Address: 2000 Schumate Drive –  (click here for a map)

Hours: Dawn to Dusk

Equipment: Plastic & Metal.

• 1 medium slide
• 4 Small slides
• Monkey Bars
• 1 Ride-On Bouncers (fits 4 kids)
• Baby Swings
• Big Swings
• Stairs & Platforms
• Climbing Wall
• Tunnels
• Swaying Bridge
• 3 Activity Panels

Setting: Neighborhood Park

Shade: Full

Surface: Pea Gravel

Seating: Picinic Tables, Benches

Restrooms/Water: Maybe when pool is open?

Other Features: Covered gazebo, basketball goal (in parking lot), swimming pool

Comments: Marlowe Manor Park is a nice, tame park for smaller kiddos – aside from the monkey bars, there’s nothing really tall to fall off of. The Park is right next to the pool, so that could be a distraction in the summer if you don’t want to swim.  On the upside, there’s usually ample parking, and the dense shade makes it a great place for a picnic before/after the kiddos play. The pool sells memberships, but they’ve also allowed my kids and I to come in and pay a “day rate” to swim.  I’d recommend calling ahead if you want to do that just to make sure policies haven’t changed.

Monday, May 14 – Running of the Tubs in Hot Springs
This open bathtub race highlights the city’s colorful history on World-famous Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs National Park.

Wednesday, May 16 – Little Beginnings Toddler Program @ Old Statehouse Museum, 10:30am-11:30am
The Little Beginnings Toddler Program is for children ages 2 through 4 with parent. Each month the class will highlight a different topic and promote learning through hands-on activities, music making, movement and storytelling.

Friday-Sunday, May 18-20 – International Greek Food Festival @ Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Little Rock
This is the largest ethnic festival in Arkansas! Food, entertainment, and fun!

Saturday, May 19th – Discovery Fest @ Museum of Discovery, 7am-10:30am
Free activities happening outside the museum include science demonstrations, games, crafts and more! Admission fees apply to enter the museum or to participate in the Dino Dash fun run.

Saturday, May 19 – Archery on the Lawn at Witt Stephens Jr. Nature Center, 12pm-2pm
Ages 10 and up can test their archery skills by shooting compound bows at square targets. No experience necessary for this drop-in activity.

Saturday, May 19 – Star Party @ Pinnacle Mountain State Park, 9pm-11pm
The Central Arkansas Astronomical Society will provide telescopes for viewing objects in the night sky. If cloudy skies prevent observation, and indoor program will be presented at 9pm. Contact 501-868-5806 for more information.

Saturday, May 19 – Arkansas Heritage Day @ Petit Jean State Park
May is Arkansas Heritage Month.  Spend the day celebrating at Arkansas’s first state park.

Go Here for events for Kids and Families at Central Arkansas Libraries.

Go Here for events for Kids and Families at William F. Laman Public Library System.

Next Week:

Friday, May 25 – Community Concert @ Simon Park, Downtown Conway, 7:30pm
The Conway Community Band kicks off this monthly concert series.

Friday-Monday, May 25-28 – Memorial Day Palooza @ Lake Catherine State Park
Guided hikes, nature programs, swimming, games, crafts and a sandcastle competition, plus the Nature Cabin’s grand opening for the season. Contact 501.844.4176 for more information.

Saturday & Sunday, May 26-27, Free Family Zone @ Riverfest, Sat 11am-7pm. Sunday 1-7pm
Located on the grounds of the Clinton Presidential Park and Heifer International, this area includes the International Village with “Festivals of the World,” highlighting Brazil, Germany, the United States, Japan, Spain and Mexico; the Yarnell’s Family Stage; the Super Receiver Series Crown Championships; and many exciting attractions that can be enjoyed by festival-goers free of charge!

If you have a free event that you’d like to share, please let me know!

My Grandmother, Great, as the kids call her, gave my son this pillow a year or so ago.  It makes me laugh inside every time I look at it, because it’s so appropriate, and because it came from Great. Great loves to shop at flea markets and yard sales.  A child of the Great Depression, she loves a bargain and she loves to collect treasures almost as much as she loves to share them.  I’m sure she didn’t buy this pillow new, but she chose it from her collection of goodies to share with my three year old Callen. Even though Great parented a different set of kids in a different time period, she saw the humor in this little pillow and identified with it enough to buy it.

