Three Natural Ways to Spend Quality Time with Your Kids

I personally feel that in these modern times happiness is something that people prefer to gain in exchange for money - as this is the easiest way to stay happy. The mechanical lives of modern people don't allow them to get that naturally. I really feel sad when I see people trying to make their kids happy with expensive gaming consoles, television, ice creams and a lot of electronic gadgets. Yes, I agree those are also OK, but parents should spend quality time with their kids as much as possible for their kids' future well-being.

I often hear people say  "In my happy schedule, how would I spend quality time with my kids? What would make them happy?" Well, for all those parents who pose the same question, I would like to share some of my thoughts on how you can spend quality time with your kids to make them happier than they get from mechanical things you give. 

• Gardening: I have often seen kids enjoy a lot in green environments, with colorful flowers, beautiful insects, and all those funny activities involved with seeding, watering, and cultivating the plants. Have fun with your kids in different activities of gardening and get them involved in anything they wish. Maybe they can get engaged in playing with butterflies, enjoy making their hands dirty with mud or eating up some veggies; for Pete's sake, let them do whatever they enjoy!

• Biking and Hiking: Pack some sandwiches, bottles of water and go for a Saturday afternoon bike ride with your kids. Your local park would be the perfect destination for both the biking and hiking activities. I'm sure this would be a place where you and your kids can fulfill curiosity of lifting rocks and peeking underneath to discover a myriad of bugs and creepy things. Let your children's imagination get exposed through anything they like without any input from parents so they begin to make their own choices in life. 

• Plan a Camping trip: I have always seen that the planning process of some trip is exciting, especially when you engage your entire family in this activity. So plan a lot and go for a camping trip on a weekend with your family. Do zany things in the trip; do something that not only make your kids happy but also make some wonderful memories they'd love to recall later in life.

So what do you think makes kids really happy? Are these not some great ways to have family fun? Give a try with any of them and see the result; believe me you will find your kids much happier than those you spend money on.

Photo Puzzle Games - Entertaining with Puzzles Equals Smarter Kids

Some funny kids activities not only make them happy, but help them to be smart as well. Puzzle is considered as one such game that acts both as an entertainer and a brain exerciser. Now how about breaking the boredom of your kids with some funny educational activities? I am sure kids online games like puzzle would be the one that your kids would definitely like to spend time with.

Ok, if you kids don’t find a puzzle game interesting then you can take some creative actions to excite the curiosity of the game among your kids. Instead of bringing some serious looking jigsaw puzzles, get some funky looking and bright colored puzzle games for your kids. I think the scenery ones and those which look like 3D will be the most amusing puzzle for your kids. A puzzle can be more than funny for your kids when it can be made with funny pictures or a picture of your family or friends.

Believe me, this kind of photo puzzles are simply great. This would surely bring together the fun of playing puzzles with the collaboration of your family in enjoying your family photo, marriage photo, vacation snapshot and so on.

Make the photo puzzling game more and more exciting for your kids by not being limited to a single photo. You can take a copy of all your favorite photos and use them to make puzzles for your kids. If you have a digital photo-frame and a digital camera then I think creating such jigsaw puzzles would not be a matter of concern for you.

If you are thinking about the right time to celebrate with a photo collage puzzle then choose the upcoming family reunion day. Call for a reunion party with all your old friends, relatives and their kids and have fun with all of them with a photo puzzle.

A Wonderful Way to have Family Fun - With Your Boat

Early morning wake up for school, same boring classes, home-task, playing with the same friends everyday "Mom I am fed up, I need a break, my kids' sad faces for their monotonous life were making me sad as well." You can understand in such a condition you can't do anything with ice-cream, video-games and Tom and Jerry.  So, I decided to do some family fun programs in different ways by which my family gets big spaces to breathe some rejuvenating air and lots of opportunities to have fun.

