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.
After being a good boy in the car (Are we there yet?) for a full day’s ride from Medford, Oregon to Reno, NV, last December, Austin was rewarded with a morning of sledding! We all had great fun! He must have had 15 to 20 rides down the little incline of cleared landscape – as in – it had fewer rocks than the rest of the land! Lots of fun in the crispy, fresh air! I posted a few runs on youtube:
…and yet another run… I have lots of short clips but they all stop about half way down the hill because I stop the camera so I can catch him. This one runs a little further! Threeeeeee
…and then a closer look at the nearby rocky bits that we maneuvered around for a toboggan run!
Those of you in the Long Beach area should circle the dates of August 6 and 7 on your calendars for a family outing! A few days ago I saw that Long Beach will be part of the worldly Flugtag craziness this year. Flugtag, sponsored by Red Bull, is coming to Long Beach in the summer of 2010. Still in the early stages of planning, the weekend of August 6-7 at the Pine Avenue Pier at the Pike at Rainbow Harbor will be a buzz with Flugtag pilots. Flugtag (German for “Fly Day” or “Air Day” or “Air Show”) is an opportunity for ill-fated “pilots” in creative craft to attempt to launch off a pier – to land usually soon after in a body of water.
The event is world-wide. The cities chosen to hold the USA part of the fun this year are Long Beach, Denver, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Philidelphia and Miami. More than 80,000 people watched Flugtag in San Francisco and Portland in past years. It originally started in 1991 in Vienna, Austria, by Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz.
The hilarious article that caught my attention was written by Tim Grobaty In the Long Beach Press-Telegram on Jan 14, 2010. Check it out!
Willamette Week Online from Portland ,Oregon, has some behind the scene words and video from 2008 of Flugtag in Portland. It has embedded the U.S. record flying banjo set in 2007 at Red Bull Flugtag Nashville – the banjo crashed early but the flying part with pilot continued for an amzing 155 feet!
www.redbullflugtagusa.com has lots more info and videos! The other page links also have many more funny antics to watch. Enjoy!
Get Outside!! From the National Wildlife Federation website: Did you know that by the time most children go to kindergarten, they have spent more than 5,000 hours in front of a TV – and that is enough time to earn a college degree?
Here is a map to check out the holiday lights in the Long Beach area courtesy of the Long Beach Press-Telegram. I still remember getting in the car with Grandpa and Grandma to drive around and see all the houses that were so prettily decorated for the holiday season in the Chicago area. I say ‘still’ because now I can do it with my own grandchildren!
California Christmas Boat Parades have been fun to watch since we have been in Southern California. They are all up and down the coast however. Last night we had dinner at the Crab Pot and watched the Naples Christmas Boat Parade. Naples is a neighborhood of Long Beach, CA. The Naples Boat Parade has been fun to watch for several years because it is right in our neighborhood. We have seen the Huntington Beach, Newport and Oxnard Boat Parades through the years as well. All sorts of little and large boats get all decked out with lights and other decorations and parade up and down the waterways. This link has a list of dates and locations of boat parades in California. The Long Beach Press-Telegram hard-copy said it had photos online, but I couldn’t find anything with yesterday or today’s date about the parade online. If I do later, I might link it here.
A park naturalist at the El Dorado Nature Center will be guiding a post-holiday trail walk on December 26 from 10 am until noon. The cost is $3/person and you must register in advance. Call 562-570-1745. Walk off some of those Christmas Dinner calories! 🙂
The Center is across the street from the El Dorado Regional Park, which has picnic areas, archery range, stocked lakes, pedal boats, physical fitness course, radio controlled model sailboat and model airplane areas, Caboose Corners train ride and other activities.
Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD) holds free archery instruction with their equipment or your own. There is a one hour safety/orientation class held regularly. For more information, to confirm class schedule or to schedule groups, call Aletha Donathan, Head Archery Instructor at (562) 688-9666.
Some of my favorite memories are making Christmas cookies with grandma over the years. The grandparents.com site has a great page for various recipes to try with children in the kitchen! Gluten-Free Recipes, Cookies, Oatmeal Cookies, Marshmallows, Snacks! Check it out here! Tips for who should do what are here. Have fun!
This year’s Seal Beach Holiday Parade was just as much fun as it has been in the past. Fifteen reading therapy dogs from Beach Animals Reading with Kids (BARK) participated in the parade for the first time and handed out books to children along the parade route on the beautifully decorated Main Street of Seal Beach, CA. The Orange County Register reported that approximately 8,000 people watched the parade. It was a brisk night as reported in another article in the OCR so people cuddled up to stay warm. It still had lots of fun and enjoyment as the floats, dogs, cars and almost 100 groups participated – along with Santa at the end – in the 29th annual event! See OCR photos by clicking the photo tab here.
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MyGrandmaSue 