June 3, 2009
Special “Summer Thursday” events are planned all summer long (6/18-8/27) at A Children’s Place located at 4807 NE Fremont St in Portland, OR. At 1 pm each Thursday the store will host fun and artsy activities. See Summer Thursday at ACP on the main page of the store.
A Children’s Place Bookstore Story Time! meets every Thursday morning, 10:30-11:00. Parents and little ones are welcome for warm cheer and wonderful storytelling.
Some of the photo/drawings in my book Grandpa, Do It! I Do It, Too! are from the Portland area – because that is where Austin, the grandson in the book, lives!
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Indoor Activities, Places to Explore | Tagged: bookstore, child, children, Children's Book Stores, family, fun, grandchild, grandchildren, grandma, grandpa, kids, Places to Go, portland, story time, storytelling | 
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Posted by mygrandmasue
June 1, 2009
The first Saturday of every month is a free day at the Children’s Museum in La Habra, thanks to funding from Target. Ring of Fire is the theme from the current exhibit (through June 14th) about volcanoes, earthquakes and other causes of earth movement. They are open 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday. For more info check out www.lhccm.org or call 562-905-9793. I also have more info on an earlier blog here.
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Posted by mygrandmasue
May 31, 2009
Calling all Knott’s Chicken dinner lovers! That means you, Leilani!! The Orange County Register is looking for memories (email them to mmello@ocregister.com) for an upcoming story on the Knott’s Berry Farm – Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant in honor of its 75th birthday. Here’s the story. Leilani had us laughing with her stories, so I am sure there are lots more out there. Maybe I can get Leilani to share her story here! I’ll try!!
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Posted by mygrandmasue
May 30, 2009
One shop Grandpa Ron and I ALWAYS visit when we are in Carmel, CA, is Thinker Toys. It is on the corner of 7th and San Carlos. There are educational toys galore! There’s trains and books and games and just all kinds of play things! We must admit that we do enjoy seeing all the games we grew up with as well! 🙂
Their Motto is: “Cool Toys for Thinking Kids of All Ages”
On-Line Motto is: “Great Toys for Thinking Kids of All Ages”
There is also a shop at 480 DelMonte Center in Monterey, CA.
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Posted by mygrandmasue
May 29, 2009
The Huntington is a beautiful place once owned by Henry E Huntington of railroad and Southern CA real estate fame. During his lifetime he collected fine and rare books to create one of the best libraries in the world, accumulated an impressive collection of British art – including Blue Boy and Pinkie, and constructed 130 acres into beautiful botanically-significant gardens.
The camillias are gorgeous – and one of the largest collections in the US.
The Huntington is at 1151 Oxford Rd in San Marino, Ca.
626-405-2100
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Posted by mygrandmasue
May 28, 2009
Stroll gardens and hiking trails in 30 acres of beautiful trees, shrubs and flowering plants at Big Springs Gardens on Highway 49 between Bassetts Station and Sierra City, CA. They serve buffets: Thursday evening BBQ ($37.00 per person), Friday Buffet Luncheon ($35.00 per person), Saturday Early Afternoon BBQ Buffet ($37.00 per person) and Sunday Buffet Brunch (2 seatings ($37.00 per person)) in a lovely open air garden overlooking a tranquil trout pond. Reduced prices for children. Reservations Required (530-862-1333). Cash or Check Only. No Credit Cards.
Open Friday, June 5 – Sunday, September 27, 2009.
Package prices include admission fees to the gardens, the complete meal (minus alcoholic beverages), sales tax and service charge. See the website for details.
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Posted by mygrandmasue
May 27, 2009
Growing up in Fort Atkinson, WI, we periodically visited the local Indian Mounds in Indian Mounds Park as a school trip. There are eleven mounds consisting of tapering linear, conical, bird and turtle mounds. I found them fascinating back when I was 10 but I never thought I’d be studying Indian civilization when I was all grown up! Here is a list of Indian mound parks in Wisconsin (You have to scroll down to Jefferson County for Fort Atkinson.). The Princess Mound is at the Lake Mills Aztalan Museum at the Aztalan State Park, the site of a ceremonial and residential Native American town established around 1100 AD.
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Posted by mygrandmasue
May 27, 2009
Austin and Bella had fun watching the fish going up the fish ladder at Bonneville Dam in Cascade Locks, Oregon near the Columbia River Gorge. In May, a huge ball of sturgeon was discovered at the base of the dam by fisheries biologists, who at first thought it was debris. Sturgeon are one of the Columbia’s largest and most ancient fish. We have enjoyed feeding the fish and strolling the grounds at Bonneville Dam on several ocassions.
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Posted by mygrandmasue
May 25, 2009
A great place to fish or birdwatch with Grandpa is Horseshoe Lake in Southern Illinois near Cairo. It has lots of large-mouth bass and catfish. The whole lake is 4 feet deep (3 ft average). It used to be part of the Mississippi River. There are 15 bald eagles in the Horseshoe Lake area in winter – they like the over 150,000 Canadian Geese that show up too! There is another Horseshoe Lake closer to St. Louis that has Cahokian significance and also the same kind of outdoor experiences available: fishing, boating, hiking, camping, birding and picnic areas.
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Posted by mygrandmasue
May 23, 2009
The illustration of Grandpa Ron and Austin watching big trains in my book Grandpa, Do It! I Do It, Too! is from a photo I took at the Vancouver Washington Railway Station while we watched trains ( called rail fanning ) after Austin woke up from his nap on his 3rd Birthday Party Day. The Vancouver station is special because it is on a “wye” so it has two front doors – one on the northwest side for North-South traffic and one on the southeast for traffic turning East. There are two major Amtrak trains that stop daily each way here: The Empire Builder and The Coast Starlight, and then there are also eight Amtrak Cascades. Here is an interesting article from 2002 about the renovation plans for the station. It is fun to see how it compares to what is happening now (2 more Cascades are going through it!)
There is also a lot of BNSF, Union Pacific and Portland & Western Railroad freight traffic coming and going – and local sorting in the yard, so Grandpa Ron and Austin had lots of trains to watch!
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Posted by mygrandmasue
MyGrandmaSue 
