Traveling -- Finding Things to Do

Anytime we head to a new place I always look for the odd things to do. Yes it is always fun to go to the museums and the big tourist places but I also like to try and find the odd out of the way places. What types of things do the locals like to do as you know they aren't going to the museum everyday. So how do I find things to do?

Before kids I used to make friends with the concierge. I use to ask them what they liked to do in their city. I use to end up at some really fun places. If I took a cab to the place the concierge suggested then I'd ask the cabby for another place. I'd continue to do this every place I went and I'd end up with a really fun trip of out of the way fun places.

As we've gotten older these adventures as we like to call them haven't got old. Now we just look for things to do in a different manner. With four under five finding family friendly things can be a challenge. Before we headed to Charleston this week I contacted both the MOMS Club (R) and a few of the local MOPS groups for ideas.

MOMS stand for Mother Offering Mothers Support. They are a group of stay-at-home moms that hold a monthly meeting and usually meet throughout the month for play dates. They usually have one Moms night our a month. They also usually have a service project for the year. These clubs are in a lot of cities around the United States. Go to momsclub.org to find your local chapter.

MOPS stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. They usually meet at churches all over the world. They usually meet twice a month during the school year. With MOMS Club you usually have your kids with you at activities. During MOPS your kids go to a special program called MOPPETS and you get to enjoy a morning to yourself learning about things that affect the mother of preschoolers lives. To search for a group in your area go to mops.org.

Using both of these groups we came up with a list of things we wanted to do this trip. We had some big things like the Children's Museum and the History Museum. We also had some items the locals would know like Pies and Pints a local pizza shop and Ellen's Ice Cream.

One other thing we always look for is things to do outdoors. Where we are this week isn't far from New River Gorge. So if it nice on Saturday when we are preparing to drive back home we may go a little out of our way to enjoy this beautiful park. There is also a few great nature preserves right here in Charleston that we might check out today if the girls are in the mood and the weather is great (for my Erie friends it was 77 and sunny yesterday and is supposed to be 72 and sunny today).

One thing I definitely have to say that  is different between traveling just Brian and I to traveling with kids is the amount of stuff you can pack into one day. When we were just married we could go from morning to night without stopping. Now that we have kids everything gets planned around their nap time and bed time. With four under five nap time is a big priority for me. Without naps everyone gets cranky. We can push bedtime a little bit but not much. The baby is even more sensitive to difference in her bed time than her older sisters.

Also another thing with kids is that it really doesn't matter where we go just as long as we are together. They don't care if we buy them something or go some place wild and crazy. Just going to a park with them and swinging on a swing is good enough.  They just enjoy being with us. I think some of my favorite memories from this trip will be spending time together as a family in the hotel pool or sitting in our hotel room talking and coloring.

I love that our kids are easy going like us. I love that they are up for anything. I think sometimes I'm the one that holds them back as I will say "we shouldn't go there as that is too old for them." but then when we get there I see that they have a ton of fun and it actually was to their ability level.

 

I also love looking at things through the eyes of a child. They notice some of the most innocent things. I love how God's creation looks to them. There are things I take for granted everyday but things like them seeing tulips and daffodils growing make me really stop and wonder what else I am missing as we run through our days.

I hope everyone has a happy Friday. Today is our last full day in Charleston so we are heading out to find some more fun things to do.



MOPS Mommy Olympics

So this morning we had a ton of fun at MOPS. We held our second ever Mommy Olympics. This is such a great team/table building exercise and got everyone in the group mingling. If you are a MOPS group and are interested in specifics please leave me a comment. I'd love to answer your questions or even hear if your group has done something similar and what events you used.

We started off with a parade of nations. Each table came up with a team name. We encouraged moms to wear their team color (our tables are color coded). We had them parade onto stage and pose for a picture which will be used for rewards at our next meeting. We played the Olympic Theme song during this part.

Next we lit the Olympic torch. Out coordinator Sarah was so awesome at making this mommy specific. She had a backpack full of baby stuff and had to dig through it to find the lighter. Stuff was flying everywhere. The baby doll fell on the ground. It so made me laugh. I'm going to have some big shoes to step into next year when I take over as coordinator. 

