My Handyman

Rich has been doing some interesting stuff to our house lately. His Dad sent this picture of the younger handyman. It is very sweet. Rich’s personal comment was “You can see where I get my intense drive towards safety.”

Why I Ride

Rich calls this "our sports car"...
Bicycle babes

This year, bike riding has a certain magic at our house. Miles got a bike for his third birthday. A couple of months ago, Mina learned how to ride without training wheels. In June, we hit a fun bike safety fair. We ended school with biking to school. We've been biking all over town. But, last weekend Mina got a new bicycle. To our shock, she looks like a big kid on a big kid bicycle now. She is in love with biking. She loves her new bike because she can go faster. She loves the gears. We bike everywhere (pool, library, parks, next on the list = blueberry farm , coffee shop and beach). I love it. There is some great bonding time available on bikes. This is a part of why i ride.

Mina, on the day she came home with her new bike. Happiness.

Mina with her new bike in Seattle for "Bicycle Sunday". This was our second bike-only day of the summer. They are so fun. It was a great place to work on just having hand breaks.

Mamma and Mina stopping in Seward Park with Mt. Rainier.

There really is something magical about riding a bike. The more that i ride my bike, the more i want to ride it. I feel like a kid.

I can't wait for the Tour to start tomorrow! Lance Armstrong's open letter: Why I Ride

350.org

International effort to raise awareness of the need to decrease carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million.

Check it out. 350.org

Special Night

Standing on the boardwalk, post a night of poems, carrying a pot of sunflowers.

Frog hunters

We have a new spring-time hobby, looking for frogs at the park.

buttercups

First time riding bike to school

Here is the first day that M biked to school, with bike commuter Pappa. Miles and i were jogging along…

 

Let’s Meet at the Beach

About a month ago, we went to one of the Seattle Aquarium’s Let’s Meet at the Beach days. It was great to have a tour guide of the low tide experience.

Looking for the beach…

 

Mina finished the year studying Oceanography at school, so she was rather eager to  meet the beach naturalists. We dug through the rocks to get a good view of crabs, sea stars, limpets, chitons, a gunnel fish, and a fun range of seaweeds.

 

Turkish towel

SAM at Olympic Sculpture Park

Seattle’s Bag Fee

 

Don't let the plastics industry win! We donated $5,000 to the campaign.  You can help, too! In the six years this company's been around, Seattle's bag fee (up for vote Aug. 18) is the most important piece of legislation we've seen to dramatically reduce the consumption of use-and-toss bags. Based on Ireland's extremely successful PlasTax, the plastics industry has been fighting it tooth and nail. If passed, this model will take hold in the U.S., providing a proven, market-based solution to the plastic bag problem. "We're following the lead of Ireland... not just for Seattle, but to provide a model for other cities as well." - Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels When Mayor Nickels called us for help, we saw an historic opportunity to drive real change, & we gave our full support.  Here are 3 ways you can help right now: 1. GET INFORMED Check out our easily-digestible overview of this issue, including a simple outline of Seattle's bag fee & why it makes sense, the Green Bag Campaign's short video, a bag fee myth-busting article & more. 2. SPREAD THE WORD Forward this e-mail along to a friend. If you're a blogger or reporter, cover the story. 3. VISIT OUR STORE Help support our efforts so we can continue to support causes like this.  Your purchases count! This is an urgent opportunity to get behind a groundbreaking initiative, significantly changing society's use-and-toss mentality. Help make it happen! "I applaud ReusableBags.com for raising awareness and empowering people to kick the bag-habit." - Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels Leading the way since 2003, our carefully selected family of safe, high-quality "reusables" has now grown to hundreds of products in 30+ categories. We've guided and empowered our 190,000+ customers to reduce their consumption of use-and-toss items by more than 700 million units. Visit our store today. Want to learn more about what makes us so different? Click here. Your purchases count! As of 2009, we've donated over $140,000 to environmental organizations.  Together, we are making a difference! As always, thanks for your support. Vincent Cobb -- Founder, ReusableBags.com

Twin Falls

 

Chasing big sister on the trail…

Stopping in for refueling at our favourite chocolate shop.

Big Chicks

The chick-ens are happy to eat up the bolting sorrel.

Mother hen