April 2018 Issue

SPRING SPORTS Wanted: Women coaches AP R IL 20 1 8

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R S E AT T L E S C H I L D.C O M

The 6-year-old behind Owen’s List is here to help

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Complete your Spring Fling experience with Pandas in IMAX®. Opens April 6.

SPRING FLING April 2 – 15

Discover the Science of Spring.

pacsci.org IMAX® is a registered trademark of IMAX Corporation.

The #1 Summer STEM Camp for Ages 7–18 Empower your child to take their STEM skills to the next level. From coding and game development to robotics and design, your child will develop in-demand skills and ignite lifelong passions—all within a fun, inclusive environment. Get ready for the best summer ever!

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Held at 150 Prestigious Campuses UW | UW - Bothell | Bellevue College Eton School | U of Puget Sound

Get a brochure and find a camp near you! iDTechCamps.com | 1-844-788-1858 Ap r i l 2 0 18

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Seattle and Surrounding Areas

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AUTISM SERVICES • Early Intervention ABA Services • Social Skills Training • Parent Training & Participation • Focused ABA Therapy

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>>Contents Seattle’sChild April 2018 // Issue 462

WHAT PARENTS ARE TALKING ABOUT......... 7 DAD NEXT DOOR..................11 ROMP............................................13 CHOMP........................................15 SHOP............................................17 FEATURE SPRING SPORTS.................. 20 MAKING HOME..................... 29 CALENDAR...............................31

SECIVRES MSITUA secivreS ABA noitnevretnI ylraE • gniniarT sllikS laicoS • noitapicitraP & gniniarT tneraP • yparehT ABA desucoF •

dna elttaeS gnidnuorruS saerA

PHOTO COURTESY OF XXXXXX XXXXXXXXX

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„ Find us online at seattleschild.com Cover photo by JOSHUA HUSTON Ap r i l 2 0 18

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KCLS Invites You! Celebrate the opening of the new Bellevue Library Makerspace

Saturday April 14 10:30am 1111 110th Avenue NE Bellevue, WA 98004

Seattle’sChild April 2018 // Issue 462 “Seattle is my town. I know this city inside and out… or so I thought until I had kids.”

Seattle’s Child is your guide to getting to know your city all over again. Finding things to do, places to eat, and how to get around — it’s a whole new ballgame with kids in tow. We’re interested in how parents make homes in a space-challenged urban environment, how families create community, and what parents are talking about. Seattle’s Child reflects real Puget Sound families and their broad range of parenting experiences.

ANN BERGMAN Publisher, Founder abergman@seattleschild.com BOO DAVIS Art Director bdavis@seattleschild.com SARAH RIVERA Managing Editor srivera@seattleschild.com NICOLE SANTORA Calendar Editor calendar@seattleschild.com ASHLEY BRECKEL Website Managing Editor abreckel@seattleschild.com MIKE MAHONEY Copy Editor JEFF LEE, MD, BECCA BERGMAN BULL Columnists JO EIKE, REBECCA MONGRAIN, ANDIE POWERS, NAOMI TOMKY Contributing Editors ERIKA LEE BIGELOW, JIAYING GRYGIEL, STEVE LEWIS Contributing Writers AMY CADWELL Publisher’s Assistant ADVERTISING KIM LOVE Ad Production Manager klove@seattleschild.com MELIA WILKINSON Senior Sales Account Manager mwilkinson@seattleschild.com 774-253-2219 STEPHANIE KONAT Sales Account Manager skonat@seattleschild.com 425-770-4768

Seattle’sChild Seattle’s Child has been providing useful information to parents since 1979. In addition to our monthly magazine, look for our special themed publications — Explore, FamilyPages, School and SummerTime — distributed free throughout the Puget Sound area.

VOICE 206-441-0191 MAIL c/o USPS #112 1463 E Republican St. #193 Seattle, WA 98112 ONLINE seattleschild.com Like us on Facebook facebook.com/seattleschild Follow us on Twitter @SeaChildMag TO ADVERTISE advertise@seattleschild.com STORY IDEAS editor@seattleschild.com CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS Deadline is first of the month, one month prior to publication (May 1 for June publication).

Include date, time, cost, appropriate ages, address, contact information and description.

E-mail to calendar@seattleschild.com Seattle’s Child is published monthly with combined issues in January/February and July/August.

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„ Find more education and health news on seattleschild.com

GET OUT! Find April outings for your family with our complete online calendar of events. It’s mobile-friendly, constantly updated, and searchable by location, age and cost » seattleschild.com E D U C AT I O N , H E A LT H , D E V E L O P M E N T & M O R E

B Y J I AY I N G G R Y G I E L

»What Parents

Are Talking About

It’s elementary, my dear: Owen Metzger does his and neighbors’ recycling.

The can-do kid P H OTO BY JOS H UA H U STO N

SIX-YEAR-OLD OWEN METZGER HELPS NEIGHBORS RECYCLE OR DONATE ITEMS THE CITY DOESN’T COLLECT Deciphering Seattle’s recycling code isn’t easy: Lids are recyclable, but only if they’re at least 3 inches wide. Takeout containers are trash if they’re dirty, recyclable if they’re

clean. Foam trays are trash, except the beige ones, which are compostable. Got that?

We know out-of-towners who just give up and bag their trash to take home with

them. True Seattleites, however, study their recycling charts because we love keeping stuff out of landfills. One Seattle kindergartner is helping make that easier.

Six-year-old Owen Metzger, of the recently coined Owen’s List, helps neighbors recycle or donate items the city doesn’t collect in its recycling pick-up. Owen and his dad, Ryan, are so serious about this endeavor, they’ll even swing by to get them.

What have the Metzgers diverted from CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >

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Fun, e & cre ducationa ative l to the e ntire ys for famil y!

Arts & Crafts • Books • Baby Accessories • Dolls • Kites • Puppets Puzzles • Musical Instruments • Science • Games Enviromentally Conscious Toys • Party Favors

Seattle’s Largest Toy Store!

120 N 85th St., Greenwood • 206-782-0098 Check for FREE weekly events online!

www.toptentoys.com

COME LOOP THE LOOP! Join us to celebrate the Arboretum’s historic new 2-mile loop trail with an afternoon of public festivities. Enjoy live music, on-site artists, food trucks, free snacks, and activity stations all along the trail. Be part of our “vine-cutting” ceremony at 1 pm. Full details at arboretumfoundation.org/events/loop-trail.

sponsored by

media sponsor

BELLE EPICUREAN 8

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< Owen’s

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landfills? 170 pounds of batteries, 224 pounds of holiday lights and 300 pounds of electronics. At a friend’s house, Owen spotted some old phones in a drawer. He told everyone, “My dad and I can recycle those for you.”

The Metzgers picked up so much Styrofoam — nearly 700 pounds, aka 20 Owens — they rented a truck to drive it to the recycling facility in Kent.

Now when Owen sees Styrofoam in a dumpster, he says, “That could have gone to Owen’s List!”

The idea for Owen’s List began last fall, when Owen and his dad needed to get rid of some dead batteries.

They knew batteries shouldn’t go in the trash, so they researched where they could safely drop them off. After posting on their local “Buy Nothing” Facebook group, they picked up batteries from a few neighbors too.

Owen and his dad looked around their house for more things they could recycle. They talked about where stuff goes, and what happens to waste. They created a website for Owen’s List in December. News about this Queen Anne kindergartner’s venture spread quickly.

By February, more than 1,600 people had signed up for Owen’s List.

Owen’s List is about keeping as much stuff as possible out of landfills, and making it easy to do that. It’s also about doing something positive with a real impact, instead of telling kids, “Well, that’s just the way it is.”

“There are definitely people who want to do the right thing with stuff,” Ryan says, “and we will do what we can to help them with that.”

Take unused diapers, for example.

Most people have a slight excess as their babies grow out of sizes. In January, Owen’s List picked up more than 4,300 diapers for WestSide Baby, an agency that assists children in need.

Owen’s List involves a couple of hours driving around the city on a weekend. On another pick-up for WestSide Baby, Owen’s List collected a carload of socks, pajamas and winter coats. After Halloween, they collected 55 pounds of extra candy to donate to Birthday Dreams, a nonprofit organization in Renton that plans parties for homeless kids.

Through the project, Ryan hopes Owen and other kids learn to be mindful about what people do with things they’re getting rid of.

“There are different options than just throwing things in the trash,” Ryan says. “And little things you do add up and do some positive things in your community.” q To sign up for recycling information and pick-ups, join Owen’s List at owenslist.org

What Parents Are Talking About ‘If you want to stay young, work with kids’ CRAFTING DOYENNE OF A GREEN LAKE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL KEEPS ON VOLUNTEERING; CRAFTERS DON’T QUIT, THEY QUILT

P HOTOS BY MAGGIE TR AP P

BY REBEKAH DENN Dwight Eisenhower was president.

The Space Needle wasn’t built, the ferry system was in its infancy and Boeing was just beginning to build 707s. With four kids and new to town, Pearl Conkle started volunteering at Bagley Elementary near Green Lake, where her children went to school.

That was in 1956.

As the decades passed, some of the kids included her own grandchildren.

Now, at age 92, she’s known as “Grandma Pearl” to generations of the Bagley community, providing rare and possibly record service in Seattle Public Schools — and a timeless sense of family.

Teacher Jennifer Outhouse and students honor Grandma Pearl with a “happiness sprinkling” ceremony.

Officially, Conkle retired last year after 61 years of on-and-off volunteering at the school. “Retirement” meant cutting back from twice-weekly sessions in knitting, embroidery and other crafts to

twice-monthly visits to the “Art of Love” project in teacher Jennifer Outhouse’s class, where students make quilts to donate to Seattle Children’s Hospital, among CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >

er m Sum our y n a Pl

Find camps and activities throughout this issue.

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What Parents Are Talking About < Grandma

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other projects. There’s plenty of need for her services — and, she says, plenty of reward.

On a recent weekday, Conkle walks into Outhouse’s portable classroom — the one with a “Be Kind” sign in the window — hauling a box of quilts she had sewn together at home from the students’ squares of cloth. She joins a group of fourth- and fifth-graders on the classroom carpet, helping them select colors and wield needles and reminding them how to tie double-twisted knots through each square.

“It’s really therapeutic to do this handiwork,” she observes, as other students around the room sew heart-shaped pillows and design cards.

Conkle likes to see children learning the practical skills that used to be part of a basic education. Outhouse and other educators believe in the cognitive and emotional growth that accompanies hands-on crafting. But the collaboration goes beyond official goals and rubrics into the very fabric of what makes a strong community.

When the students visited Conkle’s home during a December field trip, she was like a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle brought to life, with students basking in her presence, exploring her sewing room filled with supplies, asking to see her pet bird and admiring the upside-down Christmas tree hanging from her ceiling. Every child seemed to count her as part of the family, one more link connecting them in turn to each other.

