This year for my daughters Spring Break we decided to go somewhere that is within driving distance. We were looking at Washington D.C., Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin since we live in the Midwest these were all relatively close. We ended up coming to Boyne Mountain in Michigan.

We have been here for 2 days and have been relaxing for most of the time. My girls have enjoyed watching the skiiers and snowboarders as well as enjoying the children’s activites at the main lodge. My husband and I are not skiing this time as I am expecting so we are trying to find other things to do with the girls. My 6 year old is in “LOVE” with photography and has been making my husband pull over whereever he can so that she can get out of the car and take pictures of the Lake. It is beautiful BUT cold. We got a few inches of snow last night but not enough to slow us down. We are heading to a Discovery Museum in Jordan, Michigan today and then to a local candy shop.

The girls love Boyne!

A friend just told me about a great place to go…THANKS CHERYL!!

Escape with your Family to Splash Universe in Dundee, MI or Shipshewana, IN with over 100,000 gallons of water park fun!

From twisting waterpark slides and 500 gallon splash bucket, to the relaxing lazy river it’s always a summery 84 degrees. Take a break from our indoor water parks and hit the action in the shooting star arcade, then enjoy a delicious meal at our very own restaurants.

Start your splash-tastic adventure by diving into your day in our indoor waterpark! Splash Universe guarantees family fun year-round, rain or shine.

www.splashuniverse.com

Leprechaun visit

A little leprechaun visits our house every year on March 1st and decorates our door with Shamrocks. I would love to take credit for this but can’t as its my daughters Godparents, who we are lucky enough to have as neighbors that do this every year. My 6 year old kept trying to tell my 3 year old that there is no Leprecahun and that “Auntie Debbie” did the decorating, needless to say this caused a fight. I had to pull my older daughter to the side and explain to her that her sister believes that a Leprechaun visited and that she shouldn’t ruin it for her. Now my 6 year old is excited to “play” along and get in on the action!
My girls love the Shamrock decorations and and know that Spring is around the corner when this happens!

HAPPY MARCH!

My daughters class had a field trip to the Planetarium yesterday. We live in Northwest Indiana so most field trips are to Chicago so I assumed we were taking a trip to the Adler Planetarium. Much to my surprise we were going to a local Planetarium, the Merrillville Planetarium. WHO KNEW?

Actually the Planetarium is housed in Pierce Middle School and was a short ride, which is great when on a school bus. They gave us time to eat lunch first while a previus group was finishing up and then it was our turn. We entered a domed room with reclining seats and the kids were pretty excited to get started. They learned how the sun rises and sets, learned about Orion, The North Star, The Big and Little Dippers, The moon and Spaceships and had tons of questions for our presenter! Overall it was a good experience, a shorter trip if you don’t have much time but a great experience and they made it appropriate for our 1st graders.

My co-leader and I took our girl scouts on a field trip to a local grocery store (Strack and Van’Til) yesterday. Sometimes you run out of places to go and things to do, we found this place thru a direct mailing from www.Fieldtripfactory.com. If you visit the site, you type in your zip code and find field trip places in your town, many of which are free.

Our girls got to visit different areas of the store, the Dairy Section, Produce Section, Meat Section, Deli Section and Bakery. In most areas they got to sample a food, learned about making healthy food choices and also learned how items got from other countries to the U.S.A. At the end of the visit they got to scan some items at Checkout and received a goodie bag to take home. Overall they enjoyed the visit, although a few were a little squeemish when in the Meat Cooler (my daughter included).

Pretty Girl!

I just found this picture from the summer. I know it doesn’t have anything to do with where kids like to go…but more about what kids like to do! I walked out of the room to send a FAX, I was gone maybe a minute or 2, just long enough to put the paper in the FAX machine, dial the number and Push Send. My daughter, 2 at the time, just smiled at me when I walked back in!

This brought a smile to my face today..and sometimes you need to smile. And in case you were wondering..YES, THOSE WERE PERMANENT MARKERS

The Idea Factory

First of all can I say “put on your walking shoes”. My girls were off of school for winter break so we decided to take them to The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. We have gone 2 other times in the past few months, but for very short periods of time.

Our goal for this visit was to see everything we could see….at least that was our Brainy idea for the day. So we visited, the Farm area , The “Future”, The “I Spy” area, we went on a Submarine, went on an Airplane, visited a Ship, a Train, A miniature city with Trains (Chicago and Seattle), Watched Chix hatching…and now my 6 year old will NEVER and I mean NEVER eat an egg again, especially after seeing the stringy stuff in the shell…

Our favorite part of the whole visit was the “IDEA Factory” which is for kids up to age 10. It was awesome! There are wind tunnels, tons of water. Here is a little tidbit from their website:

Children can explore the attributes of four basic objects: cube, sphere, tetrahedron and cylinder. Using these objects, they’ll experiment and test their own theories about the fundamentals of construction, simple machines, light, color, magnetism, balance, air and water. For example, kids aged three to five years can explore the effect of differently shaped wheels on the speed and flow of movement and how air pressure affects the flow of bubbles.

Construction Crane encourages children to use hand-eye coordination to retrieve and move objects with an electromagnetic crane. Kids aged 6-10 years can use a crane to lift heavier objects remotely and determine how weight affects distribution of balance. They can also observe the different ways to manipulate white light versus laser light using prisms, lenses and mirrors.
The Water Spectacle contains 3,300 gallons of water and invites children to build and navigate their own boats, discover how water moves objects and help set off the great geyser—an enormous water spray that is triggered by manipulation of hand and foot controls.

This was the best part of the museum for my girls and a definite when you visit the museum. Just make sure to put on your walking shoes!