October Giveaway!

It's October, and I wanted to do a Trick - Or - Treat Giveaway! 

This welcomed cool air has me thinking about wonderful Fall meals, and some of my favorites come from the Homesick Texan Cookbook by Lisa Fain.  If you haven't read her book or blog, as a New York transplant, she misses her Texan food and makes some of the yummiest recipes, filled with some helpings of Texas stories, too!  I love it so much, I thought I'd share a copy with this month's winner!  BTW, word is that she has a new cookbook in the works!  I can't wait! 

So, here's the deal, just click on  "Join this site" under "Followers" on the right hand side.  That's it!  A random generator from Random.org will choose and a winner will be announced on October 20th.  Then the book will be sent out via Amazon.com, and you should receive it in time to make something YuMMy for Halloween!  Or. at least sit in comfort checking out healthy stuff you could be making while filling yourself with your kid's haul of good candy while they are sleeping - whatever!  (Really, am I the only one that does this?  "Oh look, this Hershey's bar wrapper might be loose!  I better take that, just to be on the safe side...nom nom  nom!)

Preschool Discovery Class at the Fort Worth Nature Center

The Fort Worth Nature Center is one of our favorite hang outs.  Located on the far west side of Fort Worth, along the shore of Lake Worth, there are lots of quiet hiking trails,  gently rising and falling roads to ride, and plenty of wildlife to watch, as well as some great paddling opportunities.  The nature center offers many wonderful classes, too, and my children all spent their preschool years learning about turtles, vultures and pond life in their Discovery Preschool. 

The Preschool Discovery class is offered once a month, on the fourth Friday of the month.  Each week they cover a different topic.  This month the subject was  snakes. 

The classes are led by Mr. Michael.  He starts each class with a story.  He read Hide and Snake by Keith Baker. 

 
Then he brought out a live snake, a resident of the refuge.  The kids were then allowed to come up and meet it.  Mr. Michael explained some differences and similarities of the snake to people, and emphasized words like "reptile" and "scales".  He told them some facts about snakes, explaining what it means to be "cold blooded". 












He then showed them a snake skeleton to help understand the way a snake moves.  When he asked what the children thought a snake ate, my four year old yelled out "Carrot!".   Mr. Michael explained that they eat small mice and rodents and are helpful to people because they do.  However, my little guy still insist they eat carrots, too! 

Afterwards, we went outside for a walk around the nature center, and Mr. Michael pointed out different locations that snakes would prefer for living conditions, and explained how snake will "sun" themselves on rocks or logs, to warm themselves. 

We then went back inside for a fun art project, making a snake!

 
We started with white paper circles.  It's better if you use a thicker grade of paper than copy or construction paper, but not something as rigid as card stock. 

Then completely color the circle, both sides!!

Finally, cut the circle in a spiral, and add eyes on the head.   It looks great when you stretch it out! 

After the class, we took the kids for a short hike and looked for snake habitats.  We didn't see any snakes, but we spotted some nice fossils.  We also visited Scout, the nature center's bobcat.  Scout was busy eating a mouse, and the boys couldn't take their eyes off her!  Bobcats don't use silverware!  There are several animals which call the nature center home, and sponsorship opportunities are available for their Wild Ambassadors.  To learn more, visit their website; http://www.fwnc.org/docs/AnAm/AnAmBrochure.pdf

My Mommy Tips:

• If you want to bring your preschooler to a Preschool Discovery class, register EARLY.  We have been turned away because I waited too late and the class was full. 

While we are on the subject of snakes, one of our favorite books is about a young python, Verdi, by Janell Cannon, the acclaimed creator of Stellaluna. 

 

 

Champion Dog, Prince Tom

When I was a little girl, about 2nd - 4th grade, my FAVORITE book was Champion Dog, Prince Tom by Jean Fritz and Tom Clute.  It's the true story about a cocker spaniel named Tom, the runt of the litter, who, as you may be able to guess, becomes not only a champion dog in the obedience field, but also as a hunting and sporting dog.  As a child, I loved it because it was about dogs, (I had secret dreams of growing up to be a professional trainer) and because it is a great story of determination, not giving up on dream when everyone tells you it's impossible.  I read it many times, and spent many hours in my childhood backyard, "training" our family dog. 

