Thumbs Up for Great Country Farms in Bluemont, VA

The kids and I attended Country Farms on Saturday for their Strawberry Jubilee Festival. I was pleasantly surprised! The kids had a fabulous time and I enjoyed the trip very much.
The farm is in the heart of the country. It was a beautiful scenic route to arrive. When we got there, we had to take a hayride (sans the hay) to the strawberry patch to pick them. The kids had a fabulous time doing that. Then, when we came back down, there was so much fun still to be had. The farm boasts a fabulous cow train that takes you around the entire farm. Riding it, we got to see all the other fun activities that were in store for our day.

There was a giant bouncing pumpkin, a children's play area, another play area with giant wooden monster trucks and smaller trucks for kids to ride around, there was a 60 foot slide, a giant cobweb, a maze, a rope swing, animals to pet, an ABC garden, live music, fishing, face painting... not to mention all the activities they had planned for the festival and so much more! There was so much to do that we didn't get it all done!

We will definitely make a return visit to this farm! I hope you will check it out too! Pictures for this event are posted under our Community page on the main site. Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Build and Grow Clinics at Lowes

I know how much my kids love to build! They use anything they can get their hands on to "make" things.

Lowes offers these great Build and Grow clinics FREE for kids on Saturday mornings. Kids get to build a different wooden craft at each clinic. They also receive a free apron and project patch with each clinic.
The clinic is open to the first 50 kids grades 2-5 who sign up and arrive at the store by 10am.

The project for this weekend (5/29) is a wooden race car
June 12: Picture Frame (wooden)
June 26: Monster Truck (wooden)

Keep checking back as they add the clinics slowly - not all at once.

To register your child, go to http://lowesbuildandgrow.com/

If the clinic at your local store is full, you will no longer be able to register.
Good luck and enjoy this fabulous event!

Pick Your Own Fruits and Vegetables

It's time again for picking your own fruits and vegetables with your kids.

If you're not able to grow your own garden or don't belong to a co-op, picking at local farms is the next best thing as it supports your local economy and it's close to home.

There is a great website called PickYourOwn.org that has updated listings of places to go picking in the surrounding area. On that page is this chart about what items are in season.

Typical Crop Availability - When to Pick in Virginia

Fruit/Veg

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

apples

asian pears

asparagus

beans

blackberries

blueberries

broccoli

cabbage

cantaloupes

cucumbers

eggplant

greens

herbs

nectarines

peaches

peas

peppers

potatoes

raspberries

pumpkins

squash

strawberries

sweet corn

sweet potatoes

tomatoes

watermelons

Refer to the website often as it's a wonderful resource and check out the Strawberry Festivals coming up for Memorial Day weekend now posted on the calendar.

The Virginia Renaissance Faire 2010 is here!

If you have ever attended the Maryland Renaissance Fair, you know how crowded and commercial the Renaissance Fair can be. The beauty of the Virginia Renaissance Fair is that it is not as commercialized. When you attend the fair, whether you dress up or simply go in a t-shirt and jeans, you are sure to feel the magic of the time period.

This year, the Virginia Renaissance Fair is being held at Lake Anna Winery in Spotsylviania, VA. Best of all, the cost is so low it's practically free!! For those of us who've trekked to Crownsville, you will agree that $8/person is a fabulous deal!!

I hope you will make an effort to attend the fair. It is worth the drive to learn a little bit of history and to enjoy the fresh air! For more information, please check out their website or check our calendar. Don't forget to send us pictures!!

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

Check out this great find brought to my attention by a fabulous reader!!

'To commemorate the first birthday of Sesame Street Forest of Fun, Busch Gardens is offering kids ages 5 and younger a Free Sesame Street Forest of Fun Preschool Pass, valid for unlimited admission through Sept. 6, 2010. Begin the registration process HERE."

Once you've registered your child for free, you can print your e-tickets. In order to redeem your passes, you must present a certified copy of the child's birth certificate or a passport and your e-ticket.

I signed-up and the process is fairly painless. Besides, you can't go wrong with Sesame Street, right?

FREE Worldgate Centre Safety Shred

I know this is not a kid's event, BUT, it's a very important event nevertheless.

On May 15th, Worldgate Centre is having a FREE Safety Shred event where you can bring up to six standard boxes per person to have shredded, did I mention for free?

I don't know about you, but I know I have six boxes in my basement of old bills that need to be shredded. You can download the flyer here. The event runs from 10am - 1pm.

Please be sure to support the local businesses when you go for your shredding. A map of the Centre is here.

Mother's Day Contest for a Spa Weekend Getaway ends May 9th!

In honor of Mother’s Day, Care.com, the premier source of trustworthy care options for families, launched the Happy Family Moments video and photo contest on Facebook. The contest, designed to celebrate those special family moments that you were lucky enough to capture, will reward one grand-prize winner with the ultimate Mother’s Day gift: a spa weekend getaway for two including roundtrip airfare, a two-night hotel stay and spa treatments – a $2,000 value! For a chance to win, simply click the contest tab on the Care.com Facebook page and submit a photo or video of your happiest family moment.

Other prizes include a $500 spa gift certificate or a one-year subscription to Care.com – perfect for finding babysitters so mom can take the night off. The final day for contest submissions is Mother’s Day, May 9, 2010. Contest voting will begin on May 10, 2010.

Care.com also provides:
• Articles and resources for child care, special needs care, tutoring, senior care, pet care and housekeeping
• Essential guides that provide all the basics you need to know to find the right care
• A babysitter pay calculator that suggests a base pay rate for child care based on your Zip Code
• Online networks that help families connect to people in their area

Breaking the Rules

Have you checked out our latest Calendar of Events?

The more I play with it, the more I LOVE it!! It just has so many amazing features... and I'm sure there are more too.

Well, if you checked the calendar for today, you can see that I have broken my own rule by posting Herndon's Public Works Truck Days. But you can see why I couldn't resist. I took my kids to this event last year which may have had a showing on Saturday and they cried when we left; seriously. So, how do I allow you to deprive your kids of such an amazing event? I couldn't.

So, I have posted a "weekday" event, but a great one!

When you attend, please take non-perishable items for your entrance fee and also take lot of pictures!!

Come join us at our community page and post your pictures!

Have a fabulous week and be sure to check back as I populate our amazing new calendar!