PDX Kids

Snow Day = Game Day

2011-02-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

As a teacher, I never realized I would be so excited about a snow day! Today, we are going to play games...all day! we have some games for the little kids, some for the big kids, and some for everyone. Hullabaloo is a great game for the kids to play on their own. It has small tiles the kids place on the floor then either a sound box or DVD (depending on the version) that give the kids instructions. Some of my other favorite games for preschoolers include The Ladybug Game, Elefun, and Connect 4. I also love giving them beads to string (larger beads work best for younger kids) or tiles that are different shapes with the boards so they can fill in pictures. Both beads and the shape puzzles can be found at stores such as Lakeshore Learning, Learning Palace, or a toy store.

For school aged kids, chess and checkers have become really big in our house. They are true classics, affordable, and fun. We have also gotten into Uno which now comes in all varieties. With a little help, our 5-year old can manage to play with us and our 3-year old will sit in our lap and be on our "team". Some other games we've been getting into lately are some of the strategy games. Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan (yes, I know, they are nerd games but I love them anyways!) are two that my son has really loved learning to play. Carcassonne is easier to learn with just the basic game. Once the basic game is learned then expansions can be added in without confusing game play and strategy too much. Another game that falls into strategy but is a card game is Beananza. This game has people plant bean fields, buy and sell beans, and donate. It loses a little bit of its strategy by helping younger players but it is still pretty fun and it helps the kids learn to think a step or two ahead.

All of these games are great but my all-time favorite is still a classic game of Hand and Foot. I've never played Canasta but most people say the two are very similar. It is a great game and can be played in teams or individually although teams is a faster and typically more fun game. Click here for a link to another site with rules.

A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village

2011-01-17T21:54:00.000-08:00

I just learned this great little-known fact that I HAVE to share! The A.C. Gilbert Discovery Village in Salem honors OMSI memberships! If you have not gone to the Discovery Village, I would recommend you pack up tomorrow and go. It is INCREDIBLE!!! There are 3 victorian-style houses available for you to explore. Each room in the houses has a different theme. These themes range from a shadow room to a room all about Oregon. There is a bubble room where you can create a bubble that surrounds you or bubbles in hula-hoops or bubbles with small bubble wands. There is a room for inventors with tubs of cardboard, cloth, paper, plastic, yard, and just about anything else you could use to create treasures.

Outside there is a ginormous wooden play structure. One section of the play structure has musical instruments. Another part of the structure has a chess board with pieces as tall as most 2-year olds. There are tables for eating and tables for playing games (there is a tile version of Chutes and Ladders on one). There is a mini deli/cafe available as well.

Mr. Gilbert was actually a pretty interesting man. In order to get through college he performed magic tricks to earn money for his tuition at Yale. He decided to start manufacturing and selling magic kits. Magic kits turned into puzzles. After a while, he began a toy company and was the inventor of the Erector sets. Mr. Gilbert also created science kits for children. One of those kits was actually a kit for children to create atomic energy. Oddly enough, after increased parental concern that kit was taken off the market!

A couple of tips for visiting:
* Don't bring a stroller if you can avoid it. There are a lot of smaller hallways and most of the houses have exhibits upstairs.

* Do bring an extra change of clothes as some of the areas can get a little goopy or sandy.

* The level of security there is not really great (there's not a staff person watching people come and go at the entrance/exits) so definitely keep on eye on your little ones.

* A camera is a must! There are some beautiful architectural aspects and some really fun playing aspects (like a giant rocking chair!). The pictures you can get here are amazing!

* When you go in you will get a hand stamp for re-entrance. This will allow you to leave snacks, diapers, etc. in the car which is pretty accessible.

* Not an OMSI member? Check out the Tualatin Library. They have a cultural pass and if you live in Washington, Multnomah, or Clackamas counties you can get a membership to the Tualatin Library. Be sure to make a reservation for the day you want, though.

The Oregon Zoo

2011-01-17T21:38:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite places in Oregon. It does help that we have a membership so it's much more affordable. It is a great place for me to get out and walk a little and my kiddos release a little energy, too. While I love the zoo, sometimes during the summer it can be really crowded or the animals are a little extra lethargic. We went Saturday morning in the rain and it was FANTASTIC! There was a variety of people visiting ranging from families in raincoats to older couples with umbrellas but there was definitely not a crowd. The animals were out and lively. We saw the polar bears playing with a giant barrel, the lions climbing on the rock and wandering into their den, the monkeys were playing, the chimps were all visible and active. Even the sun bears were out chewing on logs in plain sight!!