When my son and daughter started reading, I couldn't wait for them to read it.  Although I pout a little that they don't want to read it over and over, they did enjoy it.  And while my kids grown up dreams don't include Westminster, they do enjoy teaching our old dogs some new tricks occasionally. 

My son, Cole, and I were at our local pet store, picking up some crickets for his fire bellied toad, when we saw that they had 2 week old box turtles for sale.  They were absolutely adorable, and I had to have one!  We picked the most active one, and we were unanimous in naming his Jonner Thompson after the box turtle in the story. 

The book can be found in libraries, and online at Amazon.com.  If you would be interested in attending a dog show, the American Kennel Club offers a list of all events by state.  You will be surprised how many events take place in Texas each month.  Click on over and find one near you! 

If you think you can give a box turtle a good home, be prepared for a long commitment, as they can live up to 100 years.  They are also a little more difficult to care for than a red-eared slider, but like the slider, they can carry salmonella, so limit handling by children and keep hand sanitizer close at hand and practice good hygeine constantly.  The website Turtle Puddle offers some good advice on caring for a pet turtle.  Also, be certain that the store where you purchase the turtle buys only captive bred turtles, check your local animal shelter or adopt one from the Gulf Coast Turtle and Tortoise Society.  TexasTurtles.org is an informative site by Texas Parks and Wildlife.  Another option to enjoy turtles in the wild, and help their dwindling numbers is to volunteer at Texas Turtle Watch.  As volunteers, we visit three local ponds monthly, and report the number of turtles we count back to them.  Here's our previous blog post, http://havingfuninthetexassun.blogspot.com/2011/08/texas-turtle-watch.html

Harry Potter and Chocolate Frogs

Last week was Harry Potter's birthday, July 31st. It's also the birthday of the author of the series, J. K. Rowling. My kids and I  decided to celebrate the event. In the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the reader is  introduced to chocolate frogs. Each frog comes with Famous Witch or Wizard Trading Cards. We decided it would be fun to make our own chocolate frogs! 

We ordered the mold from Amazon.com.  Because really, you can find just about anything there.  

Now, we are not chocolatiers, and I'm sure that there are many more wonderful, delicious and "gourmet" way to make chocolate frogs.  But this is from our "Kidchen", and meant to be an easy way for kids, while supervised, to create a yummy amphibean treat!   

We used about 1 cup of Hershey's milk chocolate chips.  Melt in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Stir and put back in the microwave for about 15 seconds.  You know each microwave is a little different.  Stir until all the chocolate is melted and then an adult should test to make sure the chocolate is not too hot.  If it is, let it sit for a few minutes.  Carefully fill the molds, wiping any overage off .  Once all the molds are filled, gently tap the mold to try to remove any trapped air bubbles.  Place in the refrigerator to harden. 

Wash the mold and you can also use it to make frog shaped homemade sidewalk chalk! 

Although my kids and I read the books several years ago, we still love the Harry Potter stories. My daughter even celebrated her 8th birthday with a Harry Potter theme. We made potions, paper wands and visited a "unicorn" during their Care of Magical Creatures Class.

My husband even dressed as the Prisoner of Azkaban!   

 

Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Center

Lewisville Lake is a very popular and commercial lake just north of Dallas.  It's busy shorelines host restaurants and homes, and the water is filled with boats each weekend.  But just on the other side of the dam sits the Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Center.  This quiet, beautiful and natural area is surprisingly remote from the fast boats and loud music you find on the lake. 

A secluded site, we first visited the dam, where the Elm Fork of the Trinity River spills out to continue south as it joins up with the West Fork in Irving, and winds itself down through East Texas on it's way out to Trinity Bay. 

We were there to complete our second of the Texas Nature Challenges, which was to hike one of the three trails, and make observations along the way.  We chose the Cicada Trail, which runs through a hardwood forest, and seemed to be the one to offer the most shade. It was already about 100 degrees, and the shade makes such a difference!

A photo of one of the cicadas for which the trail is named.  Very aptly named, too.  The cicadas are everywhere, it was almost hard to hear each other, at some times they were so loud. 

