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Family Activity While Traveling: Geocaching

Have any of you tried Geocaching?

300 kph!
Geocaching is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure using GPS technology and then share the geocache’s existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS unit can then try to locate the geocache.

Our family got involved in geocaching a year or two ago.  We went camping and a friend of ours told us about several geocaches around the campgrounds.  Our children found as many as they could during that camping trip.  They enjoyed it so much that we started looking for them around our place. [Read more...]

“I Had It First!”

Sad at DisneylandHow many times have you heard this when your children are playing together?

You usually hear this when they’re fighting over a toy.  Most parents would tell them to share the toy.

If you have children coming over to play with your children, you would normally tell your children to share their toys with their guests.

Question:  Is this real life?

If your child has a favorite toy he cherishes, do you have the right to tell him to share it with another child if he doesn’t want to?  From your child’s perspective, some higher authority is forcing him to share his toy with someone else he may not know that well. [Read more...]

Link Love: Follow Up for Children’s Skills

This is a follow up to my series of blog posts on Skills Children Need Before Leaving the Nest.  There were a lot of good comments and I’ve added some links to what people have suggested.


Co
DSC_3556mmunication Skills – Someone suggested Toastmasters and they have a kids’ version called Gavel Clubs.  See if there is one near you!


Financial
Credit Cards Literacy SkillsFinancial Peace School Curriculum from Financial Expert Dave Ramsey has an elementary and high school curriculum along with an Adopt-A-School program to get the curriculum in schools.

stretchingHealth & Nutrition SkillsMyPyramid.gov is produced by the United States Department of Agriculture.   They offer personalized eating plans and interactive tools to help you plan and assess your food choices based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.closet reorganization

Living SkillsFlyLady.net is a good system for getting your house and life in order.

Thank you for sharing your experiences and wonderful advice!

If you missed my blog series, you can read them here:


Creative Commons License photo credit: peruisay,
Creative Commons License photo credit: Andres Rueda, Creative Commons License photo credit: Tom@HK, Creative Commons License photo credit: LizMarie

More Fall Into Fun: Camping

Home for a NightFall is the perfect time to take your family camping.  The parks are less crowded, less hot and less bug infested.

You Don’t Need To Buy All The Gear

In Michigan the state parks have small to large cabins, tents and even tee-pees for rent, so don’t discard this idea if you don’t have all the equipment.  Leaving Friday after work and coming home Sunday afternoon is a fabulous staycation that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.  Pack warm clothes, sleeping bags, toiletries and easy to prepare food, like hot dogs, canned chili or canned pasta, and of course, graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate bars for S’mores.

Know The Rules

Each state has different rules about transporting fire wood.  In  Michigan, because of the Emerald Ash Borer bug, we cannot transport our own firewood, you need to buy it at or around the park.  Some parks let you take fallen trees out of the woods to burn and some don’t.  Other considerations are whether they are pet friendly, have electricity, cell phone reception or even allow alcohol.

Before you go, check out some great campfire stories.  Many good campfires have been made great with the addition of a campfire story.  Without all of the everyday distractions, a campfire is a wonderful way to get the whole family together and talking.

If you haven’t been camping in years, I dare you to give it a try.  A couple nights away from computers, televisions, video games, phones and traffic can make you more relaxed than you can even imagine.

Creative Commons License photo credit: pfly

More Fall Into Fun: Cider Mills and Orchards

Newton left long time agoOne of my favorite things about fall is hitting the cider mills and U-pick orchards.  To me fresh cider, warm cinnamon sugar donuts and a big bag full of apples for desserts is a great way to spend a day.

What Activities Are You Looking For?

Depending on what we want out of the day, we check ahead to see what each place has to offer.  Some places have hay rides out into the orchards, hay mazes, cider mills and even apple tossing contests.

Our local favorite is about an hour away.  A tractor takes you on a hay ride through the property until you reach the orchard that has over 10 varieties of apples for picking.  We like to go with a group and get a ton of different types of apples, so that everybody can try some of each kind.  We usually go with folks from our bible study group and then take turns trying to outdo each other for the best apple dessert.  Here’s a favorite, easy apple recipe.

Baked Apples

  • 4 large good baking apples, such as Rome Beauty, Golden Delicious, or Jonagold
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/4 cup currants or chopped raisins
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 3/4 cup boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Wash apples. Remove cores to 1/2 inch of the bottom of the apples. It helps if you have an apple corer, but if not, you can use a paring knife to cut out first the stem area, and then the core. Use a spoon to dig out the seeds. Make the holes about 3/4-inch to an inch wide.

2. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, currants/raisins, and pecans. Place apples in a 8-inch-by-8-inch square baking pan. Stuff each apple with this mixture. Top with a dot of butter (1/4 of the Tbps).

3. Add boiling water to the baking pan. Bake 30-40 minutes, until tender, but not mushy. Remove from the oven and baste the apples several times with the pan juices.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream on the side.

Makes 4 servings.

Creative Commons License photo credit: r-z

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