If you are ever in need of a winter activity, I highly recommend putting on the rain boots and checking out the zoo!

Rockettes Event at Washington Square Mall

2010-09-08T10:36:00.000-07:00

This is an email just sent to us and I wanted to share it with everyone. It seems like this could be a really fun event for any of the tiny dancers (or those of us just wanting to kick our feet in the air to tell the story later!!) in your house. Don't forget to read the bottom about shopping at Macy's and getting free tickets to see the Christmas show.

"Hello friends at PDX Kids! I just wanted to pass along this information about a very fun, family-friendly event heading to PDX in a couple weeks involving one of America's most beloved dance troupes. I thought it'd be perfect on your Adventures Blog as I'm sure this event will be an adventure and experience to remember! On Saturday, September 18, Macy's Washington Square in Portland invites kids and shoppers to Dance with the Rockettes at 2:00pm as the ladies will share free dance instruction (just how DO they synchronize all those high kicks?) as well as secrets on what it takes to be a world-famous Rockette. There also will be plenty of opportunities for photos following the Dance with the Rockettes experience and each young dancer who joins in the fun will receive an "Honorary Rockette" certificate. As an added incentive, any shopper who spends $50 at Macy's the day of the event will receive a free pair of tickets to the Rockettes Radio City Christmas Spectacular coming to Rose Garden Arena on December 23 - 26! Additionally, there will be a drawing to win a chance for an exclusive VIP Meet and Greet with the Rockettes as well as 4 tickets to the Rose Garden Arena show at this event. If you need any more information including photos, ticket discount info and tour dates, please visit: http://pitch.pe/80627 I hope you will consider sharing this information with your readers. We'd love to share this experience of a lifetime with as many kids in Portland as possible! Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks! Genna Harris Digital Coordinator - EVERYWHERE"

P.S. - Genna-Thanks for sharing!!

SCRAP as only Portland can!

2010-04-05T14:09:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we found a great little treasure in Portland...SCRAP. SCRAP stands for School & Community Reuse Action Project. It is a non-profit that collects clean, reuseable materials and organizes them in their shop for resale. You can come in and join a workshop where you work in their space or you can just shop.

The stuff they have is pretty amazing. There are tons of fabric scraps, yarn, half-used bottles of paint, glitter, and glue, velcro pieces, magnets, greeting cards, and electronic components. My favorite was actually a box of photos that people had taken of celebrities and athletes autographing stuff. No joke! You could buy a picture some random person took of a random famous person signing their name. If you wanted more than just one, you could have a whole box full! This is why I love Portland!!!

My kids had a great time. I gave them each $2 and they spent 2 hours pouring over the items trying to make a great purchasing decision. They grabbed things then found other things. They put stuff back and went back for more. In the end, we paid about $8 and I found stuff for my entire high school class to use to make hoover crafts and my kids each ended up with about 3 "creations" worth of stuff. We were all very satisfied and spent the rest of the afternoon inventing at the kitchen table.

SCRAP is located at the corner of MLK and Scranton in NE Portland. Their phone number is 503-294-0769 and they are open daily from 11 am until 6 pm. There are all sorts of events and functions offered there ranging from adult-only events to kids summer camps. Check out SCRAP's website for more details.

Clamming in Oregon

2010-03-27T15:15:00.000-07:00

So I have been out of commission for a little while but I'm back and itching for some good adventures with the kids!

One of the first things the kids had been asking to do was to go clamming. We have never been and I only had talked to someone about it once. I figured for this trip, I should bring backup. My husband, his brother, and sister, her husband, and our neighbor all packed three kids and three dogs into three cars and headed for the beach. Before we left there were a few things that we had to do and pack, but I'll address those later.

We found a spot that was a little south of Lincoln City. It was a little bay so it made it much safer for the kids. We started out and had no idea what we were doing. At first, we were digging up clams that we thought were illegal so we threw them back. After digging up about a dozen of them we decided maybe we should read the licensing/instruction manual a little better. Turns out, they were keepers! Once we figured this out, we realized that we were actually doing pretty well.

