I’m Finding Myself Unable to Resist a Good Challenge–Outdoor Play Challenge

My friend Misty wrote a post called “Life Outside - Making Myself Responsible” where she challenges herself to take her son outside everyday.

I’ve decided to take up the challenge with her. During the summer, this was not something I had much trouble with, but this month, I’ve been kind of bad. Even though the weather has often been lovely, I haven’t felt like going anywhere. We’re expecting another baby in March and pregnancy makes me feel soooo tired.

Although I’m starting to feel a bit more energetic now that I’m in my 2nd trimester, the weather is not going to be making it more attractive for me to go outside as it gets colder.

I think outdoor play is so important for kids. I also think it makes it easier to care for them too. Way less mess to clean up, less to get into and they love it so much! 

Today was the first day of our challenge and happily it was successful. We went for a walk to the grocery store (at which I was an impulsive sucker, buying a halloween cup, mini pumpkin, decorative corn and monkey stickers) and collected leaves and pinecones along the way.

Although the walk isn’t far, our neighborhood is VERY hilly. Getting to the store isn’t bad, but getting back is basically uphill the whole way. I had to take a lot of breaks. I have a feeling that perhaps there is some middle ground between doing nothing and trying to kill myself. Is it just me that has this problem?

We stopped off at a playground on the way home (Mama needed a break) and saw a woodpecker a couple blocks from home.

I’m sure most of our outdoor play won’t take all morning, especially when it gets cold, but I’m excited to try to keep it up and make it fun.

Anyone interested in taking the challenge too?

Construction Site: Sensory Bin

Gordie loves construction vehicles. We go around spotting them whenever we drive around. I can now identify all kinds of different vehicles by name instead of calling them all “diggers”. So I decided to use that as the theme for our first sensory bin.

What’s Inside

• Base – Mixed dry beans
• Construction trucks and figures
• Small cups
• 2 spoons (shovels)

That was it, but it held his attention for a long time. I had to be right there with him but he was actually pretty good about the “keeping the beans in the bin” rule.

Just Call Me Mother of the Year

My friend Jen, writes an awesome blog over at Family, Food, Fitness and Fun. She wrote a post called “Just Call Me Mother of the Year” that I would encourage you all to read.  It inspired me to get back to blogging and to write this post.

This is why I think I should be awarded the title of Mother of the Year.

Reason #1 – Gordie didn’t do any kind of art all summer including coloring. My Calgary Playground Review blog showed all the outdoor activity we did, but what it didn’t show was that was ALL we did. We went out in the morning to a playground and the most impressive thing we did after that was having a nap.

Reason #2 – This month Gordie and I have hardly left the house. Although I finally did get some art supplies, we’ve hardly gone anywhere. I don’t think we’ve gone to a single playground, and even on the really nice days we often just stay home. Kids don’t need sunlight and fresh air do they?

Reason #3 – Gordie often wears pajamas from nap time until bed time. Gordie often asks to wear pajamas for nap – and anything that is going to make him sleep better I’m all for. But seriously, how often am I supposed to change his clothes? If we’re not going anywhere, he is likely to wear them until he goes to bed.

Reason #4 – I think I spend more time looking for fun things to do with Gordie than actually doing them. But I have an awesome board on pinterest filled with ideas – it’s almost as good right?

Reason #5 – I hate singing Gordie his bedtime song. I know some lullabies that I really love, Douglas Mountain, Morningtime Ride, Baby’s Boat. But I end up singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, every single night and for every nap. Really, the song is just not that great.

Reason #6 – I’m finding it really difficult to get my energy together to make good food. One time Gordie ate Kraft Dinner for lunch, dinner and lunch again the next day.

Those are just a few of the reasons why I think I deserve the title of Mother of the Year. How about you? Any confessions to make?

Badlands National Park

The Badlands weren’t in our original itinerary. We squeezed them in at the end of a very long day (after seeing the Devils Tower and Mount Rushmore) and unfortunately the lighting wasn’t great by the time we got there and we didn’t have a lot of energy left to get out and walk around.

Nonetheless I’m really glad we went. If you have made it to Rapid City it is only 88 more miles to get to the Badlands and the Highway 240 Loop Road through the park only takes an extra 60 minutes if you don’t stop.

Passport Stamp: Inside the Visitor Centre mid way through the park.
Accommodations: There are campgrounds inside the park as well as Cedar Pass Lodge (located by the visitor center). Rapid City is the closest large-ish city.
Approximate Time: 60 minutes – half a day.
Worth the Trip: Absolutely.
Jr. Ranger Program: Available in the Visitor Centre give yourself about an hour to complete it
Admission: $15 for 7 days.

