The Ballentine Family
We are a small family in this house (three people, two dogs), but have a good deal of family in and around Baltimore. Tom works from home, but does have to drive to meetings, some of which are a good 45 miles away and are heavily concentrated in the January-April time frame. Jane reduced her carbon footprint by stopping her 1- to 1.5-hour commute two years ago – she now has a 5-mile trip to work. Henry’s school is about 2 miles from home, which keeps us fairly centralized most of the time. We do live in an 80-year-old house, which has loads of leaky areas that need to be plugged up, especially in the winter. We can walk up the street to a coffee shop, grocery store, bank, post office and library. We need to walk the walk more often, though.
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Quality Family Time
0 Comments | Posted by Jane Ballentine in Green Families, San Diego Zoo Blogs, The Ballentine Family
Challenge #5: It’s All Fun and Games.
Sorry™, Uno, Chinese checkers, regular checkers, chess, Legos, battleship, fencing, baseball, swimming, Nerf dart tag, skiing, sailing, kayaking, reading, hiking with the dog, exploring streams, mountains and interesting rock formations, puzzles, body surfing, beach sitting, beach reading, beach bocci ball and beach Uno with waterproof cards. (Can you tell we are coming off a very cold, snowy and beach-less winter?)
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3
Glad the Days are Getting Longer!
0 Comments | Posted by Jane Ballentine in Green Families, San Diego Zoo Blogs, The Ballentine Family
Challenge #4: In the Dark?
Looking up at the 'swirly lightbulb' in the front porch light.
Joining a co-op, cooking, and monitoring the house for leaks aren’t usually tasks for a 9-year-old, although Henry did enjoy visiting the co-op and picking out apples. He also liked eating the apples and drinking the cider. BUT, turning lights off, shutting down the computer, and conserving electricity aren’t hard to do, and as I say, “If you can reach the switch to turn it on, you can reach the switch to turn it off!” Sometimes, though, we just forget.
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Snowy Valentine Dinner
0 Comments | Posted by Jane Ballentine in Green Families, San Diego Zoo Blogs, The Ballentine Family
Challenge #3: A Green Valentine’s Day?
Spinach salad
Well, thank goodness I got to the co-op last Thursday for our first order, because that bag of food kept us going for several days from what we are calling “snOMG! 2010” Parts 1 and 2 (see previous post, Winter Market Co-op). Long story short: first wave of blizzard dumps 30 inches of snow outside my door and across most of Maryland. That ends Sunday and wave 2 comes roaring in on Tuesday, about 20 more inches. Yes, a total of (at least) 50 inches of snow is now surrounding us. And it’s cold here, so it’s not going anywhere!
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4
Winter Market Co-op
0 Comments | Posted by Jane Ballentine in Green Families, San Diego Zoo Blogs, The Ballentine Family
Challenge #3: A Green Valentine’s Day?
Inside the Mill Valley Farmer's Market with our San Diego Zoo bag and food from our Winter Co-op market share
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Carbon Footprint Shock!
0 Comments | Posted by Jane Ballentine in Green Families, San Diego Zoo Blogs, The Ballentine Family
Challenge #1: What’s your carbon footprint?
This igloo was created by my son, but it’s what our house feels like INDOORS in the winter.
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