There was a technique that really helped. We used shovels and dug about 6-12 inches down in wet sand. The kids used little hand-held shovels. Once we dug down just a little bit the sand was so wet we would just reach our hands down about 12-20 inches and find as many as 3-4 clams in a handful. We would just keep moving sand out of our hole with our hands while moving the loose sand around and finding clams. We all did this without gloves (the kids only tended to find the clams that were moved out of the hole in the pile of sand we had dug out) but we did have one person cut their hand.

We were very wet at the end but every single person said they had a great time and we all want to do it again.

So here's the packing list:

Bags for dirty and/or wet clothes and shoes to go into afterwards
A spare change of clothes for every person
Towels
Snacks
A bucket for each digger
Rainboots (if it's too cold to go barefoot)
Sunscreen
Snacks & drinks
Either a lid for the buckets or ice chests for the clams to travel home in (you have to keep them alive in water and you son't want that spilling in your car)
Shovels
Gloves (if you want)
Shellfish license

We obtained the licenses from Fisherman's Marine and Outdoor but you can also purchase them online. It is the same price anywhere you go which was $7 this year. Anyone under 14 does not need a license. There is a manual that is very helpful as it has pictures of the different type of clams along with a map where there are some good clam beds highlighted. This manual is the 2010 Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations manual.

Finding the low tide times was also very important. You can use a tide prediction table from Oregon State University or the times are posted in the Oregonian's weather page two days before. This is not specific to all areas and it is good to arrive shortly before low tide so that you have time to follow the tide out but it should give you a good idea of what time to arrive.

Tonight, my culinary-graduate neighbor will be teaching me all about how to prep the clams to cook. I don't actually enjoy eating seafood, but learning to cook them should be fun!

Science Project Website

2010-01-16T18:15:00.000-08:00

In the midst of doing my own homework I found a website that has some really fun information. It's Science Toys. There are a lot of great science projects you can make with your kids. One that we did quite successfully was the electric motor. This was super simple and it was a lot of fun for the kids to see the little battery working in action.

Day Trip of Fun

2010-01-09T19:46:00.000-08:00

Today my kids and I needed a much deserved break so we decided to find an adventure. We headed out to Newberg and visited Critter Cabana. We walked up and saw a kitten and some tortoises in the window. The kids were already enthralled by the tortoises but when we walked into the store they were amazed that there was no glass between us and these little tortoises in the storefront window. There were a couple of dogs that greeted us in a very loving manner as well. A little further into the store we found some much larger tortoises roaming around on the floor. They would poke their heads out for the kids to pet them. Even my 2-year old who is afraid of anything that moves enjoyed petting these giant, docile tortoises! There was a HUGE array of fun and exotic pets in this store ranging from snakes and lizards to hedgehogs and ferrets. Many of them were for sale but there were also a lot that had become permanent residents of the store.

Critter Cabana was a GREAT trip and we managed to spend almost 2 hours in the store playing with the animals and admiring the fish. The staff was very friendly as we watched them share their knowledge to help a small boy pick out a turtle that he was buying with his own hard-earned money. Critter Cabana offers field trips to the store during the week or they will bring the animals to your school. Also, teachers can "rent" and animal for a day to bring into the classroom. The animal comes will all of the supplies needed for its care. I was truly impressed with this visit and would recommend the short drive from the Portland area to any animal lover!!

On our way back from Newberg we stopped in Sherwood and went to Safari Sam's. I must say it was a little busy for my taste but the trip was so much fun. There is a HUGE indoor play structure, a glow-in-the-dark putt-putt golf course, and arcade along with a cafe. My 4 and 6-year olds were able to run around on their own just fine and I was able to navigate the mazes within the climbing structure while helping my 2-year old make her way. We managed to play for 3 hours there and could have gone longer except for the fact that we had passed nap time by 2 hours and the little one was losing it entirely.

My favorite thing about Safari Sam's is that they provide security at all of their entrances and exits. When you come in they stamp your hand with a stamp that matches your children. This way they can make sure that your children leave with the person they came in with. This security features allows me to relax a little bit and not feel like I have to be within an arms reach of my children at every moment. Also, their rates are very reasonable seeing as how you can spend hours and hours playing in their indoor jungle gym. There are classes, a preschool/daycare program, and many more features offered at Safari Sam's, too. It makes a great indoor adventure for a rainy day!

