Posts Tagged ‘summer fun’

Our Disney Adventure

Tuesday, December 28th, 2021

Our-Disney-Adventure

This year we had the opportunity to take our family to Disneyworld for the first time, for a family reunion. My husband got a bonus at work, and we got a military discount through my son Stephen, who is in the Air National Guard. It is something my husband had always wanted to do with the kids, because when he grew up in California, he used to go to Disneyland, and he had many happy memories he wanted our children to also experience.

While at Disney for four days, we entered four different theme parks: Magic Mountain, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. If you ever go in the summer, be aware that is is hot and humid, because that might affect your energy level. Oh, and there were downpours of rain almost every day. Regardless of the long lines, the Lord answered my prayer that my feet would hold out, and that I would not be limping through the park. That was truly a miracle because I’ve had problems with the arches of my feet, and I’ve often limped home from a short neighborhood walk.

Walking-at-Disneyworld

Magic Kingdom

One of the first rides we went on was the Pirates of the Carribean. It was nearly exactly as I remembered it as a kid. Yes, even though my parents were missionsries in Guatemala, when we came up for furlough, we sometimes went (at least twice as a child) because my grandma lived near Disneyland.

The only difference that my husband noticed was the pirates were not chasing women. Instead the women were chasing the pirates, or one pirate was chasing another pirate. For those of you who remember the ride (or for those of you who have never been), we filmed the ride:

The next ride we took was the Jungle Cruise. You get into a boat, and your tour guide gives you a description of the jungle and its cartoon-like animals. He used a lot of humor, as you can see:

We rode on a lot of other rides at the Magic Kingdom on the first day: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Tiki Room, Haunted Mansion, and Space Mountain. Since we had entered the park at 9am, by the time it poured rain at 4pm, we were ready to go back to the hotel.

On day four, we returned to the Magic Kingdom and did the Mad Tea Party, It’s a Small World, Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, Astro Orbiter, and Seven Dwarves Mine Train.

Epcot Center

The second day, we went to Epcot Center, which is like traveling around the world. It was an overcast day and somewhat drizzly, but we got some clear plastic rain ponchos so that we could keep going. We went to all the countries, including the ride Grand Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros in the Mexico section:

One of my favorite areas of Epcot was the Morocco section. You could walk around the cobbled streets and feel like you were at the Moroccan market. I loved all the architecture, textiles, and lamps.

Morocco-Epcot-Center.

Later we went to Soaring Around the World—which I LOVED! It felt like you were hang gliding around the world on a virtual ride. We also did the Mission Space, Test Track, and Spaceship Earth rides from Epcot.

Hollywood Studios

At Hollywood Studios, we went on the Tower of Terror, Star Wars Millenium Falcon, Muppet Vision 3D, and Star Tours. The Tower of Terror is basically a Twighlight Zone episode that you are involved in, and the elevator drops. It was definitely high intensity.

Star Tours and Star Wars Millenium Falcon were both Star Wars themed rides where we were in spaceships, trying to outrun enemy ships.

The Mupper Vision 3D was super fun, where we sat in the theater of the Muppet Show, seeing everything in 3D, including the hecklers on the balcony to the right of the theater. Years ago our family created our own episode of the Muppet Show, so my whole family enjoyed this experience.

Animal Kingdom

At Animal Kingdom, we went on Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Avatar Flight of Passage. By far, my favorite ride in the entire Disneyworld parks was Avatar Flight of Passage, which was virtual reality where you ride on top of a dragon through the air, over clifftops, and through ocean waves. It was breathtaking—so much so that I rode on it twice. I never knew that one of my bucket list wishes was to fly through the air, and now I got to do it!

Animal-Kingdom

The Kilimanjaro Safari was a lot of fun. Come with us on our safari:

All in all, our Disney Adventure was truly magical. We got to see the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom on the final night, which we enjoyed greatly. I’m so thankful to have had the opportunity to visit Disney with my whole family, along with Alan’s sister and her kids. My kids got to know their cousins in a much more in-depth way, and I had many good conversations with my sister-in-law. It was an unforgettable trip!

