September 20, 2009
The last several years we’ve been here in Alamitos Bay we have had a visiting sea lion every now and then. My mom in Arizona calls him “her seal” because we first saw him when she was visiting us. She always asks if we’ve seen him lately. We went for a long time without seeing him – once or twice a year. Today he was sunning himself on the breakwater. He didn’t seem to care at all that boaters were going by him all the time. This Google map has a red star in the center – the sea lion was on the breakwater just below the star – on the thin line jutting in the water. You can drag the map up and around so you can see how he made his way up to the houses from the ocean near Seal Beach. Here are some pictures I took of him this morning.
The Houses are all around this area of the Alamitos Bay. The sea lion is on the breakwater in the middle of the photo.
A dragon boat crew practices their rowing while the sea lion stretches out on the breakwater.
The sea lion sits up to watch the jetskier as the jetskier watches him.
This dragon boat crew is also so intent on rowing that they don’t see the sea lion either. But he’s laid back down again.
Kayakers go in for a closer look.
Time for him to check out what is going on.
The sea lion turns over on his side.
He stayed and napped for quite a while. Then he quietly slipped back into the water. Later this evening he was back on the breakwater. One of the boat owners we talked to when we took the photos this morning said the sea lion has been hanging around more in the last five days…..
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Places to Explore | Tagged: Alamitos Bay, breakwater, Dragon Boats, family, fun, Jet Ski Adventure, kayaking, Long Beach, nature, sea lion, Seal Beach | 
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Posted by mygrandmasue
September 19, 2009
Here are some photos from two book readings of “Grandpa, Do It! I Do It, Too!” that I did. One was on June 19 at a day care center in Long Beach, CA. The other reading was on Father’s Day at Wayfarer’s Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. I first blogged about them on June 15 and on June 22, 2009.
Aron and Cyndi (Austin’s parents), Austin and Grandpa Ron, Grandma Sue and Pam.
1 Comment | Book Notes | Tagged: book reading, child, children, family, grandchild, grandchildren, grandma, grandpa, Grandpa Do It, grandparent, kids, Wayfarer's Chapel | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
September 18, 2009
Lots of parks and reserves are listed at the Orange County website. The Orange County Register has a link with outdoor actities and events that has great ideas for family fun! Enjoy!
Leave a Comment » | Nature Activities, Places to Explore | Tagged: biking, child, children, family, fishing, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, Green Hour, hiking, hiking trails, horseback riding, kids, nature, Orange County, outdoor activities, Places to Go | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
September 17, 2009
I taught my daughter to read when she was three. Now she has a three year old and she wants to teach him to read. I think we started out just reading her favorite books over and over again and later we got workbooks to do, too. I did find some interesting websites that have suggestions on how to go about it now:
The Well-Trained Mind
starfall.com
Reading Buddy 2.0
Succeed to Read
Preschool Express
WowzaBrain
If you have a suggestion, feel free to add a comment!
1 Comment | Routine Activity | Tagged: child, children, daughter, family, grandchild, grandchildren, granddaughter, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, grandson, kids, learning games, learning to read, prereading activities, preschooler reading activities, reading, Routine Activity, son, teaching reading, teaching reading at home, Toddler, toddler learning | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
September 16, 2009
The back of my Autumn Nature Conservancy magazine had a little ad on the back for Nature Rocks: Let’s Go Explore. It is a fun website to click through – complete with children’s voices and ducks! Here is a Staycation Guide (takes a while to load – it is a pdf file) on things to do as a family close to home. A fun feature to play with is Find Nature. Great photos can be seen here. Enjoy!
Leave a Comment » | Nature Activities, Places to Explore | Tagged: child, children, Exploring, family, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, Green Hour, hiking, kids, nature, Nature Rocks, Places to Go, play, playing, Playing with Children, Staycations | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
September 14, 2009
I don’t remember how I found this blogspot but it had an interesting interview with the twin authors of The Siblings’ Busy Book that I just ordered for my daughter. It has at-home activities that keep the interest of brothers and sisters of different ages while they are creating something together.
Found lots of similar books by reading the various reviews in Amazon. Actually, the day care centers would probably enjoy the ideas in these books as much as the parents do! – Here are some of them – Be sure to check out the similar books at the bottom of the book descriptions:
more Art oriented books
Arts and Crafts type books
Busy Books for various ages
Leave a Comment » | Indoor Activities | Tagged: Art Projects for Kids, arts and crafts, child, children, Children's Arts & Crafts, day care activities, family, Family Crafting, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, kids, rainy day, Routine Activity, Shared Sibling Activities, Things to Do | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
September 13, 2009
This e-card says it all! Enjoy!! It is from
grandparents.com.
For a little more info on Grandparents Day, check out my earlier blog.
Leave a Comment » | People Who Make A Difference | Tagged: child, children, family, grandchild, grandchildren, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, kids, Places to Go | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
September 12, 2009
The Great Reno Balloon Race is this weekend. The visitrenotahoe.com site has all kinds of pictures and info. The Reno momslikeme.com sponsored The World’s Largest Pajama Party this morning with Farmer’s Insurance. Here’s a Flickr slideshow from the RenoTahoe website including my favorite – The Energizer Bunny! This video is pretty awesome! There are lots more videos on the same page as that one. Enjoy!
Leave a Comment » | Places to Explore | Tagged: child, children, family, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, hot air balloons, kids, Places to Go, Reno, The Great Reno Balloon Race | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
September 11, 2009
I have a couple fitness articles for young moms trying to lose belly fat after the baby has arrived. There is no reason why grandmas can’t work out the same way when the grandkids are visiting them! The short article on Health.com is what caught my first attention. It recommends three stroller workout sites for classes: strollerfit.com, strollercize.com and strollerstrides.com.
This other article:Staying active when you have kids has some good pointers and links as well – including some videos.
Also, the local momslikeme site probably has some moms and grandmoms getting together to exercise around the local park or area. If you click on the momslikeme site, it should go to the local one based on your internet address. You have the opportunity to select one of many cities. You can save the site you prefer in your favorites.
1 Comment | Sport Activity | Tagged: exercising with baby, strolling exercise | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
The Houses are all around this area of the Alamitos Bay. The sea lion is on the breakwater in the middle of the photo.
A dragon boat crew practices their rowing while the sea lion stretches out on the breakwater. 
This dragon boat crew is also so intent on rowing that they don’t see the sea lion either. But he’s laid back down again. 
Kayakers go in for a closer look.
Time for him to check out what is going on.
The sea lion turns over on his side.
MyGrandmaSue 