My Grandmother is the matriarch of my mother’s huge family.  She keeps track of us, a running count of how many children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and even a bevy of great great grandchildren.  I believe we number somewhere in the 80s. Whether you’re born in or marry in, you’re counted. Callen is number 67, I’m pretty sure, and there is not another kid in the whole family that this pillow would be more perfect for.  But, I’m sure that if I brought it to the next family reunion and passed it around, all the moms would have a reason to want to keep it.  That’s the fantastic thing about motherhood. There’s so much that we all have in common.  The “Sisterhood of Motherhood” transcends generations, socio-economics, geography, race, creed, religion, and any other boundary that normally keeps folks separated from one another.

This week’s issue of TIME is getting a lot of buzz.  Essentially, it’s a catalyst for creating a divide between mothers: the dos from the do nots; the I don’t give a damns from the I am passionate about thises; the conservatives from the liberals.  Some Mother’s Day gift.  I’m not impressed. At a time when we should be focusing on all the great things that unite us as mothers, it’s sad to see a media outlet trying to drum up attention by stirring the pot.  I’m not a TIME reader.  Now I never will be, either. (If you haven’t seen the issue of TIME I’m talking about, you’ll have to find it yourself.  I’m not going to link to it because of what it is.)

My wish for you on this Mother’s Day is that you take the opportunity to reach out to a fellow mother that might not share the same views or practices as you do.  Have the courage to try and open your mind and see things through her eyes. Let her know that you are glad that she’s a mother and that you appreciate getting to experience her perspective.  As mothers, we can all learn from one another in some way.  Offer up the treasures from your collection, and you’ll get so much more in return.

A special Happy Mother’s Day wish goes out to Family members #1 (Great), #7 (My Mommo), and #27(ish) (My sis).

So, on a search for a project that Carina’s Kindergarten class could do for teacher appreciation week, I found this blog post with these adorable paper strawberries. Mrs. Jones’ strawberries are all fancy and perfect, but I found that with a few adaptations, kids can do it too.

So, here’s what you’ll need:

• The template, FREE from Oriental Trading Co.
• White paper
• Scissors
• Hole Punch
• Crayons, markers, stickers, or whatever else you want to decorate your strawberries with
• Curling ribbon
• String tags (optional)
• Double sided tape, or a glue stick
• Goodies to fill your strawberries with.  We used a variety of candies and cute stuff from the dollar bins at Michaels.

Process:

1. I printed the template out on regular white paper and pre-cut and hole punched where needed.
2. The kids “designed” the strawberry by decorating the side without the dotted lines.
3. I helped them fold it (the five and six year olds could do this on their own) and secure it with a glue stick. See instructions in the template PDF.
4. Each child picked what they wanted to fill their strawberry with from the goodie pile.
5. We used curling ribbon to close up the strawberry and attach the leaf “lid”. I had to help almost everyone with this.
6. Each child wrote his/her name on a string tag with a little message, like “Thank you BERRY much!” and slid it onto the ribbon before we tied the bow on top.

For Carina’s class, we had a total of 15 strawberries, so I found this basket in the closet and the cloth liner in a box full of “antique” linens I have. You can usually find tons of these old linens at flea markets, or you could just use a piece of pretty cloth.

It took the class of 15 kindergartners and two adults about 45 minutes to complete this project.  The finished product has lots of personality and was a fun surprise for their teacher!

On a smaller scale, my four year old made four strawberries at home for his teachers at preschool (one for each teacher).  We paced ourselves and made one or two per day.  We got $5 Sonic gift cards to go with them. He was very proud of his work.

I think this project is not only great for teacher appreciation, but for end of the year gifts, party favors, or even for a grandma on mother’s day from all the grandchildren.

Address: Corner of Greenwood and Audobon (click here for a map)

Hours: Dawn to Dusk

Equipment: Plastic & Metal.

• 1 Large Slide
• 2 Small slides
• Monkey Bars
• 4 climbing ladders
• Zip Line
• Baby Swings
• Big Kid Swings
• Tunnel
• Steps and platforms

Setting: Neighborhood Park

Shade: None

Surface: Gravel and solid rubber

Seating: Benches and picnic tables

Restrooms/Water: none

Other Features: koi pond, basketball court

Comments: This is a great little park for kids of all ages, as there are two different sized playsets, plus plenty of grass from crawlers. No pets are allowed, and there is no parking. I usually park on the street just north of the park on Sunset Drive.

