Picnic Post, Vacation Edition

This week's picnic is all about vacations. My family's favorite vacation spot is California, specifically San Diego area. That is where we honeymooned, and now that we have kids, we have started a tradition of hitting the beach and visiting starting the weekend after Labor Day. I'm not sure how long we can continue this when our kids get into school, but it is the perfect time to enjoy San Diego. Most of the crowds are gone by then and the weather is still warm enough to enjoy the ocean water. I have always loved the beach and the calming sounds of the ocean, so it's perfect that I am married to my own California man. Mike's sister lives in San Diego, so we are able to stay with her and enjoy her "insider knowledge" of the town. We also make sure to spend several days with Mike's parents and sister's family who live more inland. Here are just some of our favorite San Diego spots.

We love the beach, LaJolla being our favorite family-friendly one.


Little Italy in downtown San Diego has some great restaurants, and fabulous gelato.


Scripps Aquarium is a fun destination.


If you're willing to splurge, the San Diego Zoo is amazing (or so I've heard, we haven't made it there yet).

Balboa Park is fun, with beautiful architecture and has tons of museums and things to do.


San Diego Harbor is full of interesting ships and a sculpture tree walk.


Seaport Village is a fun little shopping area.


Sea World is another big attraction (This is one of our honeymoon stops, but we have not taken the kids yet, maybe when they're older).

There is so much more, but these are just a few highlights. Oh, I miss the beach already...

The World is an Oyster...

This is another great idea that I did not come up with on my own. This was something that my amazing mentor teacher used in 1st grade while I was student teaching. I just took the idea and simplified to fit a preschool level.

First, you need will need:

one paper plate, make sure it it an old-fashioned, flimsy, non-coated paper plate
watercolors
two rectangles of white construction paper
markers
glue (or if you're in a hurry, a stapler)
"jewels" (I had these on hand, from Lakeshore, but you could use cotton balls, toy coins, colorful glass pebbles, etc.)


Have your little one color the top of the plate red (or pink). This will be the inside of the oyster's mouth. As you can see, we were "bored" with the red paint, and decided to give this oyster a more colorful mouth...


After the top is dry, turn the plate upside down and paint the bottom black. This will be the outside of the oyster.


Wait until both sides are completely dry, then fold the plate in half to form the mouth.

Cut the top two corners of your rectangles to make the eyes. Color the centers. Fold the bottom of the rectangle down about an inch and glue (or staple) the eyes onto the oyster.


If you're ready to stop here, glue a cotton ball into the mouth for the pearl.

For more fun, don't glue in the cotton ball. Take your treasure and fill up his mouth. Let your little one enjoy hiding things inside the oyster. Take several small treasures and line them up. Have your little one close their eyes while the oyster eats one. Have them guess what was eaten.


Language Arts:

You can use magnetic letters and put the letters to your little one's name outside the oyster, close eyes and have the oyster eat a letter. Have your little one tell you what letter is missing.

Put the letters to your little one's name, or a simple word they know inside the mouth. Have them open the oyster and arrange the letters to make the word.

Math:

This is a great way to help your child learn math facts in a fun way. First count out a small number of jewels (I would start with two, then add one more as your child can confidently complete the task) together. Then, have your child close his or her eyes as you place some of the jewels in the mouth. Have them tell you how many there were first, then how many there are now, then decide how many are missing. Open the mouth and check to see if you are right. Try and use all the different combinations for your number at least once, twice is better. For example, if you are working on the number three, you would try putting 0 in and 3 out, 1 in and 2 out, 2 in and 1 out, 3 in and 0 out. Then, you can switch roles and let your little one be the hider while you tell how many are missing.



Remember, "the world is your oyster" go out and explore!

Travel Flannel Board

I first need to acknowledge MaryAnne@thriftycraftmama for the inspiration for this flannel board (so creative!). I saw her posts on flannel boards and knew that my 4 year old would love to make her train and truck. I wanted to make something that would be a bit more portable and sturdy for traveling, so I came up with a simple flannel board that can fit inside a ziploc baggie, along with lots of felt shapes to create more pictures.


I first cut a piece of cardboard to the size I wanted, a few inches smaller than a gallon ziploc bag. I then cut two pieces of blue felt, one dark, one light about 1 1/2 inches wider and taller than my cardboard. I pinked the edges (mainly to distract from the fact that I cannot cut a straight line...) and pinned the felt together along the edges of the cardboard.


I then sewed along the edge, using a zipper foot, so I could get as close as possible to the cardboard.


