Jordan Lake - A Beach Visit That's Not 3 Hours Away!

My husband teases me, as I am from Minnesota originally, that I call any area with sand by a body of water a beach. Dictionary.com, by the way, defines a beach as "the part of the shore of an ocean, sea, large river, lake, etc., washed by the tide or waves." So I was right! (Na na-nah boo-boo!)

 "Let's go to the beach, mom!" my little one woke and immediately demanded a trip to the ocean on the nicest day so far this spring. While it was supposed to be gorgeous here in the Triangle, it was pouring rain on the coast.



So we skipped the 3-hour drive and drove the 20 minutes to Jordan Lake's Ebenezer Church swimming area. The beach was nearly empty. It was clean, close to the bathrooms, very near a playground (which my kids totally ignored because they were having so much fun) and not far from a volleyball court.

Of course, the water was frigid. But that didn't stop my kids or any other kids that were there that day. We played in the sand and were up to knee deep in the water for the better part of 3 hours. It was a fantastic day, and the one cost I thought we would incur was the parking permit (which I believe is $6) but nobody was there to take our money. So it was free on Monday. Maybe it's just a weekend charge?

Anyway, we will certainly be back. My only regret is that I didn't check to see if there was a grill at the shelter, because I totally want to go back and grill out next week when it's supposed to be in the 70s!

Also, there are 3 other swimming areas open to the public (non-campers) - Seaforth, Parker's Creek and White Oak Recreation areas. I plan to visit all of those and report back. Hopefully this spring will be perfect for it!

Ebenezer Road
Apex, NC

HIGHLIGHTS: Clean water, nice sand, close to restrooms and shelter, "beach" is close to playground, lots of parking very shallow swimming area, inside the "ropes" was 5 feet deep or less.

LOW LIGHTS: No changing table in the bathroom, which was a little stinky but not terrible. their website is not particularly user friendly, the link for entrance fees is not working, and in my experience the NC Division of Parks and Recreation staff that answers the phones is somewhat unfriendly.

COST: Free plus parking charge on weekends is $6 for cars (I believe. The site was not working when I checked).

FUN ON THE FARM! "Farm Animal Days" - Pre-registration Required

NC Farm Animal Days is back in 2013 from April 10 (Wednesday) through April 12! I missed this last year and was really disappointed.

This year I'm going and am already signed up. It's at N.C. State University's Agroecology Education Farm in the Beef Educational Unit and offers a chance for kids to see and touch farm animals and learn about agriculture. As a person who grew up in Minnesota, you would assume I had hundreds of opportunities, but I didn't! And I cannot wait to show my kids, who scream "Cow!" or "Horsey!" whenever we pass by a farm (or Chick Fil-A).

Here is the website for more information and to sign up (pre-register). From what I can tell, it is free. I will have also copied some of the information from the registration site directly onto this blog so you can see what it's about without leaving my site.

I hope to see you there! I can't wait.

www.cals.ncsu.edu/farmanimaldays/

FROM THE SITE:

WHEN: 2013 dates April 10-12
Wednesday through Friday (rain or shine)

TIME: 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
(least busy times are 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.)

WHERE: NC State University
Beef Educational Unit
4505 Mid Pines Rd.
(2 miles south of I-40)

WHAT: Farm Animal Days gives children a chance to see and touch farm animals and learn about agriculture; tractors will also be on display. The event is designed for school field trips (pre-school through first grade). Families and individuals are still welcome to attend.

Practice roping for the kids.

Touch the animals: chicks, turkeys, ducks, pigs, sheep, goats, and rabbits

Other animals to see: Beef Cow/calf, Dairy Cow, Horses

Tractors on display

Molly the Cow

Grass area for picinic

Free Ice Cream!

Jr. Wolfpack Club

Daily Presentations (new this year)

• At 10, 11, 12, and 1 each day we will have a short presentation(approxametly 15-20 minutes) about animal agriculture, this will be an informal program for kids to learn from our NCSU Employees, Local Producers, and Students about Farm Animals

One hour is sufficient to see all exhibits

 

Things to Come! Back in action, broken leg and all!

