Things to Do with Children in the Summer

I was recently discussing with a friend what we planned to do with our kids this summer.  While we all "know" what there is to do in our respective cities, it's easy to forget or overlook some of the local gems.  I have created a comprehensive list of things to do in Kansas City this summer that can also relate to your own city!  Stacation, here we come!

Take a stadium tour:

Kauffman Stadium Tours
Livestrong Sporting Park Tours

Take a walk for a cause {below at KC Race for the Cure}

Visit your local dairy farm:
Shatto Farms

Visit local businesses that offer tours:
Roasterie Tour

Harley Davidson Plant Tour {12 & up}

Take a cooking class at local grocery store:
Whole Foods
Hen House
A Thyme for Everything
Culinary Center of Kansas City

For days where  it's raining or just too hot, consider visiting an outdoor store and playing "I Spy."  They are filled with animal displays and aquariums...at least 45 minutes of free fun!

Bass Pro Shop

Cabela's

Tour of parks:

Growing up, my mom and my best friend's mom would take us on a tour of parks.  We would visit 3 parks in a day, making it a little more interesting!  Sometimes we'd only spend 20 minutes at a park, but we were delightfully anxious to hop in the car and visit the next one!  Finish the day with a picnic!  {p.s. you're never too old to play!}

Tour of fountains:
Kansas City is the City of Fountains, so why not translate my park idea into a fountain tour?  Adalyn enjoys pointing out the different water fountains through the city, so this year we are going to try to stop at each one and explore!

Find fun in the water:
Visit a local lake or beach

Peddle boat

Local water features:
Crown Center
Spray Park at Loose Park

Check out local museums:
Miniature Toy Museum
Money Museum
Wonderscope
Steamboat Arabia {what kid doesn't love sunken treasure?}
Science City

College Basketball Experience

Explore Outdoors:
Powell Gardens
Overland Park Arboretum

Check out some animals:

Deanna Rose
Kansas City Zoo

In St Louis:

Lone Elk

St. Louis Zoo

Purina Farms
Butterfly House

Take your dog on a family trip to the dog park

Movies:
Catch an outdoor movie night at your local shopping center, pool or city park!
Daytime specials at your local theatre {many offer free summer repeats}

Miniature Golf

Of course there are always amusement parks like Worlds of Fun.

Lego Land

Sea Life Aquarium

More to come!  Please, if you have any ideas, add them to the comments below!

Things to do in KC | Overland Park Arboretum

Take a walk around the lake or the many paths at the Overland Park Arboretum.  It's free fun in and out of the sun.  I recently visited with my friend Rachel and Adalyn's friend Emily!  We spent an hour and a in the butterfly sanctuary, walking the trails, gazing at flowers and watching the koi.

Catch me if you can...

The girls enjoyed running through the woods and exploring!

It was a hot day, so plan to bring plenty of water!

The gardens are just beautiful.  I took note of several rose varieties that I will plant next year.

What a beautiful place to relax!

Emily particularly enjoyed the lake - I don't blame her!

For more ideas of things to do with your kids, click here!

Wedding Shower Gift | Glass Cloche

After spending hundreds of dollars and several hours designing the perfect bouquet, they are often tossed aside for lack of something to do with it.  One of the services I offer my clients is to dry their bouquets for them.  It's a sentimental and unique piece to grace your bedroom, daughter's bedroom or addition to your dining room.  You may remember this beautiful bouquet filled with peonies, anenomes and garden roses {created by Erin Volante Floral and photographed by RPM Photography}....

it would have been a shame to dispose it, so I dried the bouquet.

Drying Instructions:

Using dental floss, tie around just above the ribbon, then bring it through a few stems, again, just above the ribbon.  Tie the other end of dental floss around a hanger and hang so blooms are upside down in dark, dry closet {choose one that will have limited access due to the delicate nature of the bouquet}.  

To protect it, I recommend using a glass cloche or English bell jar.  It will protect the fragile flowers and eliminate any risk of dust.  As you may have noticed, a bouquet will shrink in width when dried and each bouquet will vary in size.  I recommend purchasing one at least 11" in diameter and 13" tall.  This fits most standard bouquets.

It's a gift that the bride can cherish forever in her home.

Homemade Peach Ice Cream Recipe

Summertime to me, is my mom's homemade ice cream! She would sit in the driveway or poolside and watch us play while the ice cream maker churned away, throwing salt in when needed.  With Memorial Day weekend ahead and my new KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment, I couldn't resist whipping up some peach ice cream.  I've always enjoyed such a treat, but after visiting friends, Jenny Steffens, in Concord, Massachusetts last year and having it at Bedford Farms, I was really craving it!

Ingredients:

6 peaches

3/4 c sugar

8 oz evaporated milk {3/4 can}

sweetened condensed milk {3/4 can}

3/4 package instant vanilla pudding

3 c half and half

Peel & pit peaches, combine with sugar and puree in food processor.

Blend all remaining ingredients, and add puree mix.

Allow ingredients to chill in the freezer for about 15 minutes.  Add to chilled ice cream bowl attachment or your ice cream maker and churn.  {25 minutes with attachment}.

Feel free to garnish with cinnamon or brown sugar.  For a unique twist, replace sugar in the recipe with brown sugar.

I like my ice cream a little lighter, which is why this recipe doesn't use eggs, but if you like a really rich ice cream, swap 2 cups of the half and half for heavy cream!