This is my daughter.  She too, is something on the trail that made it hard for us to hear each other. 

When we came upon this hollow tree with a large entrance at the bottom, we all stopped and yelled, "The Watcher in the Woods"!  We read the novel by Florence Engel Randall, a couple of summers ago.  The tree, and it's "entrance" looks like something right out of the book.  Literally, a shiver ran down my back when I saw this. 

If you haven't read it, it's a fun, and suspenseful book for kids.  We recommend it, but I wouldn't go down this trail just after reading it.  Unless you want to scare your kids..... 

The Cicada Trail runs along the former river bed of the Trinity River.  When the lake was formed, they MOVED the river to it's present location.  That amazes me. 

After our hike, we enjoyed a picnic lunch, and some COLD watermelon!  Is there anything better than COLD watermelon on a hot day? 

The LLELC also host one of the Texas Paddling Trails, the Beaver Pond Paddling Trail. 

It started off a little muddy, and shallow, and gloriously shady.  My husband took the kayak, and the kids and I were in our canoe.  Beautiful birds flew all around us, including very friendly but photo shy Green Herons.  We came up a young family of them, right out of the nest.  They were just too quick to get a good picture. 

The trail quickly opened up into a large, open pond.  Again, water birds were everywhere.  We paused several times just to look and listen.  The water was surprisingly clean, and we could see fish swimming around us.  My son was really biting his bottom lip, since they don't allow fishing on the trail. 

There was so much to see and do, and we really didn't get to half of it.  But we will be back.  One of the trails has an old cabin, the Minor-Porter homestead.  You know how much I love log cabins.  Tours are offered on the second third Saturday of each month. 

On the second third Saturday of each month, kayak trips are also offered on a 6 mile stretch of the Trinity River.  All the equipment and instruction is provided, but registration is required.  Check their website for prices and more information.  www.kayakpower.com

They also offer badge workshops for scouts, and much more. 

To visit the LLELA website; http://www.ias.unt.edu/llela/main.htm

To read more about other Texas log cabins;  http://havingfuninthetexassun.blogspot.com/2011/08/discovering-texas-past-log-cabins-of.html

To learn more about the Texas Nature Challenge; http://naturechallenge.tamu.edu/

Catching Fire

We read the 2nd installment of The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire, as if we were on fire.  The story just runs along, a little sad, perhaps, but never slow.  We started reading a chapter a night, with each of us reading a page or two.  I, being the faster reader, was soon the only reader.  When my daughter's homework schedule interfered with reading time, my son and I went on without her never looking back.  It's that good. 






We try to implement an activity with each book we read. After reading Hunger Games, we foraged for and tried 3 different recipes for dandelions, the food Katniss credited with saving her life.  To read about it;   http://havingfuninthetexassun.blogspot.com/2012/04/hunger-games.html
Before we had even started Catching Fire, we knew what activity we were going to do.  The kids were already obsessed with archery, and begging me for a recurve bow.  Katniss and her bow became the symbol of that obsession. 

Outdoor World in Grapevine

 

I had heard that they were offering archery at Outdoor World's Family Summer Camp, which seemed like a fun event, so we made plan to go.

  . What a great selection of activities that have for kids!!

 And, it's all FREE!!

My neice practicing casting at the fishing exhibit!

The bb gun range.  An Outdoor World employee shows
the kids how to hold the gun and aim.

 

This is what we came for!! My son did great,
hitting the target 3 of his 4 shots!

Each hour they offer an outdoor seminar over
topics like camping, hunting, bird watching, etc.
They give each child a lanyard, and then they get a pin
for each seminar they attend. 

Between seminars, the kids visited the crafts table
to make a gold fish game. 

 My neices were in town from Las Vegas,  and we took them with us.  The younger one loved the reindeer carousel, while her sister and my daughter enjoyed checking out all the beautiful boat, and pretending they were out on the lake!   It was lots of fun, but I guess for us it's not really summer without a trip to the emergency room!

As we were looking at the boats, and probably lost in the dreamland of one day owning one,   my ten year old daughter fell!  Now it's not the first time she has fallen off a boat, but it's the first time she didn't land in water.  This time she landed on the handrail of the steps they have to get in and out of the boats! 

