Aug 31, 2009 | Arkansas, Travel, Uncategorized, United States
The kids between a rock and a hard place
This weekend was gorgeous. Friday I had a Girl Scout startup cookout here. Then we just hung out here on Saturday and enjoyed the pool- but the kids were itching to run- so Sunday was a road trip day. We drove to Petit Jean and hiked.
Rocky “face” with fern beard
Scott just hanging out
Cole enjoying the view
What I saw the most of (trying to find my family)
Aug 27, 2009 | Uncategorized
At the zoo (A is for ape)
Jac is learning how to read. A major life accomplishment that, as his mom and teacher, I am privileged to witness. My smart cookie now knows all his alphabet sounds (although maybe not the names of all of the letters.) To celebrate we’ve been making an alphabet book with pictures we’ve taken. After going through our pictures yesterday we realized most were animal pictures so we’re going with an ABC zoo theme!
I was going to make the book using Shutterfly (I had a free 8×8 book coupon and I’m cheap) but…
I didn’t get it done in time. I found this site that has the CUTEST templates for an ABC animal book (just like the one I want to make.) You can even customize it! I’ll keep you posted when I get it done (and printed!)
(Z is for zebra)
Aug 20, 2009 | Green Living
I am thinking about the footprints we leave on this earth.
We really try to do the right thing, but as Americans we have some bad habits.
I was looking for Carbon Footprint Calculators, and thought this one was the easiest (and coolest to look at) that I’ve found so far. (It’s also posted as a widget at the bottom of my blog.)
Now, I do these periodically, just to see how a change we’ve made as a family has impacted our footprint. I was surprised at ours. The calculator breaks your footprint down in four categories:
Transportation
Housing
Goods/Services
Food
My household came out normal in transportation. (Do you know how hard it is to find a car that will hold 6 people that gets decent gas mileage? IMPOSSIBLE!) But, we do try and combine our trips- getting all errands run on a certain day, etc.
In Housing we were high. We have an old house, which I love, but our energy bills are crazy. Not sure what to do there. We’ve gotten all new appliances that are Energy Star rated, have all energy efficient bulbs in our lighting, etc. I think our main problem is our heat/air unit. It is OLD and probably really inefficient (thus the crazy electric bill.) Insulation would help a lot too, I’m sure. Our gas and water bills though are lower than normal. (Yay for the rain barrels!)
In Goods/Services & Food we do much better than average. I really have been trying to make conscious choices when I shop (and if I shop.) Trying to buy everything local and Arkansas made is my first wave. I make my own cleaning products which saves on packaging. We are buying all our produce at a local farmer’s market. I get my eggs and cheese there too when available. We don’t eat red meat, which also saves on carbon emissions. Watching what type of packaging when you shop is important (but I’ll admit that is hard sometimes.) We buy clothes only when needed, and lots of times we find what we need at the local thrift store (but I do love Hanna Anderson for the kids!)
Try the widget out and let me know how you fared!
Aug 18, 2009 | Uncategorized
I REALLY didn’t feel like heating up the kitchen today since it was so hot and muggy. Everyone wanted to know what was for supper, so here’s what I threw together…
(some Pepperoni & Cheese, and
some Basil, heirloom tomatoes, & baby bufalo mozzarella)
Salad with Yellow Heirloom ‘matos, almonds & goat cheese
Fruit Salad
I kept the silly looking place settings in the picture because I’m so proud of my little guy’s job of setting the table! It’s so nice when they can “help!” Not bad for a 4 year old!
Aug 14, 2009 | Travel, Uncategorized
My cousin has a new fun Mr.Linky on her site. Here’s my answer…
Oh, I love to travel. Luckily my honey does too. Some of my faves…
Coba, Mexico (on the steps to a pyramid)
With family in Playa del Carmen
We love Quintana Roo, state in Mexico. We honeymooned there 17 yrs ago. We went every year for awhile. A couple of times with friends and once with family. We like to stay in the Iberostar chain hotels, but now our family is larger (and they only allow 4 to a room) we haven’t been back but once I guess. Have to rent a house there soon!
City Museum
Then there is St. Louis. What an awesome family trip! Last year we drove up and hit all the hot spots (City Museum, Arch, zoo, Transportation museum, Blue Owl Bakery…) FUN!
And
San Antonio! We rode the train there over Spring Break and had a fantastic trip. We stayed at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort & Spa (I sooo recommend this place for families! Free bikes and trails, fantastic pool and beach, close to Sea World, great food…) Hit the Witte museum, SA zoo, Alamo, Riverwalk…
Another great trip was our drive from Arkansas to California! We saw lots of fun things that were along the old Route 66, went to the Grand Canyon, LA, Pasadena, La Jolla (Scripps museum) San Diego…
on the way back went to Arizona and saw more fun things. (Hint, if you join a science museum close to you then usually it’s reciprocal with museums all over the world. We usually don’t have to pay a dime anywhere and a family membership is around $70 for a year.)
Picture of Train in Grand Canyon (Max took this!)
Legoland
Our next trip is Orlando (Disneyworld) this fall. Can’t wait! I would like our trip after that to be Panamá.
The kids between a rock and a hard place
Rocky “face” with fern beard
Scott just hanging out
Cole enjoying the view
What I saw the most of (trying to find my family)
