Small Things Are Big Things

July 2, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

The Grand Tetons and Animals in Yellowstone

We arrived just outside Yellowstone National Park late at night. Instead of driving into the park in the dark we spent the night in Cody, Wyoming, just outside Yellowstone. The kids were super stoked we were finally at our much anticipated destination…

They were more excited after they were fully awake!

We checked into the our RV park, Fishing Bridge – it was actually in the park. Did you know in mid-May there is still a solid bit of snow on the ground in Yellowstone National Park?!? Three feet in some places.
We didn’t.
I hadn’t packed socks, remember!
So instead of hiking with flip flips in the snow we took a drive to Jackson, WY with a stop in the Grand Teton National Park. I had read that Jackson Hole was one of the most beautiful places in the world. It was.

The Grand Tetons are breathtaking…

All throughout our Road Trip we saw beautiful scenery, but we had been promising our children animals in Yellowstone.
LOADS of animals!
“In Yellowstone there will be so many animals we’ll lose count of them.”
”We’ll drive past whole herds of buffalo, and elk and see deer crossing the roads.”

To this point we had seen one buffalo.
ONE!!!

Don’t get me wrong, it was up close and amazing and huge and a majestic wild animal.
But it was one.
And the kids (and me) were anticipating so much more.
After dinner, around sunset (which is like 10pm that far north), we started back to camp and the animals started coming out.
Lots of them.

Then we saw two grizzly bears.
TWO BEARS!!!
One was a mama bear trying to get her 3 baby cubs across a bridge. But the mama kept getting scared of the cars. The other bear was chillin’ in the middle of a meadow. Her name is Blondie, and apparently she comes out at dawn and dusk in the same area each day. We got to see her standing on her hind legs stretching.
Bears are big.
Super big.
I don’t ever want to be in the wild near a bear.
The sun was down so here is the best shot we got of Blondie.

A view of the Grand Tetons on the way back to Fishing Bridge.

Of course any kind of camping makes me think of some stand-up comedy from Jim Gaffigan about camping.
Watch it.
Now.
It’s exactly Brad and I when it comes to camping and the bear bit is classic!
Day 8 – Traveled 200 miles
(from our RV camp to Jackson and back, 100 miles each way)

View our whole trip here:

July 2, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Delivery Man Exclusive Sneak Peek

Watch the Delivery Man sneaky peeky, yo…

I’m not sure about you, but I love a good comedy.
I can really only do comedies.
I like to leave the movie theater happy.
Delivery Man looks like a funny flick – Vince Vaughn plays an underachiever looking for his purpose in life, when he finds out he’s fathered 533 children through anonymous donations to a fertility clinic 20 years ago. Now he has to decide whether or not to come forward when 142 of his children want to meet their biological father.
From what I can gather the movie isn’t just frivolous laughs, but explores what different families can look like.
I like that.

Find Delivery Man on Facebook and Twitter.
#DeliveryManMovie

June 28, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

My Own Personal Book Club–Stories for the Family’s Heart

I love reading.
I love being transported into another time or place or world.
I love the crackling binding as I open up a new book for the first time.
I always bury my face in the pages and breath deep the words I’m about to devour.
True story.
I want my kids to love reading.
So we read.
A lot.
We are going to read our first chapter book out loud this summer – Charlotte’s Web. The first book my mom read to me out loud. I vividly remember us finishing the book together and her crying like a baby when (spoiler alert) Charlotte dies. What a treasured memory of my mom.
Small Things are Big Things.
I miss her.
After she died, (ug, I hate saying that!!!) my aunt found all of our Christmas presents, and the organized list of what-went-to-who. Oh the care my mom put in the details! Gifts she had probably bought on sale throughout the year, all perfectly tailored for each grandchild and Brad and I. One of my gifts was Stories for the Family’s Heart: Over 100 stories to Encourage your Soul.

So I’m starting My Personal Book Club with this book. My book club of one, isn’t formal. I’ll just be writing a short post after I read a book.

