Friday, November 24, 2017

AudioBooks for Kids

See link below 
We have spent a lot of time in the car in the past several months and it has been remarkably peaceful. I would like to say that it's because my kids are remarkably well-behaved, but that wouldn't be true. We have a list of great ideas for roadtrips but lately audiobooks are what my girls (4 and 7 at the moment) are really excited about. We have shecked many out of the library and some are so good that we have purchased the cd/audible book (*).

Books My 4 Year Old Loves:
Winnie the Pooh  and House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne (read by Judi Dench, Stephen Fry, Jane Horrocks, Geoffery Palmer and several other British actors) *

Curious George by H. A. Rey and Margaret Rey *

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans (the old Penguin audio cassettes, transfered to CD/mp3 are great)

Pete the Cat by James Dean (we purchased several through Scholastic books) *

The Best of Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor *

Mercy Watson and the Tales from Deckawoo Drive by Kate DiCamillo

Books My 7 Year Old has loved:

The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum (read by Anne Hathaway) *

Little House on the Prairie series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder (read by Cherry Jones)

Mr Popper's Penguins, by Richard Atwater

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers

Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Matilda, by Roald Dahl (read by Kate Winslet)

Boxcar Children series, by Gertrude Chandler Warner *

Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne (We love this series, but wish a narrator was reading the stories instead of the author)

Need more suggestions?
https://modernmrsdarcy.com/40-favorite-audiobooks-kids/
https://modernmrsdarcy.com/great-audiobooks-kid

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

2017 Quest Update

This summer's quest was kid friendly nature walks and hikes....and life was pretty crazy this summer. My husband had a cycling accident in late June that changed the course of summer significantly. We are so thankful that he is alive and (mostly) well. So we had a much quieter and less structured summer with fewer trips and events. Thanks to many meals and childcare from friends we made it through amazingly well. I couldn't ask for a better village! For those of you that know me, I had written a bunch of posts all ready to go and they were scheduled to post already (lest you think I am WAY more capable than I am). I have only written 5(ish) posts since the accident.

We completed most of the easy nature walks and have posted them.  For many of the more challenging trails, I will do with friends and post as I can.

Nature Walks:
Botanic Gardens
Douglas Preserve
Elings Park -- Veteran's Trail
Ellwood Butterfly Preserve/Bluffs
Knapp's Castle
Lake Los Carneros
Moore Mesa
Rocky Nook Park
Tucker's Grove Trails
Carpinteria Salt Marsh Preserve
Carpinteria Bluff Nature Preserve


Short Hikes:
Arroyo Hondo Preserve *
Elings Park -- Sierra Club Trail *
Nojoqui Falls
San Antonio Creek Trail (Tucker's Grove, Kiwanas Meadow) *
San Marcos Preserve *
Stevens Park *
* Can be a short or longer hike

To Be Continued:
Cheltham/Westmont Trail
Wind Tunnels at Gaviota State Park
Lizards Mouth
Parma Park
Seven Sisters
Skofield Park
Tunnel Trail

Related Posts: Summer of the Parks 2015Summer of the Beaches 2016, Summer of the Hikes 2017