can only reach eight inches onto the table?
Lots of skating fun! Rachael’s skate mix was superb, and included Stevie Wonder’s Superstitious, Summer Lovin’ from Grease, Barry Manilow’s Copacabana (which is somehow inexplicably linked to Carvel ice cream with rainbow sprinkles in my brain), the Gambler, and Take Me Home, Country Roads. Passing on roller skating to another generation! Sylvan’s going again on Friday with the other school-age children who don’t have school on account of my Mom’s birthday (don’t tell her it’s Veteran’s Day; she knows everything shuts down for her birthday).
At noon, I said, “I should carve the pumpkins, or switch the silverware, or make some soup. But I don’t want to do anything.” Chris had just popped popcorn. I looked at him and said, “Hey, do you wanna watch a movie?” His reply: “I was going to ask you the same thing.” Well, the kids weren’t crazy about Gentleman Prefer Blondes, but that’s okay. Sylvan played a video game, Elena played with play-dough, both watched some musical numbers with Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe that just confused them. But we watched a whole movie. In the middle of the day!
Yay, Alder Bikeway! I wouldn't have attempted to take my new cyclist downtown before this. He impressed one group of football fans, who said they were twice his size before they biked on the road.
Then Sylvan and I headed downtown to see thousands of pumpkins. A few of my favorites:
Sylvan looked at more pumpkins just to humor me. He was patiently awaiting a doughnut.
Then on to the Porter Party! Halloween at the Porters is worth dressing up for: prizes, lots of other great costumes, praise. So, Elena was a princess, Sylvan a member of the Residential Unified Air Force (RUAF) in his shorts and a sweater, and I was finally Holly Golightly for Halloween. Boy, no more false eyelashes for me! What a hassle. For the folks who got my costume, I received high praise.
Sylvan is holding Cat the cat, which I carried all night.
Although my sister might say that my (un)finest moment as a sister was when I told her that the mole on her back was actually a mole nose, that the rest of the mole was living inside her back, I might contend that missing my nephew’s birth by a mere four hours was in fact my biggest blunder.
Dominic Carter Calabro. Born 6 October 2011. 7 lb. 9 oz. Perfect.
D.C. couldn’t have chosen a more perfect day to be born – sunny and cloudless, in the 60s, the leaves just beginning to turn scarlet. His tough mama labored for a mere four hours and five minutes, the hardest of her life, she’d undoubtedly say right now (and she doesn’t yet believe that she really will forget that). She did it without drugs, much to her dismay. By the time they’d driven to the hospital and an I.V. had been inserted, it was simply too late. Natural childbirth, here we come!
Here’s to a life full of strong women and sunny Thursdays!
Sylvan awoke this morning to soothing ocean sounds on his new alarm clock from Gramma Mia. He was dressed in a dapper button-down when he joined us for breakfast; he brushed his teeth, which is on our new morning list, then requested blueberry pancakes. He asked me to brush his hair, because it’s on the new list. Although I wanted to leave by 8, we left at 8:10, and we still got to Edison before they opened the doors at 8:15.
Unsure of his new surroundings, and looking haggard from staying up too late enjoying his new alarm clock
After some “discussion,” as Sylvan reported, the bus driver reluctantly let Sylvan ride the bus to Moss Street for the afternoon. I think I learned my lesson: DON’T turn in the dozens of forms they give you.
To top off a long day, we decided to head out to what ended up being the last game of the Emeralds baseball season. Turns out that Sylvan is a born baseball fan. Numbers? Check. Rules? Check. Lots of people to watch? Yes, that too.
This intense expression lasted for much of the game
I'm supposed to say "Yankees boo," but that's too silly
Happy the kids lasted the whole game, sleepy, and still intense
Seventh inning stretch: "One, two, THREE strikes you're out!"
The Ems lost, 5-4, but it took until the bottom of the 9th to decide. Exciting game.
Elena sends birthday greetings to Aunt Stephanie, on behalf of naked people everywhere.
"She lives in Switzland? No, she lives in BADGER!"
I wrote these first few paragraphs a week and a half ago, and I intended to follow them up with an account of our trip to the beach, farther below. My words seem prescient and bittersweet, given the sad events at the coast this weekend and my last blog entry.
27 January 2010
Dear Sylvan and Elena,
The truth is that I wish I realized, every single moment of every single day, how fleeting this is, how you’re going to grow up and be teenagers tomorrow. But I’ve never been patient, and I feel like parenting preschoolers is all about boundless patience.
