Last year I had some pretty specific requirements for the kids’ spring break: I did not want to fly, I did not want to spend money on boarding our dog, and I wanted to give the kids some sort of historical or cultural experience.

We live in Northern California and there is plenty to see and do within a 3-hour radius of the San Francisco Bay Area.  We are pretty spoiled. To the northeast are the beautiful Sierras and Lake Tahoe. To the south is Monterey, the amazing coastline and of course Southern CA and all that has to offer including Disneyland.  To the north is Napa, Sonoma and all that wine country has to offer. Then of course, there’s all the amazing sights and sounds in San Francisco itself.

I wanted to find something new and maybe go a little farther than we’d otherwise gone. So after much research, I informed the family that the five of us (yes we were going to bring along our Labradoodle Cooper, remember no boarding fees!) were going to explore the beautiful California Redwoods to the north.  This post is a summary of that trip and all the things we saw and did. I highly recommend this trip to everyone that wants to explore the majestic beauty of the California redwoods with kids or without.

Family spring break to the California Redwoods

 Our 5-day, 4-night trip to the California Redwoods

Our final destination was to be Elk Meadow Cabins in Orick, California.  These adorable cabins are about 5  1/2 hours north of San Francisco and 1 1/2 hours south of the Oregon border.  The reason you want to ge here? The cabins sit right in the middle of the natural path of a herd of Roosevelt Elk.

Some of  the cabins are pet-friendly but not all and because I could only get a reservation for 3-nights in one of the pet-friendly cabins, I had to find another spot to stay for 1-night.  This worked out well and broke up our trip a little bit so we took our time and stopped and slept on the Avenue of the Giants on the way up.

Tips before you go:

Food

Pack all your  food for meals before you leave because there’s really NOTHING up there in terms of grocery stores. I took a giant cooler with breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinners planned out and it was perfect. Once you get there you have full kitchen with a stove, microwave, dishwasher, washer/dryer etc., and oh yeah a coffee machine

Clothing

When we went it was Spring. And yeah even though this is California, this is still north and it can be chilly. There was rain in the forecast for the week we went and temperatures looked like they were going to hover around 50-55 F. Pack everybody up with warm layers and waterproof boots and jackets and you will be fine.  Summertime I hear is another story so call ahead and get the scoop for that time of year.

Books to read with your kids

I wanted the kids to be a little prepared for where we were going. Also, I didn’t really have a clue about this part of California so I was hoping to learn a little bit myself. In preparation for the trip, I bought a couple of books about the Redwoods.  My favorite was definitely Redwoods by Jason Chin.  The kids favorite was the Who Pooped in the Park? Shocking I know… Anything with poop in the title is sure to be a winner for kids.

Note on taking your dog:

While some of the Elk Meadow Cabins are pet-friendly, surprisingly not all the hiking trails and parks were. Some of the trails with some of the oldest and biggest redwoods did not allow dogs at all and when they did, it was always on leash. So while I was really glad we brought Cooper along for this family vacation, I was surprised that he had to stay in the car for some of the adventures.

OK so this was our itinerary… We took our time getting up to Orick and stopped along the way.

Day 1

We traveled north up Highway 101 to Willits and then cut across to the coast on 20. This road winds quite a bit so if your crew gets easily carsick – be warned!

When we reached the sea, we got out and stretched and had a mini adventure at the coast at Fort Bragg.  We watched the seals swim in and out of the kelp and a lone fisherman pull in some nets. The stop was absolutely beautiful even with grey skies.

Coastline leg-stretch stop

Next we drove Route 1 up to our first real sightseeing stop: the Drive-Thru Chandelier tree in Leggett. This was a serious highlight for us.  It was nerve-wracking to drive the mini-van through the tree but we made it and then had fun watching everyone else try to get through as well.

Drive-thru Chandelier Tree at Leggett in the California Redwoods.

After some browsing in the cute drive-thru tree gift shop, we got back on the road and make a stop in Garberville at Cecil’s New Orleans Bistro for dinner. I’d scoped out the place online and was totally skeptical of the raving reviews.  Pulling into the tired and sleepy town I really wasn’t sure what we were in for.  But the food was seriously tasty and the staff was incredibly friendly. It was a real surprise and treat on the road.