Next we did the Baby food eating contest. Each team picked two participants. They had to keep the baby food container on the table. We used stage two baby food so it wasn't too bad to eat. When the timer was started the mom had to remove the cover and start to eat it with a spoon. Then a second mom sat down at the table and did the same when the first person was done.  The team that ate the food the fastest won. I don't have any pictures from this one as I was a participant.

Then we had four other events scattered throughout our church that the teams rotated through. We tried to get each table to see as many different tables as they could. Since our group is close to 70 people you don’t always get to talk to everyone on a MOPS morning. Tables were competing against all eight table and not just the table they were with at that station.

Event 2 was what we called the cheerio roll. We got a six foot table and placed one set of legs up and the other down so the table was slanted at about 45 degrees. We placed three cups at the end. A big gulp, a solo cup and a dixie cup. Participants had to roll Cheerios down the slope and get them in the cups. They got 3 points for the smallest cup , two points for the medium cup and 1 for the large cup. The team with the most point won. They had 3 minutes to get in as many Cheerios as possible. We learned that three minutes was way too long. We should have shortened the time as most teams racked up some huge scores

Event 3 was a stroller relay. Each team had an umbrella stroller with a baby strapped into it. They had to run with the stroller over some obstacles. Then they had to find a specific piece of clothing to dress the baby it. Person one found pants, person 2 a shirt, person 3 socks, person 4 bib and person 5 a bib. After they got their article of clothing on they strapped the baby back in the stroller and came back through the obstacles to their next team mate. The entire team was timed. The team that did it the quickest won.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Event 4 was stacking blocks. We got two large Mega block containers. The team had to pick three moms as builders.  The team had two minutes to build the biggest tower possible. They were measured and the tallest won.

Event 5 was toddler trivia. Everyone at the table had to play this one. One mom would get the buzzer. She was the only one who could answer the questions for that round. Each round had three questions that pointed to a specific children's book or movie. The first question would be hard but if answered correctly would give the team 3 points. If at any time they gave the incorrect answer the team was out. If they couldn’t figure out the movie or book the team could ask for the next clue.

After the first group went we realized the questions were too hard and opened it up to anyone on the team could answer the question. You still couldn’t discuss amongst the table members it but anyone could answer it.

 If any MOPS group would like to see the questions I've attached the file here:

https://www.scribd.com/doc/244154332/Toddler-Trivia

Prizes will be given at our next meeting. There will be prizes given for first. Second and third place for individual events and then there will be an overall prize for first second and third place. For the overall prizes the tables will get a photo magnet of their team. For the individual prizes they will get candy medals (I show these in another blog post in a few weeks).

I think everyone had fun. There was lots of laughter and some healthy competition. I cannot wait to do it again next year!

MOPS Retreat

Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend our local MOPS retreat. MOPS stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. "MOPS International exists to encourage equip and develop every mother of preschoolers to realize her potential as a woman, mother an leader in the name of Jesus Christ." (This is their mission statement). The group is open to any mom with kids from birth through kindergarten.
Since we moved from Pittsburgh this is actually the third MOPS group I have been a part of. I couldn't imagine life without being a part of MOPS. I've met some of my best friends at MOPS.

Some of my MOPS friends have actually moved out of the Pittsburgh area to. After posting a few pictures this past weekend about our retreat I received some message wanting to know a little more about our retreat. I thought I'd write a blog post describing some of the fun details.

In the past we have held our retreat as a one day affair at the church where our MOPS meeting are held. This year the coordinator really wanted to get the team better connected with one another. As the table leader coordinator I also wanted more of a team feel.

We were lucky as our coordinator used to be camp counselor at a local Christian camp. We got to go away for less than 24 hours and spend some time with some awesome women in a beautiful setting. We also didn't have to break the bank to do it. Another perk was that most only had a 30 minute drive from their homes. It felt like we were far away but we were really close.

Friday night we started in the chapel. This was such a great place to meet and perfect for our 23 person steering team.

