Camping

One of my favorite things is camping, and especially building a bonfire with smores.  I've been researching spots to go camping for the late spring summer.  


Mmm - s'mores!  This image is from http://whatscookingamerica.net/Cookie/Smores/Smores.htm

Last year, a few friends with preschoolers of their own went to Del Valle Park for camping, they said it was perfect as it is fairly close to home (if you live in the San Francisco Bay area) and is a family oriented location.  The Del Valle camping area has 150 sites, 21 of them with water and sewage and even electrical hookups (5/30/ 20 amp.)  The sites also have centrally located toilet and shower facilities.  You can make reservations up to 12 weeks in advance.  

Starting Memorial Day weekend, campers as well as park visitors can join the naturalist at the amphitheater for campfire fun including songs, games, stories, and of course marshmallow roasting.  

Starting Memorial Day weekend, there is also a boat tour available.  

The camping is available year round, but swimming is only open weekends and holidays from April to June 15th, from 11AM to 6PM.  After June 15th, the days/hours will change.

The Del Valle Regional Park is located on Del Valle Road off Mines Road, south of Livermore.  There are some amazing wineries in Livermore, on the way to Del Valle.  My friends stopped at Concannon last year and really enjoyed it!

Resources:

Del Valle website- www.ebparks.org/parks/del_valle

East Bay regional parks camping phone number- 1-888-327-2757, press option 2,  (1-888-EBPARKS, reservations can be made up to 12 weeks in advance.)

--TC Mama

TeachingCurve Mama

I wanted to draft a special post for my wife, TeachingCurve Mama.

Being married to TeachingCurve Dada is not easy.  I suppose marriage never is, but I am a particularly tough case.  I can be stubborn.  I can be somewhat dense.  I can easily get lost in my work.  I can be oblivious.

TeachingCurve Mama, on the other hand, is one of the most empathic people I know.  I like to think that I am empathic.  But she really is.  She thinks about others all the time.  Including me.  She is an amazing mother to our four-year-old, always seeking to give him new experiences and teach him new things.  She tolerates my silliness.  She stays positive.  And she loves life.

Happy birthday, TeachingCurve Mama.  I love you.

--TeachingCurve Dada

Mary Poppins

Who doesn't approve of Mary Poppins?  I know it is one of my favorite old movies!  I'm looking forward to getting tickets to see the stage version of Mary Poppins at the Broadway in San Jose.  It is playing there from May 29th to June 10th.


--TC Mama

Sharing Avery's Story

"....Imagine you've been diagnosed with an incurable genetic disease and you are told you will not only lose your ability to walk and move your arms, but you will die between now and the next 18 months.  What would you do? " - Avery Lynn Canahuati's blog, www.averycan.blogspot.com

Follow Avery Lynn Canahuati's blog.   Avery Lynn Canahuati was born last year.  On Friday, April 6, 2012 her parents found out from a neurologist that she had SMA-type 1  (Spinal Muscular Atrophy). Follow Avery's blog, and read about her bucket list of things she is already accomplishing in her young life, such as visit her dad's alma mater and where her parents fell in love.  One of the purposes of the blog is to raise awareness for SMA and for doctors to include it in genetic testing.   


Other relevant links:

Fight SMA (www.fightsma.org)

Muscular Distrophy Association (www.mda.org).

--TC Mama

Spring Skiing

At this point in the season, you should check ahead before heading up to Tahoe for skiing.  

Northstar, Dodge Ridge Ski Resort, and Leland High Sierra Snow Play Park are all closed for the season.

 I found out about the Leland High Sierra Snow Play Park earlier this winter, but didn't get a chance to take my son.  I will be going there next winter!  Check out snowplay.com/cms/ for more information.

--TC Mama

Spring Skiing 2012

The weather is warming up, but there are still opportunities for spring skiing!  

Mammoth Mountain

www.mammothmountain.com

Open until Memorial Day.

"Memorial Day madness at Mammoth": They are bringing a beach party to the snow on May 26 and 27th.  There will be food and drink specials, apres parties, contests, snow volleyball and more!

You can stay at Mammoth Mountain Inn, for $103.00 queen and $152.10 queen.

Kirkwood

www.kirkwood.com

Kirkwood will be open 7 days through Sunday, April 22nd, 2012, then weekends (Friday- Sunday) after that until snow melts.  Next year around the holidays I want to go on snow cat tour at Kirkwood.  We had a complimentary snow cat ride at Heavenly and it was a blast, our son loved it (we'll post some pictures soon).

Heavenly

www.skiheavenly.com

Sunday, April 15th was the final day of nearly full operations.  Heavenly will be closed Monday through Thursday and will reopen for one more weekend.  Their last day is April 29th (this coming Sunday).



The weather is warming up, but there are still opportunities for spring skiing!  

Alpine Meadows (www.skialpine.com) and Squaw Valley (www.squaw.com) are open daily through April 29th  Alpine Meadows will stay open Friday through Sunday through May 13th.

--TC Mama

Skiing with Toddlers

Remember to put sunscreen on your child before you head out for a day in the snow.  The UV rays are really strong up on the mountain, and the snow reflects everything.  It is very easy to burn.


Bring chapstick.  Make your toddler put some on, even if they don't like it (this is from hard-learned experience).  


Make sure your toddler wears goggles or sunglasses.  The sun is bright.  The snow reflects everything.  This is true year round, but especially important when spring skiing.