Zoo Lights

2009-12-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

The Oregon Zoo's Zoolights is a really fun place to take your kids. The zoo is open at night and some of the animals that are normally lethargic during the day are a little more playful...especially the tigers. You can take the train around the zoo loop and they even bring out the steam engine for zoolights. All of the trains are even decorated with Christmas lights. There are Christmas lights everywhere at the Oregon Zoo for Zoolights! There are two things to keep in mind if you visit the Zoolights: weather and crowds.

The number of people that go through Zoolights is amazing. The parking lot fills up and the Zoo offers a shuttle from the Sylvan area over to the zoo. Trimet is also a great option for getting to the Zoo and avoiding the nightmare of the parking hassle (it will also save the $2 per vehicle parking fee). The best way to avoid some of these crowds is to show up at 4:15 or 4:30. The Zoolights officially opens at 5 pm but if you have small children it will take you a while to get out of the car, bundle everybody up, and buy your tickets. Plus, once you do all of that the immediate need for a bathroom break seems inevitable.

If you decide to ride the train you will definitely want to get there early. While you are waiting in line the sun will finish its descent and the train ride will still be completely enjoyable and in the dark. Don't forget that while you are waiting in line for the train you are pretty much standing still which means the cold feels even colder. Hats, coats and gloves are an absolute must to keep warm. Scarves and blankets would not be a bad idea, either.

Also, the Zoo sells hot chocolate and coffee but they do not provide lids or straws for their drinks as the lids and straws pose a health risk to the animals. If you think you might invest in some hot chocolate for your young children (or if you have a drinking problem like I do) you might want to bring your own travel coffee mug to transfer the drink into and avoid some spills.

Our family has been lucky enough to have a Zoo membership so the Zoolights has been free for us. With this advantage we have even done the Zoolights in two different nights because it was so cold after waiting for the train (riding the steamy was a HUGE priority for us) that our kids were miserable so we left. There was a different evening that was a little bit warmer so we decided to brave the crowds a second time and had a wonderful time walking around, looking at the animals and enjoying the lights.

Cookie Bake Fundraiser

2009-12-10T22:16:00.000-08:00

This weekend my neighbor introduced me and my kids to a great event in Portland. Every year about this time Safeway hosts a fundraiser for Dornbecher's Children's Hospital. They open up a portion of their facilities off Hwy 224 in Clackamas and provide all of the materials for a cookie bake. This cookie bake is so popular that some people have been attending for 20 years. They don't advertise this event because they are already at capacity. Every penny goes to Dornbecher's which is a very worthy cause.

So here's how it works:

You RSVP for a specific time slot. Your reservation costs $35 and you get 10 pounds of cookie dough and 1 hour and 45 minutes at a table to roll out and cut your cookies. Safeway provides cookie trays and after you fill the tray you can label it and they will bake the cookies. There is plenty of frosting provided and you can then move to a decorating table where you have an unlimited amount of time to decorate your cookies.

There were tons of people there but it was all very organized and efficient. Santa and Mrs. Claus made an appearance where you could have your picture taken with them for $1. There was also a cookie contest for the best decorated cookies. There were many people there who shared a lot of insight with me while we were there but our neighbor's preparation definitely helped make the experience wonderful for our first time there.
I want to share some tips for you in case you go for the first time:
1. There are no chairs so you could bring a stroller or stepping stools for smaller children.
2. Bring your own cookie cutters, rolling pins and anything you want to use to decorate the cookies with. Some people brought stuff to bake into the cookies, others brought stuff to decorate the cookies with afterwards.
3. We were there for 4 hours and many people brought food and/or drinks to help tide them over.
4. You can purchase containers with lids for $2 which worked really well for carrying baked cookies.
5. Expect to get dirty! We had flour everywhere (the flour fight didn't help our cause but it was definitely worth the battle!). Aprons or changes of clothes might be worth bringing. They do sell aprons for the event so you can have you official cookie bake apron with the year printed on it as a souvenir.

In the end this was a great experience and we donated some of our cookies to different events that our church is hosting so we weren't really stuck with the sugar cookies made from 20 pounds of cookie dough!

