How will you keep those kids occupied this summer?

This is a big question to tackle for most new to raising children (and some of us old hats!) If you're a stay-at-home, the endless days of summer can be a daunting time. You rise to meet each day filled with endless hours of how to entertain the kids.

That being said, let me remind you that it is NOT your job to entertain your children! Oooops, did I offend someone? Well, it's true. You are not a paid entertainer, nor should you be. That's what Disney World gets the big bucks for!

Your "job" is to give your kids a healthy environment in which to flourish. I believe it actually hinders a childs mental and, possibly, physical growth when we, as parents, interfere too much with the natural process.

No, I am not saying it's okay to plop your kids down in front of the TV or Wii for hours a day. What I'm recommending is time to allow them to explore their world on their own, in their own time with healthy, safe guidance. Children are fully capable of entertaining themselves with their own learning processes, without too much interference on the parents part.

Have you ever handed a one-year-old a piece of newspaper? a two-year-old some pots & pans? a three-year old an empty box? If so, you've surely witnessed them spending large blocks of time amusing themselves while exploring the possibilities of this "new" introduction. This process doesn't stop as they mature; it matures with them!

Okay, I'm off that soap box...

Now on to some tips on how to spend quality time together, as a family.

1. A few years back I ran upon this neat site called Kids off the Couch. You may have guessed - they encourage just what the name implies, getting those kids up of the couch to explore their world.

How do they tackle this feat? Through the back door, of course! They give you a family movie idea and then tie it into tangible events or activities that your family can do after the movie. Fantastic way to learn!

If your family is couch/TV oriented, this is a great place to start. It's almost like a sneak attack on their senses! They'll be learning and won't even realize it...shoot, you could even sneak this one in on your significant other...and take all of the credit for the ideas. Aren't you sneaky???

Kids off the Couch offers a weekly newsletter, delivered right to your e-mail for FREE. (And they're on Twitter, too!)

2. Check out your local PBS station for tips and ideas. Sometimes there are local gatherings or shows that tell about upcoming "things to do".

My local station has a showing each Thursday night for weekend day trips. Many can be done during the week, as well!

3. Now is a great time to try out your local YMCA or city pools. Many offer summer discounts. What better way can you think of to occupy all of that free time than to get healthy?

4. What about a week at summer camp? Many facilities offer sleep-away or day camps. This will give your children a vacation from you, which often strengthens your relationship! Also a great option for those of you planning on a "stay-cation" this year...

Check with your local museums for science, arts, and history for some amazing learning opportunities that the kids will remember for a lifetime! My son took a cooking class 4 years ago that he still talks about.

5. Check with your local and state visitors centers for FREE ideas, hints, and tips on things to do in your area. I've got a Historical Marker quest on schedule for this summer!

6. Most importantly - don't be afraid to explore and discover with your kids. Many of us get so involved in being an adult, we forget that it is okay to relax and laugh with them. I missed out on many fun times by remaining stressed and rigid while my kids were small!

Stay tuned for more hints & tips for summer activities...

The Beach Trip

I'm back from vacation, well-rested, and ready to take on the world! Don't ya just love vacation???

We went to Myrtle Beach, SC, which is about 4 hours from home. When I booked the room a few weeks ago there was nothing available on the beach so we stayed about 5 miles back on the Intercoastal Waterway. (What can I say? When you have a timeshare & time about to expire you take what you can get.)

My favorite thing about the beach is to lie in bed listening to the waves roll in, followed by a long stroll on the beach. Can you believe that we barely saw the ocean while we were there? It's true. We didn't even go to the ocean! But, we had a view of a lovely little pond from our room. (It had a screened in porch. Isn't that nice?)

We hung out in the room reading, playing cards and board games, made a few day trips and went shopping one day. (Mom and my son shopped...I watched.) This is the table that saw so much action while I we were in SC.

And, this is my son - running from the camera! I take so many photos now, my family threatens me when I get it out of the case... ;-)

The days trips were to........Tony's Pizza, of course! Tony's was about an hour ride from where we were, and is in NC. My mother cannot go anywhere near the beach without hitting Tony's - for more details on another Tony's visit click here!

I had a yummy, baby House Special pizza. Delicious!

Mom still wouldn't agree to a photo of her infamous Steak & Cheese sub. Oh well, I tried!

And, we also went to Charleston. It was our first time and a two hour ride down the coast from Myrtle Beach. What a lovely town! We will definitely go back. We even found my timeshare hotel while there...

This is the bridge leading into Charleston. Beautiful, even for a bridge!

The houses were amazing! There were so many of these old structures littering the downtown area. You could almost envision what life was like 300 years ago...well, without the electric lines and cars...

