Roadtrip Up the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with Kids

In one day we drove 300 miles. The equivalent of San Francisco to Los Angeles. And on that adventure we fed goats, took a picture with a baby black bear and climbed up and down 200 steps. It was awesome!

Last year when we visited my Aunt and Uncle we ventured across the Mackinac Bridge, and up the Upper Peninsula, what locals call the UP. We road a train, and saw a lighthouse. This time around we were far more ambitious, and the boys had a blast.

We started our day at the Garlyn Zoo. A small, fairly basic zoo that features three different opportunities to feed wildlife. Although only the goats were interested in being fed. Unlike modern petting zoos, you cannot actually pet the animals, they are safely contained behind fences (probably to protect the animals more than the little hands of little kids). The others shied away from the kibble. It was a very simple zoo, you could cover the terrain in less than an hour -- but the boys had fun.

Afterward we headed to Oswald's Bear Ranch where you can have your picture taken with a baby black bear. Now, I was a little wary of the whole taking small kids and getting up close and personal with wildlife. But it was well managed, and overall a pretty cool experience. We also got to see the bear exhibits which were well maintained.

We then headed to Tahquamenon Falls, where we got to hike and climb 200 steps to see the Falls from every angle. The hiking trail is mostly paved, but the view is lovely, and it was great to get out and walk around for a little while.

You would think that this was too much in one day, but the boys, including my 10 year old nephew, all enjoyed the adventure.

Afterward we headed to Wilcox Fish House Restaurant for whitefish. An wonderful day in the UP.

The State of Fairs

One of our excursions while we were in Michigan was to go to the Cheboygan County Fair. Now, mind you, I haven't been to a fair in 25 years (if you don't count a couple of trips to a Renaissance Fair in my twenties). But the thing I didn't like about fairs when I was a teenager is that they seemed expensive. At the time I could easily blow $10 of my hard earned babysitting money on spinny rides and cotton candy.

In fact whenever we go to a park like Legoland or Great America I do the fair calculation in my head to make sure it was money well spent. It costs $2 for a ride, so if you spend $17 on admission you need to ride on nine attractions to break even.

Well, to my surprise the costs of fairs has become more prohibitive. Considering the state of the economy, the rides are now going for $3 to $4 a person (no discount for kids). For unlimited rides it is $17 a person (the same cost as Legoland, with their 2 for 1 coupons). Suddenly a family of four is out $68 (not including admission) before you ever buy food.

So, we skipped the rides, and headed to the 4H attractions. Seeing livestock and free horse shows is always fun, and there was even a place where you could feed the animals -- for $5! Does anyone ever research the price points for their target markets anymore? We did fork over $5 and the three boys split up the food to feed the cows, goats, llamas and sheep.

The fair was pretty empty, even on kids day, and free admission for kids before a certain time. The fair is a throwback. I hadn't been in a long time, and I probably won't go to one again.

Enter the School Age Years: Two

Two in school! Today Caleb started Kindergarten. As I sat next to the nervous mother of Caleb with a K in the Kindergarten playground, I remember feeling the same way back in August 2010. I don't think I breathed all that day, and didn't feel comfortable with the whole elementary school thing until sometime in November.

But with my number two, my youngest, everything seems... well, easy and painless. In fact even empowering.

It helps that Caleb has the same Kindergarten teacher as Xander, and that we really like her. It also helps that we're no longer spending 40 minutes each morning, and each evening shuttling between elementary and preschool and home. Perhaps, I'll even start exercising again. 

And I didn't read as much into Caleb's silence tonight. He really was too tired to talk about Kindergarten, so very, very tired. But that is a plight of a newly minted Kindergartener.

We have now fully entered the school age years! Onward and upward!

Into the Woods ... with Kids: Our Michigan Trip

A couple of years ago I read the book, Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, about modern children completely disconnected from nature, what Louv called "nature-deficit disorder." Jonathan and I have made an effort to help our boys fall in love with nature, and appreciate little things like watching fish, or hunting for frogs or berry picking.

This was one of the reasons that, when we realized we wouldn't be able to swing an international trip this year, we decided to take the boys back to Michigan and visit my Aunt and Uncle. The added bonus was that my nephew Finn was visiting, and the boys got the opportunity to get to know their 10-year old cousin.

This trip was wonderful. It was also a strange dichotomy between computers, iPads and iPods and quiet moments bent over a dock watching frogs watch us. In our suburban lifestyle the way we parents get our children off the couch is through sports. In fact soccer practice kicks off this week as well as the new school year.

But my oldest Xander does not like sports. His favorite six-year old joke is "My favorite sport is ... Moo" -- very surrealist of him. So he tends toward sedentary  activities like playing computer games or watching television. But with a lake in the backyard, wild blackberries down the dirt road on a hiking trail and surrounded by woods -- there was plenty of wonderful distractions to get him off the couch and out in the world. Our favorite activities were blackberry picking, swimming in the lake, looking for wildlife (mostly fish, frogs and loons)

It was also fantastic to see him play with his cousin Finn who is also not that interested in sports. It reminded me that there is a whole wide world of kids and activities that don't involve a ball or a stick. Now that we are back to the grind, I'll have to make sure that we take the time to get the boys out and into the woods.

Mobile Kids: Games for the iPod Touch

Lego Photo let's you take any photo and render it in Lego

One of my favorite travel toys for the boys is the iPod Touch. I do worry about too much screen time, so when we aren't traveling the devices tend to disappear or run out of battery.

