The Star Spangled Banner

In honor of tomorrow being Flag Day, and 2014 being the 200th anniversary of Francis Scott Key writing The Star Spangled Banner I thought I would share one more kids book with you. I know, I know. You are sick of kids books. But this is such a super one. One that makes me proud to be American. One that makes me a little teary eyed. And one Gilbert adores. 

The Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key, Illustrated by Peter Spier

An illustrated version of The Star Spangled Banner with three verses. 

(Who knew there was more than one? Not me.) 

My favorite verse--

Oh, thus be it ever when freeman shall stand.

Between their loved home and the wars desolation.

Blest with victr'y and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation.

Then conqueor we must, when our cause it is just

And this be our motto, "In God is our trust."

And the star spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

This verse begins on a picture of a battle graveyard, all green with poppies growing. And I love that concept--free men, who could do anything, who don't have to go die, standing between the home and people they love and the horror of war. 

Cody was saying the other day, that on the beaches of Normandy, there is a plaque "We gave our today, so you could have your tomorrow." Gives me chills. 

It is so easy for me to forget how deeply personal fighting for freedom is to each and every soldier who goes out to fight. All those wives, all those girlfriends, (and now, husbands and boyfriends) all those kids who have lost a huge part of their life in the battle for freedom. I think today, war is so much more muddied. There isn't such a singleness to it anymore. We don't have a Hitler in Germany or a king in Britain to fight. There is an evil, terrorists, but they are spread all over, in so many different countries, that it is hard to fix your mind firmly on who the enemy is. And then the politics of war make it hard to be so singlemindedly proud of America. Should we be in Iraq? Should we be fighting here? Should we be supplying guns to the rebels over there? Should we.... should we... 

And this book reminds me to be proud. Great men have believed America was worth fighting for, worth dying for. I can't, at this point, let that pride and thankfulness get buried under politics and apathy.

Rockets red glare

Mists of the deep

Setting up housekeeping 11 years ago

Today is our 11th anniversary. We are celebrating it tomorrow night with an overnight stay in Lake Placid. We have never done an overnight alone since we had kids. (With the exception of a night in VT for a friends wedding before Elsie was born.) So I am pretty excited! But it makes today seem like not really the day to be excited. Tomorrow is the exciting stuff day!

But still, this is our anniversary, so here are a few pictures of our first little while as a couple.

At Clover's 25 birthday party when we started actively liking each other. About 10 days after we met.

 

We started dating the following weekend. We went ice skating at Birchwood elementary school and Justin held my hand and helped me skate. Swoon! (My brothers and sisters always tell Justin that actually I am pretty much Olympic material on skates, but just wanted him to hold my hand. Ha! I remember going skating on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa as a teenager and feeling accomplished if I didn't fall down for two minutes running.) Then we went back to Clover and Evan's for games and Justin put his arm around me. Squeal! 

The rest is history.

The other day, Sunday, when I was sitting outside on the swing, I realized that this meant that the swing was now 11 years old too. 

I don't have many pictures of it in Alaska, but I have a few that involve Evan and Cheyenne in our Linlu Lane house.

And here it is, 4,600 miles away and 11 years later, still holding babies. 

And now I will tell you a long, boring, story about our swing. 

When we eloped/married, we seriously had nothing. Neither of us had lived on our own before, so we pretty much just owned our own clothes and Justin had an old Lincoln Continental. Some friends had given Justin a double bed when he got his apartment the week before, but other than that, it was pretty bare. When we got back from our one night honeymoon in Denali (we also did not have much money), Clover and Evan had come into our apartment and stacked a huge pile of household stuff--everything I would need to make a meal. Cookie sheets, spatulas, utensils, measuring cups, canisters, a broom, dustpan, paper towels, dish towels, dish clothes. Etc, etc, Seriously, it was an awesome, awesome wedding present. It was exactly what we needed. 

Another couple got married the week after we did. They had both had their own houses, so all the extra things they had, they gave to us. It was all very welcome. Including some furniture, an armoire, and a somewhat odd two person foam couch that unfolded into a bed. Our apartment was filling up in the kitchen and we finally had somewhere to put clothes, but our living room was bare except for the unstructured and squishy couch. Then, Justin's sister was coming two weeks after we got married, and another very generous soul  gave us a twin bed. Since it was only a one bedroom apartment, this twin bed landed in our living room. With enough pillows and colorful blankets, the bed, was a somewhat functioning, day/bed sofa thing. 