Next we drove to our motel/hotel on the Avenue of the Giants at Miranda Gardens Resort in Miranda. This was the place I found to break up our trip since the cabin at Elk Meadow wasn’t available for this first night. We piled into a cozy one-bedroom cottage with a pullout couch and fells asleep after a fun first day.

Day 2

First thing in the morning we all woke up to sound of the pouring rain. Luckily there was a great greasy spoon right across the street and bundled up and headed out.

L: Rustic stores and breakfast stop in Miranda on the Avenue of the Giants, R: What did you see in the Redwoods, animal sighting board at Ranger Station on the Avenue of the Americas

After full bellies of pancakes, huevos rancheros and enormous hot chocolates, we started the drive on the Avenue of the Giants. I stopped and bought a DVD about the Redwoods at one of the Ranger Stations.  I really wanted to find a podcast that we could listen to but I couldn’t find one that works.  The DVD worked really well – I just turned off the screen and we listened to the audio while we drove the awesome scenery.  There was great info about the history of the redwood logging and the floods that greatly affected the area and the state.

Because we had no real agenda except to get to Orick, when we saw a sign for the Loleta Cheese Factory, we pulled off.  They had a scavenger hunt for the kids in their garden in the back that the kids really enjoyed doing and we had fun watching them make the cheese and then tasting all the varieties.

Loleta Cheese Factory

We made another pit stop/detour for lunch at the Samoa Cookhouse because it’s a totally unique piece of history and I wanted to go there. Where else are there cookhouses still in effect?  There’s a neat museum off the side of the dining room too. That day they were serving roast beef and it was all you can eat (as it always is). I think I would do breakfast there if you can make it in time.

Samoa Cookhouse

Also, we pulled over a couple of times to just go exploring and see some turned over trees and their massive root systems. This was one of the best things we did!

Exploring the Redwoods on Spring Break

We got to Elk Meadows around 3pm which was perfect. We made dinner and  settled in after a few very competitive rounds of UNO.

Day 3

The next morning we woke up to a herd of Roosevelt Elk right in the BACKYARD!!! It was so cool. I don’t need to say too much about this. The photo kind of says it all. I mean the elk were right there! We gawked at them for a good while and then had breakfast.

Roosevelt Elk right in the backyard at Elk Meadow Cabins.

For the rest of the time we were there, the elk would go back and forth from one end of the meadow to the other. You never knew where they would be when you came back to the cabin but they were never too far away.

In the afternoon, I’d arranged for us to take a 1/2 day walking tour with Redwood Adventures which is conveniently based out of the main office at the Elk Meadow Cabins. Our guide Grant took the four of us on a fact-filled tree-touring adventure which was worth every penny. First we drove a bit north and started at the coast with a mini history lesson of the area and a earth science lesson in the ideal conditions for redwood growth.  He pointed out how the forest changes as you move inland and what redwood trees need to grow so big and tall. We got to ask tons of questions and saw some of the really big Giants. There’s no way we would have learned as much about the Redwoods or the history of logging in California without Grant’s tour.  There’s only so much I can personally absorb and repeat from a guidebook so I was really glad we opted for this tour. I highly recommend it.

Exploring the Redwoods

Day 4

The next day the weather was much better and we got dressed to go to Fern Canyon. YOU MUST GO HERE! Picture an amazing trail with prehistoric ferns lining the canyon walls.  It’s such a neat place that it was actually used in two famous movies: Jurassic Park 2 and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi were filmed! Remember the Endor scenes with the Ewoks? Yep, this is where those were filmed!  

Wear layers and shoes that are good for canyoning. No Uggs, etc. You will get muddy. Trust me. The goal is to basically try to get to the end of the canyon. When there’s water blocking your path you can usually find some wooden planks or logs that you can cross on.  We had a great time using teamwork trying to problem solve the best way to cross an area together so no one would get wet.  One of the lessons the kids learned was that sometimes you have to go backwards in order to go forwards. Again, this was a totally unexpected perk to just being on a hike and we had a blast doing this.

Fern Canyon exploring

Photos from Fern Canyon

Afterwards, we drove to the town of Trinidad to check it out. There’s a nice black sand beach and restaurant on a pier there. 

