A Trip Back In Time

Today we took a fun trip back in time at the   Hertiage Farmstead in Plano. This beautiful 4.5 acre historic farmplace is truly a living history exhibit and the Spring Festival was the perfect time to see it all in action.

We got to watch wool spinning and learned about the process. I was really fascinated with this because I know that my cousin has a spinning wheel that belonged to one of my ancestors. What a wonderful family treasure.

After the wool was spun, another lady would use the wool to knit a shawl. She looked so relaxed under a tree quietly knitting.

Nicholas got to use a hand crank mill to grind corn which he then fed to the chickens. If only I could get him to work this hard in our own kitchen!

We learned about bees and watched them working in a real hive.

We smelled the fragrant wisteria which was just starting to bloom.

We visited the old school house. What antique charm! There was a craft there for children to make their own bookmark. Nicholas enjoyed choosing just the right stickers for his.

The kids got to pet a live bunny, just in time for Easter!

We looked at the sheep…

…and even had the chance to watch one get sheared.

We learned about blacksmithing and saw several handcrafted nails made. Fascinating!

Nicholas learned to walk on stilts…

…while Rachel sat and played with gravel.

We learned about pottery and were mesmerized watching this artist at work with his craft.

We listened to a live band play old folk music while Nicholas danced on the bales of hay.

It was a fun day learning about history by living it. Some little ones may have had too much fun…

Heritage Farmstead is located at 1900 West 15th Street in Plano. They offer wonderful hands-on classes for preschoolers that Nicholas has always enjoyed. They also offer other educational classes for older children and even a blacksmithing class for adults. There also offer lectures, summer camps and music festivals. Be sure to check out their events and education sections on their website for more information.

Prepare for Takeoff at the Astronaut Training Center

We spent the morning at the Astronaut Training Center in North Richland Hills. We all had fun. The activities are geared for ages 6 and up so Rachel spent a lot of time in her stroller. But Nicholas’ training was fun to watch so she actually seemed to have a good time too. I did let her out of the stroller a few times so she could try to copy some of the things she had watched big brother do in his training.

We started training in the Countdown Theater where we took a ride on a historical video tour of America’s race to space. We learned of the challenges that scientists and engineers had to overcome in the face of the intense pressure and scrutiny given to the Apollo missions past and future. It was cool because we got to see video of Neil Armstrong and even Alan Shepard who, we learned at NASA, was the first American in space.

Then Nicholas was trained on how to use the reduced gravity simulator. Astronauts have to train for walking around in a reduced gravity environment such as Mars where the gravity is 38% of the gravity of Earth or the Moon where it is only 16.67% of the Earth’s gravity.

After watching Nicholas and the other kids do this for quite a while, she insisted on trying it too. She knew how to get into position but just stopped at that point.

There were lots of educational boards around the training area with pictures and information about space and astronauts. We learned about the moon and then Nicholas got to use the lunar landing simulator. First he landed the lunar module and then controlled his character to exit the craft and walk on the moon. He liked this a lot.

Rachel liked trying to press the keys on the keyboard.

Next Nicholas was trained on the zero gravity simulator which gives the feeling of zero gravity in 2 dimensions. This was a rather impressive contraption and definitely one of Nicholas’ favorite activities here.

Next it was time to don a spacesuit and walk on the moon!

Getting his air tank and hoses attached to his suit…

Wow, he’s one cute looking astronaut!

Nicholas descends the ladder from the Apollo and approaches the moon…

One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind…

Reading the plaque that the astronauts of Apollo 11 left on the moon.

Just for informational purposes, here’s a image of the plaque.

Picking up moon rocks with a long “grabber”…

Nicholas had a lot of fun with the R/C rover.

Astronaut training for your little one costs $15 and it was worth it. We were there for over three hours and had a great time. The Astronaut Training Center is located at 6720 NE Loop 820, (SE Corner of 820 & Rufe Snow Dr) in North Richland Hills, TX. They are open from 10:00 – 3:00. Also, they are only open during the summer so if you want to go, get going or else you’ll have to wait until next summer. You can call them at 817-788-2926 to find out their exact schedule and last day of operation for this summer.