After a week, I thought I'd choose an inflatable boat to go gaga with my family. You won't believe the weekend we spent together with our boat, it was one of the never-forget experiences of our lives to date. The boating was completely full of fun with fishing and rafting. To make the fun memory-making, I adopted some ideas which eventually proved brilliant, and I hope if you do the same your family will get unlimited fun as did mine.

Go with a boat and explore around the shoreline in every nook and cranny. On a weekend go for a family adventure to a lake or river, pack along some bug spray, a lunch, and set out for a boating expedition. Let your kids investigate the small inlets and lily pads of a river or lake bed. You can take your kids to dock on the opposite side of the water and go for a hike. I am sure, the colorful fishes, turtles, frogs, birds and bugs will make your kids happier than they get from their favorite ice-cream parlor, cartoon show and computer game.

You can make your outing more enthralling with funny stuff that will add more fun for your children. Play some funny games with some funny toys with kids, do some funny activities, which will make them more cheerful and bright.

Kid's Fun Weekend

The best family fun weekend is one that the children and parents plan together. The parent should compile a list of various activities and present them to the family as possible fun activities to do together. It should contain a variety of interests and activities for different budgets. Have the family discuss the activities together and plan a fun-filled weekend, based on everyone's input. Such ideas include bowling, mini-golf, story time at the library, a community theater production, the playground, board games, a scavenger hunt, swimming at the pool or beach, fishing, the zoo or aquarium, circus, sports event and any others available for your local area.

You may want to plan one day that is dedicated to activities you have to pay for and another that is free. Saturday can be the day to go out and do activities that require a cost. You can begin the day playing a couple rounds of mini-golf, and then proceed to have lunch at a local pizza place that has games to play. You can relax after this by attending a sports event or watching a community production such as a funny play. Be sure to go out for ice cream afterward at your child's favorite ice cream shop.

The next day can be done at home and can cost you little to no money at all. Make breakfast as a family, having the kids partake in mixing the pancake batter, buttering the toast or pouring the orange juice. After breakfast, your family should be energized and fueled to play sports games in the backyard, such as football, kickball or volleyball. Have lunch on the patio with easy to make meals such as sandwiches, salad and lemonade. Spend the rest of the day indoors, doing activities you like such as playing Monopoly or watching movies as a family.

Family Fun at Bar-K-Ranch

Family Fun at our small community gathering here in the Colorado Rockies. There is a community here of about 100 families or so, sort of a tight knit community of close friends so everyone knows everyone else - almost. Yep, not a lot of privacy but who cares? We all get along well with each other and more importantly we help each other out a lot. So there is a lot of fun with friends in this type of community.

On August 22 we'll be having the annual BBQ which is always a hoot. Plenty of food and drink all paid for by Bar-K Association.

Camping is Great Family Fun

Camping has always been a family favorite for fun and get together especially the younger members of the family. Times have changed with tweens and  teens who do not like camping much. Why? Probably because  there are no iPods, cell phone signals and internet signals in the bush and sometimes they even lose their text messaging. That's really horrible when you can't MSM your buddies!  Many camps are not like this, you need to roughen up a bit to enjoy Mother Nature.

Summer camping gives the family a great opportunity to bond with the kids and have great fun. My buddies tell me teenagers will go for it if you choose the right camp carefully and make sure they have internet and cell connections. Then why go camping? Sure it does not mean that the kids will spend the day hooked up to their iPods or laptops the whole day. Teenage kids should take a break from the internet, messaging and the like over a family weekend. There's so much to talk about amongst families and have fun playing around...it can be a real blast with the darn internet!

It is important that your kids know the communication rules so you do not have any upset later. "But Mom, I must try and get a message through to Billy!" The idea of the trip is to share with each other outdoor activities and not to off somewhere else to phone or use the computer. Times for this must be set and respected If they are not the trip will end up in failure with no smiles or fun and "I don't want to go camping again."  Family activities should be agreed by all family member including the three year old.