Finally, because I’d read so much about it, in the late afternoon we walked the Lady Bird Johnson Grove trail.  This was a super easy and a good loop under the tree canopy.  Even though the kids were kind of tired, they loved doing this easy hike and recounted a lot of what they’d learned with our tour guide from the day before. 

Lady Bird Johnson Trail

After that full day, we headed home for another “home” cooked meal in our cozy Elk Meadow Cabin and watched the elk settle down for the night from the living room window.

Day 5

On the final day, we left Elk Meadow Cabins after breakfast around 9:30am and was home before 3:30pm.

That’s it! It was a great trip and I seriously think everyone should do it if they can. Let me know in the commons if you have any questions and I’ll try to answer them.

Have a happy spring break everyone!

S.

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This morning Alex sadly announced  that the kids might be too old for cartoons. From my lazy perch on the couch, my heart sank deep into the cushions.

We’ve been so lucky and sheltered them for as long as possible. But today it was made official.

“No Daddy, THAT show is for babies!”

Ugh.

I knew this day would come but I guess, I was hoping we could maintain the charade for a little bit longer. They’ve watched the sterile Disney Junior shows for years and had little to no idea of the other realm of cable tv programming. But sure enough, they heard about other channels and shows and characters like Power Rangers, Pokemon and Jessie have crept into our lives.

I’m not irrational and don’t expect them to live sheltered TV lives. Heck, I LOOOVE TV. Even really bad TV (RHONY anyone – don’t judge). But I guess, for my kids, I wanted them to preserve some innocence and not be exposed to bratty, sassy, talk back tweens.  Now my job to is to watch and monitor for rude language and behavior instead of hoping that they will gain some educational nugget from a cartoon character.

I will miss you Disney TV.

So any recommendations out there? What shows do your 6 to 8 year olds watch that you approve of? 

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via American Girl on Facebook

American Girl announced today a new doll: a doll without hair  “for girls affected by cancer, alopecia, or any medical condition causing hair loss.”

The doll is beautiful (as are all their dolls), I’m just sad that we need a doll like this to begin with.

Thank you American Girl – this new doll will surely bring comfort to many little girls.

From Facebook:

For more than a year, American Girl has been hard at work developing a doll without hair option for girls affected by cancer, alopecia, or any medical condition causing hair loss. Debuting today as part of the My American Girl® line, the new dolls provide even more possibilities for a girl to create a friend that’s as unique as she is. Due to special handling, orders for the new dolls will be taken exclusively through our contact center by calling 1-800-628-5145. These special dolls also will be included in our $100,000+ annual doll donation to the Children’s Hospital Association.

We recognize the passion and interest expressed for this product over the years and are excited to introduce this new option for girls! Learn more: http://bit.ly/bampbG

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Fact: Oreos are delicious.  But did you know that they can also make you smarter?

For fun I host a little book club for a few of my daughter’s 1st grade pals. We’ve been reading the Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osbourne, a short and quick series of chapter books that cover a wide range of subjects.  In each adventure, Jack & Annie, a brother and sister team from Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, travel through time and space by pointing to a page on a book that they find on the shelves of their magic treehouse. So far, we’ve traveled with them to the land of dinosaurs, Egypt, the Amazon, Japan and the Ice Age each book building on the next.  My kids have loved the adventure so far and also love the stories because the two main characters share their namesake.

So what does this have to do with Oreos? I’m getting there.

There’s so much supporting content out there on this series that it’s been super easy to find a craft for our little group to do after we’ve discussed the book. We don’t delve too deeply into character development or plot theories, afterall they’re only 6 and 7 years old but they do consistently surprise me with their comprehension and astute observations.

This week we are tackling Book #8: Midnight on The Moon and I was so excited for this one because my son had just done the best phases of the moon activity using Oreos (see I told you it was coming) with his preschool science teacher, Ms Janet.  I couldn’t wait to share it with the kids (and you)!

The original project idea came from Science Bob’s blog – and after looking around there I’m totally inspired to see some other really great projects to try next.

So got a kid who likes to read, got milk? got Oreos? Try this one at home, teach your kid about the different phases of the moon using Oreos! So cool and so easy.