In all our getting (people are amazingly generous) we got sevreal Fred Meyer gift cards. Looking around the apartment, we decided what we needed most was seating in the living room. We didn't have enough for any kind of real furniture or even a futon, but adding up the gift cards, we could manage a patio swing that seated three people. So we bought it. We swung gently in our Via Tranquilla apartment, then moved it to our Linlu Lane house. I remember my sister-in-law staying with us through morning sickness and laying on the swing, moving back and forth, saying it was the only thing that made her feel better. Then we abandoned it to our storage unit while we moved to Colorado. When we moved back to Alaska, it came out of retirement into our apartment in Birchwood. When we were moving east a year and a half later, we couldn't take the two hand-me-down sofas we had since acquired from kindly people (who were probably appalled by our living room), but we could manage one sofa and dismantle the swing enough to fit it in our horse trailer and Suburban. It had a cameo appearance at our apartment in Central Square (three months) before settling into our apartment in Wilmington, NY. When we moved to our little house here, it simply didn't fit. So we sent it to the farm where it has swung calmly for the past five years. It has been used and abused thoroughly, but it is still in decent shape. The kids pull the cushions on and off, building forts and using them as beds in their house under the green table. It is used in summer, spring, winter, and fall. 

This swing has been through a lot these past 11 years. 

And so have we. Good, bad, happy, sad, ups and downs. But mostly just normal. We are each others normal. Our everyday. And I couldn't do without him. 

(I just went searching for a nice picture of Justin and I alone from the past few months and this is the only one I have. One Orianna took from the back of the van. I remember reading that it is very important for couples to make sure they take pictures of just them to maintain their identity as a couple, and not just parents. I guess our identity as a couple must be non-existent. Ha! I'll take it. I like us.)

Here is to the next 11. For us and the swing.

12 Favorite Kids Books about Fathers

I really like lists. And I really like kids books. Since I did the list of our current favorite spring books, lists have been percolating in my head. Books about mothers. Books about gardens.... And here is a list about fathers in time for Father's Day. (I am sure I am missing some great ones, so feel free to remind me in the comments!)

We Help Daddy by Mini Stein illustrated by Eloise Wilkin

There is nothing deep about this one. I just love the 1950's illustrations and the kids wanting to help and the Dad loving to spend time with his kids

This was going to be me someday, doing lovely, slightly complicated things in the kitchen, while my husband does darling, patient things in the garden with our kids. Somehow we don't manage to be quite so scenic. But my husband does do patient, darling things with our kids.

On a Wintry Morning by Dori Chaconas

One of our all time favorites. I am not sure if it is supposed to be sung, but Clover (who told us about this book or maybe gave it to us) sang it to the tune of All around the mulberry bush and that is what we have always done. My kids love singing books, and this one is just so sweet. A daddy and baby go out exploring on a wintry morning. The words are lyrical (catch a piece of snowy sky; quick-foot, light-foot bunny track), it is rhythmic, has great vintage style pictures and it is about a Daddy loving his baby, ever so. We read/sing this almost every day in Winter. 

Daddy, take the baby out. 

Take your bonny baby out. 

Show the baby all about, 

On a wintry Morning.

Daddy, tie her hat on tight. 

Tie that baby's hat on tight!

The wind will blow with all it's might

On a wintry morning.

Daddy, lift her up so high. 

Sweep that baby up so high! 

Catch a piece of snowy sky, 

On a wintry morning

Daddy, blow upon her toes. 

Warm those tiny tender toes.

Rub her hands and kiss her nose, 

On a wintry morning.

The Milkman by Carol Foskett Cordsen

I initially picked this up in a bookstore in Fort Collins, CO in their local section. And I loved the illustrations (I am such a sucker for vintage) and the story, but since I didn't have kids yet and we were living in a trailer, I didn't buy it. Years later, I discovered it at our local library and then had to buy it on Amazon. It is just the story of a milkman making his rounds. Rhyming, good ratio of pictures to words, primary colors--all things to make the kids and I love it. This isn't strictly a book about fathers, but the last two pages make it so. The kids have read it to pieces, so I don't actually have the last pages. But it goes something like

Last stop, best stop.

Cat jumps out. 

Daddy's home!

Comes happy shout.

I just love the father being excited about coming home and the kids being excited to have him home. 

One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey

This is a book about a little girl, losing her first tooth, running to find Daddy clamming, and boating to the mainland for a errands and a celebratory ice cream. 

