Travel – Our National Parks

Posted on April 22, 2013 by barbara

The week of April 22 to April 26, 2013 is National Parks week; I bet you didn’t know that! Our family always enjoys visiting the national parks and whenever we are planning a road trip across the United States we always pull out the map to see which national parks will be in the area as we travel to our destination. Some of our greatest vacations have been spent visiting our national parks and we have many wonderful family memories.

When I was about 10 years old our family took a road trip to Chicago and we stopped at Yellowstone National Park. That was back when the bears in the park would stop traffic on the roads and we saw several bears during our visit. It reminded me of that old cartoon with Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo, I absolutely loved it! That was my start of my love affair with nature. Years later I started taking my son to national parks when he was very small and the first one we visited was Yosemite National Park in California. Then, as my son got older we started camping and he enjoyed the experience of building a fire, cooking meals over an open fire and roasting marshmallows when it got dark. We had purchased all the camping equipment needed, stayed for a couple of days and it was a very affordable summer vacation for a single Mom and her son. Later with my daughter and husband, we still visited the national parks on our road trips but we choose to stay in hotels nearby. (Please don’t call us wimps – we were older parents then and wanted the comfort of a warm bed!)

In 1872 Yellowstone was the first national park signed into law by President Grant, followed by Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890. In 1916 President Wilson signed legislation creating the National Park Service with a purpose to conserve the country’s scenic lands, wildlife, natural and historic sites while providing recreation opportunities but more importantly to preserve and protect these areas for the enjoyment of future generations. Currently there are 450 natural, historical, recreational and cultural areas throughout the United States and their territories. These diverse areas are designated as National Parks, National Monuments, National Memorials, National Military Battlefields and Parks, National Recreation Areas, National Seashores, National Scenic Rivers and National Parkways and National Scenic Trails.

The National Park Service official emblem was authorized by the Secretary of the Interior in 1951. The arrowhead was chosen to represent the National Park Service’s efforts to preserve and protect the historical and archaeological sites found within the United States. Several symbols on the emblem represent the various functions of the national park system. The Sequoia tree represents the vegetation which grows within the parks and the bison represents the wildlife. The mountains represent the scenic and natural beauty of the parks while the water represents the recreational opportunities.

An example of a historical site administrated under the National Park Services is the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. Considered the most important historical area in the United States, there are several buildings and sites associated with our country’s independence such as: Independence Hall, Liberty Hall and Declaration House. Everybody can learn about our country by reading the history books but to actually visit the places where we declared our independence and formed our government is even better! We visited in 2009 and spent a couple of days touring Philadelphia and the surrounding area. I would definitely plan a minimum of two days in the city of Philadelphia because there are so many historic sites to see. I would also recommend a trip out to Valley Forge National Historical Park which is within a quick hour drive from Philadelphia.

In the early days of the National parks system there was a movement that sought to preserve the cliff dwellings and pueblo ruins throughout the southwest and protect these sites from vandalism. An example of an archaeology site administrated under the National Park Service is the Mesa Verde National Park located in Colorado. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt established Mesa Verde to “preserve the works of man” and was the first national park of this kind created for this specific purpose. Mesa Verde has over 4,000 archaeological sites and over 600 cliff dwellings of the ancestral Pueblo people, the Anasazi, who occupied this area of Colorado before disappearing in the 15^th century. I have visited Mesa Verde several times with my family over the years and the history of the Anasazi is fascinating. I would highly recommend the guided tours of Cliff Palace and Balcony House. The Cliff Palace tour is an easy hike to the site but the Balcony House tour involves climbing ladders and is a little more strenuous, I would not advise if you have a fear heights.

The National Park Service also functions to preserve and protect the animals and vegetation found within each site. In regards to vegetation, some of the world’s largest trees can be found in Sequoia National Park. Sequoia is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California and our family has spent many vacations enjoying this wonderful national park. The General Sherman Tree can be found in the Giant Forest area of the park. It is considered the largest tree on earth and is 275 feet high with a base circumference of over 100 feet. To really appreciate the size of this massive sequoia tree you need to stand at the base, the tree is huge!

