How to Break Boredom in Children - During Summer Break

Sometimes the most important advice a mom can get is help weeding through the endless choices kids have when choosing activities. 

• Include Book Activities. Kids always enjoy activities, so why not also encourage them to read a book about the activity? If you're going to a baseball game, suggest your child read a book about a favorite player beforehand. In the car or over a hot dog, you'll have lots of time to talk about the book and the game. Might as well visit the library.

• Lead by example. Read the newspaper at breakfast, pick up a magazine at the doctor's office, and stuff a paperback in your beach bag. If kids see the adults around them reading often, they will understand that literature can be a fun and important part of their summer days.

• Talking a Lot. Talking with your kids about what you have read also lets them know that reading is an important part of your life. Tell them why you liked a book, what you learned from it, or how it helped you—soon they might start doing the same.

• Relax the rules for summer. Summer is a time when children can play what, when, and how they please. Instead, make sure they pick up books for fun and help find ways for them to choose to read on their own. You may even want to make bedtime a little bit later if you find that your child can't put down a book.

• Use books to break the boredom.
  Without the regular school regimen, adults and kids need more activities to fill the hours. Books that teach kids how to make or do something are a great way to get kids reading and keep them occupied. Don't forget to take your kids' favorite reading series along on long road trips.

• Read aloud with kids.Take your children to see a local storyteller or be one yourself. The summer months leave extra time for enthusiastic read-alouds with children, no matter what their age. Don't forget to improvise different voices or wear a silly hat to make the story that much more interesting!

How to Roast Marshmallows

One of the things kids enjoy during summer is food - particularly sweets. If you are a mother, you definitely know this, because there probably is no child in this world who doesn't like the taste of sweet food. My kids enjoy marshmallows and one of the most exciting things they do almost every week, is to put their marshmallows on the grill. If you haven't been into this, here's how:

 1. Obtain a clean, long-handled stick or barbecue fork suitable for spearing marshmallows.

 2. Push one or two marshmallows onto the end of the stick or barbecue fork so the entire marshmallow is secured.

3. Hold the marshmallow over the fire or coals, positioning it so the marshmallow is suspended 1 to 3 inches above the heat source.

4. Rotate your utensil when the underside is a warm brown color, so the uncooked side hovers above the fire.

5. Continue to rotate the marshmallow until all sides are golden brown.

6. Remove the marshmallow from the fire, keeping in mind that metal utensils can get pretty hot on the end nearest the fire - handle with care.

7. When it has cooled, side the golden brown goo gently off the utensil.

8. Eat.

Traveling to Wisconsin This Summer

Boats and Trains claims nothing beats a boat float on a summer day. My whole family is going for a place to boat this summer - we're going to Vilas County. The kids are so excited!

Vilas County is home to a towering 1,300 lakes. Lakes operation from minuscule fish ponds to giant, multi-lake chains. We're actually excited to kayak and my husband says he's going to fill a day with ski boats... whew! Perhaps me and the kids will enjoy a cruise along the tree-lined shores, rustic cottages and typical resorts while he's on his ski. 

I wish we'll have afternoons sitting on the sand, that would be so relaxing. If you're planning for a summer getaway, Vilas County outing may be as still as you would like. Oh by the way, they have a golf course, live food restaurants with also live entertainment.

Wish you all a wonderful summer!

How Is Your Family Spending Together?

What sort of activities do you and your family find yourselves doing lately? Are you planning crafts projects together? Movie nights in? Camping in the backyard? Or video game time?

With the economic downturn, many families have been forced to spend more time at home doing things together. For families that all grown up, they don't get to spend time together out side of church, like watching movies, going to the park and other things they used to do when the kids are still small and playful.

I joined for one reason only to have it be a great opportunity to spend time with my growing children...we make popcorn, we cook together, we garden and do things together. When they grow up and have lives on their own, it would be nice to talk to know that the time is well spent. Just being there.

Times in the garden

Cooking Together

Families today are becoming more cautious of their spending, so they share some of the ways to spend time with the whole family without spending too much yet with all the fun. Sometimes we just don't realize that it’s still the simplest activities that children remember and enjoy the most.

Convenience Foods Ideal for Travel

Traveling light is a necessity if you want convenience and fun. Though it depends on the nature of your trip and your personal interest, I still believe in convenient traveling.

When I travel I always go with a bag of food even on airplanes as I want to eat healthy and not have to eat what is on offer.  On road trips, it is a healthy eating consideration picking on easy to eat foods. I always make sure I do have some fresh foods that are on the low perishable end.

