ML Interest Tag: drag

20 Fun Words to Learn for Dictionary Day

by Amber Guetebier

National Dictionary Day is the perfect opportunity to learn a few new or, in this case, old words. We’ve come up with a list of 20 interesting words you and the kiddos can practice using in a sentence. Scroll down for the list.

photo: Seoulful Adventures via flickr 

bantling: a young child

billfold: essentially, a wallet. A pocket for keeping bills and checks.

bluestocking: a woman of literary tastes or occupation

bonhomie (bon-o-me): good-heartedness

brownie: a beneficial spirit supposed to haunt old farm houses

canzonet: a short song

cassowary: a large bird resembling an ostrich

draggle: to wet or soil by dragging in the mud

firkin: a small wooden vessel for holding butter

gillyflower: a plant of the mustard family

jerkin: a short coat or jacket, not to be confused with gherkin, a kind of pickle

mavourneen: sweetheart, from the Irish

milliner: a maker of hats, specifically for women, including headdresses and other adornment.

orotund: characterized by fullness, clearness, strength and smoothness

pannikin: a small tin cup

rivulet: a little stream

stinkpot: an earthen jar full of various malodorous (stinky!) compounds, and formerly thrown on an enemy ship

superdreadnought: the most gigantic type of modern battleship (according to Webster’s 1940 edition!)

zyzzle: to sizzle or make a sputtering sound

Looking for more fun and quirky words? Check out our nautical dictionary here and our pirate dictionary here.

What’s your favorite new or old word? Share it with us in a comment below! 

—Amber Guetebier

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Hidden Gem: Westmoreland Park Nature Play Area

by stephanie booth

Looking for a new adventure? Westmoreland Park Nature Play Area may just be what the sherpa ordered. Scale massive logs, cross wooden bridges and scramble over real boulders at this newer play space that opened at the end of last year in the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood, inviting kids to make up their own games and races using things found in nature. Here are six reasons why your family should go check it out now.

photo: Portland Parks and Recreation

1. You won’t find any monkey bars.
Yep, you read that right. This is Stumptown’s first permanent nature-based play area. (Excuse us while we wipe away a few tears of pride.) Instead of typical twisty slides and tire swings, your little ones can climb on boulders, traverse logs, dig in sand and use cut pine branches to make forts and caves. (Okay, there is one slide, but it’s pretty simple.) It’s all part of the Portland Parks and Recreation’s Nature Play Initiative, encouraging imaginative kids’ play, based on interactions with natural objects.

2. You won’t miss the traditional playground experience. And trust us, neither will your kids.
Here’s the deal. Kids like to play. And they don’t need to be told how to do it. Go to any park with a jungle gym and we guarantee you’ll still see kids engineering some wacky game you’ve never heard of before. (“Lava Monster,” anyone?) Westmoreland’s Park makes kids’ imagination — not a fancypants slide — the main focus. Its unofficial motto is, “Here’s nature. Go wild.”

3. You won’t see any parents on smartphones.
On two recent trips, we saw dozens of parents — and zero phone usage. The reason? Nearly every parent was playing with their little ones, be it chasing after them, helping them dig a moat in the sand, or dragging logs to help construct a fort. Ironically, the fort was to keep parents out. This park doesn’t just entice kids to play, but parents, too.

 photo: Courtesy of Stephanie Booth

 4. “Playing” has never been so important.
Think of this as the “Waldorf School” of parks. Kids are learning a love of nature, feeding their imaginations, solving problems, assessing risks, and best of all, figuring out how to entertain themselves. And (gasp!) all without a screen.

5.  You should bring a picnic — and your own water.
File this park away for a perfect picnic destination, thanks to plenty of tables and a shady grove of giant sequoia trees. Carry in your own water, though; at least for now. They’re shut down for the winter, like all of the other parks. They’ll be back on somewhere around mid-to-late March. True, the dull roar of traffic from nearby 99 can be a tad distracting, but at least fresh scent of pine and mulch overpower any exhaust.

6. No dogs in the play area.
Dogs like to, sniff, dig and (ahem) mark their territory, so they’re not allowed in the new play area. We get it. They can, however, be walked on the little bridges and trails just outside the fenced-in nature play area. And if your furry family member needs to sit and stay for a while, at least there are plenty of ducks in the restored Crystal Springs Creek to keep him entertained.

Have you visited this park yet?  Let us know in the Comments below!

–Stephanie Booth

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Just Opened: A Playground in the Heart of Downtown

by Katie Kavulla

Whether you’re already downtown running errands, need somewhere to let your kiddos run wild before dragging them to yet another round of shopping, or if you’re simply looking for a new place to explore, the newly opened Westlake Park Playground is the place to go! Hitting the Seattle playground scene in early March 2013, Westlake Park Playground is small, but interesting, just as a playground in the middle of the hustle and bustle of downtown should be. There are two main pieces to the playground — a fun climbing structure that kids of all ages will adore and a turtle-esque set of metal climbing domes that also double as slides! Go tell your kids that you’re going downtown…to play!

Find it
The playground is located, literally, right in the middle of Westlake Park. If you’re standing downtown with your back at Westlake Center, looking south, the playground is straight ahead — just across Pine Street. You’ll find it near the blue painted trees!