In regards to the animals found in the National Parks, one of the most controversial decisions was the return of the wolves to Yellowstone National Park. When the park was created in 1871 the gray wolf population was already on the decline and at the time the park did not provide protection of the wolves. The government predator control programs of the 1900s essentially helped to eliminate them and the last gray wolves were killed in Yellowstone in 1926. Then starting in the 1940s, the national park administration along with biologists, conservationists and environmentalists began to assess the impact of the loss of the gray wolves on the area. By the time the Endangered Species Act passed in 1973, it had been determined that the absence of the wolves lead to an imbalance to the ecosystem of Yellowstone. As an example of this imbalance, with no immediate animal predators, the elk population increased dramatically and the environment suffered greatly from the over grazing of these larger herds of elk. With the new endangered species legislation passed the wolves could legally be reintroduced to the area. In 1995, 14 gray wolves were captured by U.S. and Canadian wildlife officials and released back into the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone. My son and I visited Yellowstone in 1995 and it was recommended by a park ranger to see this beautiful valley. We enjoyed our nightly drives through Lamar Valley and returned frequently to view the abundance of wildlife in this area of the park such as: bison & elk herds, river otters to name a few of the animals we saw, it was an amazing experience! We didn’t see any wolves during that trip but it was comforting to know that the balance of life had been restored to this spectacular national park!

BOOK SUGGESTION: “Wolf Wars” by Hank Fischer – The remarkable inside story of the restoration of wolves to Yellowstone.

Finally, to describe the scenic and recreational opportunities found in our national parks would be an enormous list. Growing up in California, we have spent many vacations at Yosemite, Sequoia and the Redwood National Parks. The beautiful scenery of these parks are some of the best in the national park system. In the southwest region of the United States there are also an abundance of national parks, such as the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest and Saguaro National Parks. Having seen the Grand Canyon several times, it is true what they say that to see it in person is so much better than any photograph! Another area that we enjoy is in southern Utah which has several national parks such as Zion and Bryce. Having moved to the Midwest has opened up the possibility of visiting the national parks of the eastern portion of the United States and our family is very excited to explore those parks!!

So, take the time with your family this summer and enjoy one of our national parks. You can visit a nearby national park in your state or take a road trip across the United States and visit several along the way. Accommodations can range from luxurious lodges to rustic campgrounds, just take your pick! The experience of getting out in nature is amazing and there is so much to see and do. Activities can be as simple as a day hike to more adventurous sports like rock climbing or river rafting. Family vacations at a national park are wonderful opportunities to build fond memories for you and your children.

Please check out the Travel post, National Parks Tips (Part One) and (Part Two), for ideas and suggestions on how to prepare and what to do when visiting our national parks.

National Park Trivia

There are 59 National Parks in the United States and its territories. California has the most national parks with a total of nine and Delaware is the only state with no national parks.
You would expect the most visited national park to be out west, like Yosemite or Yellowstone, but it is the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It is located between North Carolina and Tennessee and in 2010 the park had over 9.4 million visitors. This large number is due to the fact that 50% of the United States population lives within an easy one day drive from the park. The second most visited national park is the Grand Canyon with 4.4 million visitors, followed by Yosemite with 3.9 million and Yellowstone with 3.6 million.
The highest elevation in a national park is Mount McKinley with a height of 20,320 ft. located in Denali National Park. The lowest elevation is in Death Valley National Park at 282 feet below sea level. Temperatures can exceed 120 degrees in the summer months and the area only receives 1.5 inches of annual rainfall.
Ten different parks are touched by the Colorado River and its tributaries. One of those is the Grand Canyon National Park which was carved by the Colorado River exposing nearly two billion years of the Earth’s geological history as it cut through layer after layer of rock as the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, ranges from 4 to 18 miles wide at different points and is approximately 6,000 ft deep from the rim to the river at the bottom of the canyon.
The longest cave system is located in Mammoth Caves National Park in Kentucky. The Mammoth Cave passageways total approximately 390 miles. The second longest is Jewel Cave National Monument located in South Dakota is 160 miles.
The deepest lake in the United States is located in Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. Formed around 7,700 years ago by the collapse of the ancient volcano Mount Mazama, Crater Lake partially fills a nearly 2,148 foot deep caldera. The lake is 5 miles by 6 miles across with an average depth of 1,148 feet which fluctuates slightly given weather changes and has measured a maximum depth of 1,949 feet.