Tide Pools of Cannon Beach

Wednesday, August 27th, 2014

tide-pools-of-cannon-beachThe tide pools of Cannon Beach were beautiful. Here are some pictures we took on our recent vacation to Cannon Beach. You have to look up the tides of Cannon Beach in order to find out when the low tides are, so that you can find the tide pools. There are no tide pools at high tide because the ocean is covering the area. It’s only when the tides retreat and leave behind pockets of water that you will find beautiful creatures residing in their midst.

tide-pools-of-cannon-beach-4If you go to Haystack Rock (the triangular rock jutting out of the water), you will find the best tide pools there. We went at three different times of the day, and there is a big difference in what you see. When we went in the afternoon, there were lots of people, and it was hard to find even one sea star. We finally found one, and after half an hour at the tide pools, we had located about five sea stars in total. There were lots of anemones and hermit crabs.

tide-pools-of-cannon-beach-2The second time we went was in the early morning around 6am, which is a much better time to go. Not very many people were there. We saw a large crab and many other creatures we hadn’t seen the previous afternoon. Best of all, we saw maybe 50 different sea stars, all hugging each other and overlapping sometimes. It was beautiful. Up on the rock you could see puffins nesting, if you looked closely with binoculars. I’ve always loved puffins, so this was a nice surprise.

barnacles-at-cannon-beachThe sides of the rocks were covered with barnacles and other shellfish. The rocks were alive, as you could hear them clicking shut. My son saw a couple of mussels opened, and he touched them before they retreated into their shell and snapped shut like a Vanus Flytrap!

tide-pools-of-cannon-beach-3Here is my daughter picking up a hermit crab. She liked the hermit crab to walk along her hand. After playing with it for a while, she placed it back into the water.

hermit-crab-cannon-beachKelp covered a lot of the rocks as well. In the early morning, you could pull back the kelp like a curtain to find crabs, fish, and other sea creatures that were hiding from the light.

kelp-of-cannon-beachMy husband went to the tide pools at 3am one night when he couldn’t sleep, and he said the tide pools were spectacular! He saw enormous sea stars that were two feet across. He saw crabs that scurried away when he shone his flashlight on them. The colors were beautiful as he shone his flashlight on the sea creatures in the tide pools in the middle of the night. Unfortunately my husband didn’t take a camera with him, and the tide pools themselves were an unexpected surprise.

starfish-at-cannon-beach

As we sat around the campfire one night, my son Stephen wanted to hear more about the tide pools in the middle of the night. My husband’s description seemed incredible, and we wished we had another night in which to grab flashlights and explore the tide pools when they were thriving with so much life!

sea-stars-of-cannon-beach

Staycation: Exploring Spokane

Monday, May 19th, 2014

staycation-exploring-spokane

Staycation: Exploring Spokane

Why not save money this year vacationing in your own backyard? A staycation gives you an opportunity to explore your hometown and have fun with your family on a budget. Here are some ideas of where to go if you live in the Spokane, WA area. Each of these places is within a one-hour drive of Spokane, and some of them cross into Idaho, where you will find a gorgeous lake and fast roller coasters. Explore local museums, parks, festivals, water parks, and restaurants.

Theme Parks, Rides, and Amusements

spokane-cable-car

1. Spokane Falls Sky Ride: Take a fun cable car ride over the Spokane River, and enjoy the relaxing view of the waterfall. My children once saw a beaver running along the river, from our birds-eye view.

2. Looff Carousel Ride: By the Spokane River is a beautiful antique carousel that you can ride.

3. Red Wagon: Go down the huge red wagon slide while enjoying a nice view of the Spokane River and clock tower.

trampolines-spokane

4. Jump Sky High Trampolines: This place will have your kids bouncing off the walls! Watch a video of our experience here.

5. Splashdown: Ride down some twisting water slides and splash into the water!

6. Silverwood Theme Park: Fast roller coasters, log rides, and fun shows fill this great theme park. Our family has enjoyed going every year. Why not do a Roller Coaster Unit Study with your kids, to learn the science behind the rides?

7. Laser Quest: Run around with a lazer gun, shooting other players and scoring points in this fun environment lit by black lights.

8. Fastkart Speedway: Race around an indoor racetrack in your own fast car! This is super fun. Maybe I’ll film it next time and put it here on my blog, so you can see how awesome it is. My husband always beats me for some reason…

9. Eagles Ice-A-Rena: If you like to ice skate, here is a place you can skate year-round because it’s an indoor rink. I liked the contraptions for the children, to help them not fall over. The kids look like grasshoppers with the contraption.

10. Wonderland Family Fun Center: Gorgeous mini golf, bumper boats, arcade games, and go carts. The mini golf is the best in the area. They also have laser tag, so it’s a great place to have a birthday party.

