Rainy Day fun with the art supply cabinet

Things have been busy with the boys home from school, which has affected my blogging here as well.

However, I’m working on a redesign with a fresh look and better organization for families looking for great ways to have fun at home and away. And I have a post ruminating on ways to save money while road tripping. Please stay tuned!

Please visit and tell your friends to stop by and leave feedback, ask questions, or suggest future topics. My first entry is about kayaking, featuring a photo of my family taken while on the water!

In some ways, Justin’s Nut Butters have the potential to make everyone happy. There’s enough variety to satisfy a sweet tooth (though some, like my husband and oldest son, will still hate the texture), and you don’t have to store the stuff in the fridge so it’s easy to mix. Justin’s products are also organic, always a bonus for parents and kids alike.

Best of all, outdoorsy parents or any parent on the go with the kids will love the little portable “Squeeze Packs” of Justin’s Nut Butters; I picked up a few at the local grocery store and brought them on a recent camping trip for a taste test. I tried the regular and honey peanut butter and the honey almond butter because that’s what my local store had in stock, but there are also cinnamon peanut butter and maple almond butter varieties.

If you’re not used to natural peanut butters, these could take some getting used to; try easing into them by spreading some of the honey peanut butter onto  graham crackers, mini bagels or a flour tortilla (my new favorite camping snack). I use the regular peanut butter to make a smoothie with chocolate soy milk and ground flax; my own healthy, protein-packed, “puccino-free” frappuccino and I love it on vanilla ice cream. I’m adding these to my camping and hiking snacks shopping list for sure.

Note: I purchased and happily consumed these products myself. Any time I review something here on Bring the Family, I’ll always disclose whether it was provided by a manufacturer for testing.

In times of great social stress, we need our parks more than ever.� They are essential investments in our health and well-being, and they are inexpensively accessible to people of all ages, all cultures and all levels of income.� They restore and renew us, they bring us together and connect us to nature and history, and they appeal to our finer selves.� To lose them now is a tragedy beyond measure.� And their closure will do little to close a yawning budget gap created in large measure by governmental dysfunction, incompetence and shortsightedness.� We need a fundamental overhaul of our political system, not the closure of our finest public treasures.

In my home state of Illinois, where I’ve hiked since childhood, seven state parks were closed during our own state budget crisis. Fortunately, when� Governor Pat Quinn took over after Governor Rod Blagojevich stepped down in the wake of corruption charges, Quinn immediately re-opened the parks, citing this same essential need for green spaces for residents and tourists to enjoy:

This is a great day for the people of Illinois.� State parks protect some of our most precious habitat and provide opportunities for families to find outdoor recreation close to home.� These are the people�s parks and the people have the right to enjoy them in good and bad economic times,� said Governor Quinn.� �The value of these open spaces is immeasurable to children, families and local communities that depend on these parks for crucial economic stability.

To find out how you can help California’s State Parks, visit www.calparks.org.

Share your thoughts about how public lands should be regarded during stressful economic times in the comments section.

This weekend, my ten-year-old and I will head out on a mother-son camping trip in honor of his recent tenth birthday. I’m sure I’ll have my own thoughts to share, but it was great to read such a solid affirmation of my family camping philosophy as I dig out our gear over the course of this week.

This happened for us when we hiked into French Canyon at Starved Rock, which is ridiculously close to the Visitor Center. But due to recent rains, the trails were muddy and many were avoiding it. Being willing to get muddy or wet is another great way to ditch the crowds (just be sure to wear moisture-wicking garb to avoid hypothermia and general discomfort). A rainy (pre-kids) hike to Shoshone Lake in Yellowstone National Park meant my friend and I had the trail to ourselves – unless you count the mama moose and newborn calf who quietly crossed the trail a few yards ahead of us. Somehow I doubt we’d have spotted them in better weather with more hikers on the trail.

Here’s the view looking out of French Canyon after hiking in:

If you’re not an Illinois native, you’re probably surprised to see rock formations like this here. Our kids were just as surprised, and excited to get a chance to see a waterfall up close and east of the Rockies. A friendly ranger at the Visitor Center suggested this hike, but didn’t clue us in as well as another hiking family on their way out of the canyon did. I know I’m going to sound contradictory here when I say that I love encountering other hikers on the trail; often those who are hiking out will let hikers on the way in know about trail conditions or wildlife they’ve spotted along the way, sort of like that kids’ game “telephone,” but usually more accurate. This family saw we were headed for the canyon and urged us to keep going past what looks like the end of the trail, but isn’t, promising we’d be rewarded with a spectacular view for pressing on. That got the kids excited – and adventure within an adventure: awesome!