Christmas Tree Hunting

2009-11-29T19:24:00.000-08:00

When I was a kids we grew up in California. There aren't as many Christmas tree farms in California as there are in Oregon. In California you would drive up to the Kmart parking lot, wander around and pick out a tree. If my parents had their way the tree was probably still wrapped up and we would just pick one where the base looked straight and it was a good height.

Now that I'm older I want to have the experience (for myself and my kids) of picking out a tree and chopping it down. What this means for my family is that we dredge ourselves out through a muddy (and once snowy) field to find a good Christmas tree. Once we find a good one we promise ourselves we will remember where it is but keep looking to see if we can find a better one. We almost never do so we go back to where we thought we found the first tree we liked only to find that it seems to have been moved. After we finally settle on a tree for sure then my husband has to kneel down in the mud underneath the tree with a borrowed hand saw thingy and try to chop down the tree while holding onto it so it doesn't land on his back. By this time the kids are cold and miserable so I have to hold all three of them to keep them happy. Yes, this version is slightly exaggerated but it's still quite comical.

Finding and cutting down your own Christmas tree can really be a lot of fun but there are a few things that we have learned over the years that could have really helped out along the way. I will share those with you here:

1. Remember it does actually get dark at 5pm now. If you show up at the Christmas tree lot at 4:30 pm, you are going to get stuck using your headlights to try and find a tree.

2. Bring some extra clothes, hats, gloves, and blankets to bundle the kids up;

3. Garbage bags are extremely helpful to put all of the muddy stuff in afterwards.

4. Bring twine or something you can tie down the tree with. Most places have it available but just in case it's much better than having to cut your tree and leave it there while you drive to Home Depot.

5. Having your own saw is also a good idea. Again, this is something most Christmas tree lots have on hand but it's better to be prepared.

6. Use something to mark your tree if you find one you are considering. Many places will have something like this or you can use a piece of twine but this will prevent you from having to find the perfect Christmas tree twice. Also, you should remove the twine from a tree if you decide it's not the right one so that someone else doesn't think it's still taken.

7. Bring cash because sometimes all the tree lots have are a cash box and you can make change but they do not accept cards.

8. Know where the closest coffee shop is so you can grab hot chocolate for everyone who is cold and cranky at the end of your Christmas tree adventure.

Christmas Book Day

2009-11-16T20:04:00.000-08:00

Yes, I already said it...Christmas. I was sitting at Starbucks tonight working on my school work and the employees had a mini party while setting out their Christmas stuff. When I got home I had a very exciting package in the mail because the Christmas books for my kids had arrived.

When I was growing up, Christmas book day was something we all looked forward to. On December 1st we would all sit on the couch with my mom and my dad and they had a book that my mom had picked out for each one of us. Mostly they were Christmas books but as we got older they were sometimes not. We would read each persons book and the inscription on the front cover that was in my mom's trademark handwriting. It was such a fun time because it almost felt like time had frozen while we read. We took turns sitting in my moms lap as it was our turn to have our book read. Me and my two brothers and my sister all loved kicking off the holiday season with Christmas book day.

To this day we still demand that my mom honors the tradition that she started because we love having her pick a book out for us. This tradition is one that has definitely carried on as I have really loved picking out books for my kids. Now if I could just figure out what to write in the cover...

Sick Kids

2009-11-15T20:50:00.000-08:00

Today was a typical Sunday. We were in the car a few minutes early headed to church and about 3 blocks away from my house my youngest throws up. We turned around. Days like this aren't typically too bad because all of my kids have been good patients. She was her normal feisty self the rest of the day so I don't think its anything too serious but it was serious enough that we were cooped up inside all day.

The hardest thing about sick days is trying to balance two healthy kids and one who is slightly under the weather. How do you entertain them all while maintaining any shred of sanity? We love to curl up with a book or 36. When we are home for a long period of time my kids will have me read so many books I fall asleep. This is a trait I'd like to encourage in them but its hard when you are literally wiping away tears of boredom! Sometimes we bake cookies or something equally as fun. Yesterday we cleaned. The kids even helped me mop until it was their quiet time and I "doubled checked" for them. Games are always a great way to go. We just got the Wii Fit Plus where there is a multi-player option. My two year old got up on the Wii fit board and started flapping like a chicken to make her character fly. She actually outflew the older two and gave me the best 45 seconds of video anyone may ever see.