11. Sierra Silver Mine Tour: This is a fabulous tour in Idaho. I filmed our experience and put it in the field trip section of the Unit Study Treasure Vault. Go ahead and support my family by joining my membership site. It’s got thousands of cool ideas to do with your kids!

12. Polka Dot Pottery: Decorate your own pottery with your kids. The kids do the artwork with special paints, and later the pottery is fired so that you can use it for eating. We did this as a unique Christmas present for the grandparents: Painting Pottery for Firing. (Go ahead and subscribe to my YouTube channel while you’re there, because it has tons of fun activities for kids in it!)

cat-tales-spokane-2

Lakes, Plants, and Animals

13. Cat Tales Zoological Park: Lions and tigers and bears: oh my! Yes, there is a bear in this feline zoo for some reason. Definitely go during feeding time for the lions, since they devour food more fiercely than anyone you’ve ever known! Find out more about our family adventure: Here Kitty, Kitty…

14. Horseback Riding: We thoroughly enjoyed not only riding the horses, but the tour guide’s conversation, as well as the beautiful scenery surrounding the trail by the Spokane River. Watch our experience here: Horseback Riding in Spokane.

15. Manito Botanical Gardens: Come to a free and gorgeous set of botanical gardens. These include a rose garden, a perennial garden, a Japanese garden, and a pond with ducks. Look at our experience: Botanical Gardens and Conservatory.

16. Finch Arboretum: This arboretum is full of beautiful trees and plants, and it is especially lovely in the autumn. We filmed our kids running through Finch Arboretum in this Autumn Fun video.

17. Coeur d’Alene Lake: Rated as one of the top 10 most beautiful lakes in the United States, Coeur d’Alene Lake is a picturesque place to relax, have a picnic, go boating, and play in the water. Read about our experience here: A Day at the Lake.

18. Green Gluff: Pick delicious ripe strawberries, cherries, or apples from the farms and orchards in Green Bluff. The fruit is cheaper and tastes waaaaaaay better than the grocery store. Plus, the kids love to pick it from the plants and trees.

museum-of-north-idaho

Museums and Historic Buildings

19. Historic Tour of Spokane: Walk around downtown Spokane and look at the older buildings and structures to understand the history of the city. You can do this on your own, or look up what tours are available here.

20. Campbell House: Tour a grand home from the early 1900’s. The decorations inside the house look Victorian, and there is a re-enactment each Christmas as they decorate the home for a Victorian Christmas.

21. Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture: This is the best and largest museum in Spokane. It has housed many traveling collections we’ve seen over the years: Leonardo da Vinci inventions, Rembrandt paintings, a dinosaur fossil, etc. Normally it has Native American artifacts from the area, and they rotate the exhibits, so check their website to find out the most recent exhibits.

22. Spokane Heritage Museum: This small museum has really cool scenes from different times in history. My son enjoyed playing on the old typewriter, and we liked stepping back in time during the last hundred years of our city. Great for studying modern history.

23. Museum of North Idaho: This museum is very tiny, but it has scenes depicting what life was like throughout the past couple hundred years. Similar to Spokane Heritage Museum, but for the Idaho area. Look at pictures of the museum here: Museum of North Idaho.

24. Cataldo Mission: Located in Idaho about an hour from Spokane, this mission is the oldest building in the area, and it looks like the Alamo! Read about our family experience and watch a video of it here: Cataldo Mission in Idaho.

cataldo-mission-idaho-2

Restaurants

25. The Melting Pot: This restaurant is expensive, but it is an experience you will never forget! Stab and cook each of the courses for your dinner in dripping cheese, beef juice, or chocolate. Yum! My kids all loved it, and we filmed our experience here: The Melting Pot.

26. Shogun Restaurant: This Japanese Grill has a show where the chef cooks everything right in front of you at your table. Yes, each table has a flat grill where the chef uses a strobe light and flips eggs into the air to crack them. Watch a video of my family’s experience here: Japanese Grill.

27. Clinkerdagger: This is a perfect date night, where the decor looks medieval and reminds me of when I lived in England. Expensive but exquisite. I spent my 15th wedding anniversary here, and I also went here for my birthday.

28. Sushi Maru: Watch affordable sushi going around on conveyor belts, and pay for whatever dish you pick up. Grab it when it’s going by your table. Read about our experience here: Sushi and a Walk by the River.