However, before any long trip I evaluate the games they have, read reviews, and download new games. The boys have had iPods for over two years -- since they were two and three years old -- so many of the preschool games are no longer appropriate for a soon to be kindergartner and first grader.

My boys also have completely different personalities. My first grader Xander's favorites are Teach Me (last year Kindergarten and we just downloaded First Grade). He also loves Word Bingo and Math Bingo. Both games can be set at the right grade level.

Xander also loves games. His favorite is Connect 4 (in any medium). He likes other classic games like Checkers and Tic Tac Toe too. He also likes modern games including Cut the Rope, Doodle Drop, Angry Birds, Sneezies, and Smack that Gugi.

Caleb has only has a mild passing interest in his iPod. He would rather be playing with toys or running outside -- on a long flight or car trip I feel the same way!  More than Xander, he likes the photo decorating applications like Lego Photo and PBS Kids Photo Factory.

When it comes to games he gravitates toward sport-themed games. The challenge is finding games with a sport-theme that can be navigated by a four-year old. His college-aged cousin introduced him to X2 Soccer -- which I don't think he knows how to play, but he likes it. I also just got him Air Hockey and Batter Up Baseball. He thinks Air Hockey is fun, but Batter Up will take some practice -- the screen isn't very sensitive so you need to be fairly smooth with your flicking action to get the batter to swing. I suspect the barrier to entry may be too high for this to become a favorite.

Caleb also likes matching games and puzzles. Shape Builder and Monkey Preschool Lunchbox have been favorites. Alas I think he'll outgrow these shortly though.

We are heading to Michigan on Friday, the iPods are loaded up. Hopefully between new games on the iPods and the new books on the iPad, the boys will be entertained during our long flights and potential road trips.

Mobile Kids: The iPad and Interactive Books

The boys love Photo Booth too, and thus this master piece from our iPad

A couple of weeks ago I finally got an iPad. A beautiful 32 GB iPad 2. Our iPad is for the family, but really for the boys. So I've started to amass quite the collection of kids applications, specifically interactive books for the boys. We also have a couple of kids films on it -- Rango and the Princess and the Frog.

I've shied away from games. The boys both have an iPod Touch and they have quite a few preschool and kindergarten games on them. I wanted to ensure that what I put on the iPad could be experienced together, versus the solo, internal nature of the iPod Touch.

First off, everything is more beautiful on the iPad. My photography looks better, movies are breathtaking, but a well thought out eBook is where the iPad shines.

Visually my favorite right now is The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by Moonbot Studios. The boys love it too. I read that it wasn't appropriate for younger kids, but the review is inaccurate. My boys love books like Peter Rabbit and can deal with fairly sophisticated story lines. The Fantastic Flying Books has no violence, and the story is very sweet, so I'm not sure why the review I read would assign this to 9 year olds and above.

Speaking of Peter Rabbit, Pop Out! The Tale of Peter Rabbit, the interactive book from Loud Crow Interactive is beautiful. It was the first book that I downloaded, and the boys first interaction with the iPad. Squashing berries is a joy. They also like Jack and the Beanstalk from Ayars Animation with its hidden dancing eggs and its secret games.

I've also invested in some Dr Seuss and Toy Story and Cars 2. These books are less interactive, and more books with movement (they move your eye across the page from left to right with music and then read the text). Toy Story also includes some film footage. The books are nice, but the more interactivity, the more the boys return to the story again, and again. Although Caleb loved the movie Cars 2 and spends a lot of time with this interactive book, because it is Cars 2.

We are getting ready for an early August trip to Michigan, so I will definitely be looking for more interactive books for the iPad. I'll update you on what I find with part 2 sometime in September.

Happy Campers

On our first camping trip as a young couple, Jonathan and I spent a week with over planners.  Well intentioned, the other couple planned every meal, every activity and every second of our trip. It drove us nuts. It could be as a direct reaction to that, or our general laid back nature, but when it came to packing for camping trips we tend to take a "wing-it" approach, especially in the food department.

At times this has gotten us into trouble, where we drive around super hungry and cranky  -- at other times it gave us an opportunity to visit local towns and buy our ingredients fresh. Either way, once you camp with kids a "wing-it" nature needs to be curtailed. When little kids are hungry they need to eat.

Our previous camping trips, were short and near civilization. One night in the tent, and twenty minutes from the nearest pizza parlor.  With our Lassen trip we were looking at two nights camping, and we had to plan for every meal.

I'm thrilled to report that our planning worked without being overly annoying or inflexible. We had the right amount of everything. The first thing we did right was to pack plenty of snacks that could add up to a meal. By this I mean carrot sticks, peanut butter crackers, granola bars, pistachios, snack cheese, sandwich fixings, etc.

We also planned all seven meals, including two dinners, two breakfasts and three lunches. Our dinners were easy-to-grill items like hotdogs. Our breakfasts were basic things like cereal, bacon and coffee for the grown-ups and cocoa for the kids. (I think next time we'll figure out how to do pancakes one morning).

I also remembered a dish bin, dish towel and dish soap (the illusive dish soap I almost always forget) for easy clean-up.

Still one of our best decisions was staying at a KOA, with clean and working showers, conveniently located water for the campsite, as well as trash cans.  All of this added up to a wonderful trip.

The boys had a blast camping... we all can't wait to go again. Maybe next time for a week. Our camping check list is located here.