How did such a partnership begin?

Not in the usual ways.

“I’m not good with people. I’m quiet.

Believe me, I used to be,” Conkle says.

She worked at different jobs in different eras of her life, with experience including teletype operator, soda jerk and classroom aide.

Her shyness started dissipating when she volunteered at her church after moving to Seattle from Yakima with her husband Les. She used a suitcase full of puppets to teach youngsters about good behavior.

When her own four children began attending Bagley, there was no question she would help out. “She started out every year volunteering to be the room mother for whatever room I was in,” recalls Dot Prentice, her youngest. When Prentice went on to middle school, Conkle briefly volunteered there — then came back to Bagley.

She was up for anything, including clowning in a troupe that worked the fall carnival each year. She particularly looked for ways to help people who were new to the country, as in 1975, when schools nationwide grappled with teaching the many Vietnamese students

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entering U.S. classrooms after the fall of Saigon.

A New York Times reporter highlighted Bagley that year for offering then-rare ESL services for the newcomers, writing that they were only available because Conkle and a neighbor decided to offer a daily class at the school.

“None of them knew Vietnamese and none had taught a language before, but they dove in,” Prentice recalls, using pictures to teach the English alphabet and common phrases. “She was invited to dine with some of the students’ families and was amazed how she was held in high honor as a ‘teacher.’”

Pearl and Les volunteered to lead weekly Bingo nights at Bishop Blanchet High School when Prentice attended there, and worked in the Blanchet lunchroom to offset tuition costs. Yet every time she took a natural break from Bagley — when a teacher she worked with retired, when she and Les went traveling, when she had health problems — something brought her back.

Most recently, when Prentice’s own children entered Bagley in 2000, Conkle volunteered to walk them to school and back. That soon turned into teaching crafting classes for the hours in between.

“She went over for the kids,” says husband Les. And the kids are still there.

The partnership with Outhouse is particularly close; the teacher officiated when the couple renewed their wedding vows a few years ago. Lately, Conkle is giving quilting lessons to the parents in Outhouse’s classroom, too — not to train replacements for herself, just to fill the need that will probably never go away.

On Conkle’s recent class visit, Outhouse told the class that another hospital requested more “Art of Love” pillows, and asked students if they were game to sew a new supply. The hands all went up.

Seattle Public Schools doesn’t keep records on volunteer longevity, said spokeswoman Kim Schmanke, though Conkle’s record inspired awe and appreciation.

They’re aware of a few such super-volunteers, such as LouAnne Rundall, who logged more than 40 years at Highland Park Elementary in West Seattle.

What keeps such people going through the generations? In Conkle’s case, Prentice thinks her mom is inherently a “doer,” unable to sit without working on something useful. For such people “it is hard to stay home and stare at the walls,” Prentice says. And Conkle truly enjoys people being happy and grateful for her efforts, her daughter says.

“If you want to stay young, work with kids,” says Conkle.

Seattle writer Rebekah Denn has a son in Outhouse’s class who came home talking about how his “Grandma Pearl” was teaching him to sew.

DadNextDoor

by Jeff Lee, MD

Introducing New Summer Programs A little encouragement from across the fence

P H OTO BY JOS H UA H U STON

Game on If you had walked down our street on any cold, rainy evening from about 2002 to 2009, you might have heard a strange, unfamiliar noise: a metallic “PING,” followed immediately by another sound like a rim shot on a drum. You’d hear it every five seconds or so, punctuated now and then by a yelp of pain from a middle-aged man.

And if you’d followed that sound to our brightly lit garage and peered in through the window, this is what you would have seen: me wearing a catcher’s mask and chest protector, pitching Wiffle balls at my daughter, and her swinging an aluminum bat and driving them back at me as hard as she could.

I was Maddie’s softball coach, which is ironic, since my own Little League career was short, undistinguished and half-hearted. But despite all that, I was her first coach and her biggest fan.

And from the first time she stepped up to the plate, barely able to heft a bat, to the last game of her college career, I was there. I beamed with pride when she drove in the game-winning run. I cringed when she got wiped out by a collision at home plate. I fumed when she sat on the bench while lesser players took the field. I did the sports parent thing for everything it was worth.

At the time, I thought I did it for her, but that was only partly true. I was a faded high school jock, craving one more ride on the Glory Days Express, and she was my ticket. So when Maddie outgrew me and started playing for real coaches, and when my younger daughter Juliana decided she wanted to play Ultimate Frisbee in middle school, I eagerly switched gears and picked up my coaching whistle again.

Little did I know, my real education as a sports parent was about to begin.

Whereas Maddie inherited both my love of athletics and my competitive zeal, Juliana had never really taken to sports.

She’d tried softball and soccer, but was always the kid standing near the sideline, as far from the action as possible, trying not to be seen. So when she showed a genuine interest in playing Ultimate, I was thrilled.

I made it my job to help her succeed.

We had some work to do. Her running style was awkward, to say the least — like Pee-wee Herman chasing a bus.

We often equate “success” in sports with winning, even though scoring a goal, hitting a home run or winning a particular game is meaningless in the end. But that doesn’t make sports trivial.

We worked on bending her elbows and knees. We added leg drive and lean. We sprinted up hills and stairs. She got a little faster, then a lot faster, and soon she was faster than me. Next, we worked on quickness and acceleration, then jumping and changing direction. And finally, we threw a Frisbee. And then we threw it some more. And some more after that.

But the thing about Ultimate is that it’s not like other sports. Sportsmanship isn’t just a side dish — it’s the main course.

Storytelling

$10.00 per child

Canoe

$10.00 per child

• Guided tour • Outdoor scavenger hunt • Listen to traditional stories in the longhouse

• Guided tour • Gallery scavenger hunt • Sand and design your own cedar paddle necklace

Weaving

$10.00 per child

• Guided tour • Weaving scavenger hunt • Weave your own cedar mat pendant Capacity of 25-30 students per program, ages 6-18. Prices include admission, scavenger hunt, and materials for craft. Programs last 2.5 hours including thirty minutes for sack lunch. Bring your sack lunches!

Classroom space available.

For more information please contact:

Mary Jane Topash • 360-716-2657 mjtopash@hibulbculturalcenter.org Hibulb Cultural Center (360) 716-2600 6410 23rd Avenue NE Tulalip, WA 98271 info@hibulbculturalcenter.org hibulbculturalcenter.org facebook.com/hibulb

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summer

DadNextDoor CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

Players self-referee, and decide disputes by discussion and consensus.

If a player they’re defending scores a point, they congratulate them. Sometimes teams play wearing goofy costumes, just for fun. And at the end of the game, both teams lock arms in a big circle and play silly games and give out awards. They call it The Spirit of the Game.

That spirit extends to the sidelines as well. It’s almost bad form for a parent to know what the exact score is. You cheer for your „ Read all of Jeff kid’s team, Lee’s columns on but you’re seattleschild.com expected to cheer for good plays on either side. For a hypercompetitive guy like me, that took some getting used to. But in the end, it forced me to take a hard look at why I wanted my kids to play sports in the first place.

We often equate “success” in sports with winning, even though scoring a goal, hitting a home run or winning a particular game is meaningless in the end. But that doesn’t make sports trivial.

They’re a great laboratory for life skills that kids never get to practice in the protected little bubbles we build around their lives. Where else can they push themselves beyond what they thought was possible?

Where else can they experience risk, and failure, and grace under pressure? Where else must they subordinate their individual desires to the needs of a team?

But of all the lessons in sports, I think the most valuable is the one my daughters learned whacking Wiffle balls in our garage and throwing Frisbees for hours on end — that if you keep doing it, you get better at it. As blogger, humorist and deep thinker Tim Urban once wrote: A remarkable, glorious achievement is just what a long series of unremarkable, inglorious tasks looks like from far away.

It’s hard for this prideful sports parent to admit, but it doesn’t matter that my daughters got good at sports.

What matters is that they figured out how to get better at anything, and that now they know how to do it again.

Jeff Lee makes fewer painful yelps than he used to in Seattle.

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„ Find more things to do with kids on seattleschild.com Right under your nose!

DANCE AROUND THE WORLD Spend spring break learning to sashay around the world. As part of the “Our Big Neighborhood” series, Northwest Folklife and Seattle Center offer dance classes ranging from a Beninese dance workshop to Chinese wu shu martial arts demonstrations. The free, all-ages classes, performances, and hands-on activities run from 11 am-3 pm daily, April 7-13 at the Seattle Center Armory, with a $5 suggested donation. 3 nwfolklife.org/about-our-big-neighborhood

5 PLACES TO LEARN HOW TO DANCE

1

Rainier Dance Center Culture of community

A neighborhood studio that shines as a paragon of the genre, with a wide variety of classes that are open and welcoming to all abilities and types.

9264 57th Ave. S., Seattle 3 rainierdancecenter.com

»Romp THINGS TO DO WITH KIDS

>> Romp > Chomp

2

q BY N AO M I TO M KY

> Shop

Afsaana Dance Company Be the next Bollywood star

Bollywood dance is best known for flashy musical movies, but Afsaana takes it to the core, marrying classical Indian and Western styles in classes for tots and kids.

Various locations 3 afsaanadance.com

3

Lynn Beasley’s Children’s Dance Workshop Broadway beginnings

For kids who dream of taking the stage, this Queen Anne studio guides them from gentle tap basics through focused musical theater classes.

2564 9th Ave. W., Seattle 3 lynnbeasleydance.com

4

Massive Monkees: The Beacon Breaking down barriers

Started when the crew was in high school, this community-focused studio brings hip-hop, street dance and break dancing to all ages with affordable pricing.

664 S. King St., Seattle

SUP ERH ER OES BY JOSHUA HUSTON M OVIN ’ AROUN D THE WORL D BY E RINN HA LE

Ramona and Pete Chavez defend the universe, or visit MoPOP.

3 massivemonkees.com

Superhero celebration

A giant diorama of Black Panther comes to the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) this month as part of the Marvel: Universe of Superheroes exhibit (opening April 21). It won’t look exactly like the version in this year’s hit film because the exhibit focuses on the comic creators, such as Jack

Kirby, whose original drawings and sketches brought the Marvel Universe to life.

The exhibit, the largest that MoPOP has ever staged, includes original art, costumes (including those from the new Black Panther movie), and interactive exhibits that demonstrate how

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Pacific Northwest Ballet, Children’s Division Dancing with the stars

As one of the nation’s top schools, PNB gives budding ballerinas the thrill of learning from the company that puts on Seattle’s biggest performances.

