Staying Close to home for summer vacation

Last year, our family went on three big trips, so this year we're staying close to home.  We are going to try and stay within a half a day's ride from home, so that our biggest expense is where we stay.

Where to stay:
*  Camp - it's a great way to get back to nature.  If you don't have a tent, many campsites have cabins you can rent.  It's the basics but it's saves

*  Stay home - part of our adventures will be right in our own backyard.  Of course, we are lucky to have a place that has an overwhelming amount to do.  Still, look at local tourist site to see what you might have missed.

Save on food:
*  Pack the cooler with frozen juice boxes and sandwiches:  I will freeze some juice boxes and make cold cut sandwiches the day before we leave. Be sure to put some juice boxes or water bottles that are not frozen in the cooler.

backpacking at the national park nearby -
if you can do it, back-country camping permits are inexpensive, although the equipment gets expensive

* I have been known to go to the supermarkets on the road.  Lunchables are good but either their quantity has gotten smaller or my kids are harder to fill.  Many supermarkets have pre-made meals or you pick up a pack of Oscar Meyer and some bread.  Don't forget to pack a knife for spreading.

miniature golf with the monkeys

*  Foods to pack:  But some foods that are easily kept, PB&J or honey.  Bread, peanut butter and Jelly or honey.  Again, don't forget to pack the knife

*  If camping, cooking can be fun and part of the family adventure.  You'll need a stove or some charcoal.

Where to go:
*  Have the kids search:  you never know what they may find and it's part of the fun of vacation.  Tell them that it has to be something everyone will enjoy.

*  Historic places - every state has them.

*  Find your local tourist site - whether it's your state's site or county site.  They will be more then happy to help you find local places.

*  www.tripadvisor.com - it's not just a site for reviews, get some ideas.

A day of Play: sometimes just planning a day of play is just as fun as leaving the neighborhood

* miniature golf
* movies
* local craft/painting/pottery store
* Museum
* Tours
* Hiking
* Picnicking
* pick your own farms

Bonding Time? Movies with the kids

This weekend, we saw Iron Man 3.  The movie was so much fun - I would recommend it, it's like taking a roller coaster ride, except at times funnier.

Bonding

Two days before heading out, we watched Iron Man and Iron Man 2.  We wanted to watch Avengers but we also wanted to see it opening weekend.  (Tip:  I personally could have waited but apparently if you didn't see it opening weekend, nobody cares in school).  For two days we talked about the movies and watched the interviews and showed each other trailers.  There was much talk and excitement in our house.  After the movie, we talked about our favorite parts and the funny one liners.  We hoped there would be an Iron Man 4 but wondered if they could with the way they ended it.  We wished they had more girl superheros, perhaps the Black Widow.  We wondered about the Iron Man comic books and thought perhaps we should see if we can find some.

Basis for Serious Talk

Although we did not talk about anything serious like drugs or dating or growing up, I consider it was a bonding moment, more like bonding weekend.  I believe it is times like these where we have fun and laugh and have a good time together that allows us to approach our kids in the future about the serious topics.  We become relate-able to our kids and we can relate to them when we can have fun with them.  So go out and have some fun with your kids, build that common ground, so that serious talk is a little easier and may sink a little deeper in your kids.

Summer Projects

Join a summer team

Two weeks ago, I told my kids that they will need to pick a project that takes all summer long and if they don't I will pick one for you.  Every couple of days, I ask them if they've been thinking about their project.  Both of them did, but I'm not allowed to say.  So, I thought I'd give you a list of things your kids could do that I would have suggested (or made) my kids do this summer:

Tips to keep in mind:
Establish a budget.
Establish how much time you want to commit and how much they should work on their own.

1.  Read a book series
- Some of my kids favorites are: Harry Potter, The Ranger's Apprentice, The Princess Diaries, Divergent series and yes believe it or not the Laura Ingalls Wilder books)

2. Make a go-cart
- I've been dying for my kids to do this but no, sigh.

3. Plan, prepare and take a bike trip
- We have lots and long biking trails that you can spend days on where we live and now with google maps showing biking trails it's even more fun.

Learn photography and take
weekly photo tours

- This could also be a camping trip

4. Start a business
- Etsy is making that easier for crafters.
- Grow flowers or vegetables plants to sell
- House sitting, plant watering - I have a friend who is a pet sitter and she warns about pet sitting.  She said if anything happens to your pet, your child is liable.  It seems we're in a strange new world.
- Tending the garden, I would love it if someone came in and would plant my veggies, week and water.  I want the homegrown veggies but don't always want to tend it.  And forget about it, if we go on vacation, all my work usually goes down the tubes.