Stories for the Family’s Heart is divided into sections – Compassion, Encouragement, Virtue, Growing up, Love, Memories, Grandparents and Faith – and all are inspirational. There is a huge variety of writing styles, and the stories range in length, from a few short paragraphs to about 10 pages.
Just perfect for reading aloud next to the fireplace as your four children listen attentively whilst sipping hot cocoa in matching pajamas.
Oh wait… is that just my fantasy?
Some of my favorite…

“A Good Lesson” written by W. & R. Chambers, first published in 1916
“The Bobby Pins” by Linda Goodman
“Breakfast with the Polar Bears” by Allison Harms
“Stiches in Time” by Philip Gulley

And my favorite line from the book comes from “Amazing Grace” by Philip Yancey – “ When grace descends, the world falls silent before it.”

This is a great book to read out loud with your family and will probably inspire some great conversations with your kids. But I just read a couple of stories at a time before bed.
That was good too.

Stay tuned for the rest of our RV trip coming soon!

June 25, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Discovery Science Center and a LEGO Castle and We Like it

There is lots to do in Southern California.
Discovery Science Center is a family favorite around here!
Right now they have two amazing exhibits. LEGO Castle Adventure and Da Vinci: The Genius. Both are awesome!

If you have a LEGO kid in your house you should really add this to your Summer Bucket List. It’s an actual castle that looks like it’s made from giant Lego bricks.

The castle is filled with lots of interactive learning stuff. (Yeah, I said “stuff” check out the Discovery Science Center’s site for details.) Life sized LEGO creations and LEGO scenes are everywhere. Along with LEGO building tables. But I didn’t let Eli sit and build for long, because he can do that at home. I’m mean.

And a slide…

The Da Vinci exhibit is spectacular. It really is fascinating how much that man did in his short life. I would love to spend some time looking at everything without the children or just with the big kids

Want more LEGO awesomeness?
OK!
Check out the Summer Rockin’ Boys Club’s Lego Challenge. Every week they give a new building prompt and you can email a picture to info (at) rockinboys.com or post a picture on Instagram and tag @RockinBoysClub with the hashtag of the week. The winner get’s a prize!! Last week it was a $10 gift card to the LEGO store!

Here are Eli’s first two entries…

Happy Building!

June 25, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Swetsville Zoo for a Sweet Rest Stop

My favorite part of our RV Trip was the feeling of freedom. We didn’t make many plans ahead of time and our friends and family were so understanding about the purpose of our trip. Not just for visits – we were refocusing as a family.
And we did.
One of our favorite stops was the result of a late night FB message from one of my friends. She sent me the link to Roadside America’s article about the Swetsville Zoo in Fort Collins Colorado. It was just about 46 miles north of Denver and exactly on our route to Yellowstone. So we cut our stay with family in Colorado down by one day and we were on the road early in the next morning.

The Swetsville Zoo, is a zoo.
With over 200 animals.
All made of car parts.
And it’s awesome.
This place represents everything I love about America. A normal guy, does something rad and unique, with something he’s already doing. Former farmer, Bill Swets, started making animals both real and imaginary out of scrap metal and old car parts as a hobby. He would put them in his yard and people started to visit. So he made Swetsville Zoo.

The Swetsville Zoo is a very easy stop if you are anywhere near Fort Collins because it’s right off the freeway. It’s free to get in, though the zoo does take donations. We left $20, and it was worth every penny. Each animal or piece of art has a number and you can read a little bit about them on the tour guide list. It’s really fun.

Things to know, if you go:

It’s free but bring at least $5 as a donation.
You can touch the art but little kids should be supervised so no climbing is involved.
It’s on a river, so keep a close eye on little kids. We skipped rocks.
This is a great rest stop for a picnic lunch or to stretch your legs after driving. Sit a the picnic table or bring a blanket and eat by the river.
It takes as long as you want it to take. We stayed about 45 minutes but could have stayed longer.

