Uncategorized – Page 44 – rocky mountain tot

KC Toddler Fun, First Week of March

I’m having serious mountain withdraws! We haven’t made it to Colorado since the beginning of January and we might not go until mid-April. What to do in the mean time? Fill our days with fun activities here in Kansas City. A couple highlights from last week:

Lakeside Nature Center: This was our first visit to the center which is located in Swope Park (right across from the Kansas City Zoo). Admission was free. We walked around and looked at snakes, turtles, salamanders, fish, birds, squirrels, rabbits and other animals that are native to Missouri – even bald eagles!

StoneLion Puppet Theatre – we attended a free event at Tomahawk Ridge Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas. The show was “A Jungle Out There”. We learned about endangered species.

Open Gym at Pinnacle Gymnastics in Shawnee, Kansas- This is a great way to burn toddler energy. We jumped on the trampoline, played in the foam pit, did somersaults on the floor and walked across a mini balance beam. The cost is $5 for members and $6 for nonmembers, but Cecy (15 months) attended for free.

Jazz Storytelling at the American Jazz Muesum. This free event takes place the first Friday of every month. The musicians are incredibly talented and fun. We love to go. This time Cecy didn’t make it through the whole performance, so we burned off some of her excitement on the playground across the street and enjoyed blueberry vegan pancakes for lunch at nearby Succotash – yum.

March -Festive Family To-do List

Yuck, did anyone else feel they were in a constantly revolving cycle of colds last month? I swear we just took turns feeling sick. Despite not feeling our best, we still had a lot of fun.

I enjoyed a cute family Valentine’s Day dinner at home and going to a fancy Gatsby themed event with my husband, but my favorite experience was taking Cecy to the beach in Florida. She loved kicking waves and chasing birds. This month I’m excited to:

Enjoy rising temperatures and play outside as much as possible
Time to Swing!
We had a Mardi Gras themed dinner last month with Creole black beans ‘n’ sausage (recipe) and wearing lots of bead necklaces! This month I want to celebrate our Irish heritage with a themed dinner or brunch.
Happy Mardi Gras
Visit family in California. We will be in Morro Bay which is where we took Cecy on her first hike (Valencia Peak). I’m hoping we can do some hiking again.
March Madness! For the last few years I’ve assigned restaurants to every team in the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament and that’s how we determine where to go to dinner on our anniversary in April. I’m not a big basketball fan (college basketball is huge in Kansas City) so this makes it more fun. The key is to throw some fast food restaurants in the mix so you’re excited when they lose.
Cecy’s first Easter Egg hunt.

Happy March!

Good, Better, Best… at the Grocery Store

My Grandpa taught me the sang, “Good, better, best – never let it rest until your good is better and your better is best!”

This popped in my head when I was grocery shopping today and I thought I’d share it because I don’t think I’m the only one overwhelmed with all the good aspirations to go green, shop local, eat healthy and save money. I do not have time to research every product and go to multiple stores – I’m literally bribing my one year old with graham cracker cookies I pull off the shelf so she stops trying to jump out of the cart!

‘Ok, just breathe’ I told myself. I may never cook all organic, plan gourmet meals under $5 or find a way to leave a zero carbon footprint on our beautiful planet. I can be mindful, make a few slightly better choices and build from there. So, here is what I found:

Shatto Milk – My husband is not a picky person, but he is very picky when it comes to milk and this tastes great! It’s from a local Kansas City dairy, so it’s very fresh. They use glass bottles to keep it cold and to help the environment. I even got a $2 rebate when I brought my clean container back to the store so they can reuse the glass.

San Francisco Bay Single Serve Coffee – I love coffee and I love how convenient and easy my Keurig makes brewing a cup. I don’t love the plastic containers that accumulate in my trash, so I’m really excited about this brand that uses a mesh coffee filter instead of plastic.

Oscar Meyer Natural lunch meat and Coffee mate natural bliss – I’m trying to buy meat that is nitrate/nitrite free and coffee creamer that doesn’t have carrageenan listed in the ingredients.

Finally, I remembered to bring my own reusable bags today – woohoo! Let me know if you have any great products or practices that you and your family enjoy!

A weekend trip to Hollywood, Florida

Last weekend we took a quick trip to Hollywood, Florida to soak in some sunshine.

The weather was a little colder and windier than we expected, but we still had fun walking up and down the broadwalk which has great views of the ocean. We didn’t need to rent a car, we had all of the restaurants and entertainment we needed within walking distance of our hotel. The broadwalk is lined with restaurants where you can sit outside, listen to live music and watch people walking, biking and rollerblading by.

Our favorite part of the trip was splashing in the waves and chasing birds up and down the beautiful beach.

The Anne Kolb Nature Center was close to our hotel, so we walked over a couple times to enjoy the trails and observation tower views. We spotted unique birds and tree crabs along the trails.