Travel – Manzanar, CA

Posted on April 18, 2013 by barbara

We have driven California Highway 395 for years heading to and from Mammoth Lakes, CA. Every time we pass the Manzanar National Historic Site we always want to stop but we never have the time. Finally in 2005, we made special plans to finally stop there.

Manzanar is a difficult part of the history of the United States and California. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, the United States officially entered into World War II. Citizens became concerned over the threat of another direct attack on the West Coast and California. The United States Government and the Federal Bureau of Investigation took swift action and arrested 2,192 people of Japanese descent. This action was meant to monitor and control the activities of these potential hostile “enemy aliens.

On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed an Executive Order authorizing the construction of “relocation centers”. This resulted in the forced relocation of over 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds were actually native-born American, into ten “relocation centers” located in several states, one of those was Manzanar.

NOTE: Since the end of World War II, there has been debate over the terminology used to refer to Manzanar, and the other camps in which Americans of Japanese ancestry, were incarcerated by the United States Government during the war. Several different terms have been used to describe these camps; “War Relocation Center,” “relocation camp,” “relocation center,” “internment camp”, and even “concentration camp”. The controversy over which term is the most appropriate is still being currently debated.

Manzanar was the first of the relocation centers to be established in March 1942. Originally it was supposed to be a temporary “reception center”, known as the Owens Valley Reception Center, run by the US Army’s Wartime Civilian Control Administration. In June 1942 it became a permanent facility and was renamed the Manzanar War Relocation Center. The first Japanese Americans, “incarcerees”, to arrive at Manzanar helped to build the administration offices, barracks, recreational hall and the additional buildings needed. The number of incarcerees increased steadily until July 1942 when there were 10,000.

Manzanar is located in California’s Owens Valley between the towns of Lone Pine and Independence, about 230 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Situated at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this area had long been the home of the Paiute Native Americans, who had several villages throughout the valley. Ranchers and miners established the town of Manzanar, a Spanish word that means apple orchard, in 1910 but the town was abandoned when the City of Los Angeles purchased the water rights of the Owens Valley in 1929.

The Manzanar Relocation Center leased 6,200 acres from the City of Los Angeles. The residential area where the incarcerees lived covered about one square mile and had 36 blocks of 20 ft. by 100 ft. barracks. Each barrack was divided into 20 ft. by 20 ft. separate living areas for each incarceree family, the partitions did not reach the ceilings and offered very little privacy. In addition, each residential block had a communal mess hall, laundry room, recreation hall and a communal latrine used by both the women and the men.

Manzanar also had 34 additional blocks that provided staff housing, administration office, two warehouses and a garage. The facility also had a school and auditorium, a post office and store, and even a newspaper office. Each relocation center was intended to be self-sufficient and Manzanar provided various services, such as: beauty and barber shops, shoe repairs. In addition, the incarcerees raised chicken and hogs, and they also grew vegetable gardens and cultivated the existing apple orchards. The incarcerees even made their own soy sauce and tofu. The facility offered almost every convenience found in most American cities. The visual exception was the sentry posts at the main entrance, eight watchtowers manned by armed Military Police located around the perimeter and the entire facility was enclosed by barbed wire.

For the Japanese American incarcerees, life in Manzanar became their new normal. Meals were based on the military daily requirements. Since wartime rationing made meat scare, the chicken and hog farms helped to supplement their meals of rice and vegetables. The incarcerees did earn some money and were employed in various jobs at Manzanar, with workers earning $8 to $19 per month depending on their skill level and in addition each incarceree received $3.60 per month as a clothing allowance. Even given the Owens Valley extreme weather conditions, summer temperatures exceeding 100 degrees and winter temperatures of 40 degrees with occasional snowfalls, the incacerees became accustomed to the conditions. Some were able to build elaborate gardens with bridges over water with waterfalls and rock ornaments found in a typical Japanese garden, some of these garden ruins can still be found at Manzanar. Incacerees were also able to participate in a variety of sports including baseball, football, martial arts and even golf on a nine-hole golf course.