We got back on the road and drove all the way to Cody, Wyoming just outside of Yellowstone!
More soon!

Day 7 – Traveled 487 miles

View our whole trip here:

June 24, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Roadside America for Silly Family Fun on the Road

I waited till the morning of our 14 day RV road trip to pack.
We were on the road before we even knew where we were going.
I think it’s safe to say I’m not a planner.
(ahem)
So when a couple of friends suggested the Roadside America app, I was all in!
Roadside America is “Your Online Guide to Offbeat America.” They have a phone app with a location based map of all sorts of funny places. So you can be driving along and browse everything that’s close by, and stop when something looks interesting. It even has pictures and reviews from people who have been there.

Each stop makes for some fun photo opportunities.
The giant praying mantis in front of the Butterfly Pavilion was listed, so we got a picture. How fun would it be to do a road trip based on all the Roadside America locations and take a photo at each stop!?!?
Can I be 21 again please?

The app divides the country into regions and it costs $2.99 to unlock each region. But the online version is free (see the the screen shot of Southern California below). While this app is great for vacations, I’m thinking it will be awesome to use locally when our foreign exchange student arrives from Spain next week.

Oh. Did I forget to tell you we are hosting a lovely young lady this summer from Spain?
Squeeee… I’m over the moon excited.
And in September we should have a cool guy from China.
For a year.
We said if we ever had the space we would fill it.
Blessings abound!

Without Roadside America we would have never found the next stop on our trip.
Wanna know where?
Read all about it in the next post, but I’ll share a sneak peek…

View our whole trip here:

June 21, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Jumping in with the Family

We stayed with family in Colorado for 3 short fun-filled days. We parked our RV right in front of the house and stayed in a lovely basement.
People outside of California have basements.
It’s CRAZY awesome!!! Like your own private suite. They even let us sleep in while our kids went wild upstairs. One day we slept till 10am.
Till 10am!!!!

Isn’t it great when you can be with people and pick up where you left off and have a good time? We had BBQ, got excited for a upcoming baby, got to snuggle a new baby and played backyard football. We jumped together too at Jump City. And you know what they say about a family that jumps together.
They get hot and sweaty. True story.

All in all, it was a great and restful 3 days. Then we got back in the RV and drove toward Yellowstone.

Where was our next stop?
You’ll find out tomorrow!

View our whole trip here:

June 19, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Only 13 Todays

Today is a big day for Eli.
There will only be 13 todays in his whole life.
Just 13 todays, out of 4,745 days in 13 years
Today is his last day of school.
His very first last day of school.

Parents can get crazy about the last day of school. Make an elaborate breakfast… have a run-through a banner greeting the kids after their walk home… shower them with Summer themed gifts.
And that’s awesome.
Their kids probably love it. And families are creating special memories their children with cherish forever.
We only have 13 last days of school with our children. It’s a big deal.
It’s a big deal, but you don’t need to raid the party store for luau themed decor or have pictures scrapbooked of all the major school events. Unless you love doing that, then do it. Just don’t feel like you have to because your FB Friend so-in-so made a last day of school outfit out of a repurposed dollar store tee shirts, then revealed a summer full of events while eating their child’s favorite home-churned ice cream. Don’t let the joy of these sweet small moments be sucked away because you need to top the year before. Comparing is bad, and you never know what people aren’t sharing in their FB status.
It doesn’t matter what you do. It doesn’t even have to be the same every year. It just has to work with your family.

