Garibaldi Fencepost Nov 5

From there, we had to do something to satiate the sugar monsters the school system created.

While life kept us from getting to all the stores, we were able to do the later activities.  

It’s always a treat to make it out to the Garibaldi Fire & Rescue firehouse. The chiefs love the kids, and vice versa. The boy loves the trucks. The girl loves the interactions, and the Nerds candies, apparently. It also gave Katie a few minutes to catch up with the latest in fire business.

From there, it was a short walk over to God’s Lighthouse where, astonishingly, the bounce house wasn’t outside but inside the sanctuary. They took the time to remove the seating and set the bounce house up in the middle.  

The bounce house was so tall, Pastor Coon noted how the inflatable candles at the top wouldn’t extend all the way. The way they shoehorned it in impressed me.

And the kids took to it like fish to water.  

My son was able to gazelle in and bounce around and scale the ladder and bound down the slide. For someone so young, it’s a bit frightening how quickly he can pick up the older kids’ tricks and shortcuts. Beautiful memories.

What my daughter had to do will forever stick with me as well. She struggled up the slide ladder. Maybe the full Barney costume had something to do with it, but whatever it was, she couldn’t climb it. I looked to Katie to go in and help, but she said the girl would have to figure it out.  

Well, the first time through, it took assists from her brother and other children to get my little girl up the first rung. From there, she meticulously navigated her way up and then down the slide.

The second time, her brother chose to bounce around the room. After a couple minutes, a child she’s played with before came and showed her where her foot went, and from there, she muscled up.

It was the third time that warmed these old, cold bones. As kids glided up past her, the girl kept to the task, remembered what she was showed on the previous trip, and in time, made her way up the ladder all by herself.  

When she got up there, she raised her little Barney arms up by her bounding Barney head hat and shouted, “I did it!” before sliding down on her own.

(I’m not crying. You’re crying.)

Pastor Coon said they’re looking into the viability of having the bounce house around for children in future activities. Those kids who were there simply gravitated towards it.  

And it’s also brilliant. Betting on Garibaldi raining in late October is betting with house money. Having something like a bounce house, something active that burns off the candy they’ve already eaten and giving them something fun to do on a holiday night is simply incredible.

Shoutouts to all those who gave out Halloween candy and had fun for kids during the holiday. Thank you all, so much.

She provides a warm, safe, dry, inviting place of her own for children during this cold, harsh, rainy season. She’s everybody’s favorite local librarian, June Ekborg: “The salmon eggs are hatching.  The first alevin appeared last Tuesday.  Stop by to watch them grow and change.”

Speaking of the library, it’s time to put on those Barney and Luigi (they think it’s Mario. Close enough) costumes and go read with June.