Although the majority of the incarcerees accepted their fate during World War II, there was some resistance with problems concerning unfair wages, black marketing of sugar, shortage of meat and rumors of camp informers that reported any suspicious behavior to the camp administrations and even the FBI. One serious incident occurred in December 1942 and became known as the Manzanar Riot. When the Japanese American Citizens League leader, Fred Tayama, was beaten by six masked men after months of tension in the camp, a man named Harry Ueno was suspected of involvement in the planned attack and was arrested. A few days later a crowd of several hundred incarcerees gathered in protest and the military police threw tear gas to disperse them. Suddenly, the military police fired into the crowd, one man died and nine others were wounded before the situation ended.

Manzanar was closed permanently in November 1945. The incarcerees were officially released and each person was given $25 and a one-way train or bus fare. Many left the camp voluntarily but some refused to leave because they had no place to go after losing everything at the time of their forced incarceration. During the time Manzanar was open, 146 people died. The cemetery site at Manzanar is marked by a monument built by an incarceree stonemason in 1943, the inscription written in Japanese 慰靈塔 reads, “Soul Consoling Tower”. When we visited, there were strings of origami and often Manzanar survivors or visitors leave other items or offerings.

After the camp closed, the barracks and other structures were removed with the exception of the two sentry posts. Over the years since closing, former incarcerees formed the Manzanar Committee which worked to establish Manzanar as a National Historic Site to provide historical and cultural interpretation of the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II. Finally in 1992, Manzanar was designated a National Historical Site and five years later the National Park Service acquired 814 acres of land from the City of Los Angeles.

In 2004, an Interpretative Center was created inside the restored Manzanar High School which has exhibits that tell the story of the Manzanar Relocation Center. At the site, all that remained where several building foundations, the cemetery monument and the garden ruins. The National Park Service has restored the sentry posts at the camp entrance and built a replica of a guard tower and provided a self-guided road tour and informational markers. At the time that we visited in 2005, there were plans to reconstruct on of the residential blocks.

TRAVEL NOTE: Since the subject of Manzanar and the War Relocation Center for Japanese Americans during World War II is such a serious one, we would advise visiting with older children.

RECOMMENDED READING: “Farewell to Manzanar”, is a book first published in 1973 and written by Jeanne Watatsuki Houston, who was incarcerated there as a child. The book tells the story of the Watatsuki family and their experiences at Manzanar.

Celebration – Children’s Parties (Part Two)

Posted on April 17, 2013 by barbara

As I discussed in part one of children’s birthday parties, I’ve enjoyed the entire planning process from deciding on a theme, to shopping for invitations and party supplies, to creating party decorations, special party favors and gift bags, to deciding on what type of birthday cakes. Most blogs give ideas about specific theme parties, but I’m going to talk about the process involved and give some tips and suggestions. Part one discussed party themes, decorations, food and birthday cakes. In part two, I will discuss birthday activities/entertainment, gift bags, and special parties.

Birthday Party Activities/Entertainment

Activities are a wonderful way to make a birthday party more fun! For our daughter’s Ladybug birthday party, we made a very simple Ladybug game using red and black foam. A strip of black foam was used with white foam numbers 1-6 glued onto the black foam. Red foam was cut into a ladybug shape, six for each “number strip”, and with a black marker I made dots on each of them. One ladybug had one dot, two dots, etc. until the final ladybug had six dots. With a toss of a big white foam dice, each girl rolled a number, and then covered the number on the black strip with a ladybug having the corresponding number of dots. The first one to roll all six numbers, and fill their strip with ladybugs, won a prize. It was a very easy game but fun for this group of six year old!