Small Things are Big Things.
I really believe you can go the extra mile as a parent with very little effort. A perfect example is this St Patrick’s Day: I hadn’t done anything because I was incased in sadness – no green snack or leprechaun tracks or handmade traps. Eli came up to me while I was making lunch and said, “I guess the leprechauns forgot us this St Patrick’s Day.” Instead of feeling like a failure as a mom or smug that we are above celebrating frivolous holidays.
You know what I did?
I’ll tell you (it is my blog).
I got the green food coloring out of the cabinet and put a drop in each of their cups. When they got their water, it was green. Minds blown. Then while they were eating I moseyed into each of the bathrooms a put a few drops of food coloring into the toilet water. When the kids went into the bathrooms they were giddy that the leprechauns made the water green. Then I text Brad to pick up some Lucky Charms on the way home from work. The next morning those “pesky leprechauns” had switched out the Cheerios for Lucky Charms.
Then the kids started looking around the house, “Mom, I don’t think that pillow was green before.” Me either, honey. “Mommy, that picture didn’t have any green in it yesterday, I’m sure of it!” Those leprechauns did it again. We ended up searching the whole house and deliberating over everything green. It was fun. Really fun.
Did green food coloring and a box of Lucky Charms take much effort at all?
NO!
It was nothing.
And it was fun.

This is it folks. Time is a beast and we only have 13 last days of school.
And maybe not even that.
Do something.
Eat dessert first. Share your favorite school memory during dinner. Go out to dinner. Have a movie night. Roast marshmallows. Get icees. Play video games till 10pm. Let them pick whatever they want at the dollar store. Bake cookies or brownies or cake. Ask questions and just listen to the human you created tell you what’s on their mind, even if the only thing on their mind is inviting a friend over. Then invite the friend over. Celebrate.
Your kids don’t care. They just want to feel valued.
Don’t we all?

One of my friends on instagram makes homemade strawberry jam with her kids every year. How fun is that? It’s their “thing” now, but it may not always be their thing. Maybe when her kids are teens, they will think it’s lame. But then those teens will grow up, and have last-day-of-school-jam-sessions (see what I did there?) with their kids because they will look back at their childhood with their adult lenses and think, “that was a really special time, I even remember thinking how lame it was as a teen, but I really did have fun and it helped me know how much I was loved by my mom.”
Memories made. Lives impacted.
All part of the job.

What are you doing Kara Noel? (you’re thinking)
Well, we are having a backyard picnic after school. Our same PB & J’s, with a side of fruit and Pirate Booty. Except we’ll be on a blanket. Outside. We’ll talk and I’ll probably pull down the leftover Valentine’s Day candy from the bowl on top of the fridge.
Does having the same exact lunch as always outside on a blanket require much effort?
NO!
It’s nothing.
And it will be fun!

June 18, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Fluttering at the Butterfly Pavilion

We love the Butterfly Pavilion!
It’s just outside Denver, in Westminster Colorado, and every time we’ve been in the area (twice before this trip) we have paid a visit.
The Crawl-a-see-em has all sorts of insects in easy to see habitats as well as interactive activities. They even have a living bee hive where bees come in and out from outside.

One of their most famous attractions is to hold a tarantula named Rosie.
I haven’t done it yet.

Another room is called Water’s Edge and guests can feel real star fish (and other stuff) in open tanks.

But by far, for us, the most exciting place is the Wings of the Tropics, a tropical conservatory filled with about 1,600 live butterflies!
Yes friends, at the Butterfly Pavilion about 600-1000 butterfly chrysalis hatch each week and you get to see it happen. Below you can see the chrysalis hanging from boards, what you can’t see are the various states of hatching the butterflies are going through.
It’s really lovely.

chrysalis

We bought a butterfly directory for $1 and had so much fun playing the matching game with all the butterflies we came across.

Eli wanted to buy edible crickets. My boy is growing up and thinks things like this are cool. Eli and his awesome older cousin ate the first ones. Then we pressured everyone else to eat one too… even me!

Things to know, if you go:

There is plenty to do at the Butterfly Pavilion so get ready to spend the day there.
It’s pricy for big families $9.50 for each adult and $6.50 for kids 2-12 years old. Free 1 and under. (Should be free for 3 and under, in my humble opinion.)
The butterfly area is really amazing but it is very humid and hot so bring water for little ones and maybe spend some time there then take a break and go back.
Hold Rosie. You get a sticker!
Bring snacks.
A fun souvenir are crickets. Bon appetit!

View our whole trip here: