Renton, WA

Since 2005, there has been a complete ban on the use, sale, or possession of any fireworks in the city limit. I certainly had not noticed this, but the Fairwood area is outside of the city limits. (A fact you may find useful.)

To enjoy fireworks in a safe environment, citizens are encouraged to attend the Revo225’s Fabulous 4th of July public fireworks display held on Wednesday, July 4th, at Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park in Renton, 1201 Lake Washington Blvd. The event will feature a variety of activities for the kids and exciting stage entertainment, as well as several restaurants and concession stands with food. The day will end with a 20-minute fireworks display at 10:00 p.m. Free Shuttle Express service will be provided to the park from the Boeing parking lots from 9:00 a.m. to midnight.

It’s hard to believe this is the last week of school. While it’s fun time with the family, I also need extra help in keeping the kids constructively occupied. Enter the King County Library System and their Summer Reading Program.

Older kids may not be as motivated, but my oldest is a soon-to-be Third Grader (who is a great reader) who likes to fill in charts and to collect prizes, so what could be better?

When the kids have recorded 500 minutes read, they get a coupon for a personal pizza. At the goal of 1000 minutes the prize is a notebook. There are huge prizes like a laptop, but it is really a “chance to win” the large prize after completing the 1000 minutes. Kids can start claiming their prizes on July 16th. The last day is August 31st.

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Although we only had a brief week of real summer, summer is coming and so is the opening of the Renton Pool aka Henry Moses Aquatic Center. They offer swimming lessons in addition to just plain fun swimming, at a discount to Renton residents. Some people with a Renton address actually live outside the city limits. Don’t think that you can get away with the discount - they know because of the number of digits in your street address. Yeah, I thought that was pretty clever too.

Although it’s a little pricey for a pool - Lindbergh is only a few dollars - it is far more than just a pool. They have a wave pool, slides, and an intertube ride, and are a good way to spend a sunny summer afternoon around here. If you want to visit a lot, you can buy a pass for yourself or your family.

Summertime fun begins at the Henry Moses Aquatic Center on Saturday, June 16th. The aquatic center’s fourth season will continue through Labor Day. Call 425-430-6700 for more information or visit the City’s website at rentonwa.gov.

Although Renton has a Wal-mart, I don’t recommend it. If I must go to Walmart (can’t think of an example reason) I go to Covington. There is a nice Wal-mart there, which I realize sounds like an oxymoron. I am a Target shopper, myself, but for Target I have to go to Kent or Tukwila. What kind of civilized community doesn’t have a Target?

Legal rangling has finally ended over “The Landing” development, and I am pleased to note that it will include a Target. It will also include a Starbucks, but since there are already seven within two miles of my home, I am not so impressed about that.

The project, upon completion, will include a Target, Starbucks, Regal Cinemas, LA Fitness, Sleep Country, Verizon Wireless, PetSmart, Staples, Joe’s and Red Robin. A few businesses will open this fall, with the balance scheduled to open in May 2008.

Westfield Shopping Center, formerly known as Southcenter Mall, is continuing their expansion to include a Kohls. I recently became a fan of Kohls when they opened in Covington, and will probably continue to go there for traffic reasons, but this is welcome news for the area.

I was happy when Applebees opened in Renton Village, since I must admit it is one of my favorite restaurants. Is there anything else you think we need, or need closer to home? Leave me a message in comments and let me know.

[tags]shopping center, shopping mall, Renton[/tags}

The Renton Farmers Market is open every Tuesday from June 5th through September 18th, from 3PM to 7PM.

The Renton Farmers Market is held at the Renton Piazza in downtown Renton. Metro’s Renton Transit Center is immediately north of the Market, providing bus access via several dozen routes. Two-hour free parking is available at Renton’s City Center Parking Garage - enter on 2nd Avenue.

farmers market, renton, organic

My favorite “media for parents” website is commonsensemedia.org. I always go there for movie reviews. (I love that they provide information and talking points, not just thumbs up or down.) In honor of Internet Safety Month they have written up a series of articles for parents providing information from a parenting point of view on things like online games and social networking.

At Common Sense Media, we believe in media sanity, not censorship. And since we can’t always cover our kids’ eyes, we have to teach them how to see. The information here will help your kids stay Internet safe and smart. Click on the links below to find out what every parent should know about how our kids use the Internet.