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Our daughter’s seventh birthday party had an animal safari theme. We had sold our house in California and were moving to the Midwest, so we knew it would be the last party with her California friends and we wanted to make it memorable. In keeping with the animal theme, we hired a local animal rescue that brought some animals to our house, like an iguana, several snakes and even a monkey to name a few of the animals. The kids really liked the informative show that Animal Encounters put on and at the end everybody had their picture taken with the monkey, we included the photo with the thank you notes. That wasn’t the only entertainment, my husband took the kids on a fun-filled animal themed scavenger hunt all over the backyard and front yard of our house ending with everyone climbing to the top of our backyard wooden jungle gym/fort to get a prize out of the treasure box and the children down the slide to finish the game. It was a very fun party and the kids really enjoyed the animals and the scavenger hunt!

Always keep in mind the theme of the party when planning activities. For example, for a “Littlest Pet Shop” themed party I found bobble-head cats and dogs that looked like a larger version of a Littlest Pet Shop animals and cardboard “dog houses” at my local craft store. The girls painted the animals and then decorated the houses with stickers and colored markers. Another activity we planned for a cupcake themed party was simply having the girls decorate their cupcakes, my daughter and I are big Cupcake Wars fans. To make it easy we made all the cupcakes before the party in both vanilla and chocolate flavors. Then, the girls were supplied three different types of frosting; vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. We bought a variety of different kinds of sprinkles in a several shapes and colors. The girls were very creative in decorating the cupcakes and had a great time. Once the cupcakes were frosted and decorated the girls needed a container to take the cupcakes back to their homes. To solve this problem I found white cardboard boxes at the craft store that were the perfect size to fit six cupcakes each. The girls enjoyed decorating the boxes with stickers and colored markers.

Special Birthday Parties

For special birthdays, sometimes the party will be more elaborate and a little more expensive. As I mentioned before, our daughter’s fifth birthday coincided with Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary and we thought it would be a great way to combine the two celebrations. About two months before the party, we sent out “Save the Date” notices to everyone on the invitation list. We told them the date, the schedule of events for the day and a request to submit pictures of their family Disneyland pictures for a special video we were making. On the day of the party, we wanted to meet everyone in front of the castle, take a group photo, and hand out a game packet with a Disneyland trivia game and scavenger hunt. Guests were free to enjoy the day at Disneyland and then meet at Goofy’s Kitchen for a birthday/dinner celebration later in the afternoon. At the restaurant, after eating we handed out the prizes to the game winners and distributed the gift bags which included a special DVD video made from their family Disneyland photos that we requested months earlier. It was a very expensive event but everyone had a great time and it was a very fun day!

Party Favors and Gift Bags

When having a children’s birthday party always send the guests home with gift bags because it is a wonderful way to say thank you for coming to the party. When shopping and assembling the gift bags keep in mind the party’s theme. The gift bags and decorations along with the items purchased for the gift bags should be about the party theme. For example, at an Ariel theme party I used white bags tied with green raffia and a starfish glued onto a white tag. At a local retail store I found small Ariel coloring and activity books, some Ariel stickers and an Ariel party noise makers. Also included in the gift bag were a box of crayons, a small bag of goldfish crackers and a seashell. For our big birthday party at Disneyland I again used white paper bags but this time I glued on a red/white polka dot ribbon and lined it with red tissue. On previous Disneyland visits, I shopped for gift bag items which included two small postcards of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Disney stickers, a Mickey Mouse lollipop and party noise maker, a small Donald Duck toy and a Disney dollar bill, also included were magic bubbles.

For an animal safari theme party I used brown paper bags with white gift tag that read “supply rations” and personalized with the child’s name. I shopped for animal themed items online at a party supply website and purchased animal print bracelets and stickers. At a local retail store I found toy compasses, since we having an safari animal themed scavenger hunt, and I also included bubbles and a box of animal shaped cookies. For a cupcake birthday party, the decorations were polka dots, daisies and the colors were bright green, blue, purple and pink. I purchased paper gift bags/tissue in these colors and glued on a matching polka dot ribbon and white daisy. Inside the gift bags were strips of polka dot candies, bright colored rubber bracelets, a couple of small polishes, a tube of lip gloss and a cupcake scented body spray.

