Ice Cream Anyone? July 14, 2010

Ice cream.  Just saying the phrase almost makes my mouth water.  Some of my favorite ice cream memories are:

• Hearing the ice cream man’s jingle and running home to ask Mom for money to buy a popsicle.
• Having “Ice Cream Sunday Dinners” when my kids were little.  Yep, we had ice cream with yummy toppings for dinner some Sunday nights.
• Walking up to Baskin ‘n Robbins with the kids when they filled up one of their character charts on the frig.  Patience, not interrupting or waking up from their naps with a happy face enough times to fill the squares with stickers ended with a yummy outing for parent and child.

I found an all-about-ice-cream site where you can get some great ideas for talking about and making ice cream.

http://www.kidsturncentral.com/games/icecreamgames.htm

Enjoy!

Posted by Sheree

Zoo anyone? July 12, 2010

Those of us who live in Florida have a wonderful array of FREE summertime fun for our kids and grandkids!  Here’s a really fun one:  free evening admission to the Brevard County Zoo!  For many of us it would be a drive, but how fun to load up the kids after naps and head over to Melbourne for sunset at the zoo and live music!

Here’s a description of the event from the website:

Come beat the summertime heat during our annual Summer Saturday Nights, which starts July 3 and runs every Saturday night through August 28. We extend our hours of operation to 9 p.m. all nine Saturdays in July and August. Thanks to local businesses who sponsor the nights, admission is free to everyone starting at 5 p.m. Last admission is 8 p.m.

As part of Summer Saturday Nights, most of the Zoo animals are out on exhibit until dusk. However, some animals will be off exhibit. The free flight aviary and the butterfly exhibit will be closed as well as Paws On play area. Each night the Zoo provides musical entertainment from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Other available activities for patrons include a chance to go kayaking, ride the train, feed giraffe, and enjoy a special animal encounter at 7 p.m. Patrons will not be able to bring food and drink into the Zoo starting at 5 p.m.

Music Line-up

July 3- It Is What It Is; 10- Brevard Symphony Orchestra, Brass Quintet; 17- Drift Session,; 24- Ben Wilson; 31- Perfect Tuesday

August 7- Country Classic Band; 14- Brevard Symphony Orchestra, String Ensemble; 21- David Wills Quintet; 28- Brevard Symphony Orchestra, Woodwind Ensemble

50 Fun Things To Do July 7, 2010

Monday we shared with you some fun craft ideas using Pipe Cleaners.  Today we offer you a huge list of great explorations to make with your children this summer.  Some are FREE, others are inexpensive.  All are worth the effort!  Let us know what you think, and if you have more places to add to the list, simply post a comment! We found this list on The Orlando Sentinel blog, by Kim Hays!

Orlando is more than theme parks. From citrus groves to corn mazes and soft serve to science, the options for learning and laughing are almost limitless. Outdoor activities abound, and if the heat proves too much, there are plenty of places to cool off. Central Florida is a great place to be a kid. Here’s a list 50 great things you can do with your children — right here in your own backyard.

The City Beautiful

1. Visit the “Senator,” a, 115-foot tall bald cypress estimated to be 3,500 years old, at Big Tree Park in Seminole County.

2. Show your kids the lowly wiener elevated to new culinary heights at Hot Dog Heaven in Orlando.

3. Stroll along the boardwalk at Lake Lotus Park near Maitland.

4. Enjoy the arcade and giggle at talking trashcans at the McDonald’s with the world’s largest Playplace.

5. Try to spot some manatees at Blue Spring State Park.

6. Go for a hike (and maybe overnight camping) in Ocala National Forest. (Don’t feed the bears!)

7. Climb the 203 stairs to the top of the 100-plus years old Ponce Inlet Lighthouse in Volusia County and take in the view.

8. Drive on Daytona Beach with the window down and Jimmy Buffett playing.

9. See alligators and turtles in their natural habitat during a canoe or kayak trip down the Wekiva River.

10. Cool off tubing at Kelly Park/Rocks Springs in Apopka.

11. Celebrate the fall by getting lost in the annual corn maze at Long and Scott’s Farm near Zellwood.

12. Bounce your cares away at Monkey Joe’s indoor bounce house.

13. Walk around Lake Eola in downtown Orlando. Don’t forget bread to feed the ducks and swans. Sunday mornings, you can pick up snacks at the farmers market there.