Ditch the car
Okay, we’re going to make a really extreme suggestion here…are you ready? Leave the hassles of parking downtown far behind you and take mass transit instead! With the hub of Westlake Station literally under your feet, you can likely take a bus from wherever you live in Seattle and make it to the park in a breeze. Or, consider parking at South Lake Union and taking the Seattle Streetcar downtown! Kids ages five and under ride for free (adults are $2.50 each way and children are $1.25), new streetcars run every 15-minutes and, best of all, your kids will love it! Get off at the Westlake Hub, which will land you just across the street from the playground.

Park it
If you do decide to drive to check out Westlake Park, grab a spot at your favorite downtown parking garage! The Pacific Place parking garage (access on both Sixth and Seventh Avenues, between Pine Street and Olive Way) is always a good choice, with reasonable hourly prices during the day and weekends and large parking spots for wiggling little ones in and out of car seats. Westlake Park Playground is less than two blocks west!

Make it a day
You’re downtown, the kids are in a great mood and you’re not quite ready to head home after exploring Westlake Park… what’s a family to do? Head over to Nordstrom (500 Pine Street, Seattle) and visit the fish in the kids’ department. Walk over to the Washington State Convention Center (800 Convention Place, Seattle) and take all of the escalators to the top. Venture down to Pike Place Market and pretend you’re tourists. The possibilities are endless!

Hungry, hungry kiddos
There are kid-friendly dining options in nearly every direction from Westlake Park Playground and they’re just a soccer ball’s throw away. The Yard House (1501 Fourth Avenue, Seattle) is new-ish to downtown and to Seattle and it’s a fun place to sit down for a full meal. While the prices aren’t kids’ play, the menus — for both adults and kids — are impressive (as is their beer list!). For somewhere a little cheaper and a little quicker, perfect for post-park adventures, the food court at Westlake Center is a kid-favorite, considering food courts are childhood novelties these days, rather than staples, as they used to be! From subs to sushi, it’s also a great place to hit up for lunch or dinner if you’re with a crowd. Plus, who doesn’t want to watch the monorail come and go as they eat?

Psst!
Westlake Park Playground gets major mom-points (they exist, it’s true) for having that awesome, squishy surface to protect our kids from falls, for having a fence that goes nearly all the way around the play area, and for the benches that are perfect for putting our tired mom kicks up while our kids play. Moms of kids who love to climb, keep an eye on the metal domes — they can get quite slippery after it rains… which happens every now and again in Seattle! Wink, wink!

Westlake Park Playground
401 Pine Street
Seattle, Wa 98101
At the corner of Pine Street and Fourth Avenue in downtown Seattle

Have you been to the new Westlake Park Playground? What was your first impression?

— Katie Kavulla (she took the photos too!)

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Best Seat in the House: A Drive-In Movie Survival Guide

by Katie Kavulla

Heading to the movies with little ones sounds better in principal than in reality. Between bathroom breaks, begging for treats and your basic “I want to sit there” battles, sometimes it’s just easier to Netflix and Chill. Enter, the drive-in theater: it’s the parent’s answer to not having to constantly shush your kids/sneak in outside food/carry your 5-year-old down the dark aisle. Read on for how to prepare for a great drive-in experience.

photo: Thomas Hawk via flickr 

Reality Check
First things first. Find the bathroom. Map it, visit it before the movie starts, and retrace your steps. Most movies start after dark or at least at dusk. This can be dangerously close to bedtime. If you’ve got wee ones that still nap, see if you can push the nap time back an hour or so, giving them a little more staying power for the film and make sure the day-of isn’t an overactive one. Dress kids of all ages in their PJs for the movie, and pack toothbrushes for after-Red Vine frenzies.

photo: Kyle Jones via flickr 

Cozy Up
Pack blankets and pillows for each person and an extra layer or two. Today’s drive-in is a little different than when you were a kid: many places allow families to put up lawn or camp chairs and “tailgate” for the film. It’s pretty nice to have a little snuggly action in the car too.

Switch It Up
Let the kids sit in the front while mom and dad sit in the back. They’ll have a better view and you can whisper to one another while your kiddos are engrossed. It’s like a totally fake date night.

Super-hack: If you have more than one vehicle or go with a friend, try stringing a hammock up between the two cars for the actual best seat in the house. 

photo: David Gutierrez via flickr 

It’s the Little Things
In addition to the above mentioned items, little things that make a big difference include:

Cash for the snack bar.

Garbage bags for easy clean-up.

Sippy cups or cups with lids so the back seat doesn’t get sticky.

Coloring books, crayons, pens for pre-movie doldrums.

A board game the family can play if there’s a spot to spread a blanket.

Wipes (but you never leave home without those).

photo: Jim Culp via flickr

Nom, Nom, Nom
Easiest option: eat at home before you leave. Worst option: dining only from the snack bar. No matter what, save yourself money and scary sugar-overload by packing extra snacks. Take advantage of all that extra space you have for storing grub. You can even pop up a big batch of popcorn at home and bring it with.

Superhack: Some drive-ins actually allow grilling in the truest tailgate sense. Yep. Just check it out first with whatever drive-in your attending. 

Still Not Convinced? 
If you’re still not sure a drive-in is the ideal family outing, or if there isn’t an outdoor film series or drive-in near you, you can hack it at home by dragging in their mini-cars or cardboard boxes and setting up a home-made drive in right in your own home. Line up vehicles and stuffed animals for the crowd. This is a great way to test-drive the idea with the tots.

Have you gone to the drive-in with your kids? Tell us about it in the comments below. 

 

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