Today, we remember and honor all the brave men and women who gave their life for our country.
In honor of this important today, check out our place of the week.
Happy Memorial Day! 🇺🇸
Month: May 2019
World Turtle Day 🐢
Happy World Turtle Day!
American Tortoise Rescue, a nonprofit organization, created this day 17 years ago to help people celebrate and protect turtles and tortoises and their disappearing habitats around the world.
Turtles are the most endangered group of vertebrates in the world. Of the 356 species of turtles and tortoises worldwide, about 61% of them are threatened or already extinct.
Adopt a turtle instead of buying one from the pet shops. Never remove or touch a turtle in the wild (unless they are sick or injured). If a tortoise is crossing a busy street, pick it up, and send it in the same direction it was going – if you try to make it go back, it will turn right around again. Report any illegal sales of turtles or tortoises to animal control. Consider supporting of one the many nonprofit organizations out there working to protect these important animals to our world.
Happy World Turtle Day! 🐢
Crater Lake National Park
Happy 117th anniversary to Crater Lake National Park located in Oregon!
About 7,700 years ago, Mount Mazama erupted creating the deepest lake in the United States and the 9th deepest in the world. With a depth of 1,943 feet, Crater Lake is the one of the most beautiful lakes you will ever see. The water’s intense blue color is an indication of its great depth and purity. Surrounded by cliffs, the lake is fed entirely by rain and snow. Scientists consider Crater Lake to be the cleanest and clearest large body of water in the world.
My husband and I have journeyed to this national park twice. Here are a few photos from our first excursion there in September 2007.
Did you the see the lake in the second photo? Yep, we didn’t either on that trip! The snow and clouds came in fast and hid that beautiful lake. We still enjoyed being in the national park, but really wanted to see Crater Lake!
And here are a few photos from our second trip there in August 2016.
We definitely saw this amazing lake on this trip! We really enjoyed seeing this spectacular lake as the blue color is really unique.
We also took in a hike in the woods there too as the lake is only part of the national park. This national park has a ton of old-growth forests with towering ponderosa pines to ancient whitebark pines hosting many trails for hiking.
If you’re in the Oregon or Northern California area, I highly recommend checking out this national park. This lake will truly amaze and inspire you!
Place of the Week
Click on the Place of the Week tab above here or the link on Mondays now for our national site of the week!
The national park system has 419 national areas including national parks, monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House.
Each week, that page on this blog will highlight one of the national areas and give you a link for more information. Check out this week’s place of the week and then come back on Monday for the next one!
Happy Monday!
Search for the Fairies
A few weeks ago, we wanted to go on a hike with our two kids and my sister and her husband. After weeks of rain here, the sun had come out. So, we wanted to get outside and enjoy the sun and fresh air along the American River.
Our 7 year old little girl ran around the house getting supplies for this hike. No, she did not get a compass nor a map. She got her small brown shoulder purse, her little white stuffed bunny (named Bunny), lipstick (really just chapstick), and a plastic spoon. She brought her supplies in the car for our hike.
On the trail, she announced that we were searching for fairies. Little fairies would like the trail, so we had to look out for them. Bunny helped look for them too. Every so many feet, she would stop, lift her hand to her forehead and search around an area.
After about a mile or so of hiking, she started to get a little low due to the lack of fairy sightings. A little snack helped the spirits (which she did call it the cure). She kept on hiking and looking.
Then, we found the perfect tree. It had to be a fairy home. The tree had a small hole facing us with dark green moss around it. We even saw some pixie dust inside it. Our daughter took out the spoon and scooped up a very small bit of the pixie dust. Bunny even checked it out and agreed! She could not stop grinning.
Something fluttered nearby. It had to be a fairy or two even watching us hike. She knew that they were close.
We walked over a small bridge and something fluttered nearby. It had to be a water fairy or maybe the tree fairy following us.
Bunny cheered on the fairy trees, the fluttering sounds, and little bits of pixie dust. And our little girl smiled the rest of the hike and the day.
So, make sure to look for fairies and the magic of hiking the next time you are out on the trail!
Summer Reading Programs
As the summer approaches for children, you can find a few resources to keep your children reading in addition to your local libraries.
First, Barnes and Noble offers a summer reading program every year where the children track at least 8 books on a form. Then, in August, they can come into the store and pick a book off of their list for free! Click here for the form.
Also, Scholastic is having a “Read-A-Palooza” Summer Reading Challenge. Over the summer, kids log their minutes that they have read online. They unlock digital rewards, book excerpts, and other summer content. In addition, once participating kids reach 25, then 50 and then 100 million minutes collectively read in the Summer Reading Challenge, Scholastic will donate a minimum of 200,000 books to kids in need across the United States! Click here for information on this program.
Make sure your littles read over the summer to continue their education from the previous school avoiding that summer slump. And let your kids explore, grow, travel, and have fun reading some cool books over the warm summer!
Happy reading!
Day For Moms
Literature shares us with so many wonderful stories and people. In fact, we have met a number of pretty awesome mothers in fiction over the years. Here are a few of them:
- Molly Weasley, Harry Potter series
- Margaret March, Little Women
- Mrs. Bennet, Pride and Prejudice
- Kanga, Winnie-the-Pooh
- Dr. Murry, A Wrinkle in Time
- Mrs. Quimby, Ramona
- Ma Ingalls, Little House on the Prairie
Many other awesome moms exist out there in fiction. What other fictional moms should we add to this list here?
Cheers to all the real moms out there today! Hopefully you get some time to read a great book today! Happy Mother’s Day!
Peter Pan Day
Happy Peter Pan Day or really, J.M. Barrie’s birthday!
“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.”
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J. M. Barrie authored “Peter Pan” as a play first in 1904 and then as a novel in 1911. Cheers to this Scottish author and playwright for creating such a memorable set of characters and story!
To celebrate, make some pixie dust, go on an adventure, tell a good story, battle a pirate, and act like a kid! Or pick up the original book and read it today!
Happy Peter Pan Day!
“To live will be an awfully big adventure.”
―
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Lassen Volcanic National Park
Happy 113th anniversary to Lassen Volcanic National Park!
Located about 130 miles north of Sacramento, this national park has over 100,00 acres. Congress established this national park back in 1916 making it one of the oldest in our country.
Lassen Volcanic National Park offers visitors the cool experiences of seeing clear mountain lakes, meadows filled with wildflowers, and a number of volcanoes! In fact, Lassen Peak is one of the largest plug dome volcanoes in the world.
We took the two kids there a few years ago and will never forget the “stinky” section of the park. Both kids holding their noses and wondering what that smell was! It definitely entertained mom and dad! 😉 The kids enjoyed seeing the boiling mudpots and steaming vents with that yummy sulfur smell!
If you’re in the Northern California area, check out this unique national park and experience a volcano! Happy anniversary, Lassen!
Enjoy some photos from our time there!
Star Wars Day
Happy Star Wars Day! 
George Lucas created this franchise with the first film back in 1977 and it operates now as a huge enterprise!
While most people think of the movies when they think about Star Wars, many novels have been written about all the creative characters and stories. Enjoy a few minutes and read one of the Star Wars books or comics out there!
Happy reading!
May the 4th be with you!