Birthday Photos

When celebrating a children’s birthday party be sure to take lots of photos, these are the moments to remember! Before the party starts, we always take a photo of our daughter with her birthday cake and wearing her special birthday outfit. When picking out an outfit we try to keep in mind the party’s theme. For the ladybug party I found a cute pink dress with an embroidered lady bug. I also made lady bug visors for all the girls, I used a simple red visor, black pipe cleaner curled with a pom-pom on top for the antennae and each black dot spelled out the girl’s names, this was also a party favor for them to take home. During the party I made sure to take a group photo of the girls wearing their lady bug visors! For the animal safari party, I was lucky to find a leopard crown at my local party shop and even though she only wore it for a short time at the party I was able to get a photo of her wearing it.

For a princess sleepover the girls decorated foam crowns with sparkly letters and shiny gems, the girls enjoyed this activity took their crowns home as a party favor. After they were done decorating them, I made sure to take a group photo of the girls wearing their princess crowns. For the cupcake theme party, I found white chef’s hats and blue aprons that read “junior baker”. During the party I made sure to take a photo of our daughter wearing them. I made sure to take a group photo of the girls with them all wearing their lady bug visors.

PARTY NOTE: Group photos are a great idea to include in the thank you notes!

Special Birthday Photos

Every year since my children were each born I have always taken them to JC Penney for their annual birthday photo. Every year I would buy our daughter a beautiful dress and have her photo taken and some years when her birthday is a very special one I bring her birthday outfit and take additional photos. For her Disneyland birthday, in keeping with the Disney theme she wore her birthday dress and her Mickey Mouse Ears. For her animal safari birthday, I brought several stuffed animals to the photo shoot and had a cute picture taken with her wearing her safari outfit with all the animals scattered around.

Birthday parties are a very special time in our children’s lives, so take the time to plan a fantastic party and make those wonderful memories!! I would love to hear from you about your ideas, suggestions or tips on your children’s birthday parties.

P.S. Recently for my daughter’s birthday we had a Mall Scavenger Hunt themed party, for more information please click on the link.

Celebration – Children’s Parties (Part One)

Posted on April 16, 2013 by barbara

Over the years I have planned many birthday parties for my children. I’ve enjoyed the entire planning process from deciding on a theme, to shopping for invitations and party supplies, to creating party decorations, special party favors and gift bags, to deciding on what type of birthday cakes. When I was a single Mom and planning my son’s birthday parties I purchased mostly store bought items for their convenience and held most of the parties at pizza places or park venues. With my daughter’s birthday parties I was able to create most of the decorations and have most of the parties at our house. Either way, during the planning process there are a lot of decisions to be made concerning a children’s birthday party, like the date, location, budget. Most blogs give ideas about specific theme parties, but I’m going to talk about the process involved and give some tips and suggestions.

Theme/Decorations

When deciding on themes there are a lot of different choices, but try to think of ideas to personalize the theme in some unique and different ways to make it special for your children. After a theme is determined the next step is setting a reasonable budget. With the cost of children’s birthday parties being so expensive, my idea is to keep the budget from getting out of control by creating the party decorations myself or if I do purchase party items I make sure they can be recycled or re-purposed after the party.

As an example, for our daughter’s fourth birthday party we decided on an Ariel theme, her favorite Disney character. We could have gone crazy with mass produced Ariel items from the party supply store but instead I made most of the decorations with seashells. There was a seashell front door wreath to welcome the guests, a hallway column decorated with inexpensive ocean netting covered with more seashells, and a seashell “rose” arrangement for the buffet table. I know these decorations sound unusual for an Ariel party but I was able to recycle and repurpose these items after the party. (Check out how I recycled the seashell “rose” arrangement in this month’s post, Floral Arrangements) For the other Ariel party decorations, our family room fireplace mantel was decorated with an Ariel doll and Sebastian, Flounder and Scuttle stuffed toys. To add a personal element, I framed two photos of our daughter taken with Ariel on our visits to Disneyland and also two autographed Ariel photos signed by Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel. Our daughter played with all the Ariel items for years after the party and the framed photos and autographed pictures are now displayed in our home.