When I was little my mom always made me applesauce from fresh apples. I remember how much I loved to stay home simply for eating applesauce and popsicles while watching Matlock. Boy those were the days! It's almost funny how nostalgic it was taking care of sick child for the day. We had a lot of fun with the cabin fever but I have to say I am now officially wiped out and headed to bed!

What was your favorite childhood memory of sick days? What do you most enjoy doing with your kids?

Can it rain any harder?!?

2009-11-08T15:29:00.000-08:00

I sat yesterday watching it rain. I love a good downpour as much as the next person but this was CRAZY! We had a small pond in our driveway from the sewer grate plugging up with leaves. The kids wouldn't take their quiet time because there was one clap of thunder and they were freaked out for the rest of the afternoon (maybe it was just a ploy). I had promised pumpkin pie for a family get together that evening and I had 2 great pumpkins on my front porch just waiting to be broken into and cooked. So, despite the rain, we took to the front porch where we mutilated two huge pumpkins. After the mutilation we had to squeeze them into the oven for cooking. My oven wasn't big enough so in the middle of what seemed like a torrential downpour I raced over to a neighbors house and asked if he would kindly let me use his oven.

While the pumpkins baked the kids and I had a lot of fun examining the different types of seeds. We compared seeds from a candy pumpkin, cinderella pumpkin, cheese wheel pumpkin and a jack o' lantern pumpkin. The kids were very excited about this and my son actually wanted to make a chart so we could check off which pumpkins had specific features. We managed to label sandwich bags and, after they dried, we put the seeds in their own bags in hopes that we will be able to find the bags in the spring to plant a few pumpkin seeds. This prospect is very exciting to the kids as we had grown sunflowers this summer and those were a huge hit.

Once the pumpkin was done I was surprised. I thought for sure I would have all sorts of help in the kitchen but the kids did not want to touch the pumpkin. They were really grossed out by it so I ended up doing all of the work by myself. I started out on this endeavor thinking I had a great project to last all day and I ended up spraying pumpkin chunks all over my kitchen while my kids destroyed the rest of the house. Boy did that ever backfire!

I remember one time on another stormy day when I went shopping at IKEA with all three kids. I pulled into the parking lot and it was raining so hard I was going to turn around and all of a sudden it stopped. Then a parking spot opened up right in front and I thought this was a sign from God that I was supposed to go into IKEA that day. The shopping trip was quick but then I had to wait 20 minutes in line with a brand new and very hungry baby, an impatient two year old and a four year old who climbed better than most monkeys. The clerk had the audacity to ask if they could switch cashiers right before me. I actually told her no.

Have you ever had any ideas backfire? There have been too many "Katie"-did moments in my history where they have seemed like great ideas but never panned out. Share some of your great moments where you thought you were going to earn your Super-Mom award but instead it went down in infamy as dinner-time comedy.
www.pdxkids.org

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T16:30:00.000-07:00

I hope you all have a wonderful time this evening with your kids. Make sure you stay safe and bring a flashlight if you are going out after dark.

Also, there is expected to be a rather large group of drunk drivers on the roads to night so be extra careful driving.

If you are going out without your little goblins tonight then PLEASE be sure to use a designated driver.

Adventures

2009-10-25T15:38:00.001-07:00

I love a good adventure. There is something exciting about leaving the house open-minded and care-free. When I take my kids on an adventure I want to explore something new. I want to see something I have never seen before. A friend once said that if I had an inkling for a margarita I would just go to Mexico. I like to think that if I actually drank margaritas that we would headed to cross the border!

An adventure to me can be anything from finding a new ice cream shop to feeding ducks. It doesn't need to be incredible, just FUN. Taking a hike on a beautiful day in a forest, walking along the waterfront and counting bicycles, or playing games while walking through the mall can all make wonderful adventures.

One of my favorite adventures we took recently was going on a photo scavenger hunt. We walked a few blocks around the Willamette area of West Linn while searching for things that were in the shape of letters. In about an hour and a half we probably walked 8 blocks and found every single letter in the alphabet. We are now working on turning this photographic artwork into a photo album with samples of the kids' writing alongside each picture. Chloe (age 4) is writing the letter and Conner (age 6) is writing a word that begins with each letter.

What is your favorite adventure? Post a comment and share your ideas with other moms desperate to entertain!

Katie.