But today I appreciated you both. And I have some joyous images in my mind that will remain with me when you’re 13. We headed up to Salem so I could pick up a craigslist find from a seller in Keizer. You guys and I went to A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village to make a day of it. What a super place! It consists of three old Victorian houses, painted brightly and filled to bursting with exciting, well-considered kid rooms.
Snapshots I’ll remember: Elena disappearing into the black void of the slide below me, completely fearless. Sylvan in a scarlet macaw costume two sizes too small, a costume you returned to when I said we had 15 more minutes before our drive home.
Tonight, when Sonya arrived to babysit, she said to you, Elena: “Are you my bug?” You replied, “You my bud.†G’s are challenging.
The craigslist find, in place in our bathroom. Not a project, and under $100. And look at the bonus cutest cat in the world!
7 February
When the kids and I got into the car in Eugene last Thursday, it was 38°F and partly cloudy. An hour and a half later, at the beach, it was 55°F and sunny. We packed a backpack of sand toys, snacks, and warm clothes, and we set off for the boardwalk trail through the dunes. The highlight of the day for both kids was pooping in the dunes; I do what I can to provide authentic experiences. We spun, ran, skittered from the waves, threw wet sand at a tree stump, ate, played horseshoes, drew letters in the sand, turned cartwheels, got our clothes wet and sandy, patted nice dogs, walked pretty far (Sylvan on his own, with zero whining. Yay!), collected shells and driftwood, and even relaxed for 3½ minutes (Oh, that was just me.).
Then, the angels fell asleep in the backseat while I listened to a podcast on the way home (Have you ever noticed that every sleeping child is an angel?).
On the boardwalk trail. I love her look; I feel like she rarely looks to him for reassurance, but maybe she's just good at pretending.
Ah, dune running. I remember the first time I did it: on Cape Cod with Aunt Sheila and Mom.
I definitely wanted to take this home for our backyard. I considered rolling it. Far. I think it was the same age when it was cut down that I am now. Look at the little people footprints in the sand.
See ya, Mom. We're going in!
Run away, run away!
Okay, am I supposed to throw this wet sand in your eyes or call it poop?
Sand dance
See my sand?
Dear Sylvan and Elena,
Tonight, I found out that two South Eugene High School seniors drowned when a sneaker wave caught them off-guard while they were walking down the coast in Yachats. They weren’t doing anything particularly risky, just walking with their friends, who tried desperately to save them.
I walked into each of your rooms, replacing blankets that had been tossed off and studying your sleeping faces. I realized that I won’t be able to protect you from any possible harm. You will grow, and I can teach you to try to make good decisions. But there are some things I won’t be able to protect you from—some things that I shouldn’t protect you from, if you’re going to grow up to be independent and capable. I will do my best. And I will kiss you every day we’re together.
Sadly, then I recognized the last name of one of the boys. I’d met him with his Mom, a fellow dancer who will have tears I can’t even begin to comprehend. He was gracious and smiling, just like his mother; and I know that, even though his life was cut tragically short, it was a good life, filled with love and laughter.
Every day, I will try to remember that a life filled with love and laughter is what I want for you.
Love,
Mom
For your viewing pleasure, our Christmas-y weekend:
Breakfast with Santa, run by the Eugene Downtown Lions Club. Well-organized, inexpensive, no lines for Santa pictures, cute elf hats on the Lions, crafters selling their wares: I wouldn’t go anywhere else for one-on-one time with Santa and Mrs. Claus (who is cute as a button, I might add; she thought the same of Elena). Please note the similarity to last year’s Claus photo (looks like I’ve become a better barber).
Breakfast with the Clauses, 2010
I am smiling.
Sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar
For the first time, we ventured to Coburg for the Christmas light parade, which started, inexplicably, at 7 p.m. on a school night. It’s dark at 5, so? Despite the screeching, chatty, sleepy Elena we had in the car on the way home, the parade was beautiful. We caravanned up with our Porter friends, who make any event 2.7 times as fun as it would have been otherwise. The parade started with a horse-drawn wagon pulling Santa. The horses were blanketed with lights, and each float and fire engine afterward shone with thousands of lights. People on the floats threw candy (in the dark, while the floats were driving by; again, is this such a good idea?), and someone came by handing out cute stuffed animals. Then, while the Porters stood in line for some photos with Santa, we headed home to put our sleepy munchkins to bed.
I took this photo from the wrong spot, but these little houses were adorably painted.
I know: we're gor-geous.
Despite our raingear, the rain actually held off for the entire parade, then started as soon as we piled into the car.
Merry Christmas! Joyful Solstice! Happy end-of-Hannukah!