301 Mercer St., Seattle 3 pnb.org/pnb-school

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< Marvel: Universe CONTINUED

of Superheroes

Marvel comics get made — and, perhaps equally important, why. “It’s easy to talk about comics and stay in comics, to ignore how they connect to the real world,” says MoPOP curator Brooks Peck.

Marvel, he explains, first brought superheroes into actual places and had them respond to current and historical events.

The reality-fantasy connection tackles genuine human issues in everyday life and in the Marvel Universe. The focus on Black Panther, as well as the

The

Summe r Experi ence at Forest Ridge Cooking • STEAM • Arts • Outdoors & More!

Girls & Boys | Grades 2-8 July 9-August 3

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SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention

Escape from Seattle!

BOUNTIFUL BELLINGHAM With saltwater breezes blowing off the bay, Bellingham calls to Seattleites as a nearby getaway packed with places for the kids to learn and play. Start the day at a collection of downtown museums, all within a few walkable blocks: the Whatcom Museum’s Family Interactive Gallery, which brings a kids’ museum into a world-class art gallery (250 Flora St., whatcommuseum.org), SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention (1312 Bay St., sparkmuseum.org), Mindport Exhibits (210 W. Holly St., mindport.org), and the Bellingham Railway Museum (1320 Commercial St., bellinghamrailwaymuseum.org). Take a break in between for a taste of some of the city’s most original (chocolate ghost pepper, anyone?) ice cream at Mallard (1323 Railroad Ave., mallardicecream.com).

Finish off at Aslan Brewing Co. (1330 N. Forest St., aslanbrewing.com), where parents can enjoy an excellent and well-deserved IPA as little ones sip root beers and peruse the “Cub’s Menu.”

IMAGES COURTESY OF MOP OP, SPAR KMUSEU M.ORG

Tony Stark’s lab is one of several settings in which kids can immerse themselves with their favorite characters.

character Nick Fury (originally a white character, updated in 2002 to its current likeness based on the actor Samuel L. Jackson), show how Marvel addressed racial stereotypes and issues using storyline and characters.

The exhibit is definitely geared to an adult audience, but its outsized imagery and interactive elements will appeal to kids. For the youngest, there’s a screen where they can watch Ironman’s armor fly onto their body. Large dioramas such as Lockjaw, the teleporting dog, make great backgrounds for photos. Older kids keen on the making of their favorite comics can learn about how comic books were produced through the years, including a touchscreen demonstrating how the panels come together into a complete work.

The exhibit balances appealing to a mainstream audience and to deep comic-book fans. For kids, it also communicates an overarching theme: “You can’t choose who your family is, you won’t always get along,” says Peck. But the Fantastic Four will come together when they have a job to do, despite a lot of family-like bickering. With this exhibit, MoPOP brings superheroes down from lofty guardians to that very human level: fighting for justice, understanding and acceptance. q 325 Fifth Ave. N., Seattle, mopop.org

„ Find more ideas for eating with kids on seattleschild.com

VERY VEGGIE This April, Seattle Center welcomes back Vegfest, Washington’s premier annual celebration of vegetarian food and cooking. A great way to support kids who are exploring a vegetarian lifestyle, or just introduce your family to different culinary choices, Vegfest offers a number of cooking demonstrations and

E AT I N G W I T H K I D S

MEAT SNACK MACHINES! Whether you’re looking for a healthy afterschool bite, or a different take on a halftime snack, the recent surge of gourmet jerky has you covered.

High in protein and omega-3’s, low in fat and calories, these healthy snacks are something the whole family can enjoy.

Cle Elum-based Owens Meats has installed meat vending machines, or “the candy store for the carnivore” in several locations in Seattle and Washington state, that offer jerky, pepperoni and cheese. Check their website for a map of locations (or just head to Ballard’s family-friendly Stoup Brewing to have a pint along with your snacks).

more than 500 different food samples from all over the globe.

There’s a separate family area with performances, face-painting, activities and a kids-only tasting section, so your little foodies might never want to leave.

April 7-8, 10 am-6 pm; $9, ages 12 and under free; Exhibition Hall, Mercer Street & Third Ave. N., Seattle 3 vegofwa.org

qBY JO EIKE

»Chomp > Romp >> Chomp > Shop

3owensmeats.com

Mountlake Terrace’s Double DD Meats has been around since 1955, and their high-quality jerky is made from 100 percent round and smoked in-house. (Be sure to pick up some of their meatloaf mix to bring home for an easy dinner.)

F UL L T ILT BY J OS HUA HU STO N VE GF EST, J ER KY: SH UT T E RSTOC K

3doubleddmeats.com

Olympia’s Johnson’s Smokehouse and Sausage Kitchen offers a wide range of beef and pork jerky and sausage sticks in a variety of flavors. Their tangy and sweet Hawaiian Style snacks are a definite kid-pleaser.

3johnsonsmokehouse.com

Kenyatta and Kayla Jahmid can’t get enough of Full Tilt.

From coffee to cone town

BY JO EIKE & REBEKAH DENN Capitol Hill residents saw their sweet dreams come true this January, as Full Tilt Ice Cream’s fifth Seattle location opened on 15th Avenue. A work in progress for the past three years, Full Tilt opened their Cap Hill doors in an old Starbucks location — bright, spacious and full of treats.

Inside, new and vintage arcade and pinball machines line the walls between eclectic pop-culture art and other whimsical décor.

Large tables give kids plenty of room to spread out with activities, and the outdoor patio is sure to be a huge hit on sunny days.

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Summer Music Day Camp with

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Chomp < From coffee CONTINUED

to cone town

made Full Tilt a household name around Seattle years ago are available here — including perennial favorites Mexican Chocolate, Mudhoney, and Salted Caramel. New to the lineup at this location is Full Tilt soft-serve, made daily from all-natural ingredients. Don’t forget that it offers some of the best vegan ice cream in town, too.

Beloved for its personalized flavors and lush textures, Portland’s Salt & Straw recently opened Seattle branches in Ballard and on Capitol Hill. After waiting through the ever-present line, kids (and adults) are encouraged to taste as many samples as they like before picking out their chosen cone.

That might mean a Raspberry Ginger Beer flavor made with Rachel’s Ginger Beer, or a matcha-citrus-spiked Ellenos Yogurt ice cream, or a startling Beecher’s Cheese with Peppercorn Toffee. (That last one is “divisive,” head ice cream maker Tyler Malek said, but if the kids don’t like it there’s always another option to try.) The shop also serves “flights” with a handful of samplers.

Beyond the dreamy creaminess, the fun of Salt & Straw is the connection Malek’s flavors make with the community.

Every month or so features a new theme — in the shop’s first month, that meant working with local chocolate shops to create treats like a Fran’s Almond Gold Bar flavor and a punchy basil-chocolate-cocoa nib.

It sounds like grown-up fare, but our taste test of the shop’s first month won favorites from every age group down to the 7-year-old (she went for strawberry honey balsamic with black pepper.) At $4.95 for a single scoop ($3.95 for a kid’s size), prices are on par with the city’s other high-end ice cream makers, and cheaper than cones at Seattle’s Ben & Jerry’s.

About those other shops: In the past decade, Seattle has become a center of artisan ice cream. Makers boast different specialties and bragging rights, from Parfait Ice Cream (certified organic, made from scratch) to Kurt Farm Shop (the cream comes from the owners’ Vashon Island cows) to Sugar Plum (vegan) to Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream (sustainability)… the list could go on and on.

In short, we’re fielding an all-star team. q Full Tilt Ice Cream, 328 15th Ave. E., Seattle, fulltilticecream.com

q Salt and Straw, 5420 Ballard Ave. NW (Ballard) and 714 E. Pike St., (Capitol Hill), saltandstraw.com

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FRESH FOOD FAST: LOCAL CHAIN EVERGREENS OPENS ON THE EASTSIDE A collective cheer was recently heard around the Eastside as Evergreens opened in downtown Bellevue. Since debuting its first location in 2013, small chain Evergreens has been a pioneer in the “fresh food fast” movement, offering healthy, hyperlocal, seasonal meals that busy parents can easily grab and go.

Choose a signature or seasonal salad, or order it as a wrap, with brown rice or in a quinoa-based grain bowl. The spicy kale Caesar is a perennial favorite, with aged Parmesan and lemon grounding the flavors, and spicy jalapeños giving it a kick. The El Sombrero is another crowd-pleaser, a burrito bowl option with local favorite Beecher’s Flagship cheese giving it a little extra oomph.

Even better when ordering for the whole family, Evergreens dishes are supremely customizable, so if nothing from the menu appeals exactly, have the kids invent their own creation from more than 40 different toppings.

In addition to their lunch and dinner options, the Bellevue City Center Plaza site debuted a new nourishing, hearty and flavorful breakfast menu. The sous-vide poached eggs make a delicious

and decadent touch to breakfast grain bowls, and kids love the housemade granola with yogurt. For those eating in, draft kombucha and housemade lemonade are a nice addition, as are the locally made baked treats.

Making it even quicker to get dinner on the table, Evergreens has an intuitive website that allows for easy online ordering: perfect for placing an order at halftime to pick up on the way home.

Evergreens is expanding from its four downtown locations, Fremont and U-Village, to SeaTac, Pioneer Square and Kirkland as well. q evergreens.com

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The REI Co-op Zonai Rashguard provides protection from the sun while splashing in the water at the local pool or beach. The shirt adds extra sun defense with a 50+ sun protection rating. Its flat seams and comfortable, specially fitted neckline allow for a wide range of motion. $14.95 to $34.95 3 rei.com

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A 5-inch, inflatable multi-sport Play Impossible Gameball works with an app that allows users to track the speed and spin of every toss, catch and throw. The gameball comes pre-programmed with more than 10 games (and counting) for “kids” ages 5 to 15. $99.99 3 playimpossible.com

Scores of p-ball picks Among pickleball true believers, Pickleball Station in Kent is the mecca to shop and try all things associated with this homegrown raquet game described as a combination of tennis, badminton and ping-pong.

The Station sells a huge selection of equipment, accessories and apparel,

all designed specifically for the sport of pickleball. Offerings include specialized balls for both outdoor and indoor games, portable nets, rebounder nets, along with paddles made of composite materials, graphite, wood and aluminum. Customers can demo paddles on the courts to get a CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >

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sense of grip and weight to see what racquet feels right. Additionally, the store carries breathable athletic shirts, speciality visors and USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) apparel.

“If we don’t have something on display in the pro shop, our staff has access to the thousands of additional products in our warehouse so they can find the exact model, color and size of any product desired,” said Karen Thomas, spokesperson for Pickleball Central.

In addition to the well-stocked pro shop, Pickleball Station offers instructional programs, tournaments and weekly leagues. The 18,000-squarefoot building has four indoor pickleball courts and is home to the Pickleball Hall of Fame and Pickleball Museum.