If someone had a video camera, it would probably have made one of those tv shows that replay people getting hurt. 

I don't know if it was the sight of all the blood, and there was alot of blood, or the sound of her screams, but I think I went into sympathy shock.  I just became a helpless blob of mom, unable to think what to do next. The staff at Bass Pro was amazing.  They immediately realized that I needed help, and called 911, got her a towel and corraled my other 4 kids. Many long hours later, after a visit from the Grapevine paramedics, and a trip to Baylor Grapevine, the bleeding stopped, the doctors determined she was going to be okay, just sore and bruised.

We left the hospital late that night, and her grandpa surprised her with a chicken fried steak (her favorite) from Esparza's in downtown Grapevine.  My poor baby, she had to eat it standing up. 

For more information on Bass Pro Shop's Outdoor World and their Family Summer Camp going on until July 15th 2012 ;  http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CFPage?storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&appID=94&template=listallevents.cfm&storeID=18#63819

If you want to try some wonderful Mexican food, or, according to my daughter, a good chicken fried steak, visit beautiful Esparza's in the historic district.  Dine on the patio under the huge cottonwood trees;  or inside the renovated home built in the 1800's.   http://esparzastexas.com/

Texas Mother Goose by David Davis

My children don't know that Mary, Mary was contrary.  In fact, they think she is from Granbury.  Because that is how the rhyme goes in one of their favorite books, Texas Mother Goose. 

The book is filled with all the ones you remember from reading Mother Goose, but each one has been changed to reflect their love of the Lone Star State. 

Almost every night we read, "Sleepy Little Buckaroo"

Sleepy little buckaroo,

You had a busy day.

On your stick horse,

You rode the range

And watched the dogies play.

Close your eyes

And rest tonight;

There's no need for sorrow.

You'll wake to greet the Texas sun

And ride the trail tomorrow.

I had, and loved a stick horse as a child.  My children have all had stick horses, too.  My oldest son's was a store bought, plastic one that made all sorts of horsey sounds.  My daughter's was made from an actual sock, a more boutiquey version we purchased for her in the Fort Worth Stockyards. 

My four year old has a stick horse, but he never rides it.

After reading Sleepy Little Buckaroo at bedtime, I asked him why - it's amazing the things you have time to think about during summer, when your mind isn't racing to make sure clothes are washed and lunches made for school the next day.

He answered that he liked it, but it didn't like him. 

So, I suggested that we make him a stick horse, filled with love so that we knew it would love him!

Items Needed:

• We went to home depot to purchase the dowel rod, because we don't have the traditional broom stick.  I chose the 1" x 3' dowel.
• A sock.  You can use any color or style of sock.  This one is an anklet, but it's really thick.  I tried one of my husbands socks, but the horse's face seemed a little too long.  I saw some tutorials which used fabrics, jean legs, etc. but I like the classic sock look best. 
• Stuffing for the sock, I used a polyester fiberfill, you can purchase at any art store (or Walmart).
• buttons for eyes, or you can use google eyes, or make them from material or paint them on your sock.
• needle and thread - I can't sew, but if I could do this, than so can you!
• hot glue gun - what I didn't sew, I glued! 
• ribbon for bridle and reins
• yarn for forelock and mane
• nylon cord for securing the sock to the stick. 

Steps:

1. Fill the sock with stuffing.  You want to be certain the heel of the sock is very thick, since that is where the stick will go.  We added a little red felt heart, similar to Build A Bear, so we could be certain the horse would love him!
2. Insert stick, making sure there is plenty of stuffing between rod and sock, for child's safety.
3. Wrap nylon cord around sock to secure it to the stick.  
4. Sew on or glue on eyes.  This is something you MUST do after stuffing the sock.  It would be much easier to sew them on before stuffing, but the stuffing is different each time, and never looks just right.
5. Add on the ribbon for the bridle and reins.  You might be able to get away with glueing on the bridle, but you need to sew on the reins, since your child is going to be pulling on these. 
6. I like the look of the loops for the forelock and mane.  I made lots of loops with the yarn and tied them together for the forelock.  For the mane, I used a piece of yarn and sewed down the back of the sock, then tied more loops of yarn onto this. 