Apples & oranges, celery sticks, carrot sticks and sugar snap peas (the ones you eat in the shell). I may even have a salad already prepared in containers for each person with the salad dressing on the bottom, not mixed in and take some plastic forks.

Take a look at some of the convenience foods that you'll likely to buy when traveling to certain destinations:

German Convenience Foods

Asian Convenience Foods

South American Convenience Foods

American Convenience Foods

 

I would make my own trail mix with dried fruit and roasted nuts and seeds.  I put carob chips instead of chocolate chips. There are a few quick ideas, I will return with a few more ideas later after I know how long your trip is.  I am sure someone else will have some good ideas.

Holy Week in the Philippines - for Photographers

Holy week in the Philippines is one of a kind. This is according to few Americans friends from the military base in Angeles, Philippines, who keep telling me about chartered jeepneys that go around the city on the Holy week, just perfect to bring cameras and video recording equipment for the rituals going in almost every corner.

Holy Week in the Philippines culminates with all the solemn observance of Christian and pagan rituals. The practice is nationwide and has varying undertones of religious significance that is both moving and touching in its entirety. There are countless "Cenaculos" and "Pabasas" reciting and reenacting the passion and death of Jesus Christ in traditionally written verse form and dramatized version of the original sacrifice two thousand years ago.

Being the only Catholic nation in Asia, Filipinos take the celebration of Holy Week from the heart. The Good Friday event even attracted photographers from international wire agencies and an independent electronic news gathering team. Fanatic youths cover faces and crowns of thorns, marched bare-chested on either side of the road, that curious drivers would pull over to let them pass and witness, for themselves the self-inflicted cuts on the backs serve as a personal sacrifice.

This man to be crucified, like Jesus, carried his cross behind two Roman soldiers on horseback.

Procession with other centurians in red gowns and shiny headgear, marched alongside to keep the crowds away. Jesus knelt down with his cross, while Mary and two other girls ran up to him, wept at his feet, and begged his captors to free him. This is a sight that you would see in most places in the Philippines on the Holy Week.

Photographers speckled with blood, from trying to get close-ups ofthe flagellants' who scourge themselves in a somewhat paganistic manner considered medieval by many. This is done by stripping themselves naked from the waist up, walking barefooted under a midday sun and flagging themselves bloody with ropes and broken pieces of glass attached with strings to bamboo sticks. They do this as a means of atonement of their sins. It is a sort of retribution of their offenses and human weaknesses for past favor such as after going through some crisis or danger in their lives. This is commonly practiced in the provinces of Pampanga, Tarlac, Rizal and practically all over the Tagalog region.

In contemporary times, these Philippine traditions may slowly be disappearing as some young Filipinos already prefer the modern-style of commemoration by using the Holy Week to vacation at the beach. I hope more young Filipinos would still put value to this real meaning of Holy Week.
I salute this Filipino tradition of a Christ-felt Holy Week. Truly one of a kind, truly from the heart.

Thanks to the following:

• TravelNotes.org (The Online Guide to Travel
• News Today

Thinking of Spain for Summer?

Last summer, I shared about the best places that you too could explore not just on your summer vacation but anytime of the year. Today let me share another wonderful tips for your getaway.

There is no doubt that Madrid and Barcelona are two great destinations in Spain to base your vacation. However, besides these two great cities, Spain boasts many other great destinations that offer a nice mixture of museums, outdoor attractions, beaches, great cuisine and plenty historic sites in abundance!

Santander

Santander is the capital city of the Cantabria region and it’s located on the north coast of Spain overlooking the beautiful waters of Bay of Biscay. It boasts fantastic summer beaches and beach resorts, but also many cultural attractions and historic sites that you can visit such as the city’s cathedral, a zoo, an archaeology museum, and even a king’s summer retreat house!


Andorra

Another perfect for summer getaway is the Andorra in northeast Spain, I tell you Andorra isn’t just a great skiing destination in winter, but it’s also one of the best places to vacation in Spain for nature driven travelers. Like me, of course.

Andorra is really an outdoor’s enthusiast paradise and you’ll be able to enjoy all kinds of outdoor pursuits such as hiking up the mountain slopes, mountain biking and even kayaking!

Toledo

Toledo is located south of Madrid and being just 45 minutes away by train from the capital, yes you heard it right, by train! So you'll be enjoying a great scenery while traveling. This is what makes Toledo one of the top 10 summer destinations in Spain.

Besides is close proximity to Madrid, what makes Toledo such a great summer destination is its Moorish, Jewish and Roman heritage which translates today in visually stunning buildings, city walls and castles. Perhaps there is no quite a destination in Spain like Toledo where you’ll feel as you’re stepping back in time every corner you turn in the city!