Wordless Wednesday - Piggy Paint

Travel with Kids: Northern Arizona Weekend

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we wanted to explore more as a family, so we planned our first weekend trip for last weekend. We didn't tell the kids about the trip, so they were pretty surprised on Friday to wake up and notice packed bags by the front door.

We headed out and encouraged the boys to guess our destination by paying attention to the clues they saw.  They guessed Flagstaff a few times, as well as the Grand Canyon -- which we were able to say "No, not today" since our destination on Friday was Williams, AZ.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel late in the day on Friday where the kids had a great time playing in the snow.  It was old snow -- so it was icy, packed, and dirty in plenty of spaces.  That didn't dampen the fun at all for any of the kids!

Bo & I stayed at this same hotel back in 2000 when it was still owned by a private family.  Xanterra Resorts purchased it a few years ago but appear to have kept it almost the same.  Our room was nice, even if the beds and pillows were hard as rocks.  We had an awful dinner at a local restaurant (Pancho McGillicuddy's . . . I do not recommend you visit!) and after more snow play we all settled in for the night.

In the morning, we packed up our van and headed over to the train depot for the 2+ hour trip into Grand Canyon Park. The train has singing cowboys and wonderful tour guides in each car to share interesting information about the area.  We went coach - which is comfortable enough but doesn't provide any snacks or drinks.   You can also upgrade to a few different levels where snacks and drinks are available -- but not all upgrades allow children.  There was plenty of snow to see, and animal tracks along the way.

We arrived at the depot at the Grand Canyon and quickly climbed the 47 steps to see the rim.  It was as impressive as I remembered!  We walked a short way to Bright Angel Lodge and enjoyed a wonderfully delicious lunch and then spent the remaining time before the return train walking along the rim and visiting the Visitor's Center.  We visited the Visitor's Center too late for the boys to earn their Junior Ranger badges, but we did take the books with us.

The return train leaves at 3:30, and while it seems a short time at the Grand Canyon (3 hours) -- it was actually a perfect amount of time with 3 kids.  They were all very good, but the icy patches and the proximity of long drops, and a 2yo with a mind of her own became stressful after a couple hours.

We arrived back in Williams after 5 and climbed into our van to head into Flagstaff (about 40 miles away.) We checked into our motel and then headed over to the Lowell Observatory.  Colin has shown an interest in space and astronomy for a few years now, so I was excited for him to have a chance to look through their big telescope.  The employees there were very excited about the observatory, and Bo & the boys were able to check out stars through 2 different telescopes (it was very cold -- and there were lines for each telescope -- so Lydia & I waited inside.)  There is a nice exhibit inside as well, and various showings of videos.

On Sunday, we visited the Museum of Northern Arizona, which has a series of great exhibits about the peoples and geography of the area. There was an exhibit of watercolors by Gunnar Widforss that were stunning!  He painted landscapes of many of the national parks and also painted our very own Superstition Mountains a few times.

We considered heading home, but I noticed that Sunset Crater was close.  This National Park is the home of the youngest volcano in Arizona (having erupted only 900 years ago.)  With the snow, it was really neat to see the lava flows.  There was a short loop to walk, and we spent a wonderful hour or so exploring.  The boys earned their Junior Ranger badges, and learned more about the area and volcanoes.

And, then we headed home -- while listening to the Packer / Cardinal playoff game during our drive.  It was a wonderful trip and I was so glad that all 3 kids were wonderful travelers.  They were eager and willing . . . and rarely complained!

I look forward to our next weekend trip, and have a few ideas of ways to make it even easier (and less expensive.)

Speech Therapy, Session 2

Months ago, I blogged about asking our school district to provide speech therapy for our 7yo, Nate. He has a stutter that improves and worsens over time -- but has never gone away since he was about 3. It took months of evaluations and meetings and bureaucracy, but his actual speech therapy sessions started this week!

I am very grateful for the wonderful speech pathologist we are working with.  She is kind, knowledgeable and I know she has bent and changed in order to accommodate our odd homeschooling selves.  She will meet with Nate twice a week, after the regular school day has ended.

Today was our second meeting and I can see that I never would have known enough to help Nate on my own. I appreciate not only her existing knowledge, but that she has the resources to reach out and find the answers to questions she had about his speech disfluencies.

As you might imagine, not much has been done.  After 2 meetings, Nate has a good understanding of the "speech machine" (Bascially, the diaphragm pushes air from the lungs, into the voicebox to make sound, which pushes it on so that the mouth, teeth, tongue and lips can form words.  Over it all, the brain sends messages, which are sometimes misread resulting in a stutter.)  I know that Nate understood the mechanics before, but I appreciate her reminder that there is nothing "wrong" and that people who stutter aren't "bad." It just "is"!