29. Ipanema: This restaurant in Coeur d’Alene is somewhat pricey, but you experience food from Brazil in this buffet, where the waiters bring you delicious meat stabbed through with a pole, where it’s been turning in front of a fire. Very yummy. It’s worth studying Brazil or South America with your kids to have an excuse to taste the cuisine of that country.

the-melting-pot

Seasonal Events

30. Scottish Highland Games: Where else can you find the sound of bagpipes, the smell of highland cows, and the sight of tartan kilts wherever you look but the Scottish Highland Games in Spokane! It is a fun way to dive into the culture, music, clothing, and animals of Scotland. Read about our experience here: Scottish Highland Games in Spokane.

31. Journey to the Cross: Every Easter weekend, a Spokane Valley church puts on a phenomenal performance of the life of Christ. This outdoor play is enjoyed while walking along a path, leading to the cross and the empty tomb. Watch our experience here: Journey to the Cross.

32. Bloomsday Run: The first Saturday in May, 60,000 people run a 12K race. You must keep running forward, or you’ll be trampled to death. Just kidding. At least I hope I’m kidding. Read about my experience here: My First 12K Race.

33. Civil War Re-enactment: Step back in time and experience the American Civil War with canon fire, soldiers shooting with rifles, tents, and period costumes. Every year on Memorial Day weekend.

34. Northwest Renaissance Festival: Who wouldn’t want to see knights in shining armor on horses, jousting? Come watch the human chess board, the medieval town, and the people walking around in medieval costumes.

35. Shakespeare in the Park: Every August at Pavillion Park, a free play by Shakespeare is performed at the park. I thoroughly enjoy Shakespeare, since I’m a former English teacher who taught at an American school in London. Yes, I was also the drama director while I was there. This was our experience watching our local park performance: Shakespeare in the Park.

36. Spokane County Fair: The county fair includes lots of displays, animals, shows, and demonstrations. Here was our experience: Going to the State Fair and Running inside a Ball.

37. Corn Maze: Highly popular in October is this huge corn maze divided into three sections: easy, medium, and hard. Try to find your way out of the complicated maze while punching your card at certain check points. (I filmed our adventure in the filed trip section of the Unit Study Treasure Vault.)

38. Horse and Carriage Rides: Jump on a free horse and carriage ride during the month of December. Enjoy the bells jingling on the horses as they trot down the street. Here was our experience: Horse and Carriage Ride.

39. Journey to Bethlehem: Experience the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, as they find out there is no room in the inn. Get bullied by the Roman soldiers and hear some angels sing. I filmed our experience here: Journey to Bethlehem

40. Snow Tubing: Enjoy riding down a snow slide in a huge, fat innertube. Great for all ages. You ride a conveyor belt thingy to get back to the top of the mountain, so it’s perfect for kids.

41. Night Skiing: Go skiing, and enjoy it at night!

See some sights in Spokane while listening to this 2-minute song by Jewel:

Hope you enjoy all these places as much as we did!

SummerStaycation

Roller Coaster Unit Study

Wednesday, July 17th, 2013

roller-coaster-unit-studyPosts may contain affiliate links.

Why not do a Roller Coaster Unit Study with your kids during your summer vacation? You can learn a lot by riding roller coasters.

Haven’t you always wondered why you’re pushed against the seat when you are riding a fast roller coaster? The answer: centrifugal force. And why is your body jerked forward when the ride ends? Because an object in motion will remain in motion unless something stops it, like the iron bar across your lap.

To learn more, you can ask yourself the following questions from the book Roller Coaster Science:

  • How does the size of the hills change during the ride?
  • Do you move faster or slower when you are at the top of a hill?
  • Do you move faster or slower when you are at the bottom of a hill?
  • As you go up a hill, do you gain or lose speed?
  • As you go down a hill, do you gain or lose speed?
  • As you go up a hill, do you feel heavier, lighter, or your usual weight?
  • As you go down a hill, do you feel heavier, lighter, or your usual weight?
  • When the ride makes a turn, are you pushed into the turn or away from it?
  • When the tracks curve, do they tilt inward or outward or are they parallel to the ground?

The book gives you an explanation for why all these things happen. It’s fun to actually pay attention to how you feel as you are riding on the roller coasters, and then later learn the science behind it.

If you want to tie in Language Arts, you can do a fun writing assignment about an amusement park:

You can build your own roller coaster out of K’nex:

Here is a free printable PDF for understanding roller coaster physics, from the Virginia Instructors of Physics:

If you want to understand the physics behind roller coasters, watch this:

As you can see, besides having a splendid time with your family, you can have a great educational experience at the same time. So why not? Go ride some roller coasters with your kids!

For more fabulous unit studies, join the Unit Study Treasure Vault.

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