14.  Take them out to a spring-training baseball game.

15. Go ice skating any time of year at RDV Sportsplex in Maitland.

16. Milk a cow, catch a chicken and meet and greet other farm animals at Green Meadows Petting Farm in Kissimmee.

17. Learn about gardening and explore the butterfly garden at Lukas Nursery and Butterfly Encounter in Oviedo.

18. Pick strawberries at Pappy’s U-Pick Strawberries or any visit another local farm to harvest your own produce.

19. Load up the bikes for a ride on the West Orange Trail.

20. Sip tea and eat tiny sandwiches at the Garden Gate Tea Room in Mount Dora.

21. Don parkas at the annual winter ICE exhibit at Gaylord Palms.

22. Cool off with icy treat from Jeremiah’s Original Italian Ice (Maitland, UCF and Winter Park areas).

23. Explore the toys, games, dolls, kites, puzzles at more at Timmy’s Toy Chest in Lake Mary. (This ain’t Toys R Us, folks.)

24. Scope out the skies at the Crosby Observatory atop the Orlando Science
Center, home to Florida’s largest publicly accessible refractor
telescope.

25. Watch the “duck march” at the Peabody Orlando hotel.

26. Watch sea turtles hatch at Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge near Melbourne.

27. Have a brunch date at Christo’s in College Park.

28. Spend a day at Flea World and Fun World in Sanford.

29. Go swimming in the 72-degree, crystal-clear water at Wekiwa Springs State Park in Seminole County.

30. Ride the elevator to the top (well, as high as the elevator goes) of the Orange County Courthouse and look down.

31. Play glow-in-the-dark miniature golf at Festival Bay mall.

32. Make pancakes on a griddle at your table at the Old Spanish Sugar Mill in DeLeon Springs.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sundazed/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

33. Go gator spotting at Lake Monroe in Sanford.

34. Scale new heights at Aiguille Rock Climbing Center in Longwood.

35. Celebrate Vietnamese New Year in Orlando’s Little Vietnam neighborhood. (And enjoy a hot bowl of pho at Little Saigon.)

36. Hike the Turtle Mound Trail in Titusville, where you’ll see a 2-acre shell pile that dates back to 600-1200 A.D.

37. Watch a space shuttle launch on the coast.

38. Rent a surfboard from Ron Jon Surf Shop and ride the waves in Cocoa Beach.

39. Wet a line at Orlando’s Turkey Lake Park and try to catch a largemouth bass.

40. Make your own chocolate at Farris and Foster’s in Orlando’s Baldwin Park.

41. Take in a puppet show at Pinocchio’s Marionette Theatre at the Altamonte Mall.

42. Take a leisurely walk through 50 acres of out of the ordinary flowers at Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando. (Tip: Admission is free Mondays before noon.)

43. Mail Christmas cards from Christmas, Florida, in east Orange County.

44. Get a glimpse into Orlando’s past at the 200-year-old Greenwood Cemetery situated 82 acres of rolling hills near downtown.

45. Savor creamy, old-fashioned soft serve at Goff’s Drive-in, an institution in Orlando’s Parramore neighborhood since 1948.

46. Sample alligator and conch at Black Hammock Fish Camp in Oviedo

47. Take a live show geared toward children at the Orlando Repertory Theatre.

48. Make lemonade (or squeeze fresh OJ) after pick your own citrus at Showcase of Citrus in Clermont.

49. See how the other half lives during the Scenic Boat Tour in Winter Park.

50. Two words: Beefy King.

Hershey Pie June 17, 2009

This is a super fast, super yummy cold dessert for those hot summer days!  (Just make sure you allow time for it to freeze!)

[NOTE:  I did not make the pie to the left- but it is a Hershey Pie!  It is just to give you an idea of how it could look!  ]

You need:

1 Pre-made chocolate crumb pie shell (I prefer the Oreo pie shell!)

1 8 oz  Cool Whip, thawed

1 LARGE Hershey Bar, divided (The giant ones on the candy aisle.  Choose your favorite variety – milk chocolate, with almonds, dark chocolate – my favorite!)

Melt the chocolate bar (all but the last row of blocks) in a double boiler.  (If you prefer, you can melt in the microwave, may need a little bit of milk.)  Once melted, fold into the THAWED Cool Whip.  After it is completely blended, transfer into the pie shell.  Shred remainder of chocolate onto the top of the pie.  FREEZE until well set.  You can garnish with more Cool Whip, if desired.   Serves about 8 people.  Enjoy!