Our coordinator kicking things off

 

We started the night with introductions. We have many new members on the steering team this year. I think that this in fact was the best part of going away.  I got to really know some women who I only talked to in passing.  With a large group like ours it is hard to meet everyone during meeting times. you really get to know the ladies at your table but not the others in the group.

 

Our only goal for Friday night was to come up with a mission/vision/goal statement for our group. We started out listing words that we felt described MOPS. Then we moved on to writing our goal statement. This was such a rich discussion. 

What one word do you feel describes MOPS?

Using those words what do you think our goal should be for the year?

The videos that MOPS international gave us this year were really well done. So we actually used three of these throughout the weekend. One was about setting goals so before we jumped into writing ours we watched the video. It was fun to hear everyone tweak the wording and then come up with a sustainable and achievable goal for the year.

Friday evening was spent relaxing in our lodge. We had the whole lodge to ourselves which meant we each had our own room and we have a great grate room to hang out in. We just chatted. It as so nice to sit and talk to someone without having to say A get off of there, Where is C, B please quit interrupting, etc. IT was a very freeing feeling to really just be ourselves and not have to be mom for a few hours.

Saturday morning started off with a grab and go breakfast and a quiet time devotional on what is bravery and courage. This year's MOPS theme is Be You Bravely. We spent some time discussing what this looks like for each of us.

We then exchanged names of steering team members to prayer for over the course of the year. The coordinator and I made 3.5x5 magnets with the Steering Team members names to put on the refrigerator. This way you can always see who you should be praying for for the year.

Our creative activities director this year is awesome. She came up with the idea to make cards. We spent about 45 minutes making 125 cards. Each Steering Team member got to take 6 home. Then they can use these cards to bless other members.

Then we did our break out sessions. I led the table leader session and we discussed our table leader handbook. The Coordinator led the rest of the Steering Team discussion.

Lastly we had lunch. It was the perfect amount of time away from the family. I cannot wait to do this again next year!

How Life has Changed since we Moved

In October of 2011 Brian's job brought us to Erie. I remember moving up at the beginning of RSV season with premies. For those who have never heard of RSV it is a respiratory disease that can send premies back to the NICU. I was told that I wasn't allowed to take the girls to any setting with a lot of people. Examples we were given we churches, grocery shopping, and places with lots of kids.

B and C the year we moved in

 

A was 2 at the time. I knew we'd go stir crazy if I stayed inside all the time. I tried to limit our exposure to the outside world, but still needed to get our of my house to meet others. It wasn't like I could pick up the phone and call my friends to come to our place as they were all 90 minutes to 2 hours away. I went to places like the Children's Museum and Zoo Classes. I always called before I went to make sure there weren't any field trips.

At the end of the winter I was miserable. I was so lonely. I didn't have any friends. I remember Brian had a dinner for work that I was invited to and I had no one to even ask about babysitter recommendations. We used the girl across the street as she looked to be about the right age and it was a horrible flop. I really wanted a friend.

That summer was fun with the girls turning one and us going to the beach, but I was lonely.

A, B, and C dressed up for B & C's 1st birthday

I still hadn't made any lasting connections.

In September I joined Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS). I remember that this became a turning point for me. I started to meet like minded women in my area. I finally had someone I could pick up the phone to ask someone a question or get help. I finally had a place to ask advice like where is the best place to go pick pumpkins.

Oct 2012 at the pumpkin farm

 

By last summer I finally felt like I was making friends and I had a select few I could trust. I had people I could invite to the beach with us. If could hop on the MOPS Facebook page and let others know we were going to the park or to other events.

Out picking blueberries summer 2013

 

Fast forward to this summer. God has blessed us so much. My MOPs table from this year was incredible. I'm lucky to have these ladies as friends. I'm also lucky to have a few friends with older kids that will be graduating this year but have poured into my life and will remain life long friends. I have a feeling the summer of 2014 is going to be epic.

me with C, B, and A last week

 

I hope everyone has friends like the ones I've made in their home town. Have a great day everyone. I'm praying for you.