If we were to go again, I’d try to make sure we had enough time to get out and do a few short walks.

It’s amazing how fast the scenery changes while you go through. Similar to Drumheller in Alberta, this area is also a large fossil bed. It is considered to be one of the richest mammal fossil beds in the world.

There are two stops (one on each end of the loop road) that I would also recommend.

The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site is on the Badlands Loop and is located south of I-90 at exit 131. It closes at 4:30pm so it unfortunately wasn’t open while we passed through. At the site is a underground launch control centre and a missile silo from the cold war. The visitor centre gives you some insight into the cold war period and gives information about what the missile sites were really like as opposed to what you see in the movies.

You can see the Missile Silo May 2 – October 31 with no reservations. You can also get a tour of the launch control centre. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they offer short tours in the morning for the first 200 visitors. On Mondays, Wednesdays, Friday and Saturdays you can get a formal tour but you need to make reservations in advance. See the Minuteman Missile website for more information.

You can also get a stamp for your passport book at the visitor centre and they offer a Junior ranger program for kids 7 and up.

The 2nd stop is located in Wall South Dakota at the West end of the Badlands Loop. It’s pretty hard to miss Wall Drug. There are billboards along the way starting miles away. Offering things like free ice water, homemade doughnuts and 5 cent coffee. By the time we saw our 50th sign, we knew we had to go see what it was. It was pretty much what we had expected. It’s a large building complex that feels like a cross between a flea market and a mom and pop store. This was our last stop of the day.

They have a lot of souvenir areas, as well as a kids play space, a large western art gallery along the walls of the cafe and half a T-Rex up on the wall that moves and roars a few times an hour. Gordie was not fond of the T-Rex. If you have a kid would might also find it scary, I would suggest taking a look at the map and being very careful going into the back building. We we at the opposite end of the building and it still made Gordie burst into tears. You can find more about Wall Drug at http://walldrug.com

If you missed Mount Rushmore, the Devils Tower,Yellowstone or my tips for taking kids to National Parks/Monuments be sure to check them out too.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

We stopped in at the Mount Rushmore after leaving the Devils Tower. They are relatively close to each other (okay it’s about 2.5 hrs) and neither should require more than half a day each, so together they make a really great travel day.

Passport Stamp: Inside the Visitor Centre.
Accommodations: You can stay at nearby Rapid City, SD. Rapid City seems to have every kind of tourist attraction you could think of, Waterslides, Minigolf, Petting Zoo etc.
Approximate Time: 30 minutes – half a day
Worth the Trip: It is definitely something to see
Jr. Ranger Program: Available in the Visitor Centre (you will need approximately 1 hr to complete it)
Admission: Admission is actually free but you need to pay for parking ($11) which is not covered by any National Park pass. This is good for all year. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect at Mount Rushmore. I asked my husband along the way whether it was going to seem majestic or kitschy. In the end, it wasn’t either. The view of Mount Rushmore you typically see is in the picture above. That had always given me the impression that it was the mountain. But as you can see in my first picture, it’s actually quite a bit smaller than I had expected. It’s still huge, but it is only carved into a small part of the mountain. So it didn’t seem tacky, but it didn’t have the overwhelming presence that I was expecting either. It is really an amazing feat of human engineering, but I can’t say that I really connected with it. This I suspect was due to, as a Canadian, it just doesn’t represent part of  my history.

We didn’t spend a long time at Mount Rushmore, we were trying to get to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site and Badlands National Park later that day, so we missed all of the museum areas, walks and kids exploration area. We did stop for lunch and a woman there asked to take Gordie’s picture and then offered to take one of our family for us. I’m glad she did as it ended up being one of the few with all of us in it. Gordie looks a little suspicious :)

If we were to go again, I think I would save it for later in the day and get there just before dark. I don’t know if you could get a full appreciate for it without seeing it during the day. But in the evening they do a lighting ceremony which includes a ranger talk, and a film and concludes with the lighting of the sculpture. It starts at 9pm May 8th to August 13th and 8pm August 14 to September 8th.

Stay Tuned for our trip to Badlands National Park. If you missed the Devils Tower, Yellowstone or my tips for taking kids to National Parks/Monuments be sure to check them out too.

Devils Tower National Monument

The Devils Tower of Wyoming is the first US National Monument. It was also our first stop after leaving Yellowstone. It is a natural geological feature – actually the core of a volcano, which became exposed after years of erosion. The Devils Tower is composed of 6 sided columns that are slowly falling apart, creating the boulder field at the base of the tower. This tower was featured in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Yes, it is a real place, no it is not hollow.