Check this out:

Source: Science Bob

Click here to jump to Science Bob’s full blog post on using Oreo’s to teach about phases of the moon.

Happy learning and Happy 100th Birthday to Oreos!

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I could just leave this picture up and be done with it but I might as well share with you what my 5 year old son has been up to.

I did not add 37 different Wii games and accessories to my Amazon shopping cart to the tune of $1,662.58, my 5 year old son did.

I wasn’t even aware that there were 30+ different games available, but now I do.

So apparently, in the short time it takes me to go change a load of laundry my son can rack up a pretty hefty bill on my computer. Good to know.

THANK GOODNESS he did not know that he needed to ‘check out’ or this post might have been titled something entirely different.

Here’s just a quick glimpse of all the things Jack decided he must have (mind you, we do not even HAVE a Wii).

Item #3 – Inflatable Wii Cart – Red – because… I have no idea.

Item #7 – Phineas and Ferb game – because the show is not annoying enough.

Item #25: Disney Princess Enchanted Journey – For his sister I’m guessing??

In the cart under the “Saved for Later” category and my personal fave the Official Wii Zapper with Link’s Crossbow Training because… again, I’m speechless.

Ah buddy boy… Momma’s so glad you didn’t press ‘buy’.

 *Disclaimer: I used affiliate links here, so if you decide to actually buy any of these for Jack or some other kid for that matter by clicking on these links I’d get a couple of pennies from your purchase. 

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Please allow me to share with you the following LIFE ALTERING information when it comes to Barbie and the house she lives in.

Contrary to Mattel’s belief, Barbie DOES NOT need the enormous sprawling 3-Story Dream House made of cheap day-glo pink plastic. Barbie (and consequently your little girl) can happily survive in the much smaller (and waaay cheaper) Charm School.

TRUST ME.  

One day, you will give in to the horror that is the pink plastic of Barbie’s world. She will slowly but surely infiltrate your little girl’s heart and the floodgates to pink gawdiness with fly open. The ‘Dream House’ which came to our house through the irony that is Santa Claus, took up a giant corner of my daughter’s room.

Yes, the magic of seeing something THAT enormous, and THAT pink on Christmas morning was neat, but then – inevitably… the magic wore off and we were left with a ginamous pink eyesore dominating an already cramped room. Santa really should have thought that one through a bit better.

Yes, Anna played with it.  But in my opinion, she did not play with it in the appropriate proportion to the amount of floor space this toy took up.

I wondered, sometimes outloud, how long would we have to suffer Santa’s generosity?

And then something truly fantastic happened… my bachelor brother gave his niece the Barbie ‘Charm School’ for Christmas.

Instead of weighing the 24.8 LBS that the 3-Story Dream House did, it weighed only 3.9 LBS and was portable. Still true to its Barbie pink and cheap plasticness, it was basically a condensed version of the giant monster. She happily carted it from room to room and played Barbie ‘house’.

She LOVED it.  More importantly, I, seeing how tiny it was in comparison, LOVED it.

Within 5 minutes of playing with the Charm School she said: “Mommy, I think we should give the Dream House to another little girl that would like to play with it.”

I don’t think I’ve ever posted anything so quickly to freecycle in my life.

So we did.

And we got our floorspace back and the nice part is, Barbie gets to continue to live in her 3-Story Dream House.  Just at someone else’s house.

So buy this:

Not that.

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My kids just got the most awesome early Christmas gift from Mimi (my mother’s best friend). They are so enamored with these ‘blocks’ that I had to post about them because they are in a word: magic.

They’re called ‘tegu‘ (pronounced “Tay-goo”) and they are magnetic wooden blocks.

Simple right?

There is something about these blocks that my kids can’t stop playing with them. I love them because the pieces are magnetic and stick together so I haven’t found them strewn about the house (a no fail recipe for a toy to quickly find it’s way to the goodwill bag!).

Another reason I love them? The tegu company is socially responsible. Based in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, they have committed to manufacture there in order to help change lives. They have partnered with a local school and prioritized ‘long-term career growth’ for their employees as well as harvesting their wood responsibly in the Honduran rain forests.

