family

Only one

Oct 10 2011

This weekend Jim and I each took one child. Will and I headed to Sacramento to visit our new nephew and Jim and Jack had a boys weekend at home. I think it was good for everyone.

Will got to spend some time with cousin Oliver without his big brother running the show. Even though Oliver and Will are only five months apart, Jack and Oliver tend to team up and leave Will out (you know the saying about the third wheel.) This weekend the boys have been developing their relationship on their own terms. Now don’t get me wrong we still had plenty of disputes to resolve (they are 2.5 and 3 years old) but they also had times where it was just fun.

Jack and Jim worked on Jack’s new bed design. A little background… For his third birthday we gave Jack a Lightning McQueen bed, but not just a store bought one, but one we made from scratch. He has grown out of Cars so it was time to upgrade his room. I thought this meant some new paint and wall stickers. The two of them decided this also meant a whole new themed bed.

The boys have been at each other a bit more than usual recently, so it was nice to break them up and give them personal attention. I don’t think Will notices, but Jack will hopefully be refreshed and ready to listen to me a bit more.

I really enjoyed being able to spend time with Steffani, Paul, Oliver and Finley. We didn’t get to see as much of my parents as I would have liked, but this trip was about Finn. And we got some nice California sun and warmth.

Filed Under: family, Jackson, William Tagged With: California, Finley, Oliver, relationships 1 Comment

We Checked Off Summer Fun

Sep 26 2011

Early in the summer we created a list of all the fun things we wanted to do over the summer, made a poster, and checked them off as we completed them. I was hoping that it would help keep things top of mind while providing a fun activity as we decorated the poster with stickers. Most importantly, it was a good reminder to celebrate what is truly important – family and the time we spend together.

Here are some of the fun summer activities we completed:

1. Go camping – We went four times, including a trip to Dosewallips with five other families.

2. Swim in the lake – We got to swim in both Lake Sammamish at my aunt and uncle’s lake house and Pine Lake with some good friends.

3. Go to SeaFair – Auntie Steffi, Unkie Paul and Oliver joined us at SeaFair this year and we got to watch the Blue Angels and the hydroplane boat races from the shoreline.

4. Make tie dye shirts – The family has a matching set of tie dyes. I am sure this is only the first of many tie dye projects.

5. Find a new ice cream spot – While in California we went to a new ice cream spot near Auntie, Unkie and Oliver’s house.

6. See fish throwing at Pike Place Market – After selecting our fish, Jack was so excited to see it get thrown back over the fish counter to be wrapped up.

7. Make garden art – Our painted rocks for the garden were not only fun, but were also featured in FamilyFun Magazine.

8. Pick berries – The boys and I got to pick blackberries near our house and came home with some war wounds to prove it.

9. Play golf – There was backyard golf, as well as golf on the course. Jim and I even got to go play a couple of rounds on our own – a rarity.

10. Paint a project – Jim and the boys made a pirate flag for the play fort and Jim is currenly working with Jack on a complete room makeover. They are making Jack and Optimus Prime bed and his room has been repainted to match the new colors.

Summer was fun, but we are ready for fall. Fall means Husky football, Friday night soccer and prep for Halloween. What will the costumes be this year? You will just have to wait and see.

I am linking up with Monday Listicles at NorthWestMommy.

Filed Under: family, traditions Tagged With: camping, Disney FamilyFun Magazine, golf, Monday Listicles, Pike Place Market, pirate flag, Seafair, summer activities, tie dye 4 Comments

We Are In!

Sep 19 2011

I am proud to report that this blog, The Will to See, is featured in the October issue of Disney’s FamilyFun Magazine. I know, I am so excited too. Look for the photo of the boys and me in the Mailbag section on page 11.

In July, I was contacted by FamilyFun regarding their use of my post about the June Badges of Fun, garden art. They took an excerpt from the post and used one of my photos.

If you are looking for a copy of the magazine, check your local grocery or book store. I know they have them at the QFC near our house. Look around and I am sure you can find it – who knows, it may become a collector’s item one day. It is also viewable online if you have a subscription, or you can get a subscription through this link.

For those of you who are new readers from the magazine, welcome. We are happy you are here. Please make yourself at home, browse around, leave a comment or send me a question. And please excuse the transition – we are in the process of updating the site, including an entire rebranding and look forward to sharing that with you very soon. Of course please follow us on twitter, like us on Facebook, sign up for our RSS feed or email subscription and feel free to forward us to anyone that you think might like our little blog.

