Moving the hausfrau...

... this blog is moving to a new location, http://instanthausfrau.wordpress.com/ While blogger has been a great home, wordpress has tag support, which is a function I love when reading other people's blogs. So, I hope you'll follow me there to find out more about what's happening for children in Seattle. See you soon!

Robin Hood Aims True: Check out Sherwood Forest in Volunteer Park

Spent last night at Theater Schmeater’s Robin Hood in the park. Moon’s 20 months now, with a very active personality, so sitting through a whole show is an awful lot to ask. Luckily for us, the show is in Volunteer Park, home of a popular playground and wading pool. When the small one got too rambunctious, we walked down the hill to splash in the water and cool down.

The show has everything you’d want from a Robin Hood adaption: evil Sheriff of Nottingham (a show-stealing John McKenna), heroic and sneaky Robin Hood, Little John of the Strong Silence, a cross-cast singing Allan a Dale, heavy fighting and drinking Friar Tuck, and a strong willed Maid Marian. The violence is mostly of the swash-and-buckle variety, making it very kid friendly, and although the show is free an ingenious hat passing gimmick is worked into the script.

So, lather up your sunscreen, pack your picnic, and head out to volunteer park for free summer theater at its kid-friendly finest. Robin Hood runs today at 4:00pm, skips a weekend, then runs for two more. And if you have an actor on your hands who dreams of the glories of doing summer theater themselves, you can share this great behind-the-scenes look at the making of this summer-stock production: On With the Show!

Theater Schmeater’s Robin Hood Volunteer Park (in the field next to the Conservatory) Free, but donations are gratefully accepted and kids love the chance to give money to Mr. Hood himself.

Sunday, August 6, 4:00pm

Friday, August 18, 6:30pm Saturday, August 19, 4:00pm Sunday, August 20, 4:00pm

Friday, August 25, 6:30pm Saturday, August 26, 4:00pm

This Morning at the Library: The Fisher Price My First Mosh Pit

That's right! Captain Bogg & Salty, the pirate rockers from Portland, are in town for a library program this morning. Blue-Angles, schmoo-angels.

Are you ready? 'Cause really, what kiddie rock concert is better than a pirate kiddie rock concert? Plus, they cover Nellie the Elephant. (And yes, they really do call for a "Fisher Price My First Mosh Pit", making the kids raise their hands and promise to help each other up.)

Captain Bogg & Salty Central Library Downtown 1000 Fourth Ave., Seattle, WA 98104-1109 10:30am-? Free!

--

Edited to add: If you missed this morning's concert, head out to Bellevue's Crossroads Library for another performance at 5:00pm tonight. This morning, the kiddies with eye patches and balloons swords dancing in the aisles were a sight to see -- don't miss out!

The Newest Animals at the Zoo: 48 Hand-Carved Horses

Zoo Carousel Originally uploaded by Instant Hausfrau.

The restored 1918 carousel is up and running at Woodland Park Zoo. Now through September, you can pay $1.00 to ride the carousel located in the zoo's North meadow. In September, they'll be closing it down again to allow workers to complete the Carousel pavilion (with special rooms for birthday party rentals, along with a full enclosure for the horses). Between this and Zoomazium, a zoo membership is looking like the best deal for entertaining families in this city.

Moon is an expert Carousel Queen, and seeing this one as we entered the North Gate made her light up. "Whee?" she asked, pointing to the hand-carved horses. How could I refuse?

We watched the horses go 'round for a turn, noting that your dollar buys a good, long ride. The carousel is quiet, making it unobtrusive for those visiting the more lively zoo animals. It was also good to note that the outside row of horses don't go up and down, so a less-adventurous young one has several steeds to choose from. We chose an inside row, as Moon is an experienced rider of painted ponies (and loves the chance to look up at the mechanism controlling her horse's rise and fall).

There was no objection (or additional charge) for me to stand on the Carousel platform to hold my daughter in place and remind her that it's good to hang on with both hands.

The detail on the horses is amazing. That alone can be enough to keep parents entertained by the ride. Most parents that weren't riding or helping their child ride were snapping photo after photo on the sidelines.

