Free Family Fun!

Happy, healthy families have something in common: they take the time to have FUN. Here, 10 inexpensive ways to enjoy each other.

Pick Your Fun
The Hermann family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, visits local farms and orchards where they can pick their own produce -- everything from strawberries to pumpkins. The kids, ages 6 and 3 1/2 years and 18 months, see it as an adventure, and it's made them more adventurous eaters as well, says mom, Debbie Hermann. "We've actually said, 'Finish your ice cream and then you can have more spinach,'" she says.

Last summer they picked 8 pounds of blueberries, not stopping until the kids were tired. "We ate everything blueberry—pancakes, muffins, cobbler—for six months," Hermann says.

Some of the farms have picnic areas and playgrounds, so they pack a lunch and make a day of it. It's inexpensive fun—the only cost is the produce they pick. Added bonus: The kids learn where food comes from and have started a garden at home as well. The website www.pickyourown.org lists farms state by state.

It's Family Showtime!
Before television, movies, and the Internet, people made their own entertainment. And that's what the Banderman family of Calvert City, Kentucky, does with their "parlor entertainment." Each of their five children—ages 12, 9, 7, 4