The children will not have fun if they are forced to do something they don't want so get democratic about it with everyone involved in the planning and preparing of meals, everyone should also have chores to do, collect wood or wash the dishes. Get the family together for at least one hour at night around the campfire and talk to your children, listen to them talk about their friends or what they do or want to do. It may seem silly to you or worthless as an adult, but their worries and problems are very real to them and need solutions to ease their minds.

Forget about school and all the problems you have at home during those few days of camping. Concentrate on sharing as much time as possible with your wife or husband and children. Make it a point to have individual activities with each one alone too. This will help you get closer and learn more about each other in a one-to-one conversation away from home pressures.

Talking and having family fun with teenagers is not easy. Teens can be moody, not willing to talk and even disruptive of family life. So you have to have patience and you must have a canny instinct to know and feel when it is time to approach them and when not.

Taking them out of their environment for a couple of days is good because they will be relieved of their school pressures and stress--much the same way you will be relieved of these. It will be easier for both of you to talk about irrelevant things which may not be irrelevant to them. Be patient and follow your instincts, be a good listener--this can be a great bonding experience that will stay with them forever.

A family camping trip is always a way to bring the family closer and to enjoy Mother Nature together with all the fun stuff that comes with it. Take advantage of time spent together and get to know your children better.

Beautiful Kirstenbosch in Cape Town

We visited one of the most famous botanic gardens in Cape Town, Kirstenbosch which is situated on the slopes of Table Mountain. These gardens occupy over 500 hectares of slopes and mountainside.  Kirstenbosch was the world's first national garden devoted to indigenous plants. These gardens are magnificent with cycads and clivias due to the temperate climate and are sheltered from the strong summer winds by the mountains.

Way back in the early 17th century when the first settlers arrived, these lower slopes were cultivated to produce food for Cape Town and the locals. Large areas of land were used for forestation and farming and then along came Cecil Rhodes who bought large areas of land on these western slopes. He wanted to preserve it as a national heritage. This was somewhere around late 19th century. After Rhodes died the land was taken over by the Government and given to the peoples of South Africa.

The name Kirstenbosch appears on maps first drawn up in the 18th century as many Kirstens lived there.

Nowhere on the continent of Africa do you find the Cape Flora--or anywhere else in the world. This is what makes Kirstenbosch so unique in the diversity of plants. I noted on the brochures there are over 9,000 species of Flora and 70 percent are endemic.

About 40 hectares are devoted to "The Garden" which is a sort of organic in shape as it has evolved over time and no "design" was developed as a landscape plan.

Kirstenbosch has a rich diversity of indigenous plants and well worth visiting but only after you have been atop Table Mountain. If you require any information on Proteas, Erica, or Cape Flora, or more about South Africa, the Cape or whatever, please drop me a line here. I'd love to chat about it as it really is a lovely place.

South Africa - A follow up from yesterday's blog; The Magic of Cape Town

If you visit South Africa, Cape Town should be number one on your list. In the surrounding areas you will see the beautiful Cape Dutch architecture which is characterized by shapely gables in brilliant white with thatched roofs and elegant shuttered windows. Cape Town is one of South Africa's most civilized cities which lies against a backdrop of Table Mountain. From the top of the mountain you get a view of the sweeping Table Bay area. At the top you will probably spend more time gazing at the magnificent views. I probably took about 500 shots of CT and you will see some of these below.

The city of CT lies at the northern end of Cape Peninsula which is about a 50 mile range of mountains that drops down to the sea. The lower parts of the city is known as City Bowl. In the heart of the city you can visit the famous Parliament along Government Avenue, a pedestrian mall and many museums. You can't really get lost using Table Mountain as a guide.

The top pic is a view of Cape Town city from the top of Table Mountain. The second pic is where the two oceans meet (Indian Ocean and Atlantic). Way in the distance about 2,000 miles south you might be able to spot Antarctica.

The third pic is a view across the mountain range looking west. The last pic is a climber about to drop down the mountain.