In 1965, the McCallum family helped invent the sport of Pickleball on Bainbridge Island. A few years later, they opened Pickle-Ball Inc. to outfit the sport. Last summer, Pickleball Station opened with indoor courts and a dedicated retail area. The USAPA says pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. q Pickleball Station, 22330 68th Ave. S., Kent,

YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD TOY STORE 206.932.3154 retroactivekids.com Historic Columbia City Discount excludes LEGO products.

A SPACE OF THEIR OWN Ahhh, pillow forts. Made of sofa cushions and scavenged blankets, to create a space of one’s own. Local author Will Taylor takes us back to that elusive porthole in his debut middle-grade-reader book Maggie & Abby’s Neverending Pillow Fort. Inspired by the magic of J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien and the many pillow forts he built growing up, Taylor was ready to write for middle readers, who at ages 8 to 12 start to choose their own books and create spaces in their imaginations that don’t include their parents and other adults. It’s a magical time of exploration and growth as they learn who they are, how they relate to each other, and what they are capable of doing. 3 willtaylorbooks.com — Erika Lee Bigelow

COURTESY OF WILL TAYLOR

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Shop

BOOK CLUB

Sport-laced lit Give kids who may not be tempted to crack a book a reason to read one with these timeless stories about the transcendent nature of sports. Play ball!

Players in Pigtails

by Shana Corey, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon Scholastic, 2003 Preschool-3rd Grade

This delightful picture book will have sports-loving girls and boys thrilled to read about a time during World War II when women replaced men on the baseball diamond. The story follows fictional player Katie Casey and her time in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

I am Jackie Robinson (Ordinary People Change the World)

by Brad Meltzer, illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos Dial Books, 2015 Kindergarten-4th Grade

Written in comic-book format, this book reveals the obstacles that were a precursor to Robinson’s success. The baseball great withstood bullying and prejudice as a child, and as the first black player in Major League Baseball.

The Crossover

by Kwame Alexander

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The format makes for a quick and tender read about twin brothers who share a love for basketball, and the obstacles they face as they begin to drift apart.

— Andie Powers

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DO YOUR BEST Youth sports can be a minefield, any parent knows.

Isn’t the goal to have fun? Women make up a disproportionately small percentage of youth coaches, in a landscape that (gasp!) hurts for coaches. So opt in, Seattle women! Youth hockey is growing in the U.S by broadening its appeal, especially to novices. Mikaela Shiffrin’s childhood coach has advice for would-be Olympians: laugh.

Wanted: women coaches Women coaches support healthy growth, changing ideas about gender roles

BY JIAYING GRYGIEL It was not an auspicious season in 2010 when Tameka Stewart became the girls’ basketball coach at Evergreen High School in White Center. The team’s record improved to 1-15.

“That one game we won, you would have thought it was the state championships,” Stewart remembers, laughing. Previous seasons had been entirely winless.

Even with the losses, the emphasis of

Julie McCleery coaches her 12-year-old’s Little League team in Wallingford.

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those early seasons and all subsequent seasons has been to have fun playing ball.

Stewart, a University of Washington Human Resources manager who has spent more than a decade as a basketball coach, used team dinners and even a visit to a ropes course to build a sense of camaraderie.

“I gave them something more than wins.

It was really about developing that bond and sisterhood and having fun,” says Stewart, who found that once the girls started enjoying playing together, they naturally improved their level of play.

Advocates say women coaches can make a difference in kids’ lives and change ideas about gender roles. Women are far underrepresented in the world of coaching — just 28 percent of coaches in youth sports are female, according to a 2017 Project Play CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >

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DO YOUR BEST

Julie McCleery thinks that women have a moral obligation to coach.

< Wanted: Women CONTINUED

coaches

study, an annual report of the state of youth sports by the Aspen Institute, based in Washington, D.C. “We have that moral obligation [to coach] because there are a lot of big changes we can make,” says Julie McCleery, a research associate at UW’s Center for Leadership in Athletics, which studies coaching and lately is trying to figure out how to get more women involved in coaching. The

Center recently hosted some 70 would-be coaches to get more women involved in youth coaching in Seattle. Present on the rainy morning were athletes including rowers, basketball players, derby skaters and hockey players — some who have been coaching for years, others about to make that tentative step toward the clipboard and whistle. McCleery, mother of three boys, has coached rowing, basketball and baseball.

In youth sports, there’s an increasing emphasis on early sports

specialization, competition and winning. McCleery argues that sports should be fun and engaging, especially for kids under 12. It’s not necessarily about learning how to swing a bat, but how to move and jump. “We want to be giving them skills for a lifetime,” she says.

A 2014 George Washington University study asked kids what they think is “fun” in sports. Number 48 on the list: winning. Number 63: playing in tournaments. At the top of the list: trying your best.

Women are more likely to preserve childhood and playfulness, according to research from educator Neil Postman.

McCleery cites research from a Harvard Business Review study that found that women in general have a less competitive, more collaborative leadership style.

“Think youth sports culture doesn’t fit you? That’s actually a reason you need to be in them,” she says.

Of the 70 coaches on staff at Seattle’s University Prep, 80 percent are men. Director of Athletics Rebecca Moe, a mom of two, says she would love to see more women on her staff and has found that women can be more nurturing and relational.

“You gotta apply. The girls in our school need to see themselves in the coaching staff,” Moe says. “Don’t hesitate if you do not have all of the qualifications listed on the job description. You know more than you think!”

Core practices for coaches You volunteered to coach.

Now what?

Tips from Julie McCleery and Hannah Olson from the UW Center for Leadership in Athletics

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1 Create a routine.

Especially with younger kids, says Olson, having a routine reduces anxiety, and makes kids feel safe and comfortable.

2 Use positive feedback. Say a kid misses at bat three times. Throw a praise sandwich in there, like, “Okay, keep your eyes open, and next time you’ll get it,” says McCleery.

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3 Get their attention.

No matter what you have to say as a coach, it doesn’t matter unless you have their attention. Make up a chant or cheer for your team. Do you have a loud coaching voice?

Learn to channel that inner volcano voice, says Olson, or find a tool (like a whistle or speaker) to help.

4 Consider safety.

Is the grass wet and slippery? Move to the

track for drills. “This is your number one job,” says McCleery. “Safety should be top of mind.”

5 Planning is key.

Even if it’s just jotting something down on the back of a receipt in the car, have a plan, says McCleery.

More good resources: Visit Changing the Game Project (changingthegameproject. com) and the Positive Coaching Alliance (positivecoach.org).

WHEN MOM IS YOUR COACH Gail Petteruti started coaching her son Luke’s T-ball team when he was 5. She tried to steer him to lacrosse, a sport she knew and had done well with as a Division I player. But Luke wanted baseball, and Gail gamely stepped in to coach boys despite knowing very little about the sport. “YouTube,” she says with a shrug. She coached her son’s team for 8 years, learning baseball from YouTube, other coaches in the community and figuring it out as she went along.

It was tourney time in Luke’s final year of Little League. Their third-seeded team, the only one with two women coaches, was definitely the underdogs. Other teams trotted out their three-star pitchers for games, but Petteruti didn’t have any star pitchers.

What she did have, however, was a bench of pitchers, because they had been teaching everyone the basics of pitching all season long.

It was skill acquisition versus star acquisition.

Little League rules allow young pitchers to throw about the equivalent of one big game a week. As the other teams rotated and retired their star pitchers, Luke’s team held on from the mound to win the 2014 tournament.

“It was gratifying. It felt really good to have a philosophy like that and have it play out well,” says Petteruti.

Luke, now a sophomore at Seattle’s Ballard High School, hopes to play varsity this year.

Was it ever weird to have his mother also be his coach?

“Honestly, it wasn’t that big a deal for me,” says Luke. “I was a little nervous I would get mad about playing time, but we worked it out. We established a bunch of memories and a good relationship. She’s shown me how to be a great leader.”

Coaching young kids is a good place to start, Gail Petteruti says, because at that age, it’s about participation, not skills.

And for women who are nervous about getting started, she offers this: “Jump in. Get wet. Women tend to downplay their strength.

It’s important to be role models.”

DO YOUR BEST Coach Jenn Wood, center, gives kids a taste of the sport at “Try Hockey Free Day” at Sno-King Ice Arena in Renton.

Hockey, eh?

Is Seattle ready to take to the ice?

Check, says youth hockey

BY MICHAEL BERRY Like blizzard baby booms, it’s what some coaches call the Olympic bump — when rosters and registrations swell for Olympic sports, particularly with a gold medal win for U.S. women’s hockey. And with a National Hockey League franchise potentially coming to town, Seattle could be on the brink of becoming a hockey town.

About time, say local hockey coaches. Over the past decade, U.S. youth hockey participation

has grown steadily, up 21 percent in the past decade according to USA Hockey. Jenn Wood, a coach with Sno-King Amateur Hockey Association (snoking hockey.com) and the Washington Wild (wwfha.com), an organization that promotes girls’ hockey, attributes the growth in part to changes in coaching philosophy that de-emphasize winning and promote skill acquisition: “At the younger ages, it’s about small-area gains and more attention on the puck. Kids under 8 play cross-ice games so they’re close to the puck, they get more time with the puck, and they’re not skating around in the vast wilderness of the rink without ever touching the puck.”

More young people want to try the sport, observes Wood.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >

SEATTLE AS A HOCKEY TOWN Seattle fans love their Seahawks, Sounders, and Mariners — and they sure miss their Sonics — but will the Emerald City ever be a hockey town? Actually, it’s been one for more than a century.

In 1917, the Seattle Metropolitans became the first American team to win the Stanley Cup. They would appear in the finals again in 1919 and 1920 before folding in 1924.

Today, area hockey fans can watch teams from the Western Hockey League.

The Seattle Thunderbirds

(seattlethunderbirds.com) play at the ShoWare Center in Kent and the Everett Silvertips (everettsilvertips.com) play at Angel of the Winds Arena. The WHL is part of the Canadian Hockey League, which prepares young, mostly Canadian players for the NHL; it serves a similar function to college sports in the U.S. The Greater Seattle Hockey League (gshockey.com) is one of the country’s largest amateur hockey leagues, with nearly 100 teams across eight divisions, offering opportunities for all ages and skill levels.

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DO YOUR BEST < Hockey,

eh?

CONTINUED

Youth hockey today is safer and more accessible and inclusive than it’s ever been; for parents who drive to and from the rink, it’s a fast game that’s fun to watch inside.

Retention rates have also increased. “Kids want to stay, they want to come back and play another year, they want to move up to 8U [the next level],” says Wood. “There’s been a decline in enrollment in youth sports, and hockey is one of the only sports that’s actually growing in enrollment right now.”

