Tag Archives: North Spokane Library

Jamming Out at the Swifties Celebrations Tour

Posted on by
Reply

We try to attend as many library programs as possible and there was no way Sloan was missing the one held this past weekend. The Spokane County Library District is in the middle of its “Swifties Celebrations” tour that is stopping at the different branches in the district. Last Saturday, the tour arrived at our home branch—the Spokane Valley Library.

Sloan and I had the date circled on our calendar and showed up on Saturday with relatively high expectations. We weren’t disappointed.

We attended the Swifties Celebrations event at the Spokane County Library (Spokane County Library District) on Saturday, Feb. 15.

We entered the programming room at the Spokane Valley Library with “Welcome to New York” filling the room. With the positive energy swirling, Sloan picked up some props and posed for photos in front of the Swiftie backdrop.

The first thing Sloan did at the Swifties Celebrations event was to take a photo in front of the backdrop.

After the photo op, we found a seat at one of the craft tables. With all the new pictures on my phone, we needed a cool spot to place them once developed. Thank goodness, one of the crafts offered was a photo frame. Sloan and I both created our own.

The frames that Sloan and I made at the Spokane County Library District’s Swifties Celebrations.

Once we put the finishing touches on our frames, it was onto the next craft. Anyone want to guess what it was? Yep, friendship bracelets. Sloan had a great time standing up at the craft supply station with the librarians and other attendees as she strung her bracelet together.

Sloan’s finished friendship bracelet she made at the Spokane Valley Library.

With our crafts completed, Sloan split her time between two activities. The first one was Taylor Swift trivia. Every 15 minutes, one of the librarians would ask questions only Swifties would know about their favorite music star. In between the trivia sessions, Sloan was roaming the library participating in the Taylor Swift scavenger hunt. The librarians hid Taylor Swift album cover art throughout the facility and let me tell you—it wasn’t easy. Sloan did her best to scour the shelves, nooks, and crannies of the library to find all of Swift’s albums from Reputation to Speak Now to 1989 to all her other defining work.

Sloan finds Taylor’s “Folklore” album art at the end of one of the library’s shelves.

But Sloan wouldn’t let herself get too lost in the throes of the shelves and books because she had a trivia contest to win. We kept our eyes on the clock so we would make each round of trivia at each 15-minute interval. It paid off. In an event targeted at children in the 10-14 age range, my soon-to-be 8-year-old staved off the other girls (and a couple moms) to narrowly win the contest. Her victory notched her a special Taylor Swift prize.

Sloan poses in front of the trivia scoreboard. She won!

Sloan wasn’t the only one who had fun. This dad (who typically isn’t a Swiftie despite what my frame said) had a really enjoyable afternoon as well. For those who live in the Spokane area with a little Swiftie, you can attend the remaining stops of the “Swifties Celebrations” when it visits the Cheney Library (Feb. 22) and the North Spokane Library (March 1). Sloan and I highly recommend it! Don’t Blink.

Casting That Ballot

Posted on by
Reply

I performed my civic duty and voted in the 2024 Election. I submitted my ballot by recently dropping it in a mailbox. For those who are curious, Washington has been a “vote by mail” state since 2011. When that law was enacted, I had already been gone from the state for six years. When I did return to Washington in 2020—just in time for that year’s presidential election—it did seem a little strange to vote via mail well before Election Day.

I cast my ballot for the 2024 Presidential Election.

I must say that while I appreciate the conveniences of mail-in voting, actually “going to the polls” on Election Day just hits different. Two past presidential experiences of voting in-person stick out the most…

Dropping off my ballot at the ballot drop box at the Spokane Valley Library in 2020.

This November will mark 20 years since I cast my first ballot. I was a high school senior and had turned 18 just a few weeks prior to Nov. 2, 2004. I went to school that day and followed it up with football practice. After returning home, my mom and I went to the North Spokane County Library to vote. I still remember the room, the voting booths, and making my selections. Even though we were some of the last people in the country to vote and the race between George Bush and John Kerry was already decided, it was exciting!

After we checked in at the voting precinct in 2016, Sid and I were given these little “vote” cards that we eventually would give to the voting official at the front of the line.

