Easter Secrets
Here are a few of my favorites from our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. Thank you, Easter Bunny for patiently posing for so many great pictures.
Looking forward to church tomorrow morning. Hopefully my wiggly little bunnies will be able to make it all the way through! Have a blessed Easter everyone!
Happy Trails,
Bridget
OK, I admit it, this travel blogger will not be traveling during spring break this year. We had considered a vacation, but have a lot going on right now and decided that it would be wiser to stay close to home. My kids are actually quite happy about the prospect. We will attend an annual Easter Egg hunt tommorrow morning and enjoy a quiet Easter luncheon with the Grandparents and some neighbors on Sunday.
We will be spending our spring break being tourists in our own home town. Since I am starting a new guidebook there will be trips to the San Diego Zoo to check out the polar bears and to the Wild Animal Park to visit with the butterflies. I’m hoping for hike at Elfin Forest to or Mission Hills to see if the wildflowers are still out. We might head North to ride in the big orange balloon in Irvine.
I’m a little disappointed that there won’t be a hotel stay and new places to explore in our near future, but on the other hand:
Hope your spring break Adventures are just as fun.
Happy Trails,
Bridget
Tags: Elfin Forest, San Diego Wild Animal Park, San Diego Zoo
Just dropped off our “Will Play for Food” donation with the little ones this morning and was reminded how service to others can offer rich opportunities for family adventure. Destiny and Jared were so proud to bring their cans into the the soup kitchen. The Brother Benno staff was amazing. They were very patient as we unloaded our car and personally thanked my little ones before they left. Jared decided to make this errand decked out as a cowboy, so that drew lots of smiles.
Growing up our family didn’t take many opportunities to exercise, but many years starting when I was in middle school we would participate in the Human Race Walk which was a fundraiser for the United Way and local agencies. I remember one year, the walk traveled from the top of Mount Tamalpais in Mill Valley down to it’s base. We got lost, which made it even more of an adventure. I’ll never forget hiking among the redwood trees with my parents and how sore my calves were at the end of that hike. I felt so empowered to choose the charity that would receive the money that I had raised.
Back in the good old days when I only had one kid to wrangle, Justin would accompany us to serve the Handicapables lunch to disabled people in Marin. There is something magical about a small child volunteering. It brings joy to everyone around him or her. Justin brightened alot of faces even though all he did was set some tables.
With three, we do less hands on volunteering, but we still find opportunities for service and family fun. Scouting provides opportunities to clean up the beach and organize cans for an annual food drive. Even though it would be easier to leave the preschoolers at home, we bring them. Their attention span is shorter than our nine year old, but while they have the energy they make an enthusiastic contribution. In addition to “Will Play for Food” our family organized an emergency food drive for a food pantry by soliciting contributions from the other preschool families. We netted a great assortment of non persihable food and my kids loved delivering it.
Finally, in order to reduce our family carbon footprint, we walk to school to pick up big brother once a week. Destiny calls it “saving the world”. Now when she sees other families walking to school she says, “Look mom, they’re saving the world.” Mostly I drive the morning carpool, and I do not have the organizational capabilities to get everyone out the door early enough in the morning to walk. Still, I’m going to be on the look out for other walking opportunities. I find that it has many other benefits: the dog gets walked, my nine year old has a lot to talk about, and the little guys get a lesson in patience as well as some exercise.
What are some service projects that your family does to “save the world”?
Happy Trails,
Bridget
Tags: family service, service learning, service project, volunteering with kids
Jared Shows Off His Will Play for Food Sign
A few weeks ago I was mourning my lack of mommy friends. As many of you know, I relocated to Carlsbad from Santa Cruz about three years ago. Having raised my kids in the same place for many years, I had developed a wonderful group of Mommy friends nurtured through playgroups and preschool play dates. Here in Carlsbad life goes at a pretty fast pace. Everyone has big families and lots of activities. It’s hard to find time to nurture those deep lasting friendships that I crave. I remembered reading about something called “Will Play for Food” in a blog recently. I couldn’t even remember which blog, but I made my way to the website, checked it out and decided to see if I could make some mommy friends and feed the world at the same time.