Hockey, along with golf, gymnastics, lacrosse and track and field, has seen increases, but the so-called “big four” — football, baseball, basketball and soccer — have seen declines, according to Project Play, a report about the state of youth sports in U.S. by the Aspen Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

Kaye Reiter is a Shoreline mother of three “house” league youth hockey players; her boys played soccer and baseball, but the emphasis on winning sidelined their interest in playing.

“It just wasn’t fun. They put the best kids out, and they don’t play all the kids and help them get skills,” says Reiter. “Hockey is about teaching skills.”

But hockey participation is limited by ice availability. While it’s relatively easy to find a basketball court, baseball diamond or field at any neighborhood park, there are no year-round ice rinks within Seattle city limits: the closest rinks are in Shoreline, Kent, Renton and Lynnwood.

Hockey has earned a reputation over the years as being violent, but Gord Whitaker,

No gear, no problem: SJHA and Sno-King have a mission to keep hockey affordable with scholarships.

coaching director of the Seattle Junior Hockey Association (sjha.com), says youth hockey has made great strides toward diminishing violence and injuries.

“When it comes to violence, that’s a fasci-

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of youth hockey that allow “body play,” and they’re reserved for older kids.

Perhaps more than other popular sports, hockey requires lots of equipment to even get started: pads, sticks, skates, helmet and — of course — skating lessons. Two area organizations make it easy for aspiring athletes to get into the game.

“Both SJHA and Sno-King began with the mission to keep the game as affordable as possible,” says Whitaker. “When you’re a beginner, you get a substantial discount just to try out the game. There are ways to defer some of the costs, through a kind of scholarship program.”

Both programs periodically offer “try hockey for free” days, and offer entry-level pricing that includes ice time, lessons, and low-cost gear rental: Hockey 1 at SJHA is only $159 for eight weeks of classes, or $199 for the classes and gear rental.

Women’s hockey started to take off in the U.S. after it first appeared in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan; the U.S. women’s team has earned two gold medals, three silver and one

Hockey, along with golf, gymnastics, lacrosse and track and field, has seen increases, but the so-called “big four” — football, baseball, basketball and soccer — have seen declines. bronze. The Washington Wild has been around for 15 years, and in the past three years has grown from three teams to nearly a dozen, with opportunities available for girls of all ages and abilities.

The NHL declared February “Hockey is for Everyone” month, which “uses the game of hockey — and the League’s global influence — to drive positive social change and foster more inclusive communities.” In conjunction with USA Hockey, the league promotes diversity initiatives to make hockey more accessible to underrepresented communities.

“What I really hope is that [the NHL coming to Seattle] inspires the joy of the game and the ability to watch the world’s best play right here,” says Whitaker.

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Gold-medal attitude Mikaela Shiffrin at 8 was like the 23-year-old Olympic champion

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BY NAOMI TOMKY Well before Mikaela Shiffrin won any Olympic gold medals, led the World Cup overall standings, and was widely considered one of the world’s fastest women on skis, she was the best 8-year-old racer in New Hampshire. And I happened to be one of her coaches on the Ford Sayre Ski Team.

It was 2003 and I was a college student and part-time coach, just having quit Division I ski racing to have more time as a Dartmouth student. No more early morning training and long hours at the gym. I wanted to stay out late with friends, pretend to study in the library, and do all of the things that college

students do. But having spent much of my life as a competitive ski racer, I missed it immediately. Thankfully, an email came soon after my hasty retirement: a local team needed a coach. It was perfect: I stayed connected to the sport I loved, but without the full-time commitment, and could pass on my love of racing to a new generation of skiers.

While I don’t remember the exact moment I met Shiffrin, it was only a few weeks into the season when I consulted my co-coach and mentor. “She’s not just good,” I started, “but, like, the best ever, right?” He was where I am now, with more than 15 years of coaching experience, and nodded in agreement. We watched this rare, once-in-a-lifetime talent, and hoped to do it justice.

We were all fairly certain that one day Shiffrin would be on the world’s stage, not only because of her top-level racing skills that she executed at so young an age, but because of her attitude. She came to the hill each morning with a hunger for CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >

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< Gold-medal

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improvement that put her exponentially ahead of her teammates and the competition. She was good in a way that even my contemporaries Lindsey Vonn, Ted Ligety and Manuel Osborne-Paradis, who still race for — and win — Olympic medals, never matched. As kids, these skiers were great for their ages. They crushed the competition by a few seconds a run (like winning a soccer match by seven goals). But Shiffrin had a grace and poise that matched World Cup competitors and won races by as much as 8 seconds per run, the equivalent to lapping fellow runners in the mile. Even given these winning margins, she still wanted to be better.

“But what else should I do?” begged the tiny 8-year-old, her long blonde hair trailing out of her helmet, seeking more advice, more drills, more ways to improve.

While other athletes listened carefully and focused enough on my coaching advice to apply it during their practice runs, they also occasionally acted like kids. They spaced out, sometimes forgot what they were working on, and certainly looked for opportunities to free-ski — heading off the race course and into the trees for a little powder and jumps.

Not Shiffrin. She stayed laser-focused on how to tweak her hand position to be more aerodynamic; what she could do with her knees to keep them in a stronger position; how to improve, little by little, piece by piece. Every. Single. Run. She was, for lack of a word in the English language that doesn’t understate it, intense. By all reports, she’s still like that today at 23.

As if her skiing and focus weren’t enough, she was also so coachable. She could consistently take, compute and apply advice as she absorbed the ever-increasing pressure from every angle, including her family, who became her de facto coaches.

She ingested all the directions, the energy, the expectations that everyone piled onto her. As her team coach, I helped Shiffrin improve while attempting to downplay her focus on winning. She left a better skier, thanks a little to me, but mainly to her. I could coach skiing, but couldn’t teach kids to have the kind of desire that Shiffrin had.

“Did you know she’d be an Olympic champion?” I’m often asked, when people learn that I coached the golden girl. Sure, but with a caveat: If she could steel herself mentally to handle the pressure she placed on herself, and the burden of the expectations of those around her.

Today, I coach at Team Alpental Snoqualmie, where racers spend 16 hours a week on the slopes. It is not uncommon to see overzealous parents subject their kids to additional hours of video-watching and their own (often divergent) ideas of what the kids should be focusing on.

Naomi Tomky (wearing black hat) with the Big Green Dartmouth ski team.

Most of these over-coached kids will one day tire of the intensity … Most will come away with more resentment than medals.

Most skiers are not Shiffin. I see what happens to the other 99.99 percent of kids subjected to the double intensity of ski-racing coaches and over-involved, high-pressure parents who unload the weight of their own hopes and dreams onto their children. It’s not pretty.

Preteens pushed too hard often break, like a rubber band stretched too far. They go through the motions, showing up for practice, but without heart and drive. It looks like lazy skiing and inattentive listening, and can lead to thrown equipment, even injury.

Most of these over-coached kids will one day tire of the intensity, and their parents will grow weary of pushing their children to achieve the athletic dreams they didn’t. Most of those kids will come away with more resentment than medals.

The ones with staying power, some of whom have found their way to the national development team — one level below the Olympic squad — pushed back and carved their own path. They wove fun and lighthearted play into their training days. They relaxed on the chairlift, hugged at the finish line. You see, you have to love ski racing as you do it, not just when you win.

Mikaela Shiffrin’s mental strength set her apart from her peers, and from most people. More than her perfect turns, it was her tenacity in the face of intensity that earned her gold in Pyeongchang. For the rest of us mere mortals, perfect pole plants go best with peals of laughter.

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Ballet barre: A generous hallway is transformed.

Raising the barre P H OTO BY JOS H UA H U STON

THE VICTORIA FAMILY FINDS A CLEVER WAY TO GET THEIR EXERCISE IN AT HOME WITH UNUSED SPACE With six people under one roof, the Victorias can sometimes feel like they’re stretched thin between home, school, practices, games and rehearsals.

The family of six — parents Eugene and Andrea, plus kids Ben, 17; Caleb, 15; Isabella, 13; Eleanor, 9, and an 8-month old French-English bulldog puppy — are the

quintessential sporty family, living in the Woodside neighborhood of Renton.

With athletic roots in dance, football, soccer and basketball, this rambunctious family is bursting at the seams with athletic ability, but found that their sports put them at a disadvantage for togetherness. With the girls heavily immersed in the British Dancing Academy doing ballet, modern, tap and jazz, Eugene had a lightbulb moment on how to allow them to practice at home.

“I will give credit to Eugene, because CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >

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MakingHome the barre

CONTINUED

he is the one who thought to use the space as a place for the girls to stretch and practice,” says Andrea. “He said, ‘Let’s get the girls a dance pole!’ The ballerinas in the house were horrified! After we got over the shock and laughter, Eleanor finally corrected him and said, ‘Dad, it’s not a dance pole. It’s a barre!’”

Eugene took the lead on designing and creating a miniature, in-home ballet studio. He measured the length of the wall (formerly inhabited by laundry piles), and after a quick trip to Home Depot, had everything he needed to make a space that would allow the girls to practice in the comfort of home. The barre consists of simple L-shaped brackets and a wooden handrail. The girls prepped to take their ballet exams last month.

Future DIY plans include a tap floor.

“My girls turned one of my photography backgrounds — a piece of plywood painted black — into a makeshift tap board,” says Andrea. “Adding a surface for them to tap on is definitely going to be one of the next additions to the little dance studio.”

The girls use the barre a bit more during dance exam and performance times,, but mainly it gives them their space to dance. “There is always dancing in one form or another in the Victoria household,”

Eleanor and Isabella at the barre.

says Andrea. “[Even] a trip to Trader Joe’s is not complete without a little tap dancing and maybe some progressions in the produce section.”

„ Is your family living in a unique space? We want to know! Email us at makinghome@seattleschild.com

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Erika’s picks for April 1

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MoPop Teen Takeover Teens ages 14 to 19 will take over the Museum of Pop Culture for one night for a fun, free party featuring live music, a super scavenger hunt, great games, sweet snacks and plenty of prizes.

Please pre-register.

April 7

April 14

Seattle Supercross 2018 Head downtown for an exhilarating evening watching off-road motorcycle races.

Come watch amazing riders circumnavigate CenturyLink’s challenging obstacle course. Free ages 2 and younger.

Free State Parks More than 100 state parks have free admission for Spring Day (April 14) and for Earth Day (April 22).

Bring the whole family, come explore the great outdoors and get a little closer to nature.

Discover Pass not required for entry.

April 20-22

Seattle Cherry Blossom & Japanese Festival Enjoy Taiko drumming performances, artisan demonstrations, hands-on activities and delicious food at a weekend of Japanese culture at the Seattle Center Armory and Fisher Pavilion.