My youngest broke her leg two weeks ago, so we've been very limited in what we can do and where we can go (and still have a good time). So we've taken a few weeks off!

But I am back in action and excited to find some indoor/inclement weather activities. But also, I've been nudged in a few directions by some readers (which I LOVE!) ... so I am going to break down and visit Hemlock Bluffs. I am not a huge trail hiker with my kids, but I hear this place is worth it. I have been hearing about it for a while. My old boss had a blog and I did a brief overview of the place then, but I just wasn't interested in going. Alas, you all wore me down!

Also, I saw a park on Saturday while running errands off of Walnut in Cary. I cannot remember the name other than "DAD" park was the nickname.

Also recommended, Harold T. Ritter Park (near Lochmere in Cary) is supposed to be wonderful and the NC Museum of Art apparently has trails and fountains the kids would enjoy. So, they are all on my to do list for the next few weeks. I am also going to try to get to the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill, although I am afraid my 2-year-old (aka the Tazmanian Devil) may not sit still long enough to enjoy it, especially because she just got her cast off.

Also on tap, if I can figure out how to get tickets (I keep getting an error message on their website) the Carolina Tiger Rescue! We cannot wait. Spring break should be exciting for the little ones in our crew!

North Cary Park- What a Wonderful Place To Play!

So officially I am a park mom. My kids love them more than chocolate milk!

We drove all the way to North Cary, got lost too, I might add, so check out a park I heard about -- North Cary Park.

This place was beautiful, much like most of Cary's parks. They just take such beautiful care of their parks. The first thing we saw brought me to tears: four, pristine volleyball courts with perfect sand and nets almost at the right height. I am a volleyball player (or was a decade ago) and I was pretty geeked out about them. And my kids loved the second biggest sandbox they'd ever seen. (2nd only to the beach)

 After the courts excursion, we took a walk on a little trail to find a climbing wall. They are too young to climb it, but they played a little game or running peak-a-boo for about 20 minutes. I got to sit and watch and loved every minute. Then we found the playground, or at least part of it. It had a real sandbox, jungle gym, great slide and a little "house" to play in.

The moms were wonderful, bathrooms close and we played well into lunch hour. It was a total success. My only complaint was the slide & stairs leading up to it were really steep for my little one (2). She did fine but I was a wreck thinking she'd fall. She didn't! This park was worth the drive, and I will certainly go there again.

1100 Norwell Blvd
Cary, NC

HIGHLIGHTS: Clean park, great sandbox, climbing wall (for older kids to climb and younger kids to run around), friendly people, restrooms close by, two slides, balance toys on the jungle gym, and lots of space to run around away from the playground.

LOW LIGHTS: The slides were a bit "fast" for my littlest one and the stairs headed up were pretty steep. I held my breath most of the time she was on the stairs. My GPS also did not pick this up and I got lost (probably user error more than anything, but I had to share just in case).

COST: Free!

Cary Mom Group - Don't let the name fool you!

I know when I first started venturing out and visiting new parks and places to entertain my kids, it was hard to go on my own. My kids wouldn't entertain themselves long, even at the best places.

If I had known about Cary Mom's group, I probably would have joined. It is a group of area moms (don't let the Cary part fool you, they are all inclusive) who make age-appropriate play dates throughout the week. You get to pick and choose the activities you want to attend, but from what the members tell me, they are varied and almost daily!

The best part of this is the kids are around the same age, and the moms are all so friendly because they're pretty much in the same boat - trying to have fun with their kids and learn more about the area (and maybe make some friends for themselves at the same time).


I met up with the Cary Moms Group accidentally when I went to Davis Drive Park with my friend, Amanda. We both agreed the moms were so friendly, and it really was a great park and great group of people with whom we shared the park. (We even made some fun facebook friends we keep saying we should meet up with!)

My only hesitation about this group is there is an annual fee to join and visit the website and calendar. It's not that $24/year is too much for me, but I am sort of an unorganized person. When I make plans, they usually fall through. I am more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of person.

If you're interested in more information, visit meetup.com ...

DAY 2 (Indoor Activities) - Dance Party!!