More pics to follow of beautiful Cape Town.

Beautiful South Africa, a Place Kids Would Love

Recently we were on a six week sojourn in South Africa and we can say it was a truly remarkable trip. The primary objective was to visit our three grandchildren who were also on vacation in Waterfall, Hillcrest, a small village about half an hour drive inland from Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal. The village is nestled among the Midland Hills, is very green and enjoys a temperate climate--not like the humidity of Durban.

In this region there are stud farms, dairy farms and chicken farms as the pastures are a lush green and not unlike the hills you find in Ireland. Nearby Hillcrest you'll be enchanted by the Valley of the Thousand Hills and thus named because of the countless steep hills--a place well worth visiting. This is not only home to the Zulus but also many craftsmen and artists who now live there as it is becoming a great tourist attraction.

A few miles rising up inland towards Pietermarizburg, you will discover a delightful place called Botha's Hill and this is where the Zulu's perform their traditional dances. See pictures here of these wonderful dancers we captured.

Zulu Dancers, Natal

Zulu Chief Dancing

Behind these dancers notice the Valley of the Thousand Hills; this is approximately 20 odd miles from Durban. These hills are alive with traditional Zulu homesteads, this area is called Botha's Hill where you get spectacular views of these hills. Nearby are artists studios, craft shops, restaurants, coffee shop, quaint pubs and B&B's. The grandkids love to watch the Zulus dancing.

We then toured on to Northern Kwa-Zulu Natal, to a safari park about three hours drive north of Durban following the coast line to a safari park called Bayete Zulu. This is situated almost on the Swaziland border. It is "small" by the average safari lodge in the area at approximately 22,000 ha. This is what the kids really loved because of the abundance of wild animals. Lots of pictures below of these lovely creatures even though we only saw the big four, the big cats are missing in this specific area.

Rambo at Bayete Zulu Safari

On their way home

A unique feature of these giants are the tusks, Rambo, this one on the left was very tame and lifted tourists up with his trunk. He did not complain about the overweight tourists.

A ride on the tusk and a dentist

He thinks we're being nosy

Bayete Lodge is privately owned and consider the reserve to the most densely stocked and ecologically balanced in northern Natal. The reserve consists of a varied landscape of mountains, open plains and dense woodlands. The diversity of flora and high carrying capacity make this an animal paradise. We enjoyed at stay here so much we will be back again next year.

KIds Beds of Yesteryear and Today

Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands. Anne Frank.


In those early years of childhood, we were as poor as a church mouse shortly after WW2 and scrounged not only for food but anything that would make our lives more comfortable.  We were a large family of seven, always hungry, nearly always naughty, we used to scream and fight, bicker and yell; it seemed we all belonged in Bedlam.


The winter months as I recall were bitterly cold and the little heating we had came from a kerosene burner and that used to stink the place out. We had no money for coal or coke and the only fuel was wood from the nearby woods, the fire was lit about once a week and twice if we were lucky. A fire meant we could also have a hot bath—what a luxury.


We spent a lot of time wrapped in blankets during mid winter supplied by the government. The beds and mattresses were also army handouts. These were no special save-your-back beds but those made from reinforced steel—or so it seemed. The springs used to stick through in several places and often one of us would wake up in the night and scream as the spring found its way into flesh. Worse, my siblings had to sleep two in a single bed for warmth and any movement would create a loud squeaks and wake us up.


You could never get a good night’s sleep because the comfort level was about zero. I used to think there were bugs harvesting in the mattress as most of us got those tiny red weal marks on our bodies. As kids we were pretty disciplined but not one of us used to like making the beds so a yelling match broke out as to whose turn it was.


Moving on to present time, I see these modern beds for kids, one in particular is called the Trundle. This comes with draws, pull-out tables, small shelves for books, a flat screen TV, a sound system and a host of other goodies that kids love. These beds cost around three grand. I’d even make the bed if I had one of those!