What we're reading, watching, listening to: September, 2016 edition
Things we've enjoyed—and would highly recommend—as we move out of summer and into fall:
Kid books
- Beautiful Birds by Jean Roussen and Emmanuelle Walker—An ABC book with birds, the illustrations are spectacularly cool. Also like how inside the front cover are eggs and on the back cover they've all hatched...
- Nadia: The Girl Who Couldn't Sit Still by Karlin Gray and Christine Davenier—The kids are excited about gymnastics lessons and this book is inspiring them. I get teary each time I read it and 14-year-old Nadia scores the first perfect 10 but they don't have the scoreboard programmed to show it. Such a sweet book...
- Silly Wonderful You by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Patrick McDonnell—A mama talking to her toddler about how her life is so noisy and messy now that she has a child but also so incredibly filled with love...
- Alphabet City by Stephen T. Johnson—Another ABC book, this one photographs of things in the city that look like letters...so cool...
Grownup books
- The Art of the Photograph by Art Wolfe and Rob Sheppard—It's been a really long time since I bought a book and I talked myself out of this one I found in a bookstore on a weekend vacation with my mom and then went back and got it. I'm so glad I did. I'm learning a lot...
- The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky—You know, this book is interesting and engaging so far (first 50 pages or so), but I'm having a little trouble getting into it, much as I'm liking it. Jury's out on how far I'll get. Not sure Russian novels and 4-year-olds mix...feel like I need some long, leisurely reading hours on the porch...a luxury I currently do not have...
- The House by the Sea by May Sarton—I borrowed this from my mom and have read it very slowly...it just seemed like a book to digest in small chunks...it's the daily happenings of a writer who moved to costal Maine and is for the most part relishing the solitude. I like the small pleasures she finds. I love that this is one of my mom's favorite books...I can see her in it...
Music
- You Are my Little Bird by Elizabeth Mitchell—This has been a constant in our car lately, it's kids songs but the singers are amazing and the songs are done in a very sophisticated way...it hasn't gotten old after what feels like a million plays either...
Movies and TV
- Stranger Things—Oh, how I love Stranger Things. I just finished Season 1 last night. It's scary. The story's cool. The acting is great. It's its own thing, which I love. A number of nights I watched this right before bed and then couldn't sleep after. I love that twin brothers have created it. And that they tried and tried to sell it...showing that even very good ideas need some nurturing and love and persistence sometimes. I can't wait for Season 2. I actually think I'm going to watch Season 1 again...
- Last Week Tonight With John Oliver—This is the one show I make an effort to consistently watch. Honestly it's been a little uneven this season, but when it's funny, it's so very funny...
- Kubo and the Two Strings—A kids movie that played like and indie film and was so good, so original and so complex, I feel like adults could watch it multiple times and get something new out of it each time. This is definitely one for our video library...
- Mad Tiger—Seen at our local monthly foreign film night, it's the story of a Japanese band in New York and how things kind of fall apart. Loved watching the strangeness of this, and also had so much empathy for the main character who was trying to find his way...
Anything you've found fabulous lately??
Happy reading/watching/listening!
XOXO
Grace in small things, August 26, 2016
- Zo in her new fuzzy pink vest...and her "unicorn horn" hairstyle which is still a favorite look...
- The beach with the kids today...nice summer day as well, despite the fact that it was cold enough that I could see my breath when I took the dog out first thing this morning...
- Luke on his bike feet off the ground 100% balanced...Zo is getting there too...
- Hot dogs and corn on the grill tonight, and peppers with cheese from my mom's garden...
- Going to see Kubo and the Two Strings with the kids after dinner..it got great reviews and I am excited...
Grace in small things, August 7, 2016
- A little Jeep trip today that took us up to the trail that goes to the top of Hahn's Peak...want to hike that someday...
- And then a picnic by the river...so delightful...and my husband looking for cool rocks and the kids totally getting into it...
- Kids are so affectionate lately...loving it...
- Also so loving the new sun shades we have out on our deck...they help so much with the afternoon light...
- "Sleeping Beauty" for our Sunday night movie...it was pretty wonderful...the music is amazing...
- Kids making "bed angels," aka moving their arms and legs like you do with snow angels while I was doing tuck-in tonight...
XOXO
Steamboat with kids: Events, August 2016
Here are a few fun things we're doing this month (for more complete listings of goings on in and around town, see links below):
August 4: Dido and Aeneas
I first heard this opera as a freshman in college in a music survey class. It's so beautiful. And in English, which is cool, because you can understand what's going on. We had a CD of it and used to listen to it at dinner parties when my friend Chris and I lived together on the Hill in Boulder. My mother-in-law and I are going and Daddy's taking the kids for the evening. This is being performed at Strawberry Park Hot Springs and I'm not really sure what to expect. Are there going to be chairs and a stage? Are we all going to get into the hot springs and watch from there? We shall see...
August 5: Rodeo
We went to the Ranch Rodeo over the 4th of July weekend, which was fun, but I wanted to squeeze in a traditional rodeo in before summer is over. They do such a good job in Steamboat. I love the barrel racing. Luke loves that he can be as loud as he wants (I'm always asking him to pipe down because we live in a townhouse). Zo and Luke are really excited to get the ribbon off the lamb's tail. Should be a great night.
August 12: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Kids theater at the Larson Barn, which I've never been to. Zo will be doing her 2 days alone with Grammy and Papa so it'll just be Luke and Daddy and I...can't wait!
August 18–21: Routt County Fair
Ah, the fair. We haven't been yet, but you can't go wrong with kids at the fair...
August 31: Foreign Film
I love love love love indie and foreign films, but it's one of those things that I haven't been doing, there's just no time it feels like. But after going to the Seattle Film Festival earlier this summer I'm making time for this kind of thing. These movies aren't generally kid-friendly, but t's good for me to get out of the house and my husband's so great about taking the kids. The library does a film once a month at the Chief Theater, which is a really cool venue, it's free (although you can do donations), there's beer and wine for sale, the building is so cool...so glad I'm committed to doing this...