In Honor of Spring

In honor of the first day of Spring here are a few signs of Spring seen lately around our house. 

Really macaroons are a good idea year round, but eating macaroons on a pleasant Sunday afternoon after a light meal of quiche, it just felt like Spring. 

Where there are flowers in our yard, we have hands willing to pick them and make them into a bouquet.

My favorite thing about our house, is the non-fruit bearing cherry tree in our yard. I adore cherry blossoms and this pink hue of the buds before they blossom is just as beautiful as the blooms. If we ever move, this will be the part of our house that I will be most sad to leave behind. 

The Carlsbad Flower Fields

It is currently freezing cold outside so I am trying to warm myself up by dreaming about warmer locales, such as this delightful place located in Carlsbad, California. I visited the Carlsbad Flower Fields last April and it was a delightful experience. 

I didn't know just how much I adore ranunculus until I visited, and now they are quite possibly my favorite flower. I recommend a visit ti the Carlsbad Flower Fields for anyone and everyone! Walking around the fields is relatively easy but there is also a wagon ride if you would rather not walk. We were happy to have strollers with us, but were one seat shy of enough seats and so the older kids had to take turns walking. There are several fields all in various states of growth and harvest, and so it can be quite a long walk if you allow it to be. It was a little pricey for being a "field of flowers," but there several coupons available and it was so enjoyable that we will definitely visit again if we happen to be in the Carlsbad area during the peak months. Usually they are open during the Easter season, which happens to be right now. 

A few tips before you go-bring a camera, you will want one! Bring bottled water, wear good walking shoes, wear sunscreen, bring strollers, etc. The Fields are located right next to a mall so when you are finished  you can go and treat yourself to a Haggen Das shake, you won't regret that either. 

P.S. I stumbled across this quote while perusing Pinterst last night. While the quote is from an artist, it applies so well to these flower fields. 

Color is the language I speak best...Color sings to me. 
-Vera Neumann

5 Tips for Visiting Arches National Park with Kids

One of the best things about living in Utah are our five National Parks, all within a few hours distance of Salt Lake City. We recently took a day-trip to Moab (yes, we spent roughly eight hours in the car with 1 and 4 year-old + several hours hiking in the park and a stop in Moab for dinner) and lived to tell the tale. Furthermore we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! While we've done a lot in the National Parks without kids, it was so much fun to have them with us to experience the beauty of the park through young eyes.

Here are a few things that worked for us and helped us to have a fun and successful trip:

1. Build their enthusiasm. We have taken a lot of long walks together as a family, but have never asked our four year-old to complete any hike as difficult as the hike to Delicate Arch on her own two-feet. To ensure her success we did whatever we could to get her excited about what we would see on the hike. We looked at pictures from previous trips to Arches (on this trip she wanted to recreate some of those pictures), showed her the state license plate featuring Delicate Arch, and generally just discussed how cool it would be if she was able to do this hike at her age.

2. Come Prepared. This seems fairly obvious but to do this hike with kids you will need plenty of water and a few snacks (as motivators to keep them moving), a child carrier for young children, good shoes, first-aid kit, diapers, wipes, sunglasses, etc. At the same time, it is best to pack as light as possible in case the kids need help along the way.

3. Make it fun! Think of the techniques that motivate children, and use them while on this hike. My daughter enjoyed "racing" us up the slick rock (in areas where safe), take silly pictures, counting the rock carins (my daughter even built her own mini-rock carin with pebbles with pebbles she found during one of our breaks.) Let them get their energy out and have fun while doing so.

4. Embrace the dirt. Along the trail to Landscape Arch, parts of the path were very soft fine sand. I lost count of the number of young children I saw playing in the sand. When my own children jumped in we let them play and have a good time... and then we cleaned them off. (Remember to shake the sand out of those shoes or you'll end up with a pile on your carpet or furniture like we did.)

5. Be vigilant. When we reached the viewpoint for Delicate Arch and let our one year-old out of her carrier, she went crazy and started trying to climb everything! Keeping her close with arms always outstretched to help when needed, was critical in keeping her safe. We watched a family loose their i-pad to the bottom bowl located beneath the Arch and the slide to the bottom seemed to take forever. The same goes with keeping older kids safe, be vigilant. When my daughter found a narrow slot canyon that is part of the trail to Landscape Arch and started to climb up, we had to tell her to stop at a certain point because we knew that climbing any further would lead to an accident.