Yields 2 quarts ice cream

Hands on time: 10 minutes

Gift Ideas | Art of Gift Giving

The art of gift giving is giving something or doing something that the recipient will truly love and enjoy.  It has no monetary requirements or limits, it's about the thought put into it.  At Christmas dinner, my mother-in-law told us about how her grandparents, Grandpap and Tot, would rock her in an old wood rocking chair that they received as a wedding gift.  She shared her fond memories of the chair and we knew we needed to get it to Kansas City.  With the help of her brother in Williamsburg, Virginia, we arranged to have it shipped across the country...

and surprised her with it for Mother's Day.

Watching her being reuniting with such a sentimental piece of her past and reminiscing, it felt far better to give this gift, than it had ever to receive one.

Now, she can rock her grandchildren, {including our niece or nephew due in October}, just as her Grandpap and Tot did her.

Next time you're giving a gift, I encourage you to think outside of the box and monetary constraints we often set and follow your heart.

For more creative gift ideas, click here.

Lone Elk Park

One thing I truly admire and enjoy about St. Louis is it's plethora of child friendly activities that are free of charge.  This past weekend, we visited an old favorite of mine, Lone Elk Park.  This park is great if you're already exhausted, but still want to do something that doesn't consume a lot of energy or if you're looking for a little bit more, you can get out and explore.  How much you'll see varies day to day as the animals are free to roam {which is the beauty of it}.  During this visit, we first came across a deer and geese.

You'll notice the dashboard in the above photograph, that's because it's largely a drive through park.  As we drove past, the deer started to run...

but then saw that we were animal lovers and just slowly walked away.

Below, Adalyn watches the deer intensely.

A little red finch in the middle of the photograph...

and Adalyn waving hello to that little red finch.

We didn't see much this trip, but we also didn't venture off the main path or visit the fabulous Wild Bird Sanctuary because we just wanted to make a quick 30 minute visit.  If you would like to stay longer, you can easily check out the Sanctuary, veer off to the Elk area and walk around the lake.  It's open nearly every day of the year from 8 am to sunset.

For more ideas of things to do with kids this summer, click here!

Classmate Gifts

Want to send your child's classmates off with a little gift for summer?  Earlier this week, I shared my Happy Trails to You gifts that I made Adalyn's classmates.  I couldn't resist creating a few more ideas for you!  The best part?  All of the gifts are less than $1 each and can be put together in just minutes.

Have a Soaring Summer

A colorful kite 2/$1

Click here for the printable gift tag

Have a Ball

Beach balls are just $1 each in the dollar bin or dollar store

Click here for the free printable gift tag

Find a Fun Time

A pair of binoculars are perfect for finding fun.  Just $1 at the dollar store.

Click here for the free printable gift tag

Do you plan on giving gifts to your child's friends at the end of the school year?  If you've been inspired by one of my ideas, I would love to hear about it!

Tips for Hosting a Dinner Party

I enjoy hosting friend and family frequently for dinner.  Having guests to our house just makes it feel more like home.  I know that this can be stressful for some, but hope these easy tips will make it more enjoyable for you next time!

My first tip is to keep it simple.  Above is the table from dinner last night with friends. It includes little more than the basics.  Functional, but beautiful.  I preset the table, which not only makes the table look prettier, but keeps me from frantically running around minutes before serving dinner.  When guests arrive, wine is ready to be poured.

This beautiful ranunculus floral arrangement took nothing more than cutting the stems {all the same length}, removing the foliage below that would be inside the vase and adding water.  3 minutes, $6.

My next tip is to prep.  I made Pear & Pecorino Ravioli - earlier in the day, I grated the pear and cheese and mixed the filling, adding a touch of lemon juice to keep the pear fresh.  I stored it until it was time to stuff the ravioli.  For dessert, I topped store-bought ice cream with my Strawberry Pinot Reduction.  Earlier in the day, I sliced the strawberries.  It took just 2 minutes to toss the sugar, strawberries and wine into a saucepan that reduced while we enjoyed conversation.  The combination of store-bought and homemade kept is quick and easy!

My last piece of advice is to just relax and enjoy.  Your guests prefer your company rather than every detail being absolutely perfect.  I have yet to meet the perfect entertainer.  Martha hasn't invited me to her home!  I hope my tips make entertaining guests a little less daunting and a lot more pleasurable!

Trail Mix Recipe | Happy Trails to You

I wanted to send Adalyn's friends a little something for the end of the school year.  Fortunately, her "school" allows homemade treats!  I decided to make one of my favorite snack mixes, substituting butterscotch chips for peanut butter chips in case of any allergies.  I also eliminated my favorite sesame sticks, as I'm not too sure a lot of 2 year olds will enjoy them as much as I do.

Start out with a few of your favorite things.  Try to include an equal mix of sweet and salty. I included:

1 bag banana chips

1 bag pretzel sticks

1/2 box Chex cereal

1 bag M&M's

1bag butterscotch chips

Using your hands {rather than pouring packages in}, add ingredients to large mixing bowl.  This will eliminate lots of crumbs and loose salt that just doesn't look as pretty in clear cellophane!  Toss.

Grab a handful...see if you like the mixture and ratio.  Hey, taste testing is important!

Using clear treat bags, add mix, lay flat, remove excess air and fold the top several times.  

Add your label!

Click here for the free printable label.  I used sticker paper by HP that can be found at an office supply store.  Remember when you purchased a printer and it came with a random pack of paper?  You just might have some on hand!  I did!

Print, cut, add your child's name and label!

Happy Trails to You!  {unless you want more classmate gift ideas, then click here.}