Looking at the photo above, you can’t see the portion of the trail where you have to scramble uphill across a very narrow trickle of a creek on wet, flat rock. (You can see the water but not the incline at the bottom left). The only photo I took of that section of the trail featured a mom bending down to touch the water and I’m sure you’ll empathize when I say that she probably doesn’t want to be memorialized in quite that way on the Internet.

Here’s a second, much smaller waterfall flowing out of French Canyon. This was taken standing in about the same spot as the first photo, looking to the right as opposed to straight out and to the left:

Lending a hand while rock climbing in the canyon:

Next up: the star of the show, the big waterfall! My middle son (on the left) had complained of being “bored of hiking” as we drove to the park, but once we made it into the canyon, he proclaimed it the “best day of my whole life!”

It’s amazing what a little mud-stomping and scrambling over creeks can do for a kid’s attitude. I know it had a similar effect on mine, too.

But this image below? This really sums up the essence of not only what I strive to do here at Bring the Family, but for and with my family as we wander and explore. The awe, the sense of wonder, the pausing to simply look around and appreciate and be:

In an upcoming entry, I’ll cover healthier snacks that are built to take a bruisin’ in a day pack on the trail, inspired by my  disappointment upon finding a snack shop at the Visitor Center with nothing but sugary or fried foods. Share your suggestions for tried-and-true hiking snacks and pre-hike meals in the comments section.

I wonder what Ron at Camping Blogger has to say about CNN’s report that camping is back in vogue. Some of us think it never left, right Ron?

I’ve added a new blog to my sidebar called Frisco Kids. If you live in the Bay Area or are planning a trip there soon, this is a must-add for your feed reader. Developed by journalist and family travel writer Debbie Abrams Kaplan, Frisco Kids gives the scoop on the best places to visit and things to do when you bring the family to San Francisco. Check it out!

Finally, I’d like to share a feature I wrote about raising kids who love the earth, which appeared in the March issue of Parents magazine but is also now available online.

Got any cool stuff to share? Post links and good ideas in the comments section!

At some point during our meal, the power suddenly went out. Our wonderful and quick-thinking hosts immediately brought candles to every table and lit them, and our dinner conversation resumed where it left off. Our hosts apologized profusely, but we didn’t mind; everything looks great by candlelight, and if I remember correctly, the pace of everything slowed down. We savored our meals just as we savored our company and conversation.

To date, that was one of my most memorable dining experiences.

Last night, my family turned off our lights and joined others in our time zone for Earth Hour, an event that’s been both lauded as raising awareness about conservation and derided for lacking teeth. Color me optimistic as well as pragmatic; I didn’t turn off the lights for an hour and expect to find Al Gore sporting a halo at our door with the keys to our very own flying car that runs on clean-burning children’s laughter.

But I did sense my kids’ excitement at the quasi-spooky idea of spending some family time mostly in the dark. And we had some terrific, meaty conversations about electricity and how much we rely upon it. I wish I’d taken some photos of us that night, but I was trying to focus on not using technology, so I left the camera downstairs with our cell phones, laptop and game systems.

I told the boys how my mom, who grew up in a cold water flat in Chicago in the 1930s and 40s, had ice delivered to her family’s apartment each week. The delivery men would carry the massive blocks of ice using iron tongs, often up several flights of stairs. Today, that job is obsolete in our country; we open our freezer several times a day and never give it a second thought. I wondered what businesses we see every day will be gone a few decades from now, and what new ones might spring up. We wondered if everyone would go to bed at an earlier hour and follow the patterns of sunrise and sunset if we didn’t have electricity. I asked the boys what they’d miss most if electricity disappeared that night (the Wii, hands-down).

I do clearly remember, since it was just last night, that the pace of things in our home slowed down. There was no March Madness blaring from our television. There were no toys banging on the floor of the big bedroom. There was no flicker of the laptop or ringing of phones. There was just us, and we all took the time to savor that.

