Summer Memories and Back to School Traditions

Summer has come to an end and my boys started school yesterday :(

To celebrate a great Summer full of memories we will cherish forever, DayTrippingMom and I met up with all our kids to have some root beers at The Rootbeer Company in Old Town Temecula.

The kids held their drinks up!

What back to school traditions does your family have?

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Perseid Meteor Shower - More Summer Bucket List!

Photo used with permission from LifeWithDylan.com

I'm so excited because I can cross one more thing off the Kids Summer Bucket List - viewing the Perseid Meteor Shower!  Last year we missed this one because the kids school started early, but this year you could find us laying on the driveway (I know, we are dorky like that!)  looking up at the stars oh'ing and ah'ing at the meteors as we saw them flash by. 

We went out on Saturday night and saw a good handful each and were looking at different parts of the sky.  The meteor shower will be visible through the 22nd, but is tapering out (but there should still be as many as 40 an hour for the next few nights).  You certainly don't need a telescope, it would actually make it more difficult because the meteors are all over the parts of the sky and are harder to catch when looking at a small area.

My recommendations?  Grab a blanket, lay on the ground after about 11 pm and look up at the sky, you should see some within a few minutes of looking.  (Note that if you are in an area where there is high light pollution, you might have to head to where you can see stars).

I unfortunately don't have a nice enough camera (or the patience) to catch the light show in the sky and a special thanks to Michelle from Life With Dylan for sharing this great photo from the blue moon last week!

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Avoiding dehydration for kids with a few simple tips

Summer has officially hit here in Southern California this week.  With extreme temperature warnings all over the map, it's crucial that we as parents take the time to be sure our kids aren't getting dehydrated!  After day 2 of a heat wave is when people (kids and elderly in particular) become most susceptible to dehydration.

My boys are great about drinking water, but on these crazy hot days it can be hard to get them to drink enough water.  A couple of tips I have learned over the years is to always have fresh fruit and citrus on hand.  Several times a day hand them a bowl of freshly washed grapes, a mandarin orange, apples or other favorites in your house.  Grapes in particular are loaded with fluid which helps keep the dehydration away.  It's easy to get the kids to snack on them throughout the day!

To encourage the kids to guzzle down the water, add a few tablespoons of juice to give the water some flavor, but cuts way down on the sugar content.

Make jell-o!  Yes, it has sugar, but the water in the jell-o is a great way to sneak it in.

What other tips do you have for beating the extreme heat?

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Ice Cream Sundae Party - Classic Summer Fun!

Summer is in full swing around our house.  The theme of this Summer for our family has been to celebrate the little things and take the time to just have fun!

Fresh&easy sent us an ice cream sundae fun pack to kick start a party.  My boys invited a few friends over for pizza, water fun in the back yard (oh yes, we got out the water balloons and bubbles!) then capped off the afternoon of fun with custom ice cream sundaes while playing video games! 

The prices of the fresh&easy brand ice creams are amazing, so we were able to pick up a number of ice cream flavor options to satisfy the pickiest of orders!

With great prices it doesn't cost a fortune to throw a great ice cream party and as always the fresh&easy brand products don't have artificial flavors, preservatives or colors. And all the dairy ice cream is made from milk not treated with rBST hormone.  That makes this Mom happy!

My oldest son got out his iPhone and went around taking everyones custom sundae options.  The kids were creative and loved being able to customize the toppings and orders.  Crumbled creme cookie, maraschino cherries, whip cream, magic shell chocolate to top vanilla, mint chip, and chocolate ice cream - the boys were in heaven. 

As you can see, it was a rager of a party.  This was one tired Mom at the end of the day, but by the excitement and copious thanks you's from my sons, it was apparent I was Super Mom in their eyes.  And that is all that matters.


Note:  This post was not compensated but a number of the products mentioned above were supplied by fresh&easy to facilitate the review.  But fresh&easy is a store I already LOVE and do a ridiculous amount of shopping at and have for years!  :)

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Party all night like a 9 year old... Kids Summer Bucket List

The plan was hatched... to stay up ALL night long. 

The boys got my approval to stay up after I went to bed for the night. 

Was I worried?  Nope, not one bit.  I know my boys just that well.  I set my alarm for 1:30 am in the morning and found the boys snuggled under covers on the floor in one of their rooms.  They hadn't made it through the night, but at least they tried, right?

One more check off the Kids Summer Bucket List!

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Water Balloon Fight! ~ More Summer Bucket List Fun

Checking off one more thing off our Kids Summer Bucket List... Water balloon fight!  For a simple one dollar purchase at the dollar store, it provides hours of fun in our own back yard!

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Listening to the Rain - Kids Summer Bucket List

We've had weather whip-lash here in Southern California this week.  We had record breaking heat earlier in the week, then today the humidity set in and rain.  Yes rain.  It's practically unheard of to have rain in the Summer here and humidity is even more rare.

So what did we do?  We quickly added something to our Kids Summer Bucket List - sitting outside under the pergola listening to the rain fall around us.  Sitting and listening to the rain has been one of my favorite things ever since I was a child.  If I heard the rain I would get up and sit with my face pressed up against the window just listening.  I could listen for hours.