The concept is easy, invite friends and strangers to show up at a park at the same time, bring some cans, have the kids play, and donate the cans to the local food bank. Destiny and Jared helped me make a colorful sign on my white board. I posted a note up at my preschool, on my neighborhood moms Google group, on Twitter and on Facebook.
The turnout for this project, was not great…three families. Still, everyone brought several items so Bro Bennos will definately benefit from my efforts. I got my wish and had the chance to meet two amazing new moms, and spend more time with my neighbor Vonya who is definately in the running for quality mommy friend.
Will Play for Food was founded by a mom named Jessica Kate. It’s a great idea, moms all around the country setting up these informal playgroups/food drives. Jessica’s family has recently experienced a great tragedy. Her daughter Tuesday recently passed away after a battle with neuroblastoma. Jessica has a number of really great mommy blogger friends including Tonya who blogs about her life as military wife as well as mom to twin toddlers and a teenager at www.thestaabfamily.blogspot.com and Sharlene who blogs about adventures with her twins at www.doubletheadventure.com. Both were excited about Will Play for Food. Sharlene was unable to make it due to an appointment, but Tonya drove all the way from Pacific Beach at 9am on the day she was having a “Moms Day Off” to drop off some food, take a picture for her blog, and just say hi! Amazing!
Later my two neighbors showed up and all the kids had a great time playing. It was so nice to meet Dana who was mom to a five year old boy and potential playmate for my four year old. As always it was wonderful to spend time with Vonya. Destiny and Jared were enchanted by the whole process; making the sign, packing the food, taking it to the park, enjoying a snack with friends. Tommorrow we will head up the coast to Oceanside and deliver the food to Brother Bennos an all volunteer organization that runs a soup kitchen, distributes emergency food boxes, and runs several recovery homes. I’ll throw in a some bags of clothes and a no longer used infant seat, and Brother Bennos will have a nice donation.
So dear readers, I issue this challenge to you in honor of Tuesday and also my friend Deana who is a mom of two preschoolers and in a Texas ICU fighting cancer, organize a Will Play for Food drive among your neighbors and friends. If you have school age kids meet at the park after school. If you have preschoolers have a morning park date. Just get a few friends together, gather some cans, and donate to your local foodbank. Let’s relish this chance to spend time with our children doing something to make the world better. Lots of families are struggling right now. We are all preoccupied with just staying afloat. In the midst of all this suffering let’s throw those around us a life preserver.
You can find out more about Will Play for Food on the blog http://playforfood.blogspot.com/ . Tell Jessica I sent you 
.
Happy Trails,
Bridget
Tags: Will Play for Food
My little ones are very jealous! Big Brother and Daddy are going camping with the Cub Scous this weekend. This is a favorite activity for the little ones. Adding to the challenge, the big boys are taking our only car. (Our old commuter car died and we are saving up for Dad’s dream vehicle…a used SUV.)
What’s a family travel guru to do? Here’s a list of adventures we may have this weekend to keep us all in good spirits until Daddy gets home. Hopefully if I do one or two they will go to bed early and sleep all night!
1) Take the dog for a walk on a local wooded hiking trail.
2) Dust off the jogging stroller and walk to nearby BatiquitosLagoon-the kids can walk the trail when we get there.
3) Swim in our pool. (Sure it’s November but this is Southern California…it’s still in the 70’s and 80’s)
4) Walk to a local park.
5) Break out the Sidewalk Chalk.
6) Dig out those frozen yogurt coupons and walk to the yogurt store for a treat.
7) Little Kids movie night with lots of popcorn.
Practice our tricycle skills at the little rock garden by our house.
9) Set up our own tent in the back yard.
10) If I wasn’t on a budget, I would bum a ride to the train station and hop a Coaster Train to Old Town and have a picnic.
Any more ideas????
Happy Trails,
Bridget
Tags: Family Adventure, Old Town San Diego, staycation, vacation at home, vacation without car
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