Tide Pool Exploring with the Boys

One of the best parts of living in Northern California is the vicinity to the ocean and aquatic life. One of my favorite things to do, is to visit tide pools ... what we affectionately call tide pooling.

Tide pools are areas of rocks by the ocean filled with seawater. They are visible at low tide, and home to starfish, crabs, sea anemones and other bottom living sea life.

During our visit to Mendocino, we took the boys tide pool exploring. After breakfast on our second day we headed to MacKerricher State Park with the purpose of visiting the tide pools. However, the tide pools were closed as MacKerricher is also a habitat for baby seals. Two had been born recently, and an additional forty were expected soon.

We hiked along the coastal park hoping to spot a baby seal, but alas had no luck. It is a beautiful park with breathtaking scenery, which we enjoyed visiting ... so we weren't that disappointed. Still by this point we really did want to find some tide pools.

Next stop was Glass Beach which also happens to be part of MacKerricher State Park (just separately accessible). The beach is made up of small pieces of glass, smoothed and washed ashore. It also has some splendid tied pools.

There the boys scurried among the rocks to see what animal life they could find. Mainly small fish, sea anemones and small crabs. It was great fun, and a wonderful way to spend a morning.

Dawn of the Hockey Mom

I knew this day would come. Caleb is finally old enough to play hockey league. We'd been preparing for this moment for more than two years. Ever since our almost three year old developed an obsession for hockey, and we started group ice skating lessons, we'd been working toward the collective end of one day playing hockey with a stick.

After a crash course in all things hockey, I now know how to tape a stick (thank you Youtube), and how to keep hockey socks up. Of course we went cheap on all of the equipment ... he is only five after all, but he is thrilled. He would wear it full-time if he could fit in his car seat all padded up, and if the elbow pads didn't itch and if he actually liked wearing a cup.

Now I find myself at the ice rink two hours a week -- on Monday's for mini mites practice, and on Saturday's for the weekly game. But this is only the beginning. Someday hockey may takeover our lives ... clinics, camps, traveling teams ... who knows what the future holds. I feel hockey mom-dom burgeoning.

Still I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. Although Caleb is holding his own, he is hardly a hockey prodigy. There are other kids that are much, much, much better.  We don't know their story either. Caleb has been playing hockey for a month ... they could be older, or playing longer, or have parents that actually ice skate. Their parents could have been grooming their progeny for hockey since birth ...  in fact we overheard one mom say to her son (who happens to be a fantastic skater), "in Russia we ice skated everyday and we didn't complain."

All that said, the most important thing right now is for Caleb to have fun, and he is having a blast.

Fun at the Mendocino Botanical Gardens with the Boys

Seems like an oxymoron, fun at a botanical gardens with boys. But the Mendocino Botanical Gardens with our boys was fun. Oh yes there is a plethora of flora and fauna (just deer), lovely landscaping and educational labeling, a large collection of rhododendron ... but my two tykes who had been cooped up for two days were also able to simply run wild for a few hours, which is exactly what they needed.

The Mendocino Botanical Gardens was recommended by my husband's co-worker who had grown up in the area. So as we made our way through the fussy gift shop (far too many glass shelves filled with glass knick knacks for any comfort considering my clumsy six year old) and forked over $38 for our family of four we almost said... ah we'll pass.

But a recommendation is a recommendation. And the sun was finally out and the boys need a good dose of mother nature. The Mendocino Botanical Gardens were a pleasant surprise.

You enter into the formal garden and exit through a gate on a coastal trail. The trail takes you to the Parrish Farm. David Parrish worked with Santa Rosa's own Luther Burbank before he moved his ten kids to Fort Bragg to raise potatoes and peas on the coast.  Now, if you didn't grow up in Sonoma County you are probably only mildly familiar with Luther Burbank. He was a botanist, horticulturalist and pioneer in agricultural science. His home in Santa Rosa was a staple on the field trip circuit and as I remember, he invented hundreds of varieties of daisies, as well as apples and potatoes.

The farm is very sweet, and definitely fun for the kids. Following a Big Blue Meanie sign the Gardens have created an adventure trail near the farm for kids that includes forts, giant eggs and other hands-on surprises. This was the boys favorite part. A good part of my childhood was spent playing in the woods behind our house with my neighborhood friends. And I do wish my boys had more opportunities to build forts and experience the woods the way I did as a kid. The adventure trail harkened back to a time when kids had easier access to nature, and although they couldn't build a fort, they could play in one, and they loved it.