Kid Country Playground

We met at a local park for Rachel’s playgroup today. Kids Country playground in Coppell will always be a special playground for me. When I was pregnant with Nicholas, I was working right down the street from this park. I would often drive to the park to enjoy my lunch and write in my pregnancy journal about the blessing of being pregnant as well as the trials of outgrowing my clothes and the joys of morning sickness that lasted all day. I usually liked to sit in my car in the parking lot so I could also listen to music while writing (and to enjoy the air conditioning!). This picture is the view of the playground from the place I usually parked. I used to watch the kids playing with their mommies and long for the day when I could take my own child to play there. Now I have two sweet little blessings that I take here often.

This playground is so incredible. It was built by community volunteers with sponsorships from individuals as well as businesses. It is all built from wood and looks very fort-like.

There are lots of swings and even obstacle course pieces throughout the playground.

There is also an amphitheater, sand box, tic-tac-toe board, slides, and lots of benches and picnic tables. Plus there are lots of trees to keep the most of the playground shaded. It is truly a remarkable playground.

Can you tell that Rachel watches everything her 6 year old brother does?

Playing at the Music Board

Rachel likes to throw things away. She was walking on the playground structure and happened to notice a piece of trash on the ground as she looked between two boards. She kept telling me, “Trash! Trash!” and seemed upset that we were going to scramble down under the boardwalk to get the piece of trash and throw it away. Hmm, maybe a little Obsessive-Compulsive?

Driving the train…

There is a giant sandbox where all the kids like to play. We usually bring lots of sand toys with us but on this visit there were already tons of toys to play with.

Kid Country playground is part of the Andrew Brown East Park on Parkway in Coppell. It is next to the Coppell Aquatics and Rec Center. There are also restrooms and a pond nearby where you can feed the ducks.

SHREK the Musical GIVEAWAY {NEW Winner Announced}

UPDATE: We have a WINNER! Congratulations to Candace of Mama Mia you were selected at Random to win a Family 4-Pack of Tickets  to Shrek The Musical on September 28, 2010 at 8pm at Music Hall at Fair Park. Have a great time!!!!! Original was Jenni Pearl, unfortunately, she was unable to attend, so back to Random.org I went and Voila! Candace is our new Winner!! Congrats!

 

This Texas heat is brutal. As much we  love outdoor fun, we are constantly scrambling to find some cool, fun, INdoor activities as well. 

Boy, do I have the perfect treat for you and it is a good one too! 

WooHoo! We are giving away more tickets, to yet another fantastic show, thanks to the great people over at Dallas Summer Musicals!

 

 SHREK THE MUSICAL, based on the Oscar®-winning DreamWorks film that started it all, brings the hilarious story of everyone’s favorite ogre to life on stage. 

In a faraway kingdom turned upside down, things get ugly when an unseemly ogre – not a handsome prince – shows up to rescue a feisty princess. Throw in a donkey who won’t shut up, a villain with a SHORT temper, a cookie with an attitude and over a dozen other fairy tale misfits, and you’ve got the kind of mess that calls for a real hero. Luckily, there’s one on hand… and his name is Shrek. 

Featuring a terrific score of 19 all-new songs, big laughs, great dancing and breathtaking scenery, WWOR-TV proclaims SHREK THE MUSICAL, “FAR, FAR AND AWAY THE FUNNIEST NEW MUSICAL ON BROADWAY!” 

SHREK THE MUSICAL is part romance, part twisted fairy tale and all irreverent fun for everyone!  Oh and I did check the “rating” and according to Dallas Summer Musicals the Appropriateness Rating: “Completely family friendly”*  

For all Shrek fun all the time, visit Shrekster.com and join the Dallas group to share your love for Shrek with fans across the country! 

  

  

Pictured: Eric Petersen (Shrek), Alan Mingo, Jr. (Donkey), Haven Burton (Princess Fiona)  

  

You can purchase tickets at the following locations: Single ticket prices range from $29-133.50 and are on sale now. Tickets will be available at The Box Office, 542 Preston Royal Shopping Center, all Ticketmaster outlets, by visiting www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 214-631-ARTS (2787). Group orders of 15 or more may be placed by calling 214-426-GROUP. 

BurbMom.net is giving away a Family 4-Pack of Tickets to Shrek The Musical on September 28, 2010 at 8pm at Music Hall at Fair Park. Your ticket to the show gets you into the State Fair of Texas for free on the same day as your tickets! Parking, food, and additional items not included in prize. 

See, I told you it was good! 

How to enter: 

1. Leave a comment telling us which Shrek character is your favorite & why
2. Tweet/Facebook about this contest and then leave a comment telling us you did so.
3. Blog about this contest, link back to BurbMom.net and then leave a comment telling us so.
4. Like our Facebook Page and then leave us a comment that your now a fan. 

That is 4 whole entries, folks! It just doesn’t get any better than that. 

Deadline to enter is August 31, 2010 at 5pm. We will announce the winner on September 1, 2010 and notify the winner by email. Please leave your email address in your post, so that we can contact you, if we do not have it already.

 GOOD LUCK!

Paradise Pond Indoor Playground

Paradise Pond is one of the best kept secrets in the area. It is a children’s play area at First Baptist Church Grapevine. It is just a big open room with 10 different areas for play.

There is a bounce house with a slide and a giant climbing structure.

There is an area with cars, trucks, and trains. Another area has a little grocery store complete with cash register and shopping carts.

There is a magnetic toy area where you can learn about magnets and even build small structures with them. There is also a Lego/building block area with table and chairs for little ones to sit and build with Duplo blocks. They even have Duplo animals that can attach to your structures. There are even some giant cardboard “bricks” to build a life-size fort.

There is a see-saw, a little roller coaster ride, and a climbing wall. This is as far as Rachel got on the climbing wall despite many many attempts.

She had no trouble with the tunnels though! Back and forth she went, over and over and over again.

There is even a costume area with some really neat costumes for girls and boys. What kid doesn’t have fun playing dress up!

Paradise Pond is only open on Thursday and Friday mornings from 9:00 – 11:00 am. However, during the summer they will also be open on Monday mornings. But you have to get there early, especially during the summer time, because they can only allow in 125 people at a time so they fill up quickly. I’ve come many times and seen this depressing sign out front telling parents that they are full. Talk about some unhappy kiddos!

Best of all, Paradise Pond is a great place to go during the hot summer months. It’s indoors and air conditioned but also has water fountains and restrooms. And when you are done you can take the kids just a few blocks over to Main Street and visit some of the great shops and restaurants in Historic Grapevine. Another great thing about Paradise Pond is that you can bring the whole family and not spend an arm and a leg because it only costs $1.00 per person! How cool is that?! Check them out for birthday parties too! They are located at 301 E. Texas Street in Grapevine. Have questions, call Kirsey at 817-488-8573 ext. 247.

See you at The Pond!

Jump Zone in Southlake

Rachel and I visited Jump Zone in Southlake with her playgroup friends. However, she was so excited about the place, she walked and climbed and bounced constantly so I hardly had a chance to even look around to say hi to our friends for trying to keep both eyes on my Speedy Gonzales toddler!

Rachel loved this place. There were lots of toddler-friendly bounce houses. Rachel played in the bounce houses a lot…but she also spent quite a bit of time just climbing into a bounce house and then out of a bounce house and into a bounce house and out of a bounce house, etc. Not fun when Mommy is trying to follow close behind because Mommy doesn’t like shimmying in and out of those things so quickly.

There were even a few big kid bounce houses with really tall slides but we didn’t spent any time in those.

In addition to bouncing, Rachel also caught bubbles and colored some pictures.

Rachel really enjoyed the slides in the bounce houses. She giggled as she climbed her way up the ladder and then stopped, turned around, and slid down the slide backwards on her tummy. It’s funny but that’s the way we’ve taught her to go down the stairs in our house so it only makes sense that she would go down a slide this way. I always try to position her and help her go down forward but the next time around she goes back to her tummy.

Jump Zone is a fun place to play. They also have a concession stand for the little ones who have to refuel after burning off all that energy.

Tips for Fun at the Lake

One of the best ways to beat the summer heat is to spend a day (or even a few hours) at one of our many local lakes in the DFW area with the kids and family or as a fun day out with friends. I have had the personal pleasure of visiting many of our lakes, and so far my favorites are Lewisville Lake at Lake Park and Grapevine Lake at Murrell Park just south of Flower Mound on the north shore of the lake.

During the summertime, I make it a special priority to get the kids out as much as I can so they can enjoy the water while it lasts. Murrell Park has become one of my personal favorites because of its easy access and free price tag. Although Murrell Park does not offer a playground like Lake Park does, it does offer quieter and more secluded surroundings as well as many hiking and biking trails in close proximity. Murrell park currently has tent and primitive camping, but is undergoing an expansion to increase camping facilities.