As I was looking through the contest information, I opened BRICA’s brand book.  It’s a simple, uber cute, little pdf.  On the last page of the book there’s a phrase that really struck me:

“…together should make life better than the moment before…”

I got off to a rocky start in the relationship department, sinking nearly 10 years into a boyfriend/husband that was never really invested in me. We were together for a long time, so when we divorced, I looked at that time as wasted. However, when Craig, my meant-to-be husband, came along and we spent more and more time together, I realized how much I had learned from my first marriage. My perceptions changed, and I was truly able to appreciate how much better my life is because Craig and I are together.

We enjoyed our time together as a couple, and when our daughter was born in 2006, she made us better. She made us a family, uniting us more than words or rings can do, without even trying.  And when our son was born in 2008, something that we thought could never get any better than it already was did. His arrival made me feel our family was Whole. Complete. Together.

There have been some bumps, cracks, and hard life lessons along our timeline. Raising two babies 18 months apart is a true challenge.  Moving, changing jobs, shouldering an unexpected second mortgage, managing extended travel for work, dealing with health issues – none of these are easy.  But, because our family has been through these things together, we know we can go through anything and be better than we were before.

Our immediate future is unknown. We are trying to sell our home to get out from under at least one of our two mortgages and put an end to Craig living three hours away from us every week for work. We’ve weighed the implications of moving the kids, losing friends, and all the other challenges that come with relocating. It’s a difficult spot to be in, but my husband and I can rely on each other, knowing that we are strong enough together to do what needs to be done to make things better for our family.

A couple weeks ago we loaded some of our belongings into a trailer to take to storage in an effort to “stage” our home for buyers. As I huffed and puffed back and forth across the front yard, I watched our two children playing with one another, using the furniture blankets as pretend horses, a picnic blanket, bridges over treacherous waters, and more. Craig and I laughed at the various scenarios that were being played out, listened secretively from inside the trailer as our son sang a made-up song in his sweet little treble voice, and then watched as our daughter cuddled her brother, who was laid out on a carefully folded blanket. “What are you doing?” I asked her.

“I’m taking care of him.  He’s sick.” she said.

“And who are you?” I asked, expecting her to say she was a nurse.

“We’re brother and sister!” They announced simultaneously.

I turned to Craig and grinned.  “This is why it does not matter where we live. As long as we’re together.”

The most important lesson I’ve learned about “making together better” is that it’s not just the adults who hold the power.  I’m a Type A control freak, but I am not at the helm of my family’s life ship.  Rather, each of my family members share in the charge of making one another better as we sail through this life.  We learn from one another, we laugh together, and we hold each other up when the ship starts to toss and pitch in stormy weather. Our little ones tow the rope just as much as Craig and I do. Each moment of our lives may not be super-duper, but in the long run, our family knows that together IS better because we can make anything better together.

I want to thank BRICA for choosing a fantastic motto for their company.  I started out researching the company to see if I wanted to write a contest post, but I ended up being inspired to write about things that have been knocking around in my head for a while now.  If you want to learn more about BRICA and their rockin’ company motto, you can find them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Saturday, May 12 – International Migratory Bird Day @ Pinnacle Mountain State Park, 8am-4pm
Head out to Pinnacle for a variety of bird-themed activities including birding trail hikes, a backyard birding workshop, and a talk on hummingbirds.

Saturday, May 12 – Stroller Strides Mother’s Day Class @ Allsopp Park, 9am-10am
Get a workout while your tot rides along in your stroller. Goody bags will go to the first 10 moms, plus participants will be entered to win prize drawings during class. Bring water, a mat or towel for ground work, and wear your workout gear. Dads are welcome too.

Saturday, May 12 – Territorial Fair @ Historic Arkansas Museum, 10am-4pm
This fun festival features frontier demonstrations that illustrate early life in the Natural State. At the museum’s 1850s Log House Farmstead, visitors will see how pioneers cooked in a Dutch oven, the intricate women’s work of quilting, and the blacksmithing traditions. Take part in traditional dances, and children can play with popular toys and games from the time period, which includes stilts, hoop-rolling and table games.

Saturday, May 12 – Teen Driving Safety Class @ CALS’ Maumelle Branch, 12:00pm
The class is designed for parents and teens ages 13-18 years to attend together. Topics include driving risks for teens, Arkansas laws that help keep teen drivers safe, and why it’s important to set a good driving example. At the end of the class, parents and teens will be able to work together to set up a driving contract for their home. Registration is required. Call (501) 851-2551 or e-mail scarnahan@cals.org.