Filed Under: Blogging, cool stuff, family, Featured Tagged With: Badges of Fun, Disney FamilyFun Magazine Leave a Comment

Badges of Fun – August

Aug 30 2011

As I have mentioned in previous posts, we are drawing our summer inspiration from Disney FamilyFun Magazine’s Badges of Fun program where you earn “badges” by completing fun family activities. In August, the great activities were all centered around hitting the road and making road trips easier and more fun with young kids. If there is one thing I know (hopefully I know more than one) it is about road-tripping with kids.

At least once a year, we drive from Seattle to Lodi, California and back – about 14 +/- hours in the car each way. Yes, we do it all in one day because it has been our experience that piling two adults, two kids and a dog into a cheap motel room equals no sleep for anyone, even the dog. It also doubles the amount of packing and unpacking so the pain of spending all day in the car is more than worth it.

The key to keeping your sanity of road trips, no matter the length, is planning ahead and packing the car appropriately. For our camping trips this year I started making a reading box which sits neatly between the boy’s seats in the car. It contains books, coloring books, crayons and other reading material. Luckily I have two readers. Once we arrive at the campground, it moves into Poppy (our trailer) for bedtime or if they wake up early.

Each boy also packs a bag of toys. I have taken two reusable six-pack wine carriers and cut out the dividers, because these are smaller than the regular shoppers. They hold the right amount of toys and not only provide toys for the car, but also for use once we arrive at our destination.

Since you can’t have a road trip without food, I also pack our snack bag that sits on the floor right behind the center console for easy access. This includes not only kid snacks, but adult snacks too (hello Chex Mix,) especially if we are going to be on the road for a while. I have found that the freeze dried fruit slices (available at Costco) make a great healthy
snack that isn’t sticky.

Finally, for the adults, the keys to road trip sanity are DVD players and iPods. I know some people may be opposed to them, but for us we couldn’t do it without them. It’s like refusing pain medication during surgery – why bother? They don’t hand out awards at the end for those that endured the most pain and no one is any worse for wears as a result. Memorial Day weekend we went camping and got caught in traffic that added two extra hours to our drive (a 3.5 hour drive, became a 5.5 hour drive) and most of that extra time
was spent stopped on the freeway. The boys were complete angels, happily watching movies and eating snacks.

Are you participating in the Badges of Fun series? I would love to hear about what activities you are doing.

Filed Under: cool stuff, family, travel Tagged With: Badges of Fun, car activities, Disney FamilyFun, road trips Leave a Comment

Photo Friday

Aug 26 2011

Photo Friday – Lunch Date

With only a few days until school starts and summer weather in full swing, we met Jim at Pike Place Market for lunch this week. Of course a trip to the market would not be complete without seeing the fish throwing guys and some flowers for me. It was a beautiful day to enjoy lunch in an iconic Seattle location.

Filed Under: family, Photo Friday Tagged With: Pike Place Market, Seattle 1 Comment

A Seattle Summer Tradition

Aug 08 2011

Yesterday we took the boys to their first full Seafair experience (Auntie, Unkie and Oliver came with us too.) We have been going to watch the Blue Angels on the I-90 floating bridge for many years. If you haven’t seen them from this vantage point it is a must. The best spot is on the west high rise.

Jim has wanted to take Jack to the boat races for the last few years, but we haven’t been able to make it work. So this year we made a point of blocking that weekend on the calendar and the Charkis decided to come visit and join us.

We bravely decided to take the two little boys and an eight months pregnant Steff as well. We found a spot on the shore north of the pits with a good view of the race course and the air show. Jim, Paul and Jack got pit passes so they could see the boats up close. They did take the little boys in for a short time. Steff and I relished the time to sit on the shore and enjoy the day with about 300,000 other people. It was as much fun to watch all the people as it was to watch the racing.

The boys liked watching the hydros and the airplanes, although Oliver was worried about the stunt pilots landing in the water. It took some reassuring and watching for a while and then he liked it. Even Will was able to follow the planes in the sky and boats on the water. They lasted through the Blue Angel show which was about an hour into naptime. Since there was a break in the racing action for a while we decided to pack up and start the trek home.