Another example of keeping party costs within budget are the decorations we used for our daughter’s Ladybug theme sixth birthday party. I found several inexpensive small stuffed ladybugs from the dollar store that I hung from the kitchen chandelier over the buffet table, inexpensive lady bug masks also purchased at the dollar store were used as decorations and foam/paper/letter stickers were used to create a Happy Birthday banner. With all these low cost items we were able to keep within our budget.

In keeping with the idea of creating the party decorations, the scrapbook aisle of the local craft store is an excellent source for solid and pattern paper. Also in the craft store there is a wide selection of foam colors to make birthday banners and signs. For a seventh birthday animal theme party, I used several different animal print papers to make a Happy Birthday banner and another sign that said “the Jones Safari Headquarters” that we put on our backyard wooden swing set/fort. Another example, for an eighth birthday princess sleepover party, I made a “The Royal Bedroom” sign leading down to our basement where the girls were spending the night. For a ninth birthday Littlest Pet Shop party, which was another sleepover party, I made a “Pet Den” sign for her bedroom and on our front door I added a welcome sign and enlarged copies of Littlest Pet Shop animals tucked into our front door wreath. For a twelfth cupcake theme birthday party, I made a Happy Birthday banner out of several bright colored foam pendents and white foam letters. After the party, this banner was stored away in our basement waiting to be recycled and used again for another party.

2009 Littlest Pet Shop - home decoration

Food and Birthday Cakes

When planning your child’s birthday party try to keep the food menu limited to easy to make and simple to serve foods. Years ago, we had two different birthday parties for my son’s at our local Chuck E. Cheese Pizza restaurant. It was so easy because the food and entertainment were all provided by the restaurant and the best part was that there was no clean-up afterwards. Check other local venues with activities like miniature golf, bowling, aquatic parks and movie theaters These are some fun ideas if you are looking for an easy and simple party and the entertainment can easily be provided by the venue.

When having a child’s birthday party at your home consider ordering a pizza delivery or a 4-6 foot long sandwich for a local sandwich shop. Add some drinks like soda, juice or bottled water, serve some simple snacks like vegetables/dip and maybe a salad and don’t forget the birthday cake for an easy to serve party menu.

Birthday cakes are such an important part of the birthday celebration and we have such a fun time coming up with ideas to fit the theme for each party. For our daughter’s Ariel party we had a birthday cake that was frosted to look like a sandcastle with seashells scattered around the base of the cake. For her Ladybug party we had a birthday cake with a Boyd’s Bear Ladybug figurine on top and it was decorated with leaves and more ladybugs. For her animal themed birthday my husband baked, frosted and decorated a large green snake cake, the kids really like that one! For our daughter’s first sleepover party, my husband made a really fun birthday cake. It was made to look like the girls were sleeping in a cute pink bed. Twinkies were used to make the sleeping girls who had their heads on marshmallow pillows. The girls loved this cake!

There is so much information, ideas and suggestions for children’s birthday parties that I have to divide it into two different posts. Please check out the Birthday Party (Part Two) post about birthday activities/entertainment, gift bags, etc.

Decor – Floral Arrangements

Posted on April 15, 2013 by barbara

Floral arrangements are the perfect decorative accessory for any room of a home. Floral arranging is a favorite hobby of mine; I find the process very relaxing. By using my creative skills to create lovely arrangements, I can get the exact colors and style that I need for the room’s decoration. Most of the arrangements used throughout our home were used for the many special events during our family’s lives together and each one has great sentimental value.

Before I start describing the floral arrangements in our home, I would like to say that I use artificial flowers. I know most people would say to use only fresh flowers when decorating a home, but the quality of artificial flowers currently available are very realistic looking. Fresh flowers can be very expensive to purchase weekly throughout the year. Buying artificial flowers keeps the cost to a reasonable low onetime expense. When shopping in your local craft store, be selective in choosing artificial flowers for the arrangements because there are still very poor quality ones available but there are also some excellent and realistic looking ones. Before shopping it is helpful to have a basic idea of the style and colors needed for a particular room and to also pre-select the vase.