It is funny, but when our boys are cooped up for any time they get a little silly and crazy. It makes for challenging travel in restaurants, lobbies, hotel rooms and stores -- anywhere you need a semblance of decorum. The Mendocino Botanical Gardens offered a needed outlet where the boys could just play.  It will stay on our shortlist of things to do in Mendocino with the boys.

Aboard the Skunk Train

This winter I finally packed up and moved the massive Thomas the Tank Engine collection to the basement. The boys only occasionally played with their trains, and they didn't even miss them... I did. It is an end of an era, my little boys weren't preschoolers anymore, and were no longer interested in preschool toys. Alas in the age of Beyblades and Lego Ninjago, trains are for babies.

On the first full day on the Mendocino coast it was supposed to rain. With miserable weather ahead we thought, how fun it would be to ride the Skunk Train. And don't get me wrong, it was fun. The Skunk Train runs through the redwoods from Fort Bragg toward Willits. During the summer you can ride a classic steam engine. In the Winter/Spring your engine is a good old fashioned diesel train.

The train has been following the Redwood Route since 1885. Originally to reach logging encampments, the modern version is for tourists.

But, for our boys the magic is gone. The wonder and amazement and pure joy of all things trains is gone. In its place mild enjoyment and curiosity.

The Skunk Train is quite a time investment. Our train left at 10 am and returned four hours later.  The first half of the ride the boys were great. They listened to the conductor's stories, lead Jonathan to the outside train to view the 1,000 year old redwood trees, and happily looked outside the window.

We then had lunch as the train was turned around to be sent back to Fort Bragg. After lunch the boys were no longer interested in the train. Caleb managed to make friends with other kids who were a little bored of the train ride too. They looked out the window, told jokes and shared secrets.

Xander didn't have as much success, so he played video games on Jonathan's phone. I asked the boys if they liked the Skunk Train, and the answer was a resounding "yes, but..." But for them, once is plenty for the foreseeable future. I don't think we would have had the same response from three and four year old Xander and Caleb. I guess Jonathan and I will let our membership at the California Railroad Museum elapse. Sigh...

Spring Break on the Mendocino Coast

I don't remember getting this much time off when I was a kid. In February we have ski week around the President's Day holiday, and in April we have Spring Break. Ski week for us is in Florida visiting the grandparents ... and Spring Break always puts us at a loss for what to do, since we can only take about two days off work, the kids are in Y Camp for the other three days. It needs to be a compact Holiday with minimal travel time (under four hours) and maximum fun. Last year we spent a few days in Monterey, and this year we headed to the Mendocino coast.

April is still considered off season on the beautiful coast. With the boys we opted to stay in Fort Bragg, more pedestrian than upscale Mendocino. Fort Bragg also is where you can catch the Skunk train, and close to a bunch of coastal parks.

If we could do it over again, we would have selected a different hotel. The rooms at the Holiday Inn Express are small, and it doesn't have balconies. So on our rainy first day (actually thunder, lightening, torrential rains and hale) we felt cooped up. With four of us, we should have sprung for a low end suite at a property with balconies. We'll keep that in mind on our next visit.

In fact after the boys acted up at dinner on our first night -- they were more uncontrollably silly than anything else, 5 year old Caleb turns to me and says in a very grown up voice, "Mom, of course we are acting silly. We haven't had any kid time, and we need an outlet."

Hmmm ... I wonder where he heard that before? Keeping that in mind we found plenty of free play activities for the boys. And the weather was fantastic the rest of the long weekend. Our itinerary included:

Friday - 10 am - 2 pm ride the Skunk Train; 2:30 pm visit the Botanical Gardens (there is an adventure trail for the kids which includes a fort), 4 pm visited a Light House -- did I mention we were feeling cooped up after Thursday's storms.
Saturday - Tide pools (we went to two separate beaches, at the first the tide pools were closed because of the baby seals) and Mendocino Headlands
Sunday - Travel home with a stop for a hike in the Redwoods.

The trip was amazing. The boys can't wait to go back! They loved it. Over the next few weeks I'll blog about our specific excursions. The Mendocino coast is definitely a great destination for both adults and children.