Saturday, May 12 – Lil’ Wild Ones @ Witt Stephens Jr. Nature Center, 2:00pm
This class for kids ages 4-8 is held on the second Saturday of each month through the school year. Kids will explore the wildlife and habitats in Arkansas through hands-on activities.

Go Here for events for Kids and Families at Central Arkansas Libraries.

Go Here for events for Kids and Families at William F. Laman Public Library System.

Next Week:

Monday, May 14 – Running of the Tubs in Hot Springs
This open bathtub race highlights the city’s colorful history on World-famous Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs National Park.

Friday-Sunday, May 18-20 – International Greek Food Festival @ Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Little Rock
This is the largest ethnic festival in Arkansas! Food, entertainment, and fun!

Saturday, May 19 – Archery on the Lawn at Witt Stephens Jr. Nature Center, 12pm-2pm
Ages 10 and up can test their archery skills by shooting compound bows at square targets. No experience necessary for this drop-in activity.

Saturday, May 19 – Star Party @ Pinnacle Mountain State Park, 9pm-11pm
The Central Arkansas Astronomical Society will provide telescopes for viewing objects in the night sky. If cloudy skies prevent observation, and indoor program will be presented at 9pm. Contact 501-868-5806 for more information.

Saturday, May 19 – Arkansas Heritage Day @ Petit Jean State Park
May is Arkansas Heritage Month.  Spend the day celebrating at Arkansas’s first state park.

If you have a free event that you’d like to share, please let me know!

Picking Blackberries in Nashville, Arkansas

I was going to put together a list of Farmers’ Markets in Central Arkansas, but then I found that Julie over at Real Food in Little Rock already had a great list of Farmers’ Markets in Little Rock.  Go Here to check it out.

If you’re not in Little Rock, check out Local Harvest’s Website to find a Farmers’ Market near you. You can search a variety of different types of resources by zip code.

And, if you’re looking for a working farm to visit, an orchard where you can pick your own fruit, or a dairy where you can watch cheese being made, check out Arkansas’s Agrotourism’s website.

Reasons why I love taking advantage of Farmers’ Markets and Agrotourism:

• We get to be outside and active
• While our kids are having fun, they’re also learning about where our food comes from
• Our family gets access to tasty and healthy local foods
• We try new foods and expand our palates
• We support local farmers and businesses

Go here to check out my article on why moms need friends.  At the bottom there are links to four resources to help you build your mommy network if you are here in Central Arkansas.  If you’re not, here are some resources on the national level:

• Meetup.com — Search Meetup.com by zip codes to find a moms group, or other groups who you share an interest with.
• MOPS.org — MOPS is a Christian-based moms group for mothers with kids ages birth to 5. You can search on their site for a local chapter.
• International Moms Club – This organization has chapters all around the world. Click on the “Chapters” page to see if there’s one near you.
• CafeMom – CafeMom labels itself as “the meeting place for moms” and offers several resources including online forums and a group finder that lets you search by zip code or topic.
• The Mommies Network – Another collection of regional/local moms’ clubs. Visit their site to see if there is one in your area.
• Google It – when all else fails, google “Mom Club” or “Mom Group” and the name of your city/town.  If you still don’t find something, it’s time to start your own group!

Address: Located north of Cantrell Road along the Arkansas River, there are two ways to access the park. Click here for a driving map. Our new favorite way to get to the park is via Two Rivers Bridge. Click Here for more info on the bridge and a link to a map.

Hours: The bridge is open 24 hours, but obviously I would not recommend taking your kids there after dark.

Equipment: None

Setting: Natural – you’ll likely see a host of wildlife ranging from butterflies and caterpillars to deer, geese, and maybe even a fox.

Shade: Partial

Surface: Paved trails.

Seating: Picnic tables

Restrooms/Water: Port-a-potties in the parking lots. Bring your own water!

Other Features: Paved Trails that wind through various natural settings – pine stands, deciduous forest, open fields, and riverside. Gardening tracts that are rented by county residents, and the 140 acre garden of trees.

Comments:  Two Rivers Park and the new Two Rivers Bridge are a great place for a nature walk, for kids to ride bikes, or to enjoy a picnic. We recently took the bridge to the park and found that the shortest trail loop was perfect for our 4 & 5 year olds’ bike riding skills (when you cross the bridge into the park, just keep taking the first left hand turns for this loop). There was a good mix of shade and sun, and a nice breeze thanks to the rivers. The kids had fun checking out some colorful caterpillars and a big hollow tree.  We’ve also been here in the evening and seen TONS of deer, turkey, and other wildlife.