My kids have been building and building the minute the boxes were opened, which means I’ve been able to get lots of things done.

Seriously, I LOVE these blocks.

I was a little shocked by the sticker price but now I understand why: a sustainably built product with a conscious and quite frankly you would never need another set of blocks – ever.

You can find them on Amazon here.

Happy building! 

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Mom, me and bro: our last Christmas together

Holidays can be tough without my mom.  She always made the holidays extra special with simple and small touches; from decorating the house to convincing the entire dinner table to join in (and ACT OUT) the 12 Days of Christmas (ever been to Café Un Deux Trois during the holidays?).

I feel the void of her passing tenfold between Halloween and New Year’s.

And it sucks.

So whenever I need a pick-me-up I grab the kids and we jump in the car and head for my neighbors’ street.

There’s a cul-de-sac about a mile away from my house that melts my heart. It has 3 homes on it that do a SPECTACULAR job of decorating their lawns and homes for the holidays. Some might think it borders on “over the top” and “tacky” but to me… this is one of THE best things about Christmas.

My mom was quirky and fun and one of her favorite things to do at the holidays was to drive around and try to find the best and worst Christmas lights. We did this a lot when I was growing up and it quickly became a tradition. My boyfriend (now my husband) was dragged along and put up with it (smart man).

Thankfully, he now appreciates why I insist on loading up the car with our pajama-clad kids and driving around looking at lights. He gets it. He remembers how excited my mom would get when we’d turn a corner and collectively gasp and squint from the glare of an emblazoned crèche. And I’m so grateful.

If I ever grumble when I start to put up own Christmas decorations, I try to remember that this little effort will bring me and my family a lot of joy.  Because it does.  And when I drive down my neighbor’s street and see all the sparkly lights it just makes me smile. I can’t help it. I think of the hours and hours and hours it must have taken them to put up these elaborate displays, from the Hawaiian themed ‘Mele Kalikimaka’ house complete with diving dolphins and Luau’d waving Santa; to the full-on Santa with eight glittery reindeer.

So I want to say a very heartfelt and big THANK YOU to my special random neighbors and to everyone out there that takes the time and effort to decorate their homes for the holidays.

These efforts bring a little piece of my mom back to me at the holidays. I smile and remember the gaudy and glitzy displays from years ago and laughing in the car…  And I look at my own little family and am so incredibly grateful that I also get to share this with them.

To my neighbor that did this:

THANK YOU!!!

and to my Mom, Merry Christmas thank you for making those memories.

Miss you.

xo,

SARA

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Couldn’t resist a second Wordless Wednesday featuring our Elf On The Shelf’s current hiding place.

Apparently he doesn’t play nice with the other ‘Christmas’ toys around the house. Here he is choking our Nutcracker! Yikes! Don’t tell this guy isn’t creepy!!

If you missed my Elf On The Shelf giveaway don’t worry you can still win some Elf on The Shelf stuff by posting your Elf pics on the Periwinkle Papillon Facebook fan page.

There will be 3 winners but I have no idea of what or when but it will be good. So c’mon folks post ‘em!

Happy Elf on the Shelfing!

Also if you missed my first video for the blog featuring the Elf on The Shelf you can view it here.

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I’ve had a lot of fun introducing some of my readers to the ‘Beauty and the Agony’ of having an Elf On The Shelf with my current giveaway. So I thought I’d add to it by doing my first movie for the blog.

If you don’t have an Elf yet, you can easily enter the giveaway (just leave a comment) or buy your own here.  It’s fun – really it is, despite the agony that I mentioned in the giveaway post and the video.

You can get really creative. See?  Here’s a good one from last year by MamaCheaps.com

Source: Mama Cheaps

In fact, I want to see just how creative you guys can get. So please link up or post your photos on the Periwinkle Papillon Facebook Fan page Elf 2011 Album or if you have your own blog you can link up your post using the linkup below. There will be 3 prizes:  Most Creative, Most Creepy and Most Merry but I have no idea what they are yet.

Have fun, and oh, here’s the movie short that I made. Spoiler Alert! Not intended to be seen by kids that can read! Just warning you. 

It’s official we’re skipping Thanksgiving entirely!  Link up and share your pics today!

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