Today I read my Sunset Magazine from cover to cover. Got on-line to hopefully find the First Person article by Anne Lamott but instead I found the article on Portland’s Chinatown in Spring with all the cherry blossoms blooming: Portland day trip: Old Town Chinatown. Sounds like great fun. I do love Portland.
Portland is very kid and family friendly. This Deliciousbaby link has some good ideas. Our family has enjoyed the Children’s Museum, the Oregon Zoo and Powell’s Book Store. Some other suggestions are on Disney’s family.com site. OregonMom.com is even more plentiful. That should keep you full of ideas for a while!! Have fun!!
The National Park Service has a great Kid’s page called Webrangers and you get to the fun stuff through the entry gate page by clicking the Enter button. I had fun solving the two train mysteries – click on the New Activity Railroad Connection to learn how to drive the steam engine and blow the whistle – among other things – while earning clues to solve the mystery. The Railroad Connection also has a nice rail/national park connection in the second mystery. I entered the site as a visitor. It looks like you have to sign up to do the other activities. Ah, ha! No – I was given the key. Tom Davies, from the WebRangers website, wrote me to say you can get in to the other WebRangers activities without signing up. From the entry page, just click on the “Just Visit” button and then, on the next page, “Come in and look around.”
More than 108,000 people have signed up to become WebRangers and he knows that many of them are not kids! You can read his note by clicking on the 1 comment at the end of this entry or by clicking on the title to get to its own page where the comment will be at the end. 🙂
I was “googling around” for toddler activities the other day when I came across Jean Warren and her fabulous preschoolexpress.com with wonderful ideas and activities for parents and teachers to do with toddlers and preschoolers. Do check it out – over and over again! Of course I loved the train theme (so does Grandpa Ron!) but all the ideas for learning, skill building, reading, singing, games, activities, parties, food and cooking with kids, etc., etc., etc., just go on and on! You’ll surely find some stations that will keep your toddler engaged and eager for more! Do check it out!
The Feb 13th Orange County Register had frog facts and an article by Eric Carpenter called Can you ribbit? which sounds much more interesting than its on-line version Giant toads, poisonous frogs move into Muzeo, although the words were the same – but either one brings fond memories of my sister Lori. Not that she is a frog, mind you, but that she likes frogs, collects frogs and tolerates every-frog-item-I-see-I-usually-buy-and-send-her frogs! Actually, Chris Carpenter’s article highlights the exhibit Frogs: A Chorus of Colors at the Muzeo in Anaheim from February 13, 2010 – September 5, 2010. Check out the video highlights with zoologist Sandy Mangold and then there are also the photos. Sandy and the frogs flew here from Pennsylvania. Kermit isn’t here but there are over 150 live frogs! Have fun! The Muzeo hours are 10-5 7 days a week. More info here.
I am/was always the photographer of the family. I also loved going through albums and boxes of photos my mom and grandma had saved. Unfortunately we forget to write down who all is in the picture and soon we are left with unknowns, not-sures, no-clues and possible relatives in so many pictures! I found a cute little project on the grandparents.com site that got my creative juices going again. Take a look here at the article Why Family Photos Matter by Beverly Beckham. When I get mine done, I’ll post it – but don’t hold your breath till I do so since I still need to get my Christmas cards out!
Harlem Globetrotter Nate “Big Easy” Lofton taught some special lessons to kids at the Discovery Science Center as captured by Michael Mello in the Orange County Register. Photos and Video also document the presentation. Lofton’s visit was part of the kick-off for the new Secrets of Circles exhibit at the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, CA. The exhibit will be available for kids to explore through May 2.
Two years ago Globetrotters Eugene “Wildkat” Edgerson and “Sweet” Lou Dunbar visited the Anaheim Boys and Girls Club on a Friday afternoon for similar life lessons.
One of the Harlem Globetrotters community outreach programs is C.H.E.E.R. For Character which aims to teach kids Cooperation, Healthy mind & body, Effort, Enthusiasm, and Responsibility.
Austin demonstrates his rock star moves with his new guitar that he got last Christmas. Now he just needs to practice his strumming! Grandma remembers her moves also – to turn her camera in the proper direction for the video!
The car trip from Portland to Reno went quite well with Austin. His version of ‘Are we there yet?’ is ‘Are we in Reno yet?’ We had to spend the night in Medford since the pass was closed due to snow. In the morning the glistening snow was gorgeous. The snow in the Sierras was beautiful, too, but the road was totally clear!
Once we got to Reno we had fun snaking up the driveway wih 3″ of snow. The driveway has just the wrong slant to it to get up easily… Austi and Papa played with trains after dinner. Now we make it to bed for a long winter’s nap. In the morning Austin and Papa will snow blow the driveway!
Grandpa Ron and I had a great weekend in Portland with Austin, Bella, Madison and family! It had lots of surprises, twists and turns, yet it was a whole lot of fun and very insightful for us.
Austin is so much taller and so much more vocal! Bella is so much more a young lady as well – she’s four. I had fun one-on-one time with Austin on Friday while Grandpa Ron was serving jury duty. Then Austin, Bella and I went back to the Portland airport and picked up Grandpa Ron – practicing counting to a hundred and twenty five along the way.
Then on Saturday Bella and I went with Mommy to her Baby Shower while Grandpa and Austin went to the Vancouver, WA train station and watched trains move around.
Back in the hotel room Austin used the portable luggage holder as his own train. He climbed in, sat on the middle straps and showed us how he was moving his train – with air brake releases, clunking and sssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh-ing and all. Sometimes he was the conductor and sometimes he was the engineer. It was a lot of fun watching his imagination at work. I do have pictures so I’ll get them posted – maybe tomorrow night. Now it is time to unpack and get to bed for bright eyes for work in the morning!!
Grandpa Ron and I had a great time at the California State Railroad Museum yesterday in Sacramento, CA. We wandered through the Lincoln Exhibit and learned many new tidbits of information. For example, neither of us knew that Abe Lincoln floated down the Mississippi River on a flat boat to take items to market in New Orleans. It gave him a small impression of how large the United States is and helped ground his firm belief that railroads were a way to unite the country. The name of the exhibit is “The Rail Splitter and the Railroads: Lincoln, the Union and the Golden State.” It will be showcased in the Museum’s Theater Mezzanine Gallery through February 15, 2010.
We also got to tour the inside of the beautiful Gold Coast Observation car which was a special treat not normally offered during regular visits to the museum. From the museum website: “Georgia Northern No. 100 Gold Coast Central of Georgia 1905 Private Car Ex Central of Georgia No. 97; Georgia Northern No. 100; Lucius Beebe & Charles Clegg’s private car. Gift 8/1969 of R&LHS, Pacific Coast Chapter. Restored by CSRM to 1948-50 appearance.”
We were there for a special Trainmaster Reception event for museum donors. We had a really wonderful time meeting other patrons of the museum and tapping our toes to the music of the Black Irish Band as they sang lots of railroad songs along with their Irish and Italian numbers.
The museum is a great place to take the grandkids and family – the kids get to see up front and close just how big the train cars are! Train rides are also possible. Here is visitor information. Here is the 2009 Calendar of Events.
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MyGrandmaSue 