September 27, 2009
Daredevil Ryan Capes successfully jumped 316 feet between metal ramps with his motorcycle in Reno, NV, as part of the Street Vibrations celebration. First he broke the world record of 252 feet with 287 feet. Then he did a second jump to try to clear 300 feet, his stated goal to the crowd. Here are the Reno Gazette-Journal front page story, sports page story, photo and video. Our Grandson Austin totally LOVES motorcycles! Lots of grandparents and parents were at the ramp jump with their grandkids and kids. In the RGJ front page article, Frank Greenwood of Reno brought his granddaughter to watch the attempt. He explained the dangers involved on the drive over to the Grand Sierra Resort and is quoted as saying: “She [granddaughter] has already asked me about the possibility, and I explained to her just how dangerous this would be. So she understands.”
The event celebrated the grand opening of the Xtreme Sports Bar + Lounge located inside the Grand Sierra Resort. Some estimated the crowd to be more than 20,000 people, to make this event the largest held at the resort ever.
Leave a Comment » | 
Places to Explore | Tagged: child, children, family, fun, Grand Sierra Resort, grandchild, grandchildren, granddaughter, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, grandson, kids, motorcycle daredevil, motorcycle jumping record, motorcycles, Places to Go, Reno, Ryan Capes, Street Vibrations, Xtreme Sports Bar | 
Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
September 23, 2009
A beautiful leaf of a Chinese parasol tree adorned the front page of yesterday’s Orange County Register. More photos were on-line at <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/. I found another beautiful storyblog accompanied by totally awesome photos at Swizzlestix. Information about the Fullerton Arboretum is here. It is celebrating its 30th anniversary this October as described in the Cal State Fullerton Daily Titan. There’s a Children’s Garden and child education activities. Museum info is here. Enjoy!
Leave a Comment » | Places to Explore | Tagged: Arboretum, child, child education activities, children, Children's Garden, flowers, Fullerton Arboretum, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, kids, museum, nature, nature education, nature study, Photography, picnic, Places to Go, plants, trees | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
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…..
Leave a Comment » | Places to Explore | Tagged: Alamitos Bay, breakwater, Dragon Boats, family, fun, Jet Ski Adventure, kayaking, Long Beach, nature, sea lion, Seal Beach | 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 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 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 9, 2009
I’ve already written a couple of blogs on this subject, but this article from Grandparents.com is another great essay on the subject: click here. Have fun!
Leave a Comment » | Routine Activity | Tagged: children, family, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, kids, On the Road With Kids, Playing with Children, road trip | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
September 8, 2009
At Grandparents.com, they have 100 great ideas for spending time your grandchildren – for free. Click ‘Download Now’ at their site for their printable guide.
Leave a Comment » | Routine Activity | Tagged: child, children, family, Free Children's Activities, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, kids, Playing with Children, Routine Activity | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
September 4, 2009
Today I have several links for indoor activities for kids or grandkids. My daughter says it will be raining this weekend in Portland, so here are some home-spun fun ideas. Mommysavers.com has a whole page of frugal fun. HowStuffWorks.com has easy indoor games and crafts. SimpleMom.net has a list of indoor activities. eHow has another fun page of all kinds of activities. Orato.com has a list of 10 Best Rainy Day Games For Kids as well. Should get your imagination started if nothing else!!
Leave a Comment » | Indoor Activities | Tagged: child, children, family, fun, Fun & Games, Fun and Games, grandchild, grandchildren, grandma, grandpa, grandparent, Home Fun, indoor activities for kids, kids, rainy day, rainy day fun, snowy day indoor activities | Permalink
Posted by mygrandmasue
MyGrandmaSue 