This is the museum of the Daughters of the Confederacy, which also serves as the entrance to the city market. I must confess that I was hoping for a farmer's market set-up, and found something more like an upscale flea market.

Of course, there were MANY opportunities to buy sweetgrass baskets and creations. Too many, I think. Eventually I didn't look at the wares anymore. They seemed very repetitious and overpriced to be so plentiful. (My opinion, I know.)

I'll leave you with a cozy, tree-lined street. It was breezy and in the 70's that day. Perfect weather for a stroll...

The Beach Trip

We did it! We made the trip to the beach Monday, safe and sound.



The morning began with a light, misting of rain which continued for the first 2 hours of our trip. We stopped 30 minutes into the trip to grab some breakfast at McDonald's. Yum! Nutritious! Somehow Mom ended up with a monster sized cup...



Thus began the humor in our trip. I brought along my son's school books, some crochet projects, and my newly aquired set of Trivial Pursuit cards. Did I tell you that I found a complete, original Trivial Pursuit set for $1??? Fantastic yard sale find!



These provided several hours of entertainment!

Upon arrival at Myrtle Beach, SC we proceeded straight to the Easy Spirit outlet store, off 501 near the old Waccamaw Pottery. Mom could hardly wait to procure her now famous socks! (They are Level 3 Athletic socks. Before you look on the Easy Spirit website, let me save you some time. They aren't listed!)


I headed off to browse the clearance section at the back of the store while she stocked up on socks. Before leaving I mentioned that the shoes were buy one, get one half-off (on top of their already lower than retail prices!) Mom said, "I don't need any more shoes, Danita. I have plenty."


When I came back to the counter 3 minutes later she had snagged 2 pairs of shoes and 6 packs of socks. What woman can resist a shoe sale, I ask you? The cashier was so slow ringing us out that Mom added 2 more packs of socks before she finished. They were on sale, too!

We visited the Reader's Digest store a few doors down. I'm a book fanatic and they had some tantalizing cookbooks in the window. Did I tell you about my cookbook collection? I have many... The best part was the educational section. Being a homeschool mom I'm constantly on the look out for educational material. We found an American trivia game, similar to Trivial Pursuit, for $7! Need I tell you what we did on the ride home? For some reason, a lot of Mom's answers were Cassius Clay. Never knew he was that involved in science and art...

After our brief shopping experience we headed up the road to Calabash, NC. It's about 1 hour from the south side of Myrtle Beach. Our tummy's were grumbling just in time for a visit to Tony's. Didn't I tell you she'd stop there?


It was a little crowded inside so I didn't photograph our food. Mom had her standard Steak and Cheese sub and I was in heaven with my House Special baby pizza. It's basically like a Surpreme pizza from Pizza Hut but, has many more black olives. My son, Caleb, waited to eat his breakfast biscuit after shopping. He wasn't hungry when we arrived at Tony's. Poor fellow. He missed a delicious meal!

The ride was pleasant, for the most part, and there were several bouts of laughing so hard that we almost peed our pants.



End of the day totals-

2 pairs of shoes

8 packs of socks - 2 pair per pack

1 photo box

1 American Trivia Game

3 McDonald's breakfasts

1 pack of bubble gum

1 Steak and Cheese sub

1 House Special baby pizza
half a tank of gas

Thousands of smiles


Can you think of a better way to spend the day?

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My dear mother's birthday occurred this week. She made it back from Germany just in time to celebrate! Unfortunately, I've been unwell since Saturday night and wasn't able to properly celebrate the day. Hopefully that will be rectified this coming week as she has requested that we take a jaunt down to the beach for a few days.


This was the conversation -

"Danita, would you like to go the the beach next Monday? I want to go back to get more socks."

Side note on the sock story - One of Mom's best friends has a beach house and they went down the weekend before she left for Germany. There are many outlet stores in the area and they hit a few stores while there. She found "the best socks I've (she's) ever owned in my (her) entire life" at the Easy Spirit outlet. Upon her return and subsequent use of the few sets she picked up at the beach, she visited the local Easy Spirit store only to be told that the socks were very popular but not an item that they carry here in town due to space limitations. Don't you hate it when that happens?


Back to the conversation...

"Mom. Are you seriously going to go all the way back to the beach for socks?" Additional unspoken thoughts - This trip is about 4 hours, with no traffic and not even considering the gas expenditures - FOR SOCKS.

"Well, yeah. I told you I liked them and I can't get them here. Remember, I tried."

Okay. I'm vocalizing my thoughts, "It's a 4 hour ride and a lot of gas."

"Uh-huh," she replies, not batting an eye.