I cut the shapes needed from MaryAnn's diagrams, then added some larger shapes, rectangles in different sizes, and some small pipe cleaners and wiggle eyes. I was thinking my kids could make robots or simple animals with the extra pieces. I hot glued a bit of the soft sided velcro to the back of the wiggle eyes to help them stay put a bit better, but gluing some felt on the back would have been better, now that I'm thinking about it. The pipe cleaners seem to "stick" fairly well to the board, too.

Simple and quick and done!

Happy 4th!

We had a simple, but happy Independence Day this year.

We started out the morning with a red, white and blue breakfast: blueberry pancakes with raspberry syrup (yum!).

After breakfast and washing sticky hands and faces, we decked ourselves out in red, white and blue to show our USA pride.

We read aloud A is for America (a Patriotic ABC) to help the boys understand a little more about this wonderful country we live in.

We went to the movies at the Tempe Pollack theater with the Carpenters. Mike and my parents saw State of Play, the young adults saw 17 Again, and I took the little boys to Earth. Andrew seemed to really enjoy it, but Ben was pretty much done after an hour, which is about when the snacks ran out and he decided to poop. (So sorry to the maintenance people at the theater for the stinky garbage.) Our movie ended early, so we wandered around the theater. Luckily this particular one has a mini museum inside, full of vintage lunch pails, movie posters and life-sized figures from movies. We saw Darth Vadar, some creepy wax figures of past presidents, a Power Ranger, Disney princesses and more. They had a little arcade, so the boys sat and "raced" cars for most of the time. I love the fact that they are little and don't care that they are not actually playing, just watching replays of an old game. It's a lot cheaper, too!

After the movie, we had a BBQ at my parents' house. We had steak, BLT pasta salad, and rosemary bread. Mike took the boys outside for a squirt gun fight. Then, we watched the fireworks on TV and made homemade ice cream (we live in Arizona, it's too hot to drag little kids outside to see the real thing).

Lastly, we decided to watch a movie. Mike says we should have watched something more patriotic, like Independence Day, but we watched Emma instead. I know, I know, it sounds a little wrong to watch a British movie on the 4th of July, but I figure, Gwyneth Paltrow is an American, so we're OK... We ate our ice cream and enjoyed the simplicity of a quiet evening together with family. What do you do for the 4th?

Honey Buns, revised

While perusing one of my sister in law's Martha Stewart Living magazines last summer, I happened upon this recipe for Honey Buns and had to scribble it down. It took me almost a year to attempt it, with so many steps and different ingredients, but I'm glad I did. They are sticky-sweet and smell heavenly baking in the oven. The fabulous thing about the recipe is that you make three batches of dough, one to use immediately and two to freeze for later. Well, I pulled one from the freezer yesterday and decided to make more honey buns.

Now, before you go away, gasping in horror at the next part, hear me out on this. I know that, to many, altering Martha's concoctions is NOT a good thing, but I have two items to weigh in for my defense. It is summer, and there are beautiful berries aplenty in the stores now, and I had some perfect raspberries sitting in my fridge practically begging me to use them. Best defense of all, Martha herself, has suggested tucking berries into her cinnamon rolls as a pleasing variation. There, I feel justified.

Here's how I turned honey buns into raspberry buns: I slathered the honey dough in butter after rolling it out. Then I sprinkled generously with sugar and cinnamon. I placed one container of berries on top and drizzled the whole thing with honey. I rolled them up, cut into 9 sections, placed in a 9x9 pan and let them rise until doubled. The original recipe said to bake approximately one hour, but I found that only 30 minutes was all it needed. (Perhaps because you don't add the honey mixture on the bottom of the pan?) Then, I pulled them out of the oven, cooled slightly and frosted them with a canned cream cheese frosting. (I know Martha would prefer a homemade cream cheese frosting, so if it makes you feel better, mix away...)


Seriously, heavenly and summery. We think this variation might be even better than the original. Shh... don't tell Martha.

Happiness is trying a new twist on a great recipe and having it turn out a success. Happy baking, my friends!

My Hero

We're still on the hunt for steady work, which means we are still riding the frugal train. Sigh. I miss the mall. And Target. And the Dollar Tree. Pinch pennies we must, but live without recognizing important events, we must not. Father's Day offered no shiny new electronics, or snazzy new clothes. What can you give the men who give daily to you, when you have no money? Along with a good home-cooked meal and a handmade card, here is my humble attempt to say thank you.

To my dad, you gave me a model of manhood to hold as a standard. You encourage. You endured endless hours of math and science tutoring to an over-achieving and tired teenager who desperately wanted to keep that A. You provide advice and strength. You love me and my family and let us invade your home regularly.