Today he practiced deep breathing, and I confess I was surprised to see that he didn't expand his belly when breathing in -- but instead pulled it in and then pulled it in farther when he exhaled.  Making him more aware of his breaths, and having him practice deep breathing, and belly breathing, will probably help some of his disfluencies.   Constricted breathing could possibly affect the air being pushed into the voicebox and cause tightness which could lead to a stutter.

He also practiced mindfully stuttering, and speaking while tense vs. relaxed.  The meetings are not stressful for him at all, and Mrs. D helps put him at ease. Personally, I feel she's a bit heavy on the praise, but perhaps I'm a bit light?  

There aren't any good scientific explanations of "why" people stutter, so much of what I just wrote is conjecture.  I'm eager to watch him over the months to see how his increased awareness of his body and his speech help him gain control of his stuttering.

Great Sprout Tuck-In

I love Sprout.  It has some of our favorite kid shows -- like Kipper (a favorite of my boys, and now my daughter.  In fact, my sons still refer to flashlights as torches thanks to Kipper's influence!), the Wiggles (another favorite of all 3), and Angelina Ballerina (never of interest to the boys, but of great interest to my singing and dancing girl!)

Sprout is currently working with the Pajama Program to help give warm pajamas and books to kids in need.  They are calling it the Great Sprout Tuck-In and have many different ways people can participate.

While I wish I had unlimited funds to donate to great charities, I'm happy I can at least help spread the word!  If you want to make a donation, lead a donation drive, or host a pajama party - there are tips, ideas and activities available on the main site. If you can, help put more kids in warm pajamas, reading great bedtime stories!

Disclosure: While I am part of Sprout's Band of Bloggers, I was not asked to write about this program. I did just because I think it's a great cause!

Tell Me Thursday - Like Mom Much?

Yesterday's Wordless Wednesday post was of my 2yo daughter, hunched over her new Vtech Laptop, while sitting on my bed. 

Her brothers follow an online curriculum mostly, I spend quite a bit of time on my computer, and so does her dad.  When I saw this little Vtech Laptop before Christmas, I knew she had to have it.

So far, she has had a great time playing the games and doing school at the same time as her brothers.  Some of the games will be better suited for her when she's a bit older, but since she recognizes some letters and numbers already, it's been a fun toy!

Did you play Wordless Wednesday?  Then, don't forget to tell your story with Tell Me Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday - Like Mom Much?

Play along at Wordless Wednesday!

2010 Topics

I've been thinking about what I want to write about this year, and I've decided I want to write more about our life!

• Life! I plan to write more about our family life -- how homeschooling works (and doesn't) for us, more about my freelance efforts and my potential job search, fun things we do and challenges we face.  
• Travel! No . . . we haven't found a pile of money hidden in a mattress, but we've made a commitment to exploring more this year.  We will be making regular weekend trips as a family - with day trips thrown in as well.  I'll write about the places we go, how we find the time,  how we do it with a tight budget, and the things we learn. I'm very excited about the adventures we'll have!
• Recipes! If you know me, you know that Bo does a lot of the cooking.  Not because I am unable, it just has worked out that way. I'm going to share more of the yummy things he makes, new things we try, and I'm going to get the kids more involved in the kitchen. And maybe I'll get better at taking pictures of food!
  
• Reviews! The reviews and giveaways will continue.  Not only do I have fun trying out new things, I love to share them with my readers. I debated about starting a separate review blog, but I personally don't like blogs that are nothing but reviews, so I couldn't see myself starting one. I like to read about people, and their lives, and how they approach life . . . and am interested to read about products they've tried in the context of their lives.  So, I'm bucking the trend a bit and leaving my reviews right here mixed in with life!
  

I'm leaving "Money Savings Mondays" behind -- at least for a while. There are so many blogs out there completely devoted to frugal living (or maybe I just read many that are slanted that way) that I don't have much new to share.  It's not that I don't need to live a frugal lifestyle -- believe me, I do!!  I'm just tired of putting so much effort into thinking about it.  I'll still shop clearance sales, and use coupons, and do all those things that stretch our budget.  Every once in a while I may share some ideas, but I'm not going to make it a weekly thing anymore.  (As a side note, I will still share deals, freebies and shopping strategies over at Moms Love Shopping.)