One more un-expected Summer experience can be crossed off the Kids Summer Bucket List!

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Go Fly A Kite - Summer Bucket List

We've been working hard at checking boxes on our Kids Summer Bucket List.  This last week we tackled flying a kite!

What things do you have on your Summer Bucket List?  I'd love to share some of them here on the site!  Email me OCMomActivities (at) gmail (dot) com

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Summer Grilling Made Easy and Delicious!

We moved in to our new house less than a year ago and just finished landscaping our backyard.  We knew it was the perfect time to invite the neighbors over and celebrate with a backyard barbecue!  I have to admit because it was a bit crazy last minute getting everything ready.  We decided to put up a gazebo, get new patio furniture and accessorize before the barbecue.  I felt like I was in the middle of Extreme Backyard Makeover - OCMomActivities style!  We got it all done before the party and are thrilled with the way it turned out, what do you think?  No, that isn't a picture out of a catalog, it's my actual backyard as it looks at sunset.

The scene was set for the BBQ!  I went to Smart & Final the morning of to shop for Cattleman's Finest beef (my neighbor has a secret recipe for smoking the meat) and the other yummy side dishes.  You can follow along with the Google+ story here to see exactly what I purchased.  I absolutely love doing party prep (and other shopping!) at Smart & Final because they sell larger sizes of products for right about what I seem to pay at other grocery stores.

I sat there stunned at the sizes of the meats.  And the prices?  Um, amazing.  I grabbed a Cattleman's Finest Beef Brisket for just under $2.50/pound!  I brought it home and my neighbor added his super top secret meat rub on the beef and smoked it for over 6 hours.   Want the super secret recipe?  Lol, so did I, so I strong armed him aka tricked him in to handing it over.  I have included it at the end of the post!  You're welcome!

With grilled corn on the cob brushed with garlic butter, pork and beans, jalapeno poppers, coleslaw and corn bread pancakes, the meal was ready to go!  My neighbor had the idea to make the corn bread pancakes and stack the meat, coleslaw and drizzle with BBQ sauce.  So delish!

We ended the night with roasting marshmallows on our new fire pit and the kids had such an amazing time while the adults reminisced about doing the same as kids!

The Summer season has officially begun in our house and I can't wait to fill the Summer with more barbecues in our new backyard!

Now as promised here is the...

Super Top Secret Meat Rub Recipe
for smoking the meat (don't tell my neighbor I've posted it on the web!)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup salt
onion powder, garlic powder, touch of chili pepper, touch of cumin, pepper and cayenne all to taste (depending on how spicy you like it). 

Mix then rub on to the meat.  Smoke over charcoal for at least 6 hours.

Super easy - super delish!

The corn bread pancake recipe is right on the back of the corn bread box.  And any coleslaw recipe will do!

Have you ever roasted corn on the bbq?  It's super easy, get corn in the husk and soak in water.  Then add to the grill.  Cook until the husks start to char, then add on your favorite toppings - we used garlic butter.

What are your favorite grilling recipes?

Want more?  Find Smart &Final on Facebook here, Twitter here.

Note:  I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™.   All opinions are completely my own.  #CBias #SocialFabric #SummerGrilling

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Roasting Marshmallows - Summer Bucket List - Wordless Wednesday

Summer Bucket List:  Roast Marshmallows on sticks.  Done!

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S'mores Cheesecake - June Dairy Month Fun!

Summer is full of fun times in our house!  Barbeques, picnics, campfires, swimming and all sorts of fun family activities.  One of my childhood favorites was roasting s'mores over the campfire.

I recently had the chance to participate in a shop at Safeway brand stores (my local store is Vons) to purchase $40 in participating dairy products to redeem a voucher for two free movie tickets to see Ice Age Continental Drift when it comes out in theaters.  (For more information about this campaign including participating brands and stres you can go here.)  I was super excited because I knew this would be the perfect time to make my S'mores Cheesecake recipe using products from the shop!

It was super easy to track down the items for the shop.  Note that you do not need to purchase all the items at one time like I did to receive the voucher, I just chose to get them all at one time and got some incredible deals!  If you don't get them all at once - be sure to use your Safeway Club card (it will keep track of your June dairy purchases) during the month of June and keep an eye on the Catalina coupons (the ones the checker hands you with your receipt).  It's a great time to stock up on dairy!  I easily saved 37% on my shop using the Vons Just 4 U program and a couple coupons.  Vons is great about labeling all the qualifying items to get the Ice Age movie voucher and also has many of them listed in in the store insert (extras available at the entrance to the store).

Now on to my recipe!

S'mores Cheesecake

 Ingredients
2 Philadelphia Cream Cheese Packages
1 Package Chocolate Chips
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/8 Teaspoon Salt
3/4 Cup Whipping Cream
3 Eggs
1 pre-made graham cracker pie crust (I cheat because I'm not patient enough to make my own!)
1 Package Large Marshmallows (for topping)
You can also drizzle chocolate syrup over the melted marshmallows for added yumminess!


Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the cream cheese in a mixer bowl (I always use my large Kitchen Aid mixer).  Add in the 3/4 cup of sugar and 1/8 tsp of salt.  While this is mixing, I melt the chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave, stopping it every 30 seconds to give it a mix.  Add the chocolate in to the mixer once the cream cheese and sugar is smooth.  Then add in the 3/4 cup whipping cream.  Once that is mixed, add in the eggs one at a time.  Mix until smooth.

Then pour in the mix in to the pie crust and place on center rack in the oven.  Bake approximately 55 minutes or until center is set.

Let cool in refrigerator for a few hours. 

Add on a layer of the large marshmallows and put under broiler in oven until they puff up and brown.  For added yumminess, drizzle chocolate syrup over the cooled marshmallows!

Enjoy!


For more great recipes you can go here or the Facebook page here.

Note:  I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Safeway #CBias #SocialFabric  #JuneDairyMovies All opinions and above recipe are 100% my own.  :)

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Summer Bucket List - Beach Day (Semi- Wordless Wednesday)

My boys are out for Summer vacation already!  Loving the early Summer!  Yesterday we had the chance to head down to our favorite beach - Crystal Cove State Beach in Newport Beach.  The boys had tons of fun exploring.

A beach day was number one on our Summer Bucket list.  What's on your list of must do activities for the Summer?  I'd love to hear about them and share them in guest posts!  Send me an email at OCMomActivites (at) Gmail (dot) com.

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Backyard Waterpark - Check!

Summer is almost here and I thought I'd share how we spent last Sunday afternoon... a childhood must - the backyard slip n' slide!

I had forgotten how inexpensive yet totally cool these are.  The kids absolutely loved it! 

We can now check one more childhood experience off the bucket list.  What's on your bucket list for kids to experience at least once?

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7 Cheap Summer Activities for Kids- A Fantastic Guest Post

In the immortal words of Alice Cooper, “school’s out for the summer” and that means kids are ready for a few months of carefree fun in the sun. It also means parents everywhere are asking the question, “what are we going to do for three whole months?” Since summer camp is reserved for those with a sizeable discretionary income, I’ve put together a few cheap and rewarding activities to keep boredom at bay without breaking the bank.

1. Free Ten Pin Escape the summer heat and cultivate teamwork between your kids with some cheap bowling. By participating in the Kids Bowl Free program, bowling centers give back to their communities and offer a safe and fun environment for kids to spend their idle time. Enjoy two free games every day at participating bowling centers by registering at KidsBowlFree.com.

2. Indoor Crafts Sometimes kids get sick of the hot weather or become restless during those rainy summer days. Have a collection of fun crafts available for these times by following my kids’ crafts pinboard on Pinterest. In addition to inspiration from the Internet, get your kids to write down ideas and collect them in a jar. Once the first raindrop hits, have them choose a slip of paper and spend the afternoon embracing creativity.

3. Tag team Grocery Shopping Just because summer is here doesn’t mean Mom and Dad can take a break from the everyday grind. Get kids involved in the weekly grocery shopping excursion by clipping coupons virtually on the Coupon Sherpa grocery page. Once you’ve collected discounts, have them help you track down products and compare prices of desired items. In addition to keeping them occupied, your kids will learn valuable lessons about budgets and stretching your dollar.

4. Summer Cinema Nothing beats a good lineup of summer movies, except maybe cheap summer movies! Cinemark’s Summer Movie Clubhouse offers 10 shows for $5 when purchased in advance, or $1 per show when purchased at the box office. Additionally, participating locations of AMC Theatres host “Bring Your Baby Matinees” which offer a judgement-free theatre experience with lower volume, brighter lights and all the breastfeeding and crying your newborn needs.

5. Local Attractions Who says daily deals are just for spa services and restaurant discounts? Sign up for Groupon, LivingSocial and Seize the Deal to receive kid-friendly discounts to local activities. You can also purchase a coupon book at EntertainmentBook.com for local discounts on dining and attractions. Finally, research nearby libraries and museums for kids’ activities that keep them both educated and entertained.

6. Dine Out for Free Before you head out to the restaurant for breakfast, lunch or dinner, check out this list of over 100 restaurants where kids eat free. Schedule your dining experiences accordingly, and be sure to order a plate for each child in your family so you can take advantage of leftovers for the next day.

7. Give Back There’s no better way to keep your kids occupied and teach them important lessons by getting them to volunteer. See if your local church, soup kitchen or retirement home is in need of volunteers, or check out VolunteerMatch.com to find other opportunities in your community.

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About the author:
Maisie Knowles is a working mother of two with three-year's experience writing on parenting and partner issues. She received a B.A. in Communications from the University of Colorado and co-founded Kinoli Inc., site manager for a family of money-saving websites, with her husband. Maisie currently spends most of her time at home with her two young girls.

For all media inquiries, please contact Maisie Knowles at 970-672-7572 or email maisie@kinoliinc.com.

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