5. Build a treehouse/playhouse
- Even my teens wish they had a place they could go to, to hang outside.

6. Learn something new
- model trains, bonzai, yoga, model airplanes, anime, illustration, writer's group, pool, darts, tai chi

- See what hobby groups are in the area. Many are free or a nominal fee.  And remember if your child is a teen they can check into the adult hobby groups.  I'm sure when asked, most would love to have a kid in the group.

Make and execute plans to visit local historic sites

- when we first moved here, my kids were not used to the trees (we had mostly palm trees).  I told them that it was the rite of passage that they learn to climb them.  They did and now they look at a tree and decide if it is a good climbing tree.
- My youngest loves animals, so every other week she would learn about a new animal.  Now any animal question comes up, she's there to answer.

7. Develop an old skill to a new level
- I often find that people in general like to learn the basic skills when they learn on their own but do not often move on to the next level.  Instead of learning just book one of the piano, make it a challenge and move on to book two.

8. Plan and cook a homemade meal each week:

- I am amazed at how kids do not know how to do something simple like cook from basic ingredients.  My kids' friends did not know how to make a cake mix that was not from a box.  I almost feel these skills need to be passed down before they are lost.

9. Join a summer team

-  Swim, baseball, archery, soccer

10. Have the kids plan day trips for the family.  Let them figure out time, money and everyone's availability.

Obesity and the Two family Income

I recently watched an interview with Michael Pollan, who wrote, In Defense of Food and has recently came out with, Cooked, A Natural History of Transformation.  He said that your safest bet to eating healthy is that you know a human is cooking your food. Basically he was saying to stay away from processed foods.

For many years now I've said that I think one of the reasons for obesity in our country is that we have two income families. Not to say that women should stop working (they shouldn't) but rather to describe the plight of the American family and hopefully help it.  Both parents come home tired and just want to relax.  Who wants to spend their time cooking and cleaning?  Yes you can hire someone but not everyone can do this.  So we turn to fast food - whether it be fast food restaurants or the cans and boxes promising food in 15 minutes.

Some tips for having non-processed foods:
-  Hire a chef, you can now hire a chef who will come into your house for a few hours, make your meals, put them in containers, label them, put them in the freezer and you have home made meals for the week.  Of course, this is the expensive choice.
- Do it yourself, my sister spends part of the weekend preparing meals to eat for the week.
- Teach the kids, of course I'm talking about the teens.  My kids love to cook and it's a good idea that they know how to prepare a meal before starting college.  My kids were amazed how no one in their class made a cake from scratch.
- Go to restaurants you trust.  Today there are some many farm to plate restaurants - see if they have take out.

I'm making it my mission to go out and find recipes that can be prepared early in the week and quickly cooked later for those times we've had a long days.

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Wordless Wednesday

Bossy or Leading

I thought I'd share a story while observing my daughter over the years.

Years ago, my daughter was on a team that did not have very good direction.  Everyone wanted to be on top.  She is a quiet, yet brilliant kid, who was getting frustrated that they were not accomplishing anything.  I saw what was going on and I told my daughter, "just take charge, tell them what they should do."

She said, "I don't know mom they'll be angry with me."

I said, "just try next time."

Being a good daughter she did and that was their most successful meeting.

Today she says, when she is working on a team she waits till there is little time left, then she starts telling people what to do.  "you do this, you do that and I'll do this" etc.

At the end of the project, when they get everything done, she apologizes to everyone.  When she told me this I didn't feel comfortable with it.  Recently, I read the above quote then I knew she shouldn't be apologizing.  I suppose we have a stronger belief of people liking us then getting the work done.

So this morning, I will have a talk with my daughter and tell her not to say she is sorry but congratulate the team on a job well done because there is no reason to be sorry.

Please share your stories of your girls, I would love to read them.

Update: I did talk to her about it. I told her the quote.  I asked her if the boys would apologize.  She said no.  She said she'll try congratulating next time.

Let's face it fire is cool

using the burnt sticks to draw

latch hook by the fire

Last fall, I blogged about how the family got together and raked and raked and raked.  We paid the kids and they were a little motivated by it.  After all the raking, we made a fire and sat around and ate smores.  Now it’s spring and it was a beautiful Sunny day on Saturday.  There was still a chill in the air.  As I love building fires, my youngest and I built one in our firepit table.  I used some of my old dead herbs as a way to use as kindling, they actually worked better as firestarters because they were a big burst of fire in a short time.  Kindling from the willow tree and then some logs from a tree we took down last fall.

Fantastic fire, my eldest came out with her book, hat and sunglasses to read.  My hubby brought out his kindle and my youngest brought out her latch hook rug.  I sat with my book as well although half the time I just sat enjoying the warmth of the fire.  Each one of us took turns fueling the fire.  Really, nothing seems better then working on a fire together as a family.  Let’s face it, fire is cool and there are not too many things that you can do with your teens/tweens that they would think is cool.

reading in the sun by the fire