To my wonderful grandpas, who are not here physically, but still influence me today. To Grandpa Carpenter, who was the purest example of selfless service I know in this mortal life. To Grandpa Smith, who I wish was still here to offer sound financial and spiritual advice during this turbulent time we are in.

To my father in law, who quietly supports and listens. Who gave my husband a shining example of fatherhood to follow.

To my own personal superhero, my husband. Growing up, I fantasized about being swept off my feet by a prince, of being rescued from certain danger by a mysterious masked man. My prince came. He swept me off my feet our freshman year at ASU. I was smitten and there was no going back. We married shortly after my college graduation, and I felt my childhood fantasies fulfilled. Little did I know that this handsome Prince Charming would also moonlight as my superhero as well. A little after a year of marriage, he saved my life, literally. He rescued me from a real danger. He rushed me to the ER when I insisted I was just feeling a little under the weather. I wasn't just a bit sick, I was in real trouble and he had the strength to listen to Inspiration and act. You cannot put gratitude for something like that into words. So now, even when times are tough, and things aren't going according to plan (isn't that the way it is so often?), I can't help but look at him and smile. I have my own superhero, the father of my children, the love of my life, right here next to me. And I sleep well, knowing he is watching out for me, safe in his arms. Always.

Picnic Post, Part 4 Travel Tips

Today's post is all about entertaining kids on the go. My husband's family lives in Southern California, which is a 5 hour drive for us to his parents' home. I have family in Southeastern Arizona, which is a 3 hour drive away. So we are in the car a lot.

I have a few little tricks to make the drives easier on all of us. Here are some of my tips.

1. Bring food for long trips. Make sure it is "car friendly" so you don't have any sticky messes to clean up later. (I made the mistake of giving my 1 year old a juice box once. Never again.) Some good traveling foods: crackers, yogurt melts, cereal puffs, grapes, fruit snacks, dried fruit, pretzels, and animal crackers, and a drink in a spill-proof cup. Just make sure if you have a really little one to give them foods that will not present a choking hazard. I love the wagon wheels that Gerber makes because my boys could chew on them for a while and they weren't too messy.

2. Have a few favorite toys at arm's reach. My boys love cars, so I let them bring a few to play with. Maybe a favorite stuffed animal.

3. We always have books on hand. Some especially good ones for traveling are the I Spy books. The board books are sturdy enough for toddlers, and the readers are great for preschoolers as they have pictures next to the words of the items to find. My boys love looking through them and naming what they see. Because they love cars, this one is a favorite. Let them read some books to you, retelling favorite stories, or read to them, letting them use their imaginations to "see" the pictures. We also enjoy books on tape and The Friend magazine (this is a monthly children's magazine printed by my church) for read-alouds.

4. We have a few "travel/ quiet time toys" that are great on trips. We love our I Spy Bags. You can give your little one a magnifying glass to examine the items for added fun. My older son also likes the lacing cards, and the magnetic Cars story box he was given as a gift earlier (it is a box with some scenes to move little magnetic Cars characters around on). My youngest loves his quiet book, especially the duck page.


5. This Christmas, I made each of my boys an I Spy Quilt for traveling. I found this great idea from makeandtakes.com and adjusted it a bit to fit our needs. Her quilt was a bit too small. I wanted something bigger that they could snuggle up with when the weather was cold in the car. I ended up using 18 different fabrics (two of each print to make 36 squares). I cut the squares 6 1/2 inches square and used a 1/4 inch seam allowance. This gave me a finished quilt that was a yard squared, so I only had to purchase one yard of the flannel I wanted for the back. I also didn't want to tie it, so I machine stitched a square in the middle, around the edge of the center 4 squares, and another square around the next set of blocks. I hope this makes sense. Perhaps I'll post a tutorial later. I tried to pick out fabrics that had lots of different objects on them, things I know my boys would like. I also found some alphabet material and number material so they could practice their number and letter recognition. My oldest LOVES Cars, so I found flannel with Cars characters to back his quilt, and a zoo animal print for my younger son. I wanted them to have as much as possible to "spy" on their quilts. These are a favorite item on trips.

6. Don't forget to just spend some time talking to your kids. Tell them stories about your childhood trips. Point out interesting things along the way. Tell silly jokes. Ask them questions and let them question you. Listen to music together (our favorite cd is the Curious George soundtrack, and I also love 10 for Our Children ). It's OK to daydream and stare out the window. It's OK to just enjoy the quiet. It's OK to nap. Enjoy your kids.

I hope some of these ideas are helpful. I know I'm always excited to hear of new things to make traveling and waiting with kids more pleasant. I can't wait to see all of the other fabulous ideas.