To summarize from their five points:
1. Because keeping up is hard to do, parents need to help their kids learn about safe and appropriate behavior, not just safe and appropriate sites.
2. Parents need to become involved in their kids’ online lives.
3. Adults must still teach codes of conduct
4. We need to help our kids think critically about what they post, read, and see online.
5. It’s up to us to make them listen when they don’t want to hear.

I encourage you to visit their website to access their Internet Safety Guide and their Five Internet Challenges for Parents.

On the first Monday of every month, Valley Medical Center holds a clinic with quality childrens bike helmets, fitted for your child, for $5 each. Not only are these nicer (and cheaper) than the typical helmet, but having someone fit the helmet for my child was invaluable!

If the child’s helmet has any cracks or dents, toss it and get a new one from them. Much like car seats, if it is actually used for it’s intended purpose, or if there is any damage, you need a new one. They are one-time use items, which you hope you don’t need.

These are such nice helmets, I recommend you buy one of theirs even if you already have one. Especially if you have a dog who chews up bike helmets … maybe a brown and white dog who looks like this ….

Here is something fun for your family to do together this summer, that will get the kids moving instead of playing computer or video games during our glorious and rare sunny months. This is not a sport camp that you can drop your child off at and go back an sit on the couch yourself. This will actually get you moving too, and require participation (and fun) on your part.

REI Passport to Adventure gives kids a passport book/journal and list of suggested family hikes and bike rides. Each time the child completes an “adventure” they bring they passport into the store to be stamped. After completing a certain number (the webpage says five, the pdf says three) the child receives a certificate, a water bottle, and an entry into a contest. They are also encouraged to write about their adventure in the journal.

While I am quite sure that REI does this as a sales opportunity, I am fairly confident I can resist impulse purchases there, unless they drastically expand their product line-up in the next few months. I’ll have to weigh the added incentive of the passport (kids love to have things stamped) with the shopping hazard of having to make at least four trips to the store. One to get the passport book, and then one for each stamp.

Each store location provides a list of the local suggested hikes, and a very helpful description of each location. “Local” is obviously a relative term, since one of them suggested for the Tukwila location is a 2 hour drive away at Mt Ranier, but the brochure assures us that it is worth it. Since my youngest has not yet even mastered the art of riding a bike in a parking lot, I think we might start with some local bike rides first.

In keeping with the recent focus on disaster preparedness, probably prompted by our new director, Renton is today unveiling a Red Cross Disaster Relief Supply Center. This will be one of five in King County that can provide supplies for use in future disasters, or provide short term emergency shelter for 750 people.

It will be officially dedicated Wednesday with the obligatory ribbon-cutting ceremony. The ceremonious ribbon-cutting will take place at 2:00 p.m. at Renton Fire Station #16 located in 12923 156th Ave SE in Renton.

Since our gas prices keep going up - now almost equal to California as the highest in the country - you might seriously be considering winning the lottery as a form of financial planning. Logically, therefore, lottery officials have made free gas the new prize.

According to the Seattle PI, drivers who buy $10 in quick pick Mega Millions tickets at those stations will get 10 gallons of regular unleaded or diesel gas on Friday.

As you might expect, the what the lottery promises, the odds taketh away. There are three locations that will provide the “free” gas. Each of the first two limit the offer to the first two hundred vehicles. The third location is limited to the first 100 vehicles.

The Auburn location will be the Safeway at 101 Auburn Way S., Auburn

If you were thinking of trying this out anyway, you should be aware that only one of the locations (in Auburn) is in the greater Seattle area. I don’t think that driving to Spokane or Kennewick for a chance at free gas will benefit you more than you burn getting there.

Some of the attractions at the Woodland Park Zoo are only open in the summer time. Current weather not withstanding, it is now summer-time, apparently.

Willawong Station
This is the exhibit where you walk into a giant cage filled with birds, and purchase a stick of birdseed and peanut butter. Depend on their hunger at the moment, you either try desperately to coax birds to you, or have a mild panic attack as birds swoop at you. For best results, ask the employee at the counter whether you should enter then or come back at a different time.

Carousel
The antique carousel in North Meadow, which offers rides for $2, is now open

Butterflies & Blooms
This attraction opens later this week, on May 25th. There is no extra cost, so if you are planning a trip, you might consider waiting a few days to catch this one too. Unlike the Willawong exhibit there is no touching, but you enter a large mesh canopy filled with butterflies. Keep an eye on small children, and consider bringing a camera for this.