When I was a kid, I thought living on an island in Maine was the penultimate. So I really loved this book.

It is really about family, since the mother is very present too, but I love the girl running to find Daddy and going with him to town. He is a good dad. 

I also just love Robert McCloskey's books and illustrations.

Heading home!

White Dynamite and Curly Kidd by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault, illustrated by Ted Rand

This is a cowboy daddy. Written by the authors of Chicka, Chicka, Boom! Boom!, so there is plenty of rhythm to be had. This is the story off a little kid (turns out to be a girl at the end, ponytails under her hat) talking to her dad before he gets on a bull for his eight second ride. The little kid is nervous, talking a lot. The dad is monosyllabic in answer. While the dad is riding, the little girl tries to think up places she would like to travel to distract her from worrying too much. And then bursts with pride and excitement when he rides the whole eight seconds.

So sweet. Love this one! But then I have a soft spot for cowboy daddies. 

Leapin' like a bullfrog...

O-ma-HA ne-BRAS-ka...

Dustin up the big sky...

KET-chi-KAN a-LAS-ka

Landin' hard...

new MEX-i-CO

Four seconds down, Dad! 

Four more to go!

"You prouded me, Dad. You sure prouded me." Makes me teary eyed every single time I read it. 

"All together, top to bottom, inside out, and outside in, my dad is total perfect."

Daddy's Girl by Garrison Keillor and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser

We got this at a library book sale a year or so ago. It came with a CD, so we listened to that. We loved it immediately. There are four songs about a Daddy loving his little girl. Very sweet. We often use this for our pick up song CD. It is only about 14 minutes long and they are all bouncy and happy songs. It makes the kids move faster (a little sillier too, which sort of counteracts the fastness, but that's okay) and 14 minutes is a good length of time for the kids to focus on picking up. 

Garrison Keillor has been a part of my life, since my parents would listen to tapes of Lake Woebegone when I was a kid. And Robin Preiss Glasser is the illustrator of Fancy Nancy, so is also familiar. 

All in all, perfectly sweet. 

Wolf Story by William McCleery

We have never had this book or even "read" it. But I could recite a lot of it by heart. Mom gave us a tape of this that Livie and Tori listened to as kids. I think she gave it as a loan, which turned into a three year long procession of it by us, with no intention of return it. (Fine, if you want to break your grandson's heart!) The kids all liked this story, but Orianna and Lily now are thoroughly tired of it. Gilbert loves this story. He listens to it at night several times a week and sometimes during the day if he lays down for a nap. 

It is the story of a father telling his son a bedtime story. The son (Michael) helps the father decide what the story will be about, what the plot will be, what happens when. This is all spread out over several weeks, with the father taking the boy on excursions (with Stefan, the next door neighbor boy) to the beach, the park, across the Queensborough bridge, etc. It is around 1950 in New York City. It is a short-ish chapter book. Takes about an hour for the tape to play out I believe.

A great story about a Dad and son. 

And now some chapter books that aren't strictly about Dad's, but that have pretty great Dads or only Dads (no mother).

Bo at Ballard Creek by Kirkpartrick Hill

A prostitute gives away her daughter in a closing Alaska boom town and two miner friends take her in and raise her. Love this story! Loved the illustrations, how gentle these big old miners were with this tiny baby and growing girl, and love Alaska.

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Was just listening to Charlotte's Web last night and Fern's father struck me as pretty understanding and kind. Letting her keep Wilbur instead of killing him, telling her mother that Fern has a great imagination and not to worry in the least about her talking about the animals talking...

A side note, I love this story. It gets funnier it seems every time we listen to it. E.B. White reads it, in his Maine accent, which gives the classic words that final touch of greatness.

Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene

I mean, seriously, what other father would let you go helter-skelter into danger in the pursuit of your detective talents and then continually rescue you at the last minute? Pretty great.

The Melendy Quartet by Elizabeth Enright

This takes place in World War II and the father is often off on some important government business, but these kids love their Dad something fierce and their Dad loves them totally too.

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

After their mother dies, they get along with just their Dad for awhile, but then learn to live with the semi-mail order bride (they wrote letters for awhile, but had never met) their father brings west to be a mother to them. 

Beany Malone Books by Lenora Mattingly Weber

This lovely family in Denver in the late 1940's is motherless and occasionally fatherless, since their father is a journalist who is often heading off on stories. Eventually he brings home a wife and they all have to adjust. Great series in general.