Be warned: The zoo has lost no time in marketing to young horse lovers, and a small cart next to the pavilion hawks carousel stickers, stuffed animals, and statues.

She loved the ride, and was reluctant to say "bye bye" to the horses. I was too.

Woodland Park Zoo Carousel
$1.00 + zoo admission
Woodland Park Zoo's North meadow

Bedtime procrastination: Just one more drink of water?

Moon, my dulcet darling, has become a first class Bedtime Procrastinator. With the aide of her miniscule vocabulary, she is able to ask for just one more glass of water (wa-ba?), another story before bed (moon?), another kiss (she plants kisses on me and keeps doing it until her affections are reciprocated -- she must get that from her father), and so on, repeating steps as necessary to ensure Staying Up. I thought my daughter would be speaking in full sentences before the onslaught of delaying-the-inevitable began.

Procrastinating at 20 months. Where's the line for that in the baby book?

--

Her other new melt-mommy's-heart trick has been the pointing me out and proudly declaring "mama!" for the rest of the world. She's feeling the need to announce my presence to strangers at the grocery store, parks, and malls. I know once the teenage years start, it will be all about making sure strangers know She's Not With Me, so I'll love being pointed out while I have it.

When I told The Husband about her new party trick as he and Moon came back from a jaunt at Cal Anderson Park*, he was unimpressed. "You're just jealous that she isn't all proud of her papa," I retorted smugly. "No," he replied, amused. " It's just that she called several dogs at the park that, too." Moon - 1, My Self Esteem - 0. But who's counting?

*If you are one of the three or so people who haven't been since they re-did this place, go! It's really lovely, with a great playground and lots of dogs for small children to harass. In the Spring, they will be likely to have ducklings again, as they had a proud mom of twelve or so this year. Plus, all that great Cap Hill people watching for the parents!

Apologies for the cloudy weather.

It is, in fact, all my fault.

Moon, you see, is a water-baby through and through. Now that summer has come to Seattle, the local parks have filled their wading pools. I always manage to forget this, and thus forget the requisite swim diapers, swim suits, towels, and float toys needed for a successful outing with the 1.5 year old. So, after a particularly heart-rending melt down in Volunteer Park this weekend, I got everything together last night: bundled together in a towel, you'll find her swimsuit, swim diaper, floating toy, and the baby sunscreen that was already living in the bag. This makes an easy to grab package for our next park-outing. I even remembered to wear my flip-flops this morning, for ease of chasing Moon through the watery delights (there is nothing worse than the squish of soggy socks, IMHO).

Naturally, this means that it's cloudy and cool today. Weather forecasts predict this sort of thing for the rest of the week. Uh, sorry about that guys.

Here there be Pirates!

Yes, yes, the newest Disney movie concerning the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow is out in theaters this weekend (for a bit of the surreal, see real Johnny Depp vs. Animatronic Johnny Depp by clicking play above), but I'm talking about the local swashbucklers.

This Saturday, the Seafair Pirates will make their annual landing at Alki Beach in West Seattle to pillage and plunder. So get your little ones out there in their finest Piratical Duds, and be there by noon to enjoy the festical atmosphere and pirate games.

Seafair Pirate Landing Commercial | (requires Windows Media Player)
Saturday, July 8th
Noonish (the pirates are somewhat subject to the tides)
Alki Beach in West Seattle
Free
(But get there early, parking can be a zoo)

Tap. Tap. Is this thing on?

Hi, I go by IHF around here, and I used to blog about Seattle? And parenting stuff? And parenting stuff for folks in Seattle?

But, for the month of June, I have basically vanished into the fog that is the School Closure Process, with some death in the family thrown in for extra measure. Apologies for the absence, I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't happen again.

As I see it, the most important thing that I missed in June, is this: Please Take my Children to Work Day. Governors in Hawaii, New Jersey, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Kentucky declared June 26th, 2006 for this important holiday for stay-at-home parents. Washington really needs to jump on this bandwagon next year.

And for the working parents making a go of it, you can check out www.mommytrackd.com . A great resource for staying organized, with a slick web design to boot. Any dads want to recommend some good dad-specific parenting resources out there?