One more tip -- Our son's ski teacher, Chris McCarthy, said that eating potassium rich bananas prevent cramping from skiing.

South Shore Restaurants

Each of the restaurants we visited on our ski adventure were really welcoming toward children.  I took my son to Cold Stone Creamery after skiing yesterday (spring skiing, so ice cream made sense) and he loved it! We then sat by the fire at Fire Plus Ice Restaurant; he loved the giant fire pits in the front.  It is also a fun place to hang out after a day of skiing or sightseeing. 

I also recommend Ciera, which is in a nearby casino.  You have to walk through the casino, which isn't child-friendly, but has great steak (and excellent service).  


We also ate at the Harrah's Forest Buffet, and the Stateline Brewery.  More on those later.

Ski Lessons

While teaching your own child to ski is a noble endeavor, it is not for the faint of heart.  We'll leave it at that.


We recommend getting a private lesson for young children.  Last week, we worked with ski instructor Chris McCarthy.  He was outstanding.  Chris was kind, funny, and positive.  My son really trusted him.  He had my son on a ski lift, then heading down the mountain pretty much on his own, turning with Chris down the hill.  Unfortunately, we had to cut our lesson short -- Heavenly shut down the entire mountain the day we were there, due to lightning strikes.  A bit too exciting.


Heavenly, and other ski resorts, frequently have have a drop off ski school.  These schools really depend on the age and temperament of each particular child.  We may try one next season. 

Skiing for Toddlers - Where to Stay at the South Shore of Lake Tahoe

A friend of ours with four children, who is a regular visitor to the South Shore, recommended that we stay at the Embassy Suites, South Shore.  After spending four days there, we agree it is a great choice.  

They have a winning combination -- free breakfast, free happy hour, an enclosed heated pool, short walking distance to skiing, restaurants, and casinos, as well as a roomy suite.  Be careful about breakfast and happy hour times; we always seemed to cut it really close.  They serve a lot of people.  And they close up within seconds of the deadline (10am sharp for breakfast and 6:30pm sharp for the happy hour).

Skiing for Toddlers

We just left the South Shore of Lake Tahoe, and we want to share some tips about skiing with a toddler (and some general tips about the area).  

We rented equipment for our son at the Powder House Ski and Snowboard Shop, which is next to the gondola at Heavenly.  They have lockers.  We purchased some ski clothes there for my husband.  Sadly, they didn't have much of a selection of children's ski wear.  But, our son's equipment was fine for the trip.   

All three of us rented skis, boots, and poles there the first day.  But, our son was the only one to keep the boots the whole time.  My boots were uncomfortable.  And my husband's boots were beyond uncomfortable.  In fact, they wore little holes in the inside heel of both my husband's feet; he is still recovering.  

I ended up going to the Powder House Boot and Demo Center to get boots and skis for the rest of our trip at the end of the first day.  They have master booters there, and I agreed with their marketing pitch that they take the time to find the best boot for your foot.  (www.tahoepowderhouse.com.)  Unfortunately, they didn't have boots that fit my husband.  He ended up getting demo boots at the Heavenly equipment rental shop, which is also next to the gondola (and next door to the Powder House).  The bonus turned out to be that their computer system was down on our last day at Heavenly, when we came in to return my husband's equipment; they comped him the extra day's rental.

National Child Abuse Prevention Month

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.  According to the American Humane Association website, www.americanhumane.org/children/stop-child-abuse, mistreatment statistics of children include:

neglect 62.8

physical abuse 16.6

sexual abuse 9.3

emotional/psychological abuse 7.1

medical neglect 2.0

other 14.3

(USDHHS, 2007)

IN N OUT Burger has supported the cause of child abuse prevention.  Every year during National Child Abuse Prevention Month, the company initiates a fundraising effort to bring hope to children in need.  They match every dollar collected in the month of April  with three dollars of their own up to $250,000.

IN N OUT is actually my favorite burger fast food restaurant.  In fact, my son and I went there today, to the Fisherman's Wharf location in San Francisco.  While there, I actually saw them peeling and cutting potatoes for the fries.  The food is really tasty!

There are three ways to donate for this cause:

In store- look for donation cans

Online- visit www.In-N-Out.com

mail- Send your check to the In-N-Out Burger Foundation, 4199 Campus Drive, Suite 900, Irvine, CA  92612

--TC Mama 

Bullying, Part III

I want to expand on my earlier post.

As a kid, I recall enjoying elementary school.  I don't recall getting bullied until roughly the end of 6th grade.  At that point, I recall a few days of getting chased around by girls who initially pretended to like me but were clearly trying to insult me.  

In 7th grade, I got tweaked pretty regularly by 2-5 kids.  Mostly name-calling and angry words.  Occasionally it got physical; I was not a big kid and I came close to getting beaten down more than once.

I recall hating to go to school in the morning.  I also recall eventually refusing to be in a carpool with one group of bullies; for the life of me I have no idea how my parents ended up with me in that carpool...

I was a pretty geeky junior high school kid.  I didn't dress too well; wore too many hand-me-downs from cousins, passed along by well-meaning but confused parents-of-cousins, and which my well-meaning but confused parents wanted me to wear.  And when I did try to be stylish, it didn't work out too well; this was the 80s, and parachute pants had gone out of style by the time I decided I wanted to wear a pair.

I also reacted to the bullies.  They wanted a reaction and I gave it to them.  I'd look like a fool in the process.

More on what lessons I try to draw from these experience in the next post.