Passport Stamp: Inside the Visitor Centre at the base of the Tower (open mid-spring through fall)
Accommodations: Not at the Monument. But you can stay at nearby Hulett.
Approximate Time: 30 minutes if you’re just stopping to look, 1.5 - 2 hours if you want to walk the 2km path around the tower too. There is a longer path (8km) if you are interested as well.
Worth the Trip: Absolutely. It is a really interesting site. But I probably wouldn’t go again until my kid(s) would be old enough to remember.
Jr. Ranger Program: Available in the Visitor Centre (you will need approximately 1 hr to complete it)

Setting out on our walk around the tower.

Can you see Gordie and my husband sitting out on the boulders?

See? There they are. You can climb a short ways into the boulder field but if you want to get closer or climb the tower (yes you can actually climb the tower) you have to register at the Visitor Centre.

We saw someone climbing up the tower while we were there. The first people who were recorded to have climbed the tower built a huge ladder to get to the top. Apparently you can still see pieces of it up there, but we weren’t able to identify them.

After Gordie had climbed up onto the boulder field with his daddy he wanted to climb every boulder he came across (of which there were a lot).

The area is considered sacred to the natives of the area who tie prayer mats and and other items in the trees.

      

White tailed deer, mule deer, rabbits and porcupines live in the area along with many birds. Gordie really enjoyed looking for the chipmunks we saw along the way too. Also, watch for snakes! We ran across the one above (which it turns out is actually just a bull snake).

Stay tuned for Mount Rushmore! And if you missed my series on Yellowstone National Park, you can find it here. You may also want to take a look at my tips about taking your kids to US National Parks/ Monuments.

Wildlife in Yellowstone–Yellowstone #6

Yellowstone National Park has the largest concentration of wildlife in the lower 48 states. Wildlife spotting was probably my husband’s favorite part of Yellowstone and it helped keep Gordie amused too while we were driving around the park.

You are probably more likely than not to see wildlife while you are in Yellowstone, even if you are only there for a short time. But remember to keep your distance and do not feed any of the animals. All of the animals in Yellowstone are wild no matter how tame they may seem.

The animals you are most likely to see in Yellowstone are bison.  Although at one point the Yellowstone herd was down to less than 50 bison, the herd in Yellowstone is now of the the largest in the US at  3500. Sometimes they can cause quite the traffic jam as they wander along the road. They can be found all along the Western areas of Yellowstone during June and July but by August you may need to go to the Hayden Valley to see them (between Yellowstone Lake and the Canyon area). Although they do not seem as dangerous as wolves or bears they are responsible for more injuries and even some deaths. It can be sometimes be difficult to keep the legal distance of 25 meters away, but make sure you do not approach or cross in front of them.

We waited on the path pictured below for 20 minutes waiting for the bison to move away from the edge of the path. Although a few people went by, no one with kids did.

 

Bears are a lot less commonly seen while in the park. They tend to be in the North East areas of Yellowstone. If you are interested in seeing a bear, pay attention to the other cars on the road. If there are a lot of cars stopped somewhere (and lots of fancy cameras) someone has probably spotted some unusual wildlife like a bear or a wolf.

We were on our way to a restaurant when we spotted a bear on our last day in the park. My husband got out to see if he could get a picture while Gordie and I waited in the car. Gordie – “Daddy’s looking for bears. I’m not. I’m looking for the restaurant.”

Elk are plentiful in Yellowstone. They are commonly found in the Northern areas of the park (Mammoth, Tower/Roosevelt).

Wolves are not seen very often by visitors to the park because they tend not to hang out around populated areas during the summer months. This year was a late, cold spring, so we ended up seeing wolves on three occasions. The first time is pictured below, on the road to the Grand Teton National Park. The guy in the picture is crazy. Although legally, you only have to keep 25 meters away from them, it’s recommended you keep 100 meters away (like the bears).  We also saw one running across a field near the Old Faithful area and far far far away (I saw it through a telescope) we saw two wolves feasting on an elk.

Although historically mountain goats haven’t lived in the area, they’ve started to colonize the northern rocky areas of the park.

There is  a lot of other animals that you may see too, including moose, small mammals, numerous birds and even snakes.

The snake above is actually just a bull snake. Which are harmless, but it looks like a rattlesnake. This is a good strategy for its threats from most other animals, but unfortunately for the snake, looking like a rattlesnake gets you killed by humans.

That’s the end of my series on Yellowstone, but stay tuned for the Devil’s Tower National Monument! Also, if you misssed them be sure to look at my tips on Taking Your Kids to US National Parks, Gordie’s Favorite Things In Yellowstone, Accommodations Things to See Around Old Faithful, Things to See in Other Geothermal Areas, and Other things to See in Yellowstone.