A dozen years later, I found myself about 3,000 miles away from that initial polling station standing in line to do the same thing with my pregnant wife. Sidney and I waited for more than two hours inside an elementary school to vote in the infamous 2016 Donald Trump vs. Hilary Clinton election. As South Carolina is the exact opposite as Washington—it is about as red as you can get—we heard a lot of people who were passionate to vote for Trump but not exactly enthusiastic about his chances. We all know how that turned out…

Wearing the stickers to prove it, Sidney and I posed for this selfie outside of Ocean Bay Elementary after casting our ballots during the 2016 Presidential Election.

Although I do miss the excitement and camaraderie that comes with such a public display of democracy, I can appreciate the convenience that exists with mail-in voting. But no matter what option(s) is offered to you, make sure to seize it. The freedom to vote is something we can’t pass up. Don’t Blink.

A Major Reading Milestone for Sloan

Posted on by
3

This past Thursday, December 2, 2021, Sloan hit an impressive milestone. We read a book called “Oh No, Mr. Snowman.” It was a slightly bizarre Frosty-esque story about a snowman who would come to life and bust into the house of the kids who made him. When he would do this, objects within the house would freeze. The children eventually would tell the snowman not to come back anymore. A couple days later, just as the Christmas Eve celebration was about to take place, all the holiday food inside the house started to melt. Despite his prior ejection, the snowman knocks on the front door to save the day and the children enthusiastically allow him inside to salvage the food with his freezing cold presence.

What made “Oh No Mr. Snowman” so special? It was the 400th book Sloan read in 2021.

What’s the big deal, right? Just another silly children’s book. Well, there was something else at play when we finished that weird snowman’s tale. It marked the 400th book that Sloan read in 2021.

We have always read to our kids. My parents read to me every night when I was a child and I wanted to make sure to do the same with Sloan and Beau. However, our personal reading program accelerated earlier this year when something finally happened.

At the beginning of March, our libraries in Spokane opened again. No longer did we have to submit a limited online book order to pick up curbside from a librarian. Rather, we could finally roam the physical library and pull all the books off the shelves that we wanted.

The Spokane Valley Library is kind of like a second home for us.

You know how you don’t realize how much you miss something until it is gone? Not being able to visit the library during the pandemic hit us hard. So, when the doors finally opened we didn’t take it for granted. Whether we were visiting the Spokane Valley County Library near our house or the North Spokane County Library near my parents’ home, we were throwing books into our oversized tote bag like our lives depended on it. Each visit we would check out at least 20 titles and would be so motivated to get back to the library again that we would read through them all in less than two weeks.

Beau grabbing books from the shelves at the Spokane Valley Library.

That’s not to say we were breezing through the books at warp speed without comprehension. It just meant that we were reading multiple books every night. After we finished a story we would log the title in the notes app on my iPhone and Sloan would add a few emojis after it to further describe what the book was about. The structure did wonders for our nighttime routine.

A look at a portion of Sloan’s very long list of books she read this year.

With that said, Sloan is a 4-year-old and would have 4-year old moments during our “books and prayers” evening period. If her attention span seemed to be running low, we would remind her that if she couldn’t concentrate on the books it wouldn’t be possible for her to concentrate on the iPad during the coveted screen time we allow her. That would usually bring her focus back (it’s all about balance).

When you read 400 children’s books, you learn a lot. Sloan has been introduced to themes such as love, death, family, honesty, self care, friendship, hard work, preparation, sharing, diversity, and much more. She has been exposed to different cultures, holidays, family structures, and ways of thinking. She has picked up on different techniques of writing and admired different styles of art through some of the magnificently illustrated books we have read.

Frequent trips to the library means frequent photos with the tree growth chart in the Spokane Valley Library. Sloan has grown a lot over the past year.

Sidney and I have learned a lot too. Although the books are written at a children’s level, many of them have underlying themes that speak to adults. We will be reading to Sloan and trade glances when a line is read that went over our daughter’s head but made all too much sense to us.

Besides Sloan just snuggling up to me when I read to her, the best part about our 400-book odyssey has simply been talking to her when reading the books. I will ask her questions, challenge her to give predictions, and encourage her to describe the feelings of characters. Watching her mind work is so interesting and rewarding.

Feeling comfortable surrounded by books at the Spokane Valley Library.

Once 2022 hits, we will continue to read like maniacs. I have no doubt in my mind that we will continue to be #1 customers of the library and that we will surpass our 2021 book total. Perhaps it won’t be long until Sloan is reading to Beau. Don’t Blink.