The pianist - The first piano recital

One of life's big regrets is that I never mastered a musical instrument. Growing up as a military brat, we moved around a lot. In the pivotal learning to play the flute year, we moved mid-school year from New York to California.  My new class in California was much further along than my previous school, and although I sat in for the rest of the school year,  I never caught up. And as it is with many kids, I moved on and lost interest during that year.

In my 20s I studied guitar, but it wasn't the same. So with regret breeds ... piano lessons for my kids. I have heard the horror stories of kids (especially who grew up in the 40s and 50s ...) being forced into piano lessons. Understanding that is really not a good thing, in January Xander started piano lessons with no coersion.

Proud Mamma bragging time -- Xander was born with two inherent loves. One is water. From his first bath he has been in love with being wet, splashing around and water, and the other is music. As a baby we hummed Tchaikovsy to him to calm him down, his first concert was an opera, and his first favorite toy as a toddler was his rainbow piano. He also has great focus and beautiful long fingers, and a ear for music. He was born to play piano.

In January Xander started piano lessons. At the behest of his piano teacher we waited until he was six and half, but we knew that he would love it. Every Friday Jonathan takes Xander to his lesson, and he practices piano 10 to 30 minutes a night -- no pressure.

So after a whopping four months of lessons on Sunday Xander had his first recital. It was great. His teacher likes to do recitals because it is a forcing function to help her students rise to the occasion. It is always good to have a goal. Xander did great playing both Yankee Doodle and Mary Had a Little Lamb. Remember Billy Joel and Beethovan were once beginners. Still I'm not sure he is bound for Julliard yet. But I think we are fostering a love of music that will serve him well in life, no regrets.

A date with dolphins in the Florida Keys

When I was a kid I loved to watch the 1964 show Flipper in syndication. It is the one and only mental picture I have of the Florida Keys. So, when it came to planning our trip to the Florida Keys I wanted to make sure the boys had an up close with marine life experience, especially an opportunity to meet dolphins.

While swimming with the dolphins is romantic, and there are plenty of options in the Keys, it is also pricey at $100 or more per person for an encounter. With early swimmers, scuba and snorkeling are also out of the question. Other activities for small kids can also be at a shortage in the Keys -- other than beaches and swimming pools. And to be honest we had that in Hollywood, Fla.

Don't get me wrong. The Florida Keys are lovely, and well worth a visit. Yet may be more geared toward grown-ups -- snorkeling, followed by fruity cocktails, fresh fish and a live band ... fun.

I'm so glad that we discovered Theater of the Sea in Islamorada. I found it on Yelp (searching for "kid friendly activities" in the Florida Keys).  To be honest, other than glass bottom boats, snorkeling and scuba trips it was the only thing that came up. At first I was concerned by its 3.5 star rating. But the negative Nancys had issues with it being geared toward small children -- Hooray for us!

I actually think that they were wrong. It is not geared toward small children. But it is a throw-back, a nostalgic nod to a simpler time when little boys named Sandy and Bud could live on a marine refuge in Southern Florida.

Founded in 1942, Theater of the Sea is the second oldest marine wildlife show in the North America.  It does promote the "swimming with the dolphin experience." But I'd suggest bypassing the "programs" (what they call the swimming with the dolphin, sting ray or sea lion) line, and just buy tickets to the shows. They are so worth it. We got there early at 10 am with the intention to sit up front for each show -- which we did.

We started with the parrot show, followed by the dolphin show and concluding with the sea lion show. The parrot show, was probably the least exciting. Yet, I also think it was Xander's favorite. He loved the parrot tricks and he got to hold a parrot, and he still talks about that.
 
Jonathan and my mother in law headed to the dolphin show to secure seats upfront while the boys and I waited in line to hold a parrot. The dolphin show was a blast, and Xander got picked for the audience participation part. He got to pet a dolphin... which is pretty awesome.

Next was the sea lion show, which was really cute. There is something amazing about watching a sea lion balance a ball on its nose. We also sat up front for this show, and Caleb got chosen to play sea lion ring toss.

After we made the rounds of the shows, we went on a nature walk, took the short bottomless boat ride (where we got a short dolphin show in the center of the boat). And then headed to the beach, where you can feed large tropical blue fish. All in all we spent five hours at Theater of the Sea, and we had an amazing time. Seriously if you are looking for something fun to do with small children in the Florida Keys, Theater of the Sea is it.