Browsing Category

Activities for Kids

Activities for Kids, Flagstaff

Flagstaff

People. I’m coming back to life. I just made an iMovie! Us Johannes (and Joy) folk went up to Flagstaff for the 3-day weekend and had a grand ol’ time. But to be a little serious and sentimental here .. it was more than that. It was everything. It was like time stood still. I didn’t post on social media. I just soaked in every minute I could with my boys and only took my phone out to video when I remembered or had it nearby. Or asked my Dad to run the video button! There was a lot of built up anticipation for this trip, mostly on Jace’s part to see the snow and play in it. And play in it he did! We could barely get the kid to come inside. What a joy it was to see him put on all the gear and go trekking through the snow. Building snowmen and snow forts and throwing snow balls. We went all out. And the cottage I rented didn’t disappoint. The most perfect layer of snow surrounded the cottage and even beyond the fence of the property. I guess I don’t really know who had more fun, Jace or Tacoma. They were like two peas in a pod. Walker and Callen were a little skeptical of the snow. They ventured out occasionally, and rallied at the snow park. I felt like a kid again myself, out there crunching in the snow in my borrowed snow boots. Rolling huge balls of snow into a snowman body (I forgot how much work it is!) .. packing little snowballs and hitting my son over the head with them. I even made him cry. Not a proud Mom moment, I admit. But come on!? It’s called a snowball FIGHT for a reason! I felt bad, sure.  But he got over it and demanded a rematch the next day. That boy has to toughen up! Our AirBnB was located right down the road from the Deer Farm. A little place full of baby deer starving for attention and $4 cups of food. We kissed a camel, fed the deer, talked to a porcupine, and admired the llamas and wallabys. Walker even got an unexpected KISS from a reindeer, causing him to fall back on his buttocks! Aside from playing in the snow non stop, playing scrabble with my Mom, hot chocolate in the morning, watching Top Gun after the boys went to bed, we didn’t do much else.  The wood burning stove was marvelous … the sleeping arrangements quite tight .. the wild Elk galloping in the fields ..  the sound of the train .. pretty spot on perfect if you ask me.  And then, by the end of the weekend, 2 out of the 3 boys were sick, ha. Pretty typical of a trip up north, I’d say?! We are definitely going to have to make this snow trip an annual thing with the boys. More downtime, and more slower days, please! And don’t hate me. I’m a sucker for these face in the hole pictures every where I go, lol!

Activities for Kids, Flagstaff

Bearizona!

 On our second day up in Flagstaff, we took the boys to Bearizona. Really, there’s not much to say .. you stay in your car, very Jurassic Park style, and look out your windows at all the bears. And reindeer. And coyotes. And bison. It’s fairly short-lived. Thankfully there’s a small zoo-like park you can walk through after, with a petting zoo, more bears of course. and even a jaguar! Our favorite part, aside from all the sleepy bears, was the birds of prey show. Mr. Walker was getting pretty sweaty, so by the end of the excursion he was walking around shirtless, ready for a nap. It was a nice activity for the boys, but next time, I want to try the Deer Farm!

Activities for Kids, Jace, jaceface

Jace’s 5th Birthday Spider-Man party!

Our Jace Face turned 5 on February 6! FIVE! A whole hand! Wow, has the time flown by. Looking back over the years, especially on this blog, makes me choke up. It’s almost suffocating to think about how fast children grow up. It’s beautiful but so sad at the same time. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been on my blog but this was a day I couldn’t miss documenting. This sweet boy of ours is getting so big. He’s still as stubborn and fiery and sensitive and loving as ever.

Continue Reading

Activities for Kids, Aptos, California, Cher Joy, Family, Felton, parenthood, Phoenix, Santa Cruz

The Summer To Do list

At the start of summer we decided to plan out a monster to-do list for our little family, filled with new and old things we like to do. But looking back a lot of time was spent at our little rental house here in the Cruz, playing on the patio, making pillow forts, having balloon parties, picking blackberries on our street and riding bikes in the neighborhood. Continue Reading

Activities for Kids, Lake Tahoe

Bird calling

Also while in Tahoe this summer, the boys were really into making bird calls. We thought they did an awesome job!! So cute and a video we definitely wanted to save from our trip. We spent a lot of time on this patio at our Airbnb and in the back yard. Pretty sure the neighbors hated us.