Sheep Shearing Surely she shears sheep surely. Watch how sheep shearing is done at Kelsey Creek Farm, then take part in spinning demonstrations, children’s crafts and activities, and tractor, wagon and pony rides.

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»Calendar 04/18 Sunday, April 1 S E AT T L E A R E A

Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience. See a funny rock musical based on the book of the same title by Mo Willems. Best for ages 5 and older. 2:30 pm today; various times through May 13. Seattle Children’s Theatre, Seattle (Lower Queen Anne). www.sct.org

PHOTO COURT ESY OF TUL IP F ESTIVA L

Weekend Family Workshops: Kites on the Fly! Learn about how flight works in this hands-on workshop. Families can create and take home their own kite.

11 am to 1 pm today and weekends through Apr. 15. Included with admission. $$$, free ages 4 and younger. www.museumofflight.org Sakura-Con. The oldest and most well-attended Japanese animation convention in the Pacific Northwest, featuring art, presentations, photo booths and more.

Kids under 18 must attend with an adult. 9 am to 7 pm. $$$, free ages 5 and younger. Washington State Convention Center, Downtown Seattle. www.sakuracon.org Shen Yun Performing Arts.

Singers, dancers, drummers and

It’s tulip time! Read our tips for taking the best family photos on page 34.

acrobats highlight 5,000 years of Chinese culture. 1 pm. $$$. McCaw Hall, Seattle (Lower Queen Anne). www.shenyun.com Moisture Festival. Showcase of comedy/varietè artists including acrobats, dancers, musicians,

clowns, aerialists, comedians, magicians and jugglers. Most shows all-ages (especially 3 pm shows), see website for schedule.

3 and 7:30 pm tonight; various times through April 8. $$ to $$$. Hale’s Palladium, Seattle (Fremont). www. moisturefestival.org

NORTH SOUND

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

Daily events and attractions through April 30, most with appeal for kids and families. Mount Vernon Street Fair is April 20-22.

Prices vary, many events FREE. Various locations throughout the

E V E NT S AR E SUB JE CT TO C H ANG E Please call ahead or check the venue’s website before you go.

E V E NT P R IC ING $: Under $10 / $$: $10–$20 / $$$: $20 and over

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Calendar

The Sammamish Montessori School

Skagit Valley. No pets in the fields.

Download festival map and brochure online. www.tulipfestival.org

In Redmond

Call 425-883-3271 for a tour.

EASTSIDE

• Child-centered, joyful atmosphere with strong academic focus • Experienced, Montessori-certified teachers • Preschool and kindergarten • Family owned and operated since 1977 in g N o w E n r o ll • Summer, before & after school programs • Prep Program, (starting ages 2 1/2-3)

Scenic Train Ride. The Northwest Railway Museum offers scenic rides to the top of Snoqualmie Falls and back (approx.

2 hours round-trip), and a stop at the train shed exhibit building. Today, kids will receive a special treat for Easter. See schedule online. 11 am to 3:30 pm weekends through Oct. $$ to $$$. Northwest Railway Museum, Snoqualmie.www.trainmuseum.org

Monday, April 2

www.sammamishmontessori.com • 425-883-3271

S E AT T L E A R E A

Paw Patrol Live! See a live-action, Bunraku puppet-style show based on the popular kids’ television series. 6 pm today, 10 am, 2 and 6 pm Tue. $$$. McCaw Hall, Seattle (Lower Queen Anne). www.mccawhall.com

WILDERNESS AWARENESS SCHOOL

Thursday, April 5 S E AT T L E A R E A

Burien UFO Festival. Celebrate the strange with this fun festival featuring live entertainment, a costume contest, face painting, inflatables, food vendors and more. 6 to 11:15 pm. $$. Southwest 152nd Street in Olde Burien. www.facebook.com/ BurienUFOFestival

DAY - and - OVERNIGHT

SUMMER CAMPS

SOUTH SOUND

Opening Day 5K. 5K run/walk, followed by the opening game of the Tacoma Rainiers season. 6 pm. $$$. Cheney Stadium, Tacoma. www.metroparkstacoma.org

SEATTLE & EASTSIDE LOCATIONS FOR AGES 4 to 18 wildernessawareness.org

Friday, April 6 S E AT T L E A R E A

MoPop Teen Takeover. Teens ages 14 to 19 are invited to a party featuring live music, a scavenger hunt, games, snacks and prizes. 8 to 10:30 pm. FREE. Pre-register. www.mopop.org SASS: SANCA’S Annual Spring Showcase. Variety of circus-style acts including trapeze, aerials and juggling, performed by students, alumni, staff and guests.

7 pm tonight and Sat., 3 pm Sat. and Sun. $$. Broadway Performance Hall, Seattle, (Capitol Hill). www.sancaseattle.org Marine Mammal Mania. Learn about marine mammals at Seattle Aquarium through hands-on kids’ activities, talks and demonstrations. 10 am to 4 pm weekends through April 15. Included with admission. $$$, free ages 3 and younger. Pier 59, Downtown Seattle. www.seattleaquarium.org EASTSIDE

Winnie the Pooh. A live show based on the book series by A.A. Milne. 7 pm tonight and Sat., 2 pm Sat and Sun. Bellevue Youth Theatre, Bellevue. www.parks.bellevuewa.gov

Your guide to a kid-friendly city

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Shrek, Jr. See a kid friendly version of the Tony Award winning musical based on the popular animated film. 7:30 pm; various times through Apr. 22. $$. Cope Gillette Theatre, Everett. www.villagetheatre.org

Saturday, April 7 S E AT T L E A R E A

Guide t o Activ e Indoor Fun

Movin’ Around the World. Explore different cultures through song, dance, play and hands-on activities. Each day will showcase a different culture. See the full schedule online. 11 am to 3 pm today through Fri. $ suggested donation. Seattle Center, Seattle (Lower Queen Anne). www.nwfolklife.org

EASTSIDE

April Showers Make Watersheds. Join a Park Ranger to learn about watersheds and the important part they play in the water cycle.

Best for ages 5 to 10 with an adult. 2:30 to 3:30 pm. FREE. Lewis Creek Park Visitor Center, Bellevue. www.parks.bellevuewa.gov

Monday, April 9 SOUTH SOUND

Humpty Dumpty. See a short, interactive show geared toward preschoolers based on the classic nursery rhyme. 10 am today through Friday and 11:30 am Thurs. $. Olympia Family Theater, Olympia. www.olyft.org

Friday, April 13 EASTSIDE

Seussical Jr. See a colorful, live-action musical with popular Dr. Seuss characters featuring original songs by the Tony Award- winning duo Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty.

7:30 pm; various times through Apr. 29. $$. Village Theatre, Issaquah. www.villagetheatre.org Spring Fair in Puyallup

Seattle Supercross 2018. See off-road motorcycles race on a challenging obstacle course. 6:30 pm. $$ to $$$, free ages 2 and younger. CenturyLink Field, Downtown Seattle. www.supercrosslive.com Vegfest. Everything vegetarian, including food samples, cooking demonstrations, information and kids’ area with entertainment.

10 am to 6 pm through Sun. $ (cash or check), free ages 12 and younger. Seattle Center Exhibition Hall (Lower Queen Anne). www.vegofwa.org NASA Climate Day. Activities and presentations about climate change and what we can all do about it. 10 am to 4 pm. Included with admission. $$ to $$$, free ages 4 and younger.

Museum of Flight, Seattle (Boeing Field). www.museumofflight.org

WAS H I N GTON STATE FA I R: PATRI C K H AG E RT Y, P H OTO CO U RT E SY O F ER I C ODE

Annual Free Children’s Concert. Seattle Men’s Chorus and Seattle Women’s Chorus, along with special guests Washington Middle School Choir, present their annual concert for families. Costumes, familiar songs and audience participation make it fun for all. 2 pm.

FREE; reserve tickets online. McCaw Hall, Seattle (Seattle Center). www.seattlechoruses.org

Saturday, April 14

Sunday, April 8

Free State Parks. Explore one of more than 100 state parks to celebrate Spring Day and April 22 for Earth Day. Discover Pass not required for entry. Free entry does not include camping. www.discoverpass.wa.gov

S E AT T L E A R E A

S E AT T L E A R E A

Washington Park Arboretum Loop Trail Grand Opening. Celebrate the complete of the new trail with kids activities, live music, food trucks and more. Noon to 3 pm. FREE. Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle (Montlake). www.arboretumfoundation.org

Holi Hai. Wear white to this carnival of colors, where everyone has a chance to paint each other with dry, colored powder. 2:30 to 5:30 pm. $$, free ages 12 and younger. Cromwell Park, Shoreline. www.eventbrite.com

Emerald City Ride. Choose from a 12-mile (7 am) or 3-mile (9:15 am) bike ride on closed SR-99 and I-5 express lanes. Limited slots available. Pre-registration recommended. $$ to $$$. Pyramid Alehouse (starting line), Seattle (SoDo). www.cascade.org Sensory Day. In recognition of World Autism Awareness Day, families affected by autism and other sensory disorders can come experience a quieter, less-crowded museum, plus special activities and museum store discount.

8 to 10 am. FREE. Museum of Flight, Seattle (Boeing Field). www.museumofflight.org

International Children’s Friendship Festival. Dances, songs, musical performances, children’s forum and arts and crafts, run by children’s groups representing dozens of countries. 11 am to 5 pm through Sun. FREE. Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center (lower Queen Anne). www.childrensfest.tacawa.org Spring Safari: African Wildlife Conservation Day. Keeper talks and special enrichment highlights African animals and what we can do to help save them. 9:30 am to 3 pm.

Included with admission. $ to $$. Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle (Phinney Ridge). www.zoo.org

Eric Ode

Edible Book Festival. See an exhibit of edible “books” (savory or sweet) that take their inspiration from a real book. Cast your vote for your favorite, or bring in your own creation.

Books will be consumed after judging. 11 am to 2 pm. FREE. Third Place Commons, Lake Forest Park. www.shorelinearts.net EASTSIDE

The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley.

See a live-action musical about a 10-year-old who wakes up flat. Part of the Theater for Young Audiences series. 1 and 3 pm weekends through Apr. 28. $$. SecondStory Repertory, Redmond. www.secondstoryrepertory.org SOUTH SOUND

Daffodil Parade. Two-hour parade features more than 180 entries, including floats decorated with thousands of fresh daffodils, and marching bands. The parade travels through Tacoma (S. Ninth and Pacific Avenue, 10:15 am), Puyallup (Seventh Avenue SW and Fifth Street SW, 12:45 pm), Sumner (Kincaid Avenue and Main Street, 2:30 pm) and Orting (Bridge Street S. and Washington Avenue E., 5 pm). FREE. www.thedaffodilfestival.org

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Calendar Second Saturday Spectacular: Rainwater Storytelling. Performance for families features fun folk tales. 3 pm.