Earth Hour might not change the world overnight, but it did prompt great conversations with my kids, who are the next to inherit generations of industrial progress, some of it wonderful (See: me typing this blog entry while you read it from a distant location), some of it not (See: discarded computers, cell phones, and MP3 players taking up more space in our landfills). While I think these issues certainly bear discussion for more than an hour a year, I find it inspiring knowing that so many other households like ours joined the event, and that famous landmarks the world over, from the Eiffel Tower to the Sydney Opera House to the Vatican, also participated.

To learn more about Earth Hour, visit their web site. The point of any event like this is to raise awareness, and I think Earth Hour succeeds in doing just that, as major news outlets covered the story and even people I know who don’t consider themselves particularly “green” were talking about it. Check out these images from the 2009 Earth Hour event to see famous landmarks and regular citizens worldwide participating.

Did you participate in Earth Hour? Why or why not?Do you think you might join the fun next year? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section.

Established in 1971, The McHenry County Conservation District oversees 22,600 acres of open space in this Northern Illinois rural/suburban county northwest of Chicago, with 27 sites open to the public for recreation. Thanks to the MCCD, we can hike, fish, bicycle, camp, and go canoeing minutes from our home.

The MCCD also hosts an array of family-friendly recreational programs and special events, including a maple syrup festival and a geocache rally. There’s even a club for families called The Fox Club, which stands for “Familes Outside Exploring.” For a small registration fee, familes receive a backpack filled with incentives to get families outdoors together, and regular meetings a few times per year–a great way to meet like-minded parents! Finally, the Conservation District has partnered with the Leave No Child Inside Initiative, one I wholeheartedly support both as a parent and a freelance writer (click the link to read more).

We feel very lucky to have such rich resources in our community, and we’ve explored most of the parks in the district so far. Last weekend, we tried a new park, Harrison Benwell Conservation Area in nearby Wonder Lake, Illinois, which has a small campground we wanted to check out. Upon entering the park, the songbirds and towering trees make you forget there’s a major retail strip only ten minutes away. The trails here are just short enough to bring a hardy toddler along; two miles total. In winter, you can cross country ski, too.

The boys loved this park because of the bridges across a meandering stream and the prolific downed trees perfect for climbing. There are port-a-potties and a sheltered picnic area for a pre- or post-hike snack at the trail head. We spotted two types of woodpeckers along the hike and the songbirds were out in force, heralding the coming of spring. As you can see from the photos, the trees have not sprouted leaves yet, so hiking this area is a study in monochromes with an almost otherworldly feeling. What’s interesting when the world looks still asleep like this is that any bit of color really stands out, like the fiery red head of a woodpecker noisily in pursuit of lunch, or the almost neon glow of the moss we saw everywhere along this trail.

The MCCD has park maps available for download on their web site (a good idea to check on before heading out, since trailhead map holders are often left empty at many sites), but we already had a collection at home that the boys enjoy studying.

The only potential down side to hiking during this time of year was the mud. We started out around 10:30 in the morning, but had we arrived two hours earlier, much of the muddy terrain would’ve still been frozen. That didn’t stop us from having fun, however. The Crocs without the holes in them (The Endeavor, pictured, above–looks like the company might be phasing those out, what a shame!) are the best thing for a short hike like this on muddy terrain; they rinse right off and keep feet dry, for the most part. Those of us in hiking shoes found a patch of snow at the trailhead for a quick-and-easy, eco-friendly clean-up. I suggest non-cotton socks for spring hiking to keep feet dry; I wore my green Smart Wool and was so glad I did when a patch of ice over water turned out to be thinner than I’d hoped; my feet were warm and dry the entire time.

Hiking close to home is a benefit our family truly appreciates, and that doesn’t even take into account districts in other nearby counties or our terrific state park systems both here in Illinois and 30 minutes to the north in Wisconsin.

Tell me about outdoor recreation in your neck of the woods. Do you have a local conservation or recreational district within driving distance? What programs are offered in your area? Got plans for spring hiking with the kids soon? If not, what are you waiting for?

I promise you it won’t take long but it will be worthwhile.

“Chances are you have your voice. You can say whatever you want to say right now. So what are you saying? What are you doing with the time you have right now?”

Share your thoughts when you’re done. I have a few and will share them this week. Meanwhile, I’ll be walking to our town Square with the kids while the weather is still fantastic.