I’ve found the following tips helpful when planning a day out with young children:

1.) Wear sunscreen and bring extra, applying as directed. There is nothing worse than spending good quality time together just to be miserable afterward. Bring a hat and sunglasses for extra protection.

2.) Bring towels and wear old shoes you don’t mind wearing in the water and therefor getting wet.

3.) Bring a cooler with drinks, water, fruit, and premade sandwiches or other snacks to eat. Alcohol is prohibited at Lake Grapevine (check with other lakes on their rules).

4.) If you don’t mind carrying them, bring foldable lightweight chairs and a radio with batteries.

5.) Bring fun water toys such as pool noodles, water squirters, flotation devices.

6.) WEAR A LIFE JACKET! There are no lifeguards on duty and a drowning can happen in seconds!

7.) Don’t forget your fully charged camera!

You can also take these tips from my dog, Lily:

The Write Stuff Summer Writing Camp

Seriously, why go to a summer writing camp?  I mean it’s summer!

But you know what?  Writing is FUN!!  It doesn’t have to be paragraphs and essays and work, work, work.

Teaching children the tools to craft their own story allows them to become masters of their imagination, teaches them to communicate better, helps them capture ideas, and develops confidence.

Writing strengthens speech, vocabulary and sentence construction, but it also teaches skills like decision making and problem solving.  In addition, writing a story allows kids to explore their own feelings about situations and consider other peoples’ circumstances.

The Write Stuff Summer Writing Camp offers writing camps to get kids fired up about writing (the last session runs the week of August 16th, just in time to get kids jazzed about school!).

Every story has a hero or heroine, someone who’s on a journey, fighting the good fight, and who must overcome obstacle after obstacle before he or she triumphs!  Look at Percy Jackson.  He’s a great example of a hero.  And Mulan is a perfect example of a heroine.  We’ll look at these heroes and heroines and create our own!

Storytelling is filled with dark forces and characters we love to hiss and boo at. Delve into the world of villains and understand the motivations that make them so evil and complex! You’ll choose a dark and dastardly character and work to capture his/her voice and perspectives. Darth Vader wasn’t really all that bad, was he?

Once upon a time fairy tales were predictable; but at The Write Stuff, fascinating twists and turns can occur in the story!  We might “pretzel” those plots by scripting ebay ads for glass slippers, or creating recipe books for gingerbread-house-dwelling witches. We’ll make animals talk and give stories a twist.  Wizards, gnomes, fire-eaters, unicorns and other characters flung from afar in your imagination are welcome. Imaginations required!

Do the slithering serpents atop Medusa’s head truly turn men to stone? Just what’s with the symbolism of Pandora’s Box? Greek myths explain life’s mysteries.  We might create our own mythologies, fraught with heroes, monsters and enchanted lands.

Do it at The Write Stuff, or do it at home.  But keep those kids writing this summer!

Texas Town: Dallas Arboretum

The Dallas Arboretum is a beautiful place in the Spring, which is when we have always ventured there. Last Fall, we decided to check out their Great Pumpkin Festival.  Turns out the “Festival” was a big dud…pretty much just hay & pumpkins, which we have 3 minutes down the road!

But, there was a fantastic permanent display called “Texas Town” that we had never discovered before. It was a kid-sized 19th Century Texas village, complete with a church, school house, general store, houses, etc. We spent almost 2 hours just in Texas Town. Reese came up with all sorts of scenarios and pretend play stories. We really had a great time!

Anytime there’s a big lawn & a bird, you can guess what a 3 year old will do! Reese didn’t quite catch the bird, but he sure ran far away from Mommy! If someone were following me with a camera, you would see me running, saying “Reese, come back here!”

Each of the play houses were full of old-timey tools, books, furniture, and just about anything else you could think of. It really felt authentic (or what I assume to be authentic!).

Reese was trying to get the water pump to work, but no such luck.

The Church had these great little windows that were covered in twigs. Inside the church, covering every inch of the walls, were handwritten passages from the Bible. Very cool!

Reese with some sort of antique press kitchen tool. My guess was it was for pressing cooked apples to make applesauce. Reese thought it was for making mud. I’ll have to do some research to figure out what exactly it is. It looks like a huge garlic press. Hmmmm.

Reese found an old wire wheelbarrow & was hauling this iron skillet between all the houses. It was so fun to watch him create for so long with these old tools & kitchen supplies!

Heather writes about her adventures with her son at Reese’s View of the World.

Gems Found on a Hike Through the Woods

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