FREE; donations welcomed. University Heights Center, Seattle (U District). www.uheightscenter.org EASTSIDE

Eric Ode. Enjoy a performance by family-friendly songwriter & poet Eric Ode. 5:30 pm. FREE. Crossroads Bellevue, Bellevue. www.ericode.com Family Discovery Series. Learn about insects in this ranger-led hike. Arrive dressed to get muddy. 2 to 3 pm. FREE. Pre-register. Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center, Bellevue. www.parks. bellevuewa.gov

How to take the best family photos at the Tulip Festival

NORTH SOUND

Springfree Trampoline NW Kids Fair.

A day full of fun activities for kids featuring inflatables, face painting, costumed characters, ice skating, petting zoo, trampolines and live entertainment. 11 am to 6 pm. $$, $ ages 3 to 12, free ages 2 and younger. Angel of the Winds Arena, Everett. www.angelofthewindsarena.com Super Hero Day. Make a superhero outfit out of recyclables, enjoy a family photo booth, and learn how you can be a hero to the earth. 11 am to 2 pm. Included with admission. $$. Imagine Children’s Museum, Everett. www.imaginecm.org SOUTH SOUND

Aha Mele Hawaiian Festival. Enjoy Hawaiian music, dance, food, vendors and workshops. $, free ages 5 and younger.

11 am to 9 pm. Chief Leschi Schools, Puyallup. www.facebook.com Craft Saturday. Kids age 3 to 9 are invited to create their own musical instruments.

Materials provided. 1 to 4 pm. Pay as you can.

Job Carr Cabin Museum, Tacoma. www.jobcarrmuseum.org Live Dive & Discovery Day. Watch live footage as an expert scuba diver explores the Puget Sound (11 am and 1 pm). Also, explore the Marine Science and Technology Center featuring an aquarium with more than 250 native Puget Sound species. 10 am to 2 pm. FREE. Marine Science and Technology Center at Highline College, Des Moines. www. mast.highline.edu Sewing to Sowing. Hands-on activities, games and demonstrations of daily life in a typical mid-1800s frontier home. 11 am to 4 pm. $, free ages 4 and younger. Fort Nisqually Living History Museum, Tacoma. www.fortnisqually.org Junior Daffodil Parade. The Daffodil Festival’s Junior Parade features costumes, pets, music and non-motorized floats.

10 am. FREE. North End Proctor District, Tacoma. www.jrdaffodil.com Daffodil Marine Parade. See Daffodil Royalty and dozens of daffodil-decorated boats sail by. Parade starts at Tacoma Yacht Club and continues along the waterfront to the Foss Thea Waterway in downtown Tacoma. 11:30 am. FREE. www.tacomayachtclub.org FA R T H E R A F I E L D

Superheroes and Villians! Listen to live musical scores from popular films including Superman, Star Wars and Batman, performed by the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra and the Bainbridge Island Youth Orchestra. 7:30 pm tonight, 3 pm Sun. $$$, free ages 18 and younger with a paying adult.

Bainbridge Performing Arts, Bainbridge Island. www.bainbridgeperformingarts.org

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MAKE MEMORIES WHILE MAKING THE MOST OF AN EYEPOPPING BACKDROP

BY JIAYING GRYGIEL One of the most iconic local settings for a family photo is the tulip fields of Skagit County. And like any salmon-eating, coffee-sipping, true parent of the Pacific Northwest, I have coveted not only a visit to the tulips, but a glorious family photo to document the happy occasion.

When my oldest son was a baby some five years ago, I worked weekends to my husband’s regular work week. Family time, particularly family photo time, was

hard to come by, especially when it needed to coincide with the tulips’ two-week bloom window. But last April, we loaded the kids into the car for the 70-minute drive up I-5 to Mount Vernon.

And what a sight! There are acres upon acres of tulips. The fields just begged to be photographed. The long, graphic rows of plants and bright colors guarantee a fabulous backdrop for pictures. While the Tulip Festival officially takes place in the month of April, the bloom can come earlier. Colder weather means a later tulip season. Rain, interestingly enough, has little to do with tulip-bloom timing.

My photographer-mom tips for getting the best photos at the Tulip Festival:

1 If you can, visit on a weekday morning.

Otherwise, the background of your photo will be crowded with other people. This is a very popular outing.

2 Your best bet weather-wise is a cloudy day. The sky acts like a giant soft box, throwing even light over everything.

When we drove up, the forecast called for showers, which turned into a bright, sunny day. Great, right? But bright sunlight can create harsh shadows. If it’s sunny, try having your subjects stand with their backs to the sun. You can get some pretty rim light that way, and your kids won’t be squinting in all the pictures.

kids are rested and fed.

Kids don’t have poker faces. They radiate joy when they’re happy, and are terrible photo subjects when they’re tired, hungry and cranky. Keep it fun!

4 Dress your kids in

bright colors. The bright tulips need bright subjects.

Bring a complete change of clothes for each kid. Jumping in mud puddles is lots of fun and makes for exciting pictures, but it can be messy and cold.

5 Visitors aren’t supposed to walk down the rows between the flowers.

We kind of fudged that and stood at the ends of rows, so it looked like we were among the tulips. Keep in mind this is a working farm, and those tulips are someone’s crops.

6 Try to get a variety of pictures. A wide picture showing the layers of colors in the fields, a close-up of some beautiful flowers, and a great moment of your kids having fun.

7 Cellphone or camera?

The biggest, fanciest camera in the world isn’t any good if it’s not with you. But most people are attached to their phones like a fifth appendage.

You can’t fiddle as much with the settings, but iPhones (and all other modern smartphones) take photos with large file sizes. You can get really nice, high-quality colors at high resolution out of a device that fits in your pocket.

8 If you have a digital

SLR, bring a long lens (like an 80-200mm) so you can compress those scenic layers of colors. I shot most of these pictures at f/2.8, ISO 200, and pushed the shutter speed up to 4000 as the sun came out. Did that sound like gibberish to you?

Forget all that. Your camera phone is perfectly good for capturing happy kids with beautiful flowers. If you have great subjects, you’ll have a great picture.

9 Separation of church

and state, or juice box and camera equipment. Bring along Sherpa spouse; don’t put in the same bag.

10 A photo release is

required if you’re using your photographs commercially.

11 No picking flowers!

The kids will want to pick flowers, so alert them ahead of time that at this special garden, there is absolutely no flower picking.

12 No pets and no drones!

Mount Vernon’s two main nurseries are RoozenGaarde and Tulip Town. We’d heard good things about both, but only RoozenGaarde allows picnicking. Pack a picnic or hit the concessions stand for some of their burgers, veggie burgers, hot dogs, popcorn, cookies and coffee drinks. Diners can eat at a tented area with tables. Our kids love to eat, so RoozenGaarde it was.

At the entrance, you walk straight into a five-acre

Sunday, April 15

display garden with more than a quarter-million bulbs. RoozenGaarde is a family-owned company, started by William Roozen, who emigrated from Holland in 1947. We loved looking at all the fancy varieties with frilled edges and layered petals. We picked up a free nursery catalog (one for each kid) as an easy souvenir. The biggest attraction, for us, was walking through the spectacular rainbow of tulips in the adjacent fields.

RoozenGaarde’s crowd control was impressive: Flaggers directed cars in the parking lot, a crossing guard mans the street, and another staff member points visitors to the least-muddy path in the fields.

Visiting the Skagit Valley tulip fields is so worth the drive — and far cheaper than going to Holland. This year, we’ll be back to try Tulip Town.

S E AT T L E A R E A

Seahawks Run at the Landing. Run around The Landing and part of the Seahawks training facility. 12K run, 5K run/ walk and kids’ run for ages 10 and younger.

Twelfth man costumes encouraged. 6:30 to 8:45 am registration, 9 am 12K start, 9:20 am 5K start, 10:45 am kids run. $$ to $$$. The Landing, Renton. www.seahawks12krun.com SOUTH SOUND

Mini Maestros: Percussion on Parade.

Tacoma Symphony Orchestra Percussion Quartet introduces kids ages 2 to 8 to percussion instruments. Instrument petting zoo begins one hour before the show. 2:30 pm. $ to $$. Schneebeck Hall at University of Puget Sound, Tacoma. www.tacomasymphony.org

Tuesday, April 17 SOUTH SOUND

Family STEAM Day. Families are invited explore the world of automobiles with hands-on activities. 11 am to 4 pm. Included with admission, $$. America’s Car Museum, Tacoma. www.americascarmuseum.org

Thursday, April 19 S E AT T L E A R E A

Park in the Dark. Take a guided nighttime walk and learn about nocturnal creatures.

Best for ages 5 to 12 along with an adult.

7:30 to 9 pm. $$, free for accompanying adults.

Pre-register. UW Botanic Gardens at Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle (Montlake). www.botanicgardens.uw.edu

If you go: RoozenGaarde, tulips.com 15867 Beaver Marsh Rd, Mount Vernon Cost: $7; kids under 6 are free. Bring cash for the shorter line at the entrance.

Parking is free with admission.

Hours: 9 am to 7 pm daily Where are the flowers?

Check the bloom map (tulips.com/bloommap) before you go.

SOUTH SOUND

Spring Fair in Puyallup. Animals, rides, food, arts and crafts, monster truck show, demolition derby and kids’ activities. Some events and activities have an additional cost.

See online for schedule. 2 to 10 pm today with free kids’ admission (bring canned food donation), 10 am to 10 pm Fri. and Sat., 10 am to 8 pm Sun. $ to $$, free ages 5 and younger.

Puyallup Fair & Events Center, Puyallup. www.thefair.com

Friday, April 20 S E AT T L E A R E A

Tiny Tots: Magical Melody Train Ride! Kids ages 5 and younger can enjoy a 35-minute interactive concert featuring Seattle Symphony musicians. Part of the Let Your Music Shine with Linda & Lisa series.

Benaroya Hall, Downtown Seattle. 10:30 am today, 9:30, 10:30 and 11:30 am Sat. $$. www.seattlesymphony.org

Tulip Town, tuliptown.com 15002 Bradshaw Rd., Mount Vernon Cost: $7; kids under 7 are free. Parking is free with admission.

Hours: 9 am to 5 pm daily

Seattle Cherry Blossom & Japanese Festival. Experience Japanese culture through Taiko drumming performances, artisan demonstrations, hands-on activities and games, food and a marketplace. 10 am to 6 pm through Sun. FREE. Seattle Center Armory and Fisher Pavilion (Lower Queen Anne). www.cherryblossomfest.org EASTSIDE

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The Wizard of Oz. See a live-action, family-friendly version of the classic musical. 7 pm tonight; various times through May 12. $$.

