Petrified Forest National Park- Frugal Family Day

This past Sunday we went on a family trip to Petrified Forest National Park, and it's a trip that I would HIGHLY recommend to others. Not only was the trip gorgeous, but it was also educational, inexpensive and a ton of fun for everyone in the family!

Petrified Forest National Park includes the petrified forest, the painted desert, petroglyphs, Sinauga ruins, and the only section of old Route 66 protected in a national park. There's a lot to see, but if you're not headed into one of the park's two wilderness areas, it's very doable as a one day adventure. You might not think it would be the case, but the park is a perfect trip for preschoolers! (Mine had such a great time that the next day they were asking when we could go back.) Almost all of the trails in the park are under 1 mile in length, and paved. Most are also stroller friendly! The road through the park is a 28 mile adventure, featuring amazing views and numerous pullouts with informational plaques as well as the walking trails. We would definitely recommend doing all the different trails along the way, and did all but 2 of the park's trails on our one day adventure with 3 children under 5 (including an infant.)

Now that you know what you'll be able to see, let's talk about what you can do. Kids can participate in the Junior Ranger program. These vary form park to park, and in this case the booklet includes a section with activities perfect for preschoolers featuring learning basics such as shape recognition. The booklet encourages them to explore the things in the park, and teaches a lot to us older folks as well. There are ranger guided walks at various spots in the park throughout the day for those who would like to go a little more in depth, though I wouldn't recommend these for those with younger children.

You're thinking this might be a fun day trip, but you're still wondering about the cost... Well have no fear! Aside from the cost of the bag lunch you bring, and the gas for your drive through the park- you can do this trip for about $16- and that INCLUDES souvenirs for the whole family! How? Park entry is $10. That $10 includes your entry into the park for an entire week, and a park map with lots of information. Stop by the visitor's center for a FREE copy of the park newspaper, and also to get your kids the booklet for the FREE Jr. Ranger Program. When your children complete the program they will each receive a Jr Ranger patch, AND pin. For more information pick up the pamphlet for the self-guided Big Logs trail. You can use these for FREE, or pay a nominal 50 cents to take them with you (which I personally would recommend). Now what about those souvenirs? Stop by the Rainbow Forest gift shop and take a look around. A lot of nice things might catch your eye, but if you look up on the shelves next to the register, you can get a bargain box full of actual petrified wood pieces for just $5. There are plenty of pieces in there to go around, believe me! Other great bargain souvenirs in the park shop include post cards for 25 cents, and a small poster map of the park to color, or image of the petroglphs on petrified rock, for $2 each.

(Jr Rangers!)

Getting Caught Up (Again)

I keep getting so far behind on this! Let's give it another go!

Updates on where we are now:

Currently Catie is learning to crawl, starting to self-feed baby crackers and such, and is just exploring the world around her. (Though her big brother insists they watch Your Baby Can Read together at least once a week, we don't plan on any real schooling with her for a long time- but every thing we do is a learning experience, and we love seeing her just take it all in.) Favorite books right now are her picture book made for her by her brother and sister as a gift when she was born- she loves to look at their pictures and drawings, and anything that looks good to chew on.

Currently Adam has started doing some workbooks and LOVES it. He can read some sight words, can count 1-10 no problem, and can get to 20, he knows all of his letters, and is working on letter sounds, he absolutely LOVES to spell, knows his colors, shapes, bigger and smaller etc. Favorite books right now are: Cars- The Spooky Noise, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and pre-1 level readers.

Currently Reagan has started pre-K at the school that she will be attending elementary school. They would like to move her ahead, but state law prohibits it because of her age. She doesn't mind, and is very happy getting to play with other kids her age and do crafts and music and such. Along with those she loves learning new words in sign language and Spanish at school. We continue to do schooling at home, where she is working on a 2nd grade level now. She has recently learned to alphabetize and is working on adding larger numbers and beginning multiplication. She LOVES to read, and recently made the jump to completely silent reading. Favorite books right now are The Magic Treehouse, The Magic School Bus, Berenstain Bears, anything with lots of fun facts! Reagan is quite interested in volcanoes, a fascination which influences her reading of course. She's been concerned since we live near a dead volcano, and she has read a lot about Pompeii and that the people who lived there had thought that Mt Vesuvius was dead before it erupted. She was also concerned about if it would be safe to visit Sunset Crater (a future trip), and whether there would be ash that we should worry about. She loves doing science experiments at home- we have made our own bouncy balls, and are about to do a recycled paper lab. Also in planing are a hovercraft lab, and a tornado lab. We've been keeping up with her school work by doing a couple worksheets a day when she isn't in pre-school, and by doing lots of hands on!

Right now we are reading Bunnicula together for bedtime and the kids are quite enjoying it, especially with Halloween coming up, and since they've expressed an interest in having a bunny since we saw them at the county fair (Adam has also asked for a miniature cow ???) We participated in the fair this year as well. It was a great experience for the kids, and they're very proud of the ribbons that they earned for their work. They were also super proud of the ribbons that were earned by mommy and Oma- especially for quilts they have on their beds, and clothing that was made for them. This was Reagan's second year entering things, and the first year that Adam was old enough. They also participated in the Farmer for a Day program at the fair where they learned about where our food comes from. Reagan's already planning things to work on to enter for next year's fair! lol