While Jim, Jack and Paul made one more trip to the pits, Steff and I walked the little boys in the strollers to see the rest of the sights and find some ice cream. Maybe five minutes later both boys were asleep; so they got their nap and we got our snack.

We made it home in time to watch the final race on TV, including a big hydro flip in the Lites group final. Unfortunately the boat Jack was rooting for came in last. It was a very fun day that we all will remember.

Have you been to Seafair or watched the Blue Angels? What is your favorite memory?

Photo credit for Paul – Thanks for taking most of the photos.

Filed Under: family, traditions Tagged With: aunt, Blue Angels, hydroplanes, Oliver, Seafair, Seattle, summer activities, uncle Leave a Comment

Top 15: Camping Part 3 (No. 5-1)

Aug 03 2011

Here is the final of three installments of our Camping Top 15. If you missed the first two installments, you should check them out, part 1 and part 2.

5. Allison’s campground program – Soon after we arrived at Iron Creek campground Allison Yocum spotted a list of things to do in the area posted on a campground bulletin board. An item of particular interest was a Saturday night ranger program at the amphitheater. There was no time listed. It was decided that we needed to go experience this camping tradition, so while Jim, Dennis and I made dinner Allison went to find out what time. She saw the host, but didn’t ask him, so we went with the assumption it was at 8. In order to make the 8 p.m. show we had to hurry through dinner, wolfing down our burgers, corn and salad in about 10 minutes. The boys set off on their bikes and the adults followed with road cokes in hand.

About half way there we encountered the campground host who gave us a curious look when we asked about the show and said that there hadn’t been a show for many years. We walked over to the amphitheater to find it overgrown and dilapidated. We felt like that last seen in Planet of the Apes when Charlton Heston finds the beach with the half-buried Statue of Liberty. In spite of this, we did find a good place nearby to take our first DeNocum group photo.

Adding insult to injury, quite literally, on the way back to the campsite we thought for sure there would be a short cut between the campground loops. So Allison, Jim, Will and I tried to find it. (Dennis bowed out due to his shoe choice and hankering for Doritos.) We quickly discovered that if there had been a path it was over grown and now required that we scale trees and scrubs. We did make it back before Dennis, but just barely.

4. Prius’ car lock – As we were sitting around the campfire on our first night with the Faleys listening to Cooper ease ever so slowly into his slumber, the guy across repeatedly opened and closed his Prius. Each time it would lock and set-off the horn and head lights. This would have been fine if it had been once or twice, but it was at least 15-20 times, some only seconds apart. When they left the next morning we thought we were free of it, only to have another Prius move into the adjacent site and pull the same stunt the next night. When we were finally fed up with it Tom thought he would retaliate by locking his Suburban and setting off his horn and lights. Only he forgot that it turns on his reverse lights for about 30 seconds. We all turned to see Jen standing in the tent door holding a crying child perfectly illuminated in the reverse lights. It was a pretty funny scene. Oops, so much for payback.

3. The mountain is out – This is a phrase used around Seattle to talk about Mt. Rainier on a beautiful day. After our experience last summer trying to get a photo of Rainier, we were really hoping for a nice day to go to Paradise. We didn’t even get out of the campground before we realized that the mountain was out. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and Rainier’s snow-white glaciers were brilliant against the bright blue sky. We arrived in Paradise (elevation 5400 feet) to find that our cold spring had left snow still around most of the trails near the visitor’s center. Although the boys thought walking in the slush was fun, hiking with wet feet didn’t sound appealing to the adults.

2. Squirmin – On our first night sitting around the campfire, Allison noticed the tree above her head was moving, even though there wasn’t a breath of wind. She thought there was a critter in the tree and almost jumped out of her chair to move away. Of course Jim and Dennis couldn’t leave this alone; first pointing out that it was just the heat from the fire moving the branches. Then they decided to name the critter, a squirmin – a cross between a squirrel and a vermin. That night Allison had a dream that the squirmin was in Nugget (their motorhome) closet. The funniest part of the dream was that she wasn’t surprised to see it in there. Now anytime we see a tree moving for no reason it is obviously due to squirmin activity.

