What Grandchildren Remember

September 29, 2009

The grandparents.com website has a great article here on starting new family traditions. Remember what your favorite things to do were with your grandparents? Create some memories now with your grandchildren!

Share your memories on this page!


San Diego Zoo Panda Cub at 8 Weeks

September 28, 2009

The San Diego Zoo’s now 8-week-old panda cub is starting to open his eyes. From the zoo website: “Meg Sutherland-Smith, D.V.M. said the cub’s left eye is beginning to open, and he squinted when she used a small flashlight to test his vision. The 4th veterinary exam also revealed that the cub’s right ear is opening, although Dr. Sutherland-Smith says the 5.7-pound (2.73-kilogram) cub is likely not hearing sounds yet, only feeling vibrations.”

baby panda video of his fourth exam at San Diego Zoo. His other visits are available on the same site below the video. Here is the live video cam from the panda enclosure. Fun posts and pictures are on the Panda Blog!

October 1-31 is Free Kids Days at the zoo! During the month of October, children (ages 3–11) enjoy FREE admission to the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park!

San Diego Zoo
Current Hours (through October 4):
9 a.m.–6 p.m.

Fall Hours (October 5–December 10):
9 a.m.–5 p.m.
Book Fair – October 9–12; Huge selection of books and new titles during the Fall Book Fair at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park.
All About Enrichment Weekend – October 10 and 11; Keeper talks and fun activities for our animal residents will be held throughout each day.

Wild Animal Park
Current Hours (through November 20):
9 a.m.–5 p.m.
Book Fair – October 9–12 Huge selection of books and new titles during the Fall Book Fair at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park.
Pumpkins at the Park – October 17, 18, 24, 25, and 31; November 1 The Park is transformed into a safe, family friendly Halloween adventure!


Daredevil World Record Motorcycle Jump

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.


The Fullerton Arboretum

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!


Photos From Book Readings

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.

DC1

DC2

Chapel1

Chapel2

Chapel3

BookFamilyAron and Cyndi (Austin’s parents), Austin and Grandpa Ron, Grandma Sue and Pam.


Outdoor Activities in Orange County

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!


Teaching Kids to Read

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!


Nature Rocks

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!


Shared Sibling Activities For Youngsters

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


Happy Grandparents Day!

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.