From start to finish, it took me about an hour and a half, minus potty breaks and playing breaks.  Of course, I had a four year old helping me, so I also had to search for the supplies alot, and constantly gather up the yarn, because he would run around the house with it, making a "spider web".  If you aren't getting this kind of "help", it will probably go faster for you. 

Why the long face on my four year old? 
Because I made him stop playing so
I could take a picture!

And, he loves it, and the horse loves him. 

We are going to do a follow up activity, and ask his friends to meet us at the park with THEIR stick horses, for a real rompin' stompin' rodeo!  

 
 

                          

                                                                            





Zombie Tag by Hannah Moskowitz

So, what if zombies aren't really mindless creatures bent only on eating your brains, but instead just kinda grumpy and boring?  My kids, who have what I view as an unhealthy fascination with zombies, are always asking me zombie questions... Can they swim?  How long can they go without eating?  Which I usually try to answer with, "I don't know, since zombie's don't really exist, but ...."   However they never considered that zombie's just want to sit around and nap.  The author of Zombie Tag, nineteen year old Hannah Moskowitz did, and wrote a funny and interesting story for the middle school reader.

Our zombie hoard, aren't they scary?

After reading the book, my kids immediately asked if we (make no mistake, the word "we" in their request meant "me") could organize a giant game of Zombie Tag.   I thought, sure, we (again, me) could do that!  It would be a great end of the school year event.  I'm always excited about them playing outside! When we started talking about a location, they completely stumpted me. They wanted to play at a cemetery.  A cemetery!  The mother side of my brain said, "Absolutely NOT.  It's too disrespectful!" but my inner child, which makes up a HUGE part of my being, was saying "Oh, that would be soooo cool!"  But my inner child lost this round, and we choose a wooded park near our home.  They agreed on following most of the rules of the game in the book, except they wanted to leave out the spatulas!  "WHAT?" I exclaimed!  It would be so cool to see everyone running aroung with a spatula, but they insisted.

The zombies have surround a human,
who has climbed a tree.

The day of Zombie Tag we had about 11 kids show up out of the 37 tentative RSVPs I had originally received.  Their ages ranged from 4 to 12.  It was really fun to watch them as they ran screaming around the park!   

Rules for Zombie Tag:

Everyone draws to see who is the zombie.
Someone yells GO! and they scatter.  The zombie tries to bluff his/her friends into running with them.  They then have 10 seconds to "become" the zombie.
We also ruled out biting, or pretend biting.  We just tagged.  Once you are tagged, then you, too, are a zombie.  You now try to tag as many others as you can! 
You play until everyone has been tagged.  The last survivor is the winner....

My Mommy Tips:

• INSIST on the spatula!  The kids get so excited running and chasing, and sometimes it's hard to know who is a zombie and who isn't.  The spatula, aside from being hilarious, makes a perfect way to tell the difference! 

where the wild things are

Where The Wild Things Are was one of my favorite books as a child, and one of my favorites to read to my children.  I heard of the book's author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak's recent passing, I was saddened and thought of a way to honor him and his book in our home.  When the kids arrived home from school, we read the book together while eating their after school snack, then I suprised them with some new art supplies; construction paper, glue, crayons and markers.  My older kids helped my little one (and humored him a little), as we drew pictures of the wild things, with their terrible teeth and terrible eyes and terrible claws.  They cut them out and then my four year old put on his dinosaur costume, we didn't have a wolf costume, and he "tamed" them.  We then put on him a construction paper crown, and we all danced a "wild rumpus" with the paper cutouts!  We finished the evening by eating dinner together in my boy's room, "and it was still hot.".

My daughter and I took the art of Where The Wild Things Are a little further, and painted the colorful flowers found at the beginning and end of the book on a window screen.  The texture of the screen resembles the unique drawing in the book.