1. DeNocum and Falike camping – Camping with good friends is great fun. Our kids get along well and it is fun to spend the time together. Jen was such a good sport with everything that was thrown at her, Cooper not sleeping well, no showers and having to trek to the potty. I don’t think Tom stopped smiling the whole weekend, even after he stepped on his glasses and had a dead battery. Allison was a great sport with all of the teasing about the squirmin and campground program; it was fun to relax by the river and just chat. I have never known anyone but Dennis to go on a hike with a bag of Doritos and not offer any to his fellow hikers; he is also the only one I know that can eat an entire bag and not gain a pound. We hope this is only the first of many camping summers with friends and trust future trips will yield even more Top 15 memories.

Filed Under: family, travel Tagged With: camping, Cougar Rock campground, Doritos, Gifford-Pinchot National Forest, Iron Creek campground, Mt. Rainier National Forest, Paradise 2 Comments

Top 15: Camping Part 2 (No. 10-6)

Aug 02 2011

Read on for the second installment in a three part series as we count down our recent camping memories to #1. If you missed the first installment, you can read it here.

10. “Mom! I stepped in poo.” – Within minutes of our arrival at Cougar Rock Campground one of the four boys said those words. Seriously how is that possible? The campsite was surrounded by lots of woods that now needed to be searched, because if it wasn’t found on the ground, it would be found on another child’s shoe. This scenario repeated three more times, including Jack stepping in dog poo moments after getting out of the trailer one morning that we got a 5 a.m. wake up call from Will. That is just not fair before the coffee is ready.

9. Another dead battery at Rainier – As we loaded the kids in the car in the car Tom walked up and said, “Hey, want to try out that battery jump box?” Their battery had run down over night after using a cooler/frig that plugs into the car’s cigarette lighter. After a quick jump we were on our way and Jim and I both remarked that at least it wasn’t us this time.

8. Making the fire from scratch – Right after we arrived at Cougar Rock, Jim and I realized that we had forgotten the lighter fluid to start the charcoal (I bought the wrong kind.) After ten minutes of trying to get the fire started, even with some borrowed lighter fluid from a neighbor, all we had was smoke. Jim and Tom decided to give up and drive a few miles hoping there would be a store. But I remembered the old saying, where there is smoke there is fire. So, with some pinecones, cracker boxes, hard work and lots of smoke I got the fire going. The guys came back with five bags of Matchlite to find a nice fire. To Jim’s credit he told Tom in the car that I would probably have the fire going when they got back.

7. “Sarah!!!” – After the fire was resolved and dinner was actually in process the Faleys got a glimpse into our relationship. I was helping the kids pick up the toys that were spread over the main path and Jim asked me where the foil was. I told him and then went back to picking up toys. All of a sudden I hear “Sarah. Sarah! Sarah!!!” My response was “what!” (as in “Can’t you see I am doing something?”) Of course the rest of the night that was the joke anytime anyone needed anything.

6. Laughing at the campfire – One of our favorite parts of the night when camping is the campfire after the kids are in bed. Most nights we end up laughing so hard that we are almost crying. Whether it is telling old stories from childhood or early married life or having Jim and Dennis riffing about the bait and tackle shop they want to open (that is for a password protected blog of another nature.) There is also just something about red wine at a campfire, it just tastes so good and helps with the laughter.

Check in tomorrow for numbers five through one. Do you have any idea what will be number one?

Filed Under: family, travel Tagged With: campfire, camping, Cougar Rock campground, Mt. Rainier National Forest Leave a Comment

Top 15: Camping Part 1 (No. 15-11)

Aug 01 2011

As this summer is rapidly unfolding – dubbed “The Year of the DeNikes” by one of our friends – we have already logged three camping trips throughout our visually stunning state of Washington. We have traveled to some amazing sites with wonderful friends and returned home with indelible memories. The last two camping trips (in two weeks) have inspired a “Camping Top 15” blog series because frankly a “Top 10” just wasn’t enough to capture it all. So read on for the first of three installments as we count it down to #1.

Two weeks ago we traveled with the Yocums (Dennis & Allison) to Iron Creek campground in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest on the east side of Mt. St. Helens. Last weekend we joined the Faleys (Tom & Jen) in the Mt. Rainier National Forest at Cougar Rock campground in the shadow of the mighty Mt. Rainier. Both trips yielded a profusion of experiences – read on for numbers 15 through 11:

15. Perfect weather – Although this summer has been anything but beautiful, we actually had amazing weather on both weekends. Not a drop of rain and each morning we woke to blue skies. There is nothing like looking out the window when camping to see blue sky above the trees.