In our entry, there is a dark wood pedestal next to a low bench. On the pedestal, for most of the year, there is a beautiful white rose arrangement. This one is very special because it was used on the buffet table at our small and intimate wedding ceremony/reception in our home in California several years ago. Seasonally, I add blue feather sprays in Spring and several peasant feathers in the Fall. This slightly changes the look of the arrangement for each season.

In the library, on a painted table in front of the window, is a lovely arrangement of pastel flowers in a tall ivory vase. This tall floral arrangement was used last year for my Mother’s rosary and funeral. I knew I wanted to make something special to honor my Mother and creating the arrangement allowed me some quiet time to think of our shared memories and to grieve for her. After the funeral, I brought the arrangement back to our home. It is not a sad remembrance but a joyful one for the life of a very special person in my life.

In the family room there is a table behind the sofa with two tall lamps. Years ago, when I was creating the floral arrangements for our small and intimate wedding ceremony/reception at our home in California, I used a ceramic vase with dark pink roses and some greenery. This floral arrangement was used on the welcome table at our wedding and it now sits on the sofa table between the lamps.

In our dining room, there is a floral arrangement of golden roses and greenery in a crystal vase, a wedding gift from a dear friend. It sits on our dining room table with an antique crocheted doily that was bought a few years ago on one of our road trips. Seasonally, I add several peasant feathers in the Fall. This slightly changes the look of the arrangement and with the golden roses fitting in with the fall colors there is no need to purchase an additional seasonal one.

This is not a floral arrangement, but in the kitchen there is a straw basket filled with artificial fruit. This basket sits on the kitchen counter year-round and for the different seasons I add a chocolate bunny for Spring and a jar filled with wooden candy canes for Christmas. This is a perfect example of adding something to a display that makes it fit the season without purchasing additional items.

Kitchen vegetable arrangement - christmas

Upstairs in our master bedroom we have lovely dark wood furnishings; a bed, dresser/mirror, armoire, old-fashioned roll-top desk and in the corner a reading area with a comfortable recliner chair. On the dresser I have displayed our wedding photos plus photos of both of us as children. I recently added a small floral arrangement of pale pink roses, white and green hydrangeas in a small ivory porcelain vase. As a finishing touch I tied a pale green ribbon to the vase.

As previously shown in last month’s Décor post, Home Office, there is a lovely small floral arrangement that sits on my office desk. It started as a small ivory porcelain container that held several sprigs of green berries, clear and green crystal beads. It is something that I look at every day. I really liked the arrangement but it seemed like it was incomplete, so I recently added several pale pink roses. Sometimes a little “tweaking” of an existing arrangement is required and I think it looks better.

We jokingly refer to our downstairs as the “California Room”. It is decorated with items that remind us of our home back in California. There is an entire wall of black bookcases filled with our Disney memorabilia, check out this month’s Décor post for photos. The first few years that we lived in the Midwest, we really missed Disneyland. We also missed spending time on the weekends at the great beaches in Southern California. On the wall opposite the Disney bookcases is a lovely oil painting of a seascape that we bought in Santa Barbara. There are lots of seashells and other beach themed items that decorate our downstairs space. For our daughter’s fourth birthday back in California we had an Ariel themed party. I had purchased several dozen seashells over the internet to use as decorations around the house and for cake decorations. With the remaining seashells, I made an arrangement of seashells that looked like white rosebuds. It was a simple arrangement made with the seashells hot-glued onto long stems that we left over from another project. A couple of years ago I was in Home goods and found a resin vase that resembled stacked seashells. With the new vase and I rearranged the seashell “roses”, added some greenery and this is the arrangement that sits on the bar area in our downstairs room.

That completes the tour of the floral arrangements in our home.

The Enchanted Manor

a lifestyle blog by Barbara Jones

Monthly Archives: April 2013

Travel – Our National Parks

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Travel – Manzanar, CA

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Celebration – Children’s Parties (Part Two)

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Celebration – Children’s Parties (Part One)

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Decor – Floral Arrangements

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