(As the weather turned a little cold, and my oldest stopped napping, my opportunities to share my activities has dwindled. My friend, Irene Gouge, is a home day-care provider, former elementary teacher and is a sleep coach, helping parents and children learn the tools to better napping and night-time sleeping! She's a genius and is one of my mommy role models. She's calm, thoughtful and creative! She agreed to share her expertise with you while I muddle through my busy schedule.)

By: Irene Gouge

When the temperatures drop or the weather outside is less than desirable, parents get nervous because outside time can be limited. In my experience doing a home daycare, I’ve had to work and perfect this since the key is to have stimulating activities so children are learning, growing and developing, using their bodies to get energy out so that everyone will nap well, and sleep well at night while having fun during the day! In the course of the next few days, I will share a few of my daycare tricks I do to help us get through those cold, cold days we have to spend inside. Try this one!

Dance Party

Materials needed:  scarves, towels, old ties or an old sheet cut into strips (something to have and swing around while you dance up a storm)

You can announce a Dance Party any time! We do it daily. You gotta’ get moving, and this is a fun easy to do whenever you need to activity.  Crank up your favorite music, grab your scarves and shake it up!   You can do this for 10 minutes to however long the fun lasts.  Sometimes we do two songs, take a break, and then do two more songs. There’s no one right way to do a dance party. This is a fun moving body activity for our little ones, but good for mom too and sneaks in some exercise. It’s a great way to get the sillies out!

A few other learning elements you can add to this to help with hand eye coordination, body movement and balance are:


 

• Throw the scarf up and catch it
• Twirl in circles
• Juggle the scarves
• Balance and walk with the scarf on your head
• Jump up and down
• Hop on one foot

Teach your child to follow directions with a little dance routine:

• 1Roll it up, roll it down
• 2Pump it side to side
• 3Touch your head
• 4Touch your toes
• 5Spin around and around
• 6And fall to the ground - Get up and do it again! Again! And again! 

To learn more about Irene Gouge and her "Sleep Coaching" visit loving-lessons.com.

Be Brave - BRAVING THE ELEMENTS

(As the weather turned a little cold, and my oldest stopped napping, my opportunities to share my activities dwindled. My friend, Irene Gouge, is a home day-care provider, former elementary teacher and is a sleep coach, helping parents and children learn the tools to better napping and night-time sleeping! She's a genius and is one of my mommy role models. She's calm, thoughtful and creative! She agreed to share her expertise with you while I muddle through my busy schedule.)

By: Irene Gouge

When the temperatures drop or the weather outside is less than desirable, parents get nervous because outside time can be limited. We know it’s important to get our kids outside every day, but what do you do to get that energy out so our kids are not driving us crazy?  In my time doing a home daycare, I’ve had time to work and perfect this since the key is to have stimulating activities so children are learning, growing and developing, using their bodies to get energy out so that everyone will nap well, and sleep well at night while having fun during the day! In the course of the next few days, I will share a few of my daycare tricks I do to help us get through braving the weather elements.

Get outside anyways       

Materials needed: outside winter or rain gear

Even on the cold days, get outside and walk, even if it is for 10 minutes.  Make the bundle up process fun while you are dressing up your snowman or snowwomen in the layers.  Children don’t always love the bundling process, but making a human snowman can be fun when you are describing and talking about what you are doing. 

When you get outside, it can be fun to watch our breath or find icicles if it is cold enough.  Once you’ve reached the limit of being outside, even if it’s 10 minutes, it’s always a nice treat to get back inside and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate with some marshmallows together. Caution: some children can get super hyper off the marshmallow so use your discretion. The process of bundling, being outside, and unbundling will most likely take 30-40 minutes.   

And even on rainy days, get outside and play in your rain coats.  Children can even get to use that cute umbrella they might have otherwise kept unused.  My kids love to go and find puddles to jump and splash in.   My kids also like to catch the rain drops in their mouth to see who can get the biggest drink while they are outside.  A warning with this activity:  put on grungy play clothes that you are ok with getting wet and maybe a little muddy.    

Learning and playing is messy… so plan for it! 

To learn more about Irene Gouge and her "Sleep Coaching" visit loving-lessons.com.