14. Have you seen my glasses? – On our first night with the Faleys, Tom misplaced his glasses at the campfire. Unfortunately he found them under the bottom of his shoe. Somehow I was able to get both lenses back into the frames, although they are hopelessly scratched. But they worked well enough for him to see his wine glass around the campfire.

13. Wally’s Drive-In and Basecamp Grill – We have started our own tradition (inspired by the Yokums) of finding a fun, local place to eat lunch on the drive home. On the first weekend, we finally hit the road about 12:30 and were hoping to eat soon after our departure. Unfortunately we didn’t find anything until almost 3 p.m. Luckily, we had snacks for the kids and Wally’s Drive-In in Buckley was worth the wait. Having learned our lesson from the week before, we picked a place early on the drive home from Rainier, the Basecamp Grill in Ashford. Both places were exactly what we were craving — soft serve ice cream and burgers.

12. Playing at the Cispus river “dung pool” – If that description doesn’t scream “family fun” then what does, right? From our campsite at Iron Creek, the Cispus river was about a five minute walk. The river was very cold and moving extremely fast thanks to our late and cold spring, but we found a rock beach area that had a small pool fed by the river and kept full by a fallen tree and a rock dam. We nicknamed it the “dung pool”, because the water was pretty cloudy. The kids had so much fun playing in and around the pool. The parents loved sitting on the rock beach watching and sipping cocktails. Saturday it was quite hot so Jim and Dennis decided to move their chairs into the river.

11. Tripping in the hole – At Iron Creek an enormous tree had fallen through the Yocum’s campsite. It was great for the kids but a challenge to navigate. A portion of the fallen tree that ran through the actual site was removed leaving a large ditch, named “the hole”, that happened to run right under the picnic table. I think we all tripped in the hole every time we walked up to that side of the table. We all even joked about stepping in it the next time and usually did.

Check in tomorrow for numbers 10 through 6. Camping memories are endless and often formed from the unexpected. What are your Top Camping Memories?

Filed Under: family, travel Tagged With: Basecamp Grill, camping, Cispus river, Cougar Rock campground, Gifford-Pinchot National Forest, Iron Creek campground, list post, Mt. Rainier National Forest, Wally's Drive-In 3 Comments

Another Goodbye

Jul 19 2011

Today the boys and I flew home from our two week visit to see family in northern California. We had a great trip, enjoying the summer weather (not too hot thank goodness), friends, family and being on the Ranch. As always it was hard to say goodbye, but unfortunately that is an aspect of not living close to family.

Yes, we could live farther away, like across the country, but it still isn’t easy even if the flight is short, especially for times like this when we don’t have our next trip down planned. Luckily my sister, brother-in-law and nephew will be coming to visit in a few weeks, so that gave the boys something to focus on. However we don’t have a time scheduled to see my parents or Jim’s family.

While I love where we live it is getting more difficult for me to be away from my family and raise the boys away from their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. The house I grew up in was only 50 feet from my Dad’s parents and most of my Dad’s side were only five miles away. My mom actually ran a mini daycare for my cousins and us, so needless to say we were close. This provides the basis for my strong sense of family and my will to be close by.

I had hoped that Jim and I would have been able to move back down by now, but there hasn’t been an opportunity to make it possible. Don’t get me wrong if we did move there would be a lot I would miss about the Seattle area, but the pull of family is just too strong.

My sister and I are best friends, couple that with our children being close in age (Will and Oliver only five months apart) and I wish that we were within driving distance of them. She is pregnant (due on my birthday) and I would give anything to be able to be there when he is born. The cousins are as close as possible given we only see each other every few months. We are the only aunt and uncle her kids will have, because my brother-in-law is an only child. It is important to me that they know what a wonderful relationship that can be and we work hard at making the time for each other.

So as we get home today, it will be nice to sleep in our own beds and enjoy the Seattle summer (please oh please weather gods,) but we will miss Yaya, Papa, Auntie Steffi, Unkie Paul, Oliver, Grandma, Grandfather, Auntie Jean, Uncle Steve, Emily, Matt and Dan.

Do you live close to your family? How does it effect your relationship?

Filed Under: family, Mom Tagged With: aunt, cousin, grandparents, Lodi, uncle 12 Comments

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