Looking back at 2009, I'm excited about all the neat people and opportunities that opened up to me thanks to this blog.  I'm excited about growing it more in 2010 and can't wait to see who I meet this year thanks to this blog!

Football Party Giveaway

**This contest is over! Thanks for entering!  The winner has been contacted and the prize is on it's way! **

Bo & my boys love watching football together!  Today, Bo's phone rang and it was a friend from Milwaukee.  He & another old friend were in town for the Cardinals / Packers game and had an extra ticket.  Bo was out the door in no time and headed to the stadium!  My boys have been watching the game on tv and trying to see their dad (and feeling completely surprised that there were so many people wearing Packer clothes! They thought he would be easy to spot!)

My Blog Spark recently sent me a football party pack in anticipation of the Super Bowl in early February and provided me another one to give away to one of my readers. It includes a ceramic chip dish in the shape of a football, some football-themed paper goods, an adorable football-themed table runner and 2 cans of Old El Paso green chiles.

The green chiles are a great addition to so many party-friendly recipes!  You can add them to nachos, stir them into dips, add a new flavor to your chili. They are not spicy, but have a unique flavor that is a welcome addition to your recipes.  We love cornbread as a side dish, and I plan to make this green chile cornbread recipe from BettyCrocker.com with one of the cans I received.

If you'd like to enter the giveaway for this fun prize pack, fill in the form below and tell me who you'll be rooting for to reach the Super Bowl next month.  I'm rooting for the Arizona Cardinals (mainly because I think Kurt Warner is an amazing quarterback, and an amazing person. His example of humility and charity off the field is an excellent example for all looking for a sports hero to emulate.)  It's okay if you're rooting for someone else, though!  Just let me know who you'd like to see play and you'll be entered.

You can receive extra entries by:

1. Following my blog.  Leave a 2nd comment letting me know how you're following (bloglines, google reader, networked blogs, etc.)
2. Post a link to this giveaway on Twitter or Facebook ( and leave a comment letting me know you did so.)

This giveaway is open until January 9, 2010.  Winner will be chosen via random.org and notified via email. 

I'm doing things a little bit different for this giveaway - so please enter your information in the form section and do NOT leave a comment section to enter the giveaway.  You can leave a comment if you wish, but it will NOT be entered into the giveaway.  Thanks!



Disclosure: The 2 cans of Green Chiles, football platter, football themed paper goods, in addition to the giveaway, have all been provided by Old El Paso through MyBlogSpark.

New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve this year, we headed to the cheap cinema to take in the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which was amusing. The drama at the end dragged on a bit long for me (and for Lydia) but the animation was amazing and the story cute.

Then we used my iPhone's geocaching app and searched for and found(!) 2 geocaches near our home. Geocaching is a great family activity for us, I plan to make sure we do more of it this year. For those curious about what it is, it's a bit like a treasure hunt. People hide caches (sometimes just a paper log to record you found it, sometimes a larger container that holds small trinkets as well as a log) and then record their GPS coordinates and clues at geocaching.com.  You can use the free account (which we use) or a paid account (which has more features.)  Other than a GPS, you really don't need anything but a sense of adventure and good eyes!

I prefer the caches that are hidden in natural settings, don't like the ones that are near traffic (although the 2 we found on NYE were both near traffic), and refuse to search for those hidden at people's homes in their yards.

In the past, we've only searched for geocaches, but this year we plan to hide a few of our own. I've put aside some supplies to make that happen, and will update when we've created and hidden our first cache.

After geocaching, we headed home -- played some video games and ate a bunch of appetizers for dinner.  We rang in the New Year with the boys drinking sparkling grape juice and then sent them off to bed.

It was a simple, quiet day and evening -- but fun all the same!

Resolutions

I don't feel that goals and resolutions have to wait until January 1 to be set -- I think that you should set new goals as needed throughout your life!  But, with the talk of resolutions around this time of year, I have made a few to start out 2010.

As a family, we talked about what we'd like to do in 2010, and Bo said that he would like to explore more of Arizona.  We all agreed that was a great idea, and I've already made plans for our first Arizona 2010 exploration to happen this month!

Personally, I'm going to make an effort to finally use the reusable shopping bags I own -- instead of forgetting them in the back of the car like I usually do. In fact, if you want to try along with me -- I may have a giveaway soon to help you skip the plastic bags.

And, finally, I want to learn to crochet more than a chain.  I love the cute crocheted food I see on etsy.com, and I'd love to make some of my own for Lydia's play kitchen.

What about you?  What do you hope to achieve in 2010?