My Mommy Tips:

• Instead of free handing the pictures, use coloring pages found online; http://www.coloring-book.info/coloring/coloring_page.php?id=224
• If you have more money or time than I did, or if you want to celebrate this book at Halloween, there are Where The Wild Things Are costumes available.  I think a Where The Wild Things Are Halloween Party would be adorable! http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=366713&catid=185837&aid=333971&aparam=rubies_costumes_where_th&CAID=878d9fc1-21f3-46ff-9b8b-f756fa1fff04

2012 Texas River Photo Contest

John Graves' Goodbye to a River

I sat down this morning to begin reading John Graves' "Goodbye to a River", an annual tradition with me as I prepare for our Mother's Day Brazos River Trip.  Graves' account of a his final canoe trip down a section of the Brazos River before a series of dams were to be built, changing it forever. Before I became too lost in his words, I was inspired to have a photo contest.  I've been wanting to have a contest since Having Fun in the Texas Sun reached 1000 likes on facebook.  (Hooray, and thanks to all of you!) The contest will be Texas Rivers, and the photos should all carry a similar theme.  The prize is a new copy of Goodbye to a River, which I will have sent to you from Amazon.  While it's not an expensive cash prize, the words inside his book are a treasure.  My hope is that many of you will participate, either by submitting photos, or by voting for your favorites, and that even those who don't win will take the time to read the book.  Our Texas rivers are disappearing under reservoirs, and being littered and polluted.
 

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.” ~ Winnie the Pooh

Here's how to paddle;

Submit your Texas River photo(s) until May 20, 2012.  This date is to coincide with National River Clean Up Day on Saturday, May 19th, and give you time to email your photo to me havingfuninthetexassun@gmail.com .   

Trinity River

The photos will be added to this blog page, and on Monday, May 21, they will be posted to facebook for the contest to begin!  At that time, you, your friends, neighbors, relatives and postal carrier can all begin voting (liking) your photo.  The voting will continue until Tuesday, May 29th at 11:59pm.  At that time, I will tally all the votes and the winner will be announced (unless I fall asleep sitting at the computer waiting for 11:59pm, haha! - just kidding!) 
 
Tips: 

• Don't spend time mulling over your favorite photo to submit, you can submit as many as you like!
• Once the contest is started, share it with your friends on facebook, BUT explain that they must like the photo on my facebook page, if they like it on YOUR facebook page, it doesn't count! 
• I will post your comments about the photo along with the photo, so tell me where it was taken, who is in the photo, and maybe a great recollection about that day!
• Anyone can enter!  Professional photographers, children, the family pet if you can get them to hold the camera, it's ALL GOOD! 
• I will include every photo, as long as it is FAMILY FRIENDLY!  It doesn't have to be an entire river, any portion is okay!  So find your favorite memories of tubing, rope swings, fishing, your young child playing in the water.  The river doesn't have to be the star of the photo.   
• Finally, and this is out there, but if you are a business in Texas, and want to contribute to our contest, and help raise awareness of Texas Rivers, you can email me and donate a prize for the contest; t-shirts, gift certificates for your business, passes to your attraction, etc.  I can promise that I will SHOUT OUT TO EVERYONE YOUR NAME AND BUSINESS INFORMATION, DURING THE CONTEST AND WELL, WELL BEYOND!  If HFinTS has promoted your business in the past, it's also a great way to say "Thank You"! 

I welcome your questions and comments!  Until I hear from you, I'm off to read my book!

Catherine Schuelke
"....the Frio River rippling over the rocks in Garner State Park."

Catherine Schuelke
"...the pristine Frio River- some winter leaves floating in the shallow water - water so clear it is almost invisible.  If you know where to look, there is a minnow near the middle of the picture.".

Catherine Schuelke
"I love the silliness of this picture.  The river calls, whether you have on a swimsuit or not.  Even though we were only conducting a preliminary exploration of the grounds at Pedernales State Park, the kids HAD to get their feet wet.  Of course, they weren't satisfied to take just one step. . . and I caught them all with their shorts hiked up!"

Catherine Schuelke
"This picture doesn't quite tell the whole story....but if you haven't experienced the dam and lock on the San Antonio River (on the north end of the river walk), you really should.  It was a fabulous field trip for us last year after study boats and watching a video on the Panama Canal.  If I remember right, it is gravity fed, making it a low energy operation.  For us, it was worth the price of the all-day river taxi pass. (Then you can go through the lock as many times as you want too!)"