After a few moments of thought I uncover the suspected true plot. "You want to go to Tony's, right?"

"Uh, well, we can..." imagine the largest, cheesiest grin you've ever seen in your life and insert it here, "Or we can get some seafood."

A few years back she discovered what she considers to best the best little pizza shop in the world, right on the North Carolina coast - Tony's. Every time we ride anywhere remotely close to the area she wants to stop. Does she get pizza? NO. She gets a steak and cheese sub. Alright, I confess that it's a pretty good sandwich, but 4 hour ride good? Hmmmm....

"But, I really want those socks!"

"Right, Mom. Socks."

Here I am turning the lights out to save the world from Global Warming.

Here's my Mom, riding 4 hours in an SUV to buy socks and a sub.

Am I going? You betcha! It's time with my Mom...and that matters more than all the rest.

**********

For tangible gifts, I picked up this cute little Duke Blue Devils "Dammit Doll" by pghpatchworkgal on Etsy. (By the way, it can also be changed to a Darn It doll for those of you that are more sensitive to wording.)

Photo from pghpatchworkgal's listing on Etsy

Mom LOVES Duke. She's been a fan for years. She follows them in football and basketball. I do hate that her birthday is just shy of the main basketball season, but football season will be here before we know it!

The little tag attached to the doll has a rhyme about the uses. Basically, you use the doll to fuss at the team. You can beat the doll or throw it at the TV when your team makes a bad play, neither of which would cause any damage to anything. Of course, this doesn't make the best example for small children, but my sister and I are both grown...use it with relish Mom!

Next...

Two weeks ago I found an aluminum pound cake pan at the Goodwill exactly like my mother's, from the 60's. When she saw my find she immediately instructed me to find her one, too. Mom makes the best pound cakes and has requests for them often at church functions and from family. Since she says that this is the only pan she can make her pound cakes in, and you can no longer find these lightweight aluminum ones in the store, she only makes one at a time. I found two for her while she was gone!

Do you think that picking up some gifts at Goodwill will make up for the ecological damage we'll do next week on the beach trip????

Did you do it????

Ok. So how many of you participated during the Earth Hour tonight?

I saw a blurb about it on NBC around 7pm. They reported that China participated by turning off the lights at the Olympic coliseum and Australia cut off lights in Sydney. The famed Opera House was featured with only emergency lighting showing around the perimeter. These pictures show Toronto, Canada's skyline. Wow!

—Photographs by Dick Hemingway via WWF-Canada

Can't wait to see if this makes a difference!

How did you spend your time?

My son and I gathered at the dining room table shroud in candle light playing our newest game, Trivial Pursuit. His boy scout troop is having a large yard sale April 25th and I've been helping organize and price the bargains this week. There were 2 complete Trivial Pursuit games and a Baby Boomers card set. Once they were priced (by someone else), I snagged one for $1...can you believe it? These games sell for $40+ new!

Not only do we get a great deal on a "new to us" game but quality family time while showing our support to save the Earth. Can life get any better?

Winter Wonderland...

This week we had a huge winter storm come through the area. Now, I know that many of you see a great deal more snow than this on a regular basis, but down south this is big news! Laugh all you want, but this thing closed down schools for two days and delayed it a third. (This has changed since I was a child, but the school system is worried about being sued by people involved in accidents...wonderful world we live in!)

These are photos taken of the family out sledding. Of course, we fit in several snow ball fights, but my hands were too busy then to snap the photos!

Holiday prep

So, the Christmas tree is up and decorated. All of the other holiday items have been spread out over the house. What else is there to do?

Take a breath. If you're like most people the next few weeks will be a hectic journey, at best. Before you get too caught up in the holiday hoopla make time for yourself. Treat yourself to a quiet corner of the house. Take a long soak in the tub. Make time for a manicure - at home or at the salon. Curl up with a good book. Go for a long walk. Whatever it is that helps you unwind and reconnect - do it while you have time!

Make time for a family day. Many of us have tons of party invites or other social engagements, some of which we'll attend solo or as a couple. Be sure that your family knows that you still have time for them. It will keep them from feeling the stress you're under by being consistent with their normal schedule. If family day is not normal make it a priority now and continue it after the holidays. You'll be amazed at how close you'll become!

Encourage your family to help with preparations. I was guilty of taking over everything and trying to cover all of the bases myself. Inevitably, I would be exhausted while everyone else was laying around the living room. Share the activities. You'll gain valuable family time and assistance. By the way, it is alright for everything to NOT be perfect. If it's not perfect other people will know that you did it yourself. So, if the kids pitch in and things look a little messy don't panic. Smile and make a memory for yourself!