If you are interested in making this with a gluten free pie shell, click here.

Posted by Stephanie.

Single Ladies Needed: Adopt-a-Family May 28, 2009

Ok, ladies. For those of you who don’t have children (yet)…like me (yet)…you may be tempted to just skim the preceding posts about summer schedules for kids and miss the ways they can apply to, motivate and challenge our own hearts and lives. We may not have 2-year-olds that need to be taught a word other than “no,” 4-year-olds that need to spend the summer learning to share or 7-year-olds that need chore-training. We can, however, help the moms who DO!

If each single woman in our church (technically if you’re not married, girls, this applies to you! were to “adopt” a family in the church for the summer, I think every family at Metro Life Church would benefit! Adopting a family could be as simple as babysitting on a consistent weekly basis, spending a Saturday morning a month with the kids or even taking a meal every so often to a family. Get the kids involved in serving with you and look for ways you can make it fun and meaningful:

_ Give Kids the World is an awesome venue for older kids

_ Wash the family car or plant some flowers in the back yard with younger kids

_ Find out what projects the mom has planned for the summer and see how you can help out

_ Take Jaime’s kids for the summer :)

The opportunities are really endless – the purpose is simply to cultivate relationships with the family and find ways to serve the momma.

Would you prayerfully consider whether God might have you focus on serving a specific family over the summer? This could be our very own “Do Hard Things” project and…who knows? It just might develop into a lifelong friendship with the entire family!!!

Posted by Jennifer

Three Summer Goals for Training My Children May 27, 2009

As I mentioned last week, maintaining a routine is very important in our family right now.  Having four children 7 and under, NOT staying focused on training, disciplining, and making sure I am busy at home can really end up messing my kids, my husband, and myself up.  This summer has given me a great opportunity to set some realistic goals in preparation for the school year.  The start of Kayla’s 3rd grade year is a great motivational tool for me to really buckle down and work on things I needed to work on anyway.

My first goal is to get my children to be more involved and independent about chores. Kayla (who is 7) has grown so much in that area.  Mostly due to her mommy having three babies in three years, she has been forced to really step it up in the area of serving in the home. It’s much easier to just look to her for help rather than train Wyatt (4) and Anniston (almost 3) to help as well.  I know that it’s important to start working with them.  The problem is that getting my two little crazies to help ends up making everything take longer, is sometimes messier, and often drives me crazy! Yet the the long term benefits of training my kids to be diligent and serve is worth it.  We will be using charts and rewards for the summer, and will hopefully get into a good pattern before the fall.

My second goal is to totally reorganize my dining room/school room and all supplies.  The kids love helping me organize. They love putting things in the correct boxes (although they don’t seem to “like” keeping it that way) and we all grow in excitement about all the fun things planned for the fall.  Again, it is going to take much longer to do it while involving them, but any time I have the opportunity to teach them something, I really do try and take it.  On the other hand, if there is anyone that would like to take them for the summer so I can do it alone……  :-)

My final and most important goal is to implement a consistent family and personal devotional time.  I especially want to make sure my 7-year-old daugther is getting up and spending time in God’s word and beginning what I hope will be a lifetime habit of journaling.  I know this has to start with mommy being a good example!

PJ and I realize we need to model a commitment to consistent devotions for our children.  We want our children to not only be in the Word, but to see us in God’s word.  It amazes me what children pick up on.  When they see their parents desperate for God it makes them want to be as well.  We want our kids need to see and hear us excited about and needy for God.

I’ve heard my dad say for years that “more is caught than taught.”  Lord, please help my children to catch passion for You and Your word from Daddy and Mommy!

Posted by Jaime

Summer Plans May 26, 2009

We are only about two weeks into summer vacation and I am already thinking about how nice it will be when we start school again so we will have a consistent routine.  I haven’t gotten my summer schedule together yet and my children don’t seem to know what to do.  Don’t get me wrong…..I love summer vacation and the opportunity to do some fun things which we don’t have time for during the school year, but I know from past experience that if we don’t have a plan and get too far off our routine, it isn’t going to be as much fun for anyone. 

Part of my plan is to keep a lot of things the same as during the school year.   Devotional times, chores and character issues aren’t just for the school year.  In fact, summer gives us extra time to practice some of these things without the necessary distraction of school.  One of the things I like to work on during the summer is my children’s relationship with each other.    If you are like me, the task of training your children not to provoke each other and how to respond when they are provoked can seem never ending.  When you try and fit this into a school day it can seem daunting.  Summer is a time when I can be very specific in training them.  One little thing I like to do is what I call “together time.”  Each day, my two oldest have to play a game or do something together for a specific period of time without arguing with each other.  This time gives them a great opportunity to grow in their relationship together. 