Bellevue Youth Theatre, Bellevue. www.parks.bellevuewa.gov

Saturday, April 21

Free National Parks. Celebrate National Park Week with free admission to national parks throughout the state, including Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park. Additional fees for activities such as camping and special tours. FREE. www.nps.gov

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Calendar

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Edible Book Festival

S E AT T L E A R E A

Jazz4Kids. Seattle Jazz Repertory Orchestra presents a one-hour, kid friendly jazz concert.

Today, hear Duke Ellington’s Such Sweet Thunder. The lobby is open an hour before the show with big band instruments to explore.

4:30 pm. FREE. Pre-register. Benaroya Hall, Downtown Seattle. www.srjo.org Rapunzel. See a live-action musical version of the tale performed by StoryBook Theater.

Best for ages 3 and older. Sensory friendly performances available, see schedule online. 11 am and 1:30 pm today, 11 am, 1 pm and 3 pm Sun. Carco Theatre, Renton. www.storybooktheater.org Tenacious Ten Run. Choose from a challenging 10k or 10-mile (8 am) course.

1k kids run (10:30 am). $$$. Pre-register.

Gas Works Park, Seattle (Fremont). www.thetenaciousten.com

NORTH SOUND

Wildlife Festival. Celebrate Wildlife Week with kids activities, wildlife hikes, bird watching and arts and crafts. 1 to 5 pm. FREE. Discovery Park, Seattle (Magnolia). www.seattlewildlifeweek.org

Tacoma Guitar Festival. Enjoy live performances by guitarists, see more than 150 vendors, and take workshops led by industry experts. 9:30 am to 5 pm today, 9:30 am to 4 pm Sun. $$ to $$$. Tacoma Dome, Tacoma. www.tacomadome.org

Earth Day Run. Magnuson Series fun runs including 5K, 10K, a half marathon and Kids Dash. 9:45 am Kids Dash, 10 am all other events. $ to $$$. Magnuson Park, Seattle (Sand Point). www.magnusonseries.org EASTSIDE

Mercer Island Preschool Association Circus. Annual fundraiser for ages 8

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Bellevue Arbor Day-Earth Day. Family festival with environmental groups, nature walks and hands-on activities (11 am to 1:30 pm), and a ceremonial tree planting (11:30 am).

FREE. Pre-register to volunteer. Lewis Creek Park, Bellevue. www.parks.bellevuewa.gov Family Fun Frog Fest. In honor of Earth Day, plant native plants in the arboretum and learn how to create a frog habitat. Noon to 2 pm. $$. Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens, Everett. www.evergreenarboretum.com

Earth Day Celebration. Visit the Children’s Garden to take part in art and nature projects, gardening and weeding, and more. 10 am to 2 pm. FREE. Magnuson Park Children’s Garden, Seattle (Sand Point). www.magnusonnatureprograms.com

S E AT T L E ’S C H I L D

April Pools Day. Open swim with water safety demonstrations, lifejacket fittings and raffles. 12:30 to 2:30 pm. $, free ages 12 and younger. Bellevue Aquatic Center, Bellevue. www.parks.bellevuewa.gov

SCA Earth Day. Help restore a local park along with the Student Conservation Association. Wear long pants and close-toed shoes, and bring water. Tools and gloves provided.

See participating parks online. 9 am to noon.

FREE. Pre-register. Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle (Montlake). www.thesca.org

Earth Day Work Party. Help restore forest habitat and pull weeds as you enjoy live music.

10 am to 2 pm. FREE. Pigeon Point at Pathfinder School, West Seattle. www.naturec.org

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and younger features entertainment, food, carnival games, inflatables and pony rides.

10 am to 2 pm. FREE, small fee for activities.

Mercer Island High School, Mercer Island. www.mipreschoolassociation.org

SOUTH SOUND

Lacey Family Fish-In. Kids ages 5 to 14 will learn how to fish and take home their own rod and reel. 8 am to 1:30 pm. $. Space is limited, pre-register. Woodland Creek Community Park, Lacey. www.ci.lacey.wa.us Earth Day Extravaganza. Explore ways to care for the earth locally and globally. Ages 4 and older. Noon to 4 pm. FREE. Tacoma Nature Center, Tacoma. www.metroparkstacoma.org

Sunday, April 22 S E AT T L E A R E A

All Brahms. Hear Seattle Youth Symphony, along with violin soloist Adrian Steele, perform two major works by Johannes Brahms. 3 pm. $$$. Benaroya Hall, Downtown Seattle. www.seattlesymphony.org

P H OTO CO U RT ESY OF S H OR EL I N E -L A KE FORE ST PA RK A RTS COU N CI L

d e er v i l e d our to y home

Calendar classic Disney film. 7 pm tonight through Sun., 3 pm Sat. and Sun. $$. Carco Theatre, Renton. www.hi-liners.org World Rhythm Festival. More than 80 world music performances, drum and dance workshops, marketplace and a drum circle.

Noon to 5 pm today is Family Day. Noon to 10 pm today, 10 am to 10 pm Sat., 10 am to 7 pm Sun. FREE. Seattle Center (Lower Queen Anne). www.swps.org SOUTH SOUND

Sea Critter Story Time. Enjoy story time and a visit with sea stars, snails and hermit crabs. Best for ages 3 and older. 10:30 to 11:30 am. FREE. Woodmont Library, Des Moines. www.kcls.org

Saturday, April 28 S E AT T L E A R E A

Sensory Friendly Concert. Kids ages 5 to 8 are invited to enjoy a sensory-friendly concert featuring Seattle Symphony musicians and hosted by a music therapist. Also enjoy a preshow instrument petting zoo, and a post-show musician meet-and-greet. 10 am and noon today and Sun. $$. Benaroya Hall, Downtown Seattle. www.seattlesymphony.org

P HOTO COURTESY OF SRJO.OR G

Jazz4Kids

FA R T H E R A F I E L D

Afternoon on the Trails. Explore the 255acre property complete with forest, trails, pond, canopy tower and tree houses. Naturalists and educators will be available to help you learn more about any small (non-living) treasures you find. 1 to 5 pm. FREE, donations

appreciated. IslandWood, Bainbridge Island. www.islandwood.org

Friday, April 27 S E AT T L E A R E A

Mary Poppins JR. See an all-youth cast perform a live-action musical based on the

Family Science Night. Visit exhibits after hours, perform hands-on experiments, and learn something new. Tonight, build a marble run from recycled materials and race each other. 5:30 to 8:30 pm. $$$. Pre-register by Apr. 25. Pacific Science Center, Seattle (Lower Queen Anne). www.pacificsciencecenter.org Rock and Gem Show. Annual show features rock, mineral, crystal, gem, geode and fossil displays, vendors and kids’ activities. 10 am to

Grades PreK– 8

Inspire the inner scientist in your child with over 90 camps to choose from.

Early Bird prices end April 30.

pacsci.org/summer-camps Ap r i l 2 0 18

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Calendar 5 pm through Sun. FREE. Alki Masonic Temple, West Seattle. www.westseattlerockclub.org Girlvolution. Annual social justice conference, with workshops, art and performances by youth under age 21. Best for ages 11 and older. 10 am to 4 pm. FREE ages 20 and younger, $$$ suggested donation ages 21 and older. Pre-register. Seattle World School (Central District). www.powerfulvoices.org Saturday Family Concerts: The Pop Ups. See a Brooklyn-based rock-and-roll, musical-puppet duo. 11 am and 1 pm. $, free ages 12 and younger with adult. Phinney Center (Phinney Ridge). www.townhallseattle.org EASTSIDE

Sheep Shearing. Shearing and spinning demonstrations, children’s crafts and activities, tractor and wagon rides, pony rides, food and more. 11 am to 4 pm. FREE, nominal fees for activities (cash only). Shuttles from Wilburton Park & Ride and Bannerwood Sports Park. Kelsey Creek Farm Park, Bellevue. www.bellevuewa.gov Rapunzel. See a live action musical version of the classic tale performed by StoryBook Theater. Best for ages 3 and older.

Sensory friendly performances available, see schedule online. 11 am, 1 and 3 pm today, 11 am and 1:30 pm Sun. Kirkland Performance Center, Kirkland. www.storybooktheater.org

Local resources

for busy parents

NORTH SOUND

Can Do 5K. 5K run/walk, 1-mile walk, and kids’ dash (ages 3 to 12) to raise awareness and funds for families with special needs children. 8 am. $$$, free kids’ dash. Seattle Times Bothell Campus, Bothell. www.cando5k.org SOUTH SOUND

Procession of the Species Celebration.

Parade of costumed participants and floats celebrates relationships between people and the natural world. Join in as long as you observe the three rules (see online). 4:30 pm.

FREE, nonperishable food bank donations encouraged. Parade starts at Cherry Street and Legion Avenue, Olympia. www.procession.org

Sunday, April 29 S E AT T L E A R E A

Top Pot Doughnut Dash. 5K run/walk and 1K Kids’ Dash (ages 12 and younger) benefiting Childhaven. 7 am registration, 8:30 am 5K, 9:30 am Kids’ Dash, 10 am Caspar Babypants concert. $$ to $$$. Green Lake Community Center, Seattle (Green Lake). www.promotionevents.com Capitol Hill Street Scramble. Race on foot to see how many checkpoints you can find on the map within 90 minutes or 3 hours. 8:30 am registration, 9:30 am maps distributed, 10 am start. $ to $$$. Location TBD. www.streetscramble.com SOUTH SOUND

Ukrainian Shadow Theatre Fireflies.

Enjoy a live show created by shadows and light. Performers use their bodies to create characters, sets and props. 3 pm. $$ to $$$. Pantages Theater, Tacoma. www.broadwaycenter.org

Monday, April 30 EASTSIDE

Slime Fest. Kids ages 5 to 10 can learn to make slime, goo and gak. 4 to 5:30 pm. $$$.

Pre-register. Northwest Arts Center, Bellevue. www.parks.bellevuewa.gov

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FIND YOUR SPOT IN THE SUN

RESERVE YOUR RIVER RIDGE HOMESITE BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE Just 80 miles east of Seattle, Suncadia is a four-season mountain resort community with family-friendly adventures on miles of hiking and biking trails, golf courses, restaurants, a spa, and a state-of-the-art swim and fitness center. Here, you step out of urban life and into something that’s all too rare: a place where you know your neighbors instead of just passing them on the way to work. Nowhere is this more true than at River Ridge, a decidedly modern enclave where a new collection of homesites open to miles of trails that lead deep intimate, gated community that you always dreamed of: simply modern and naturally active, yet close enough to everything you love about Suncadia.

Join our Priority Reservation Program before May 19th for the chance to choose your dream homesite. To make a reservation and find your spot in the sun, visit riverridgehomesites.com.

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into the woods and to the rushing Cle Elum river. This may very well be exactly the kind of