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Backyard Campout
The economy may be keeping people closer to home this summer. Instead of packing up and hitting the road, here's an idea for family fun that's no further than your back door. The National Wildlife Federation encourages parents and kids alike to trade a website for a campsite and screen time for green time!
Join families, friends, and neighbors on Saturday June 27, 2009 for an overnight that will create memories. Last year thousands of families from around the country participated in the Backyard Campout. You don't need to go to Yosemite to experience the great outdoors and the wonders it has to offer. Just open up your back door.
The National Wildlife Federation is providing everything you need to know to make your experience a positive one. Check out backyardcampout.org for lots of great ideas to get your adventure started.
Another great resource to get your family excited about spending time outdoors is Be Outside Idaho, www.beoutsideidaho.org. The website is full of ideas to help you get your children connected with nature, from backyards to mountaintops.
Road Trip with Your Pet
Whether your summer vacation plans call for trekking across the country or just driving to the other side of the state, there are a lot of details to work out before you hit the road. One thing you don't have to stress about, thanks to a great website called petswelcome.com, is what to do with Fido and Fluffy. Simple answer: take them along with you.
Petswelcome.com is a one-stop shopping website that will tell you everything you'll ever need to know about traveling with your pet. You'll find travel tips, advice on dealing with emergencies, and a chat room where people can discuss various topics related to traveling with pets. But the feature that makes this website shine is the lodging listing.
The website provides a huge database of hotels, bed & breakfasts, campgrounds, cabins, and vacation rentals around the world that throw out the welcome mat for Rover. Plug in your start point and your end point on the Search by Route page, and presto! You've got a map with every lodging facility that allows pets between here and there. Below the map is a listing of each hotel, its address and contact information, its pet policy. All you have to do is call the hotel, make a reservation, and start packing.
Passport to Canyon County Fun!
Treasure Valley families have a great opportunity for summer adventure! Sixteen Canyon County organizations have come together to create the "Passport to Adventure: Explore Canyon County", a summer program to connect families with local opportunities for adventure and learning. The "Passport to Adventure" is an invitation to explore local culture and history, get physically active, and participate in library reading programs. To complete the adventure, participants must get two stamps in each of those three categories.
The program began May 30 and ends August 8. To participate in the free adventure, children 18 and under may pick up a passport at any participating organization, get their six passport stamps, and return the completed passport to any participating location before August 9. All completed passports will be entered into a drawing for great prizes from local businesses.
Program details, a prize list, and contact information for all participating organizations are on the website, passportadventure.blogspot.com. You may also contact the Nampa Public Library at 468-5817.
European Musical Tour
European Playground is the newest release in Putumayo Kids' acclaimed Playground series of CDs. This collection of 15 songs will take your family on a fun-filled cross-genre musical tour around the continent. The song themes speak to children's interests and spark their imaginations. The multilingual songs are easy to sing and dance along to, no matter what language you speak.
A portion of Putumayo's proceeds from the sale of this CD will be donated to the European Federation for Street Children, a Brussels-based nonprofit committed to the improvement of the rights and situations of street children in Europe and beyond.
Back Seat Fun!
Grab this 120-page mega-pad from Klutz before you hit the road this summer. Filled with clever puzzles, brainteasers, mazes, doodle pages, word games, giggles, and goofiness to help make travel time, or anytime, go by a little bit faster. Bound as a flip-pad, TRIPtivities® comes with an official Klutz pencil that lives in its own little holster and sheets of stickers to give young travelers one more cool way to make their mark on the pages. Provides hours of entertainment, for ages 8 and up, in a neat, efficient, take-it-anywhere package.
FAMILY Magazine Winners!
Congratulations to our recent Family Magazine winners!
Our 10th annual Summer Camp & Activities Fair in April was a big success, with over 50 exhibitors and more than 1000 in attendance! Congratulations to Sam Anderson, whose Scavenger Hunt form was randomly selected from over 200 completed entries. He will receive the raffle basket featured at the Fair.
Also, congratulations to Theresa Denhardt for being randomly selected from all those who entered to receive the Treasure Valley Family Magazine weekly Weekend e-Newsletter. Theresa will receive a "Mom's Basket" filled with goodies.
Readers can sign up for the free Weekend e-Newsletter at treasurevalleyfamily.com. The e-Newsletter comes directly to your computer on a weekly basis, filled with information for you to plan a great weekend with your family!
Got Teens?! Another great Family Magazine resource is our new Treasure Valley Teen website. Visit www.treasurevalleyteen.com to sign up for a free monthly Teen News Update that will let you know when the information-packed site has been updated with new articles, news, and opportunities.
Mobile Recreation Summer of Fun
Boise Parks & Recreation's Mobile Recreation Unit will be visiting a school or park in your neighborhood this summer. Kids can drop in for five minutes or two hours - engaging in sports, art, fitness, nutrition, and performing arts activities. All of these great free activities are open to kids in grades 1-6.
Programs begin Monday, June 8 and continue through Thursday, August 20.
Mondays: Philippi Park, noon-2pm
Tuesdays: Manitou Park, noon-2pm
Wednesdays: Veteran's Memorial Park, noon-2pm
Redwood Park, 3-5pm
Thursdays: Owyhee Park, noon-2pm
Liberty Park, 3-5pm
The Mobile Recreation Van is a service of Boise Parks & Recreation with support from the University of Idaho Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, Sunrise Rotary Club, and the Boise Southwest Rotary Club. The Freedom Resource Center is providing a free snack daily for each child. For more information visit www.cityofboise.org/parks, or call 854-4917.
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