With just a little thought and planning, we all can think of ways to make this summer more purposeful and fun for everyone.  It is so easy to look at summer as a much needed break from everything and desire to put “normal” things aside.  But I know for me, too much of that without any routine, makes summer and the ensuing school year ahead a lot less fun for all.   So, take a little time to plan and ask the Lord what He would have you do this summer.

Posted by Elyse

Focused on Summer May 25, 2009

I have written before about how my husband usually has a word or a phrase for the year.  Last year our phrase was, “Simplify & Strategize.”  This year, our word is “focus.”  One of the definitions of “focus” is: “to concentrate attention or effort.”  So in keeping with that thought, I have been thinking & praying about what we should focus on this summer.  We have actually completed our school year, so summer is here for us.

I really sensed that this summer we are to focus on the boys’ responsibilities (i.e. chores, etc.)  This has been a challenge during this past school year – messy rooms, not being diligent to complete tasks, etc.  So, summer seems to be a great time to FOCUS on that, since we have extra time in our days.

My goal is to train, or re-train where necessary, the boys in how to complete their tasks.  My hope is that by taking the time right now to do this, we will reap the fruit next school year (at least some fruit, please Lord?!)   I want to be faithful to train my children and to use my time with them wisely.  If I don’t have a plan, the summer will be gone before I know it.

Do you have a plan for this summer?  What would the Lord have you focus on with your children – with yourself?

Lord, I just ask that You will help me as I endavor to train my children in very specific ways this summer.  Please give me the grace and wisdom to teach them in a way that will glorify You.  Please help us to be intentional this summer, even while we are having fun!  In Your Name…Amen.

Posted by Stephanie.

Friday Fun May 22, 2009

I was one of “those” children who would have much preferred to continue with school during the summer. Yes. Weird, I know. I loved the routine and structure of having things to do (more on routines during the summer next week). So for me, a perfect summer afternoon meant being curled up on my bed with a good book.

If your children aren’t as odd as I was and really enjoy “going and doing,” here are some fun things you can do with them around the house and Orlando (for our readers who are not in the area – this means you get to come for a visit to try all these places out!). They are all either free or the cost includes benefit: count it as a school day! ::smile:: None of them are earth-shattering…few even take much planning but almost all of them have extremely fond memories for me growing up. And for all my single sistas out there: consider planning a Saturday or Sunday afternoon outing with some of your friends’ kiddos…just don’t forget that diaper bag!  

_ Orlando Science Center (the kids place has great memories – we played for hours and hours…makes me wanna go back for a visit!)

_ Story time at your local library

_ Story time at Leu Gardens

_ Downtown Library and a picnic at Lake Eola afterwards

_ Pet store visit (just be prepared for saying “no” to the requests for a new pet.:)

_ GatorLand and then a visit to Ft. Christmas

_ Picnic at Crane’s Roost or some other local park (it’s amazing how much fun kids have doing this!)

_ IKEA (ok, so I didn’t do this one as a child because the store only opened a year or so ago. But I thoroughly enjoy it as an adult – and they even have a fun kids place for when you need to continue your shopping…in quiet.)

_ Downtown Disney Marketplace (ohhhhh, so fun – legos, princesses, and gi-normous water fountains to run through!)

_ Pottery painting (Painted by Hue has pretty good prices – and the projects the kids do can easily double as a Father’s Day gift, a “thank you” to a sitter or a birthday present for Grandma)

If you have other ideas, please share them with us!!! Just comment on this post…and have fun with your kiddos this summer!!!

Posted by Jennifer

Summer Fun Without the Fuss May 20, 2009

In thinking about fun summer activities…immediately my mind jumps to big things to do or places to go.  But I am learning from my kids that things don’t have to be big for them to be exciting!

Things like having a friend over, playing in the sprinkler or getting out the paint are “mundane” things, but during the school year may not always fit into the schedule.  During the summer, we have more time for some of these fun (and often messy) projects.   Let the kids create, imagine and we can even join them!

Another fun little thing we do around here is we have a snow-cone maker.  When I take the time to get it out for a special treat – my kids couldn’t be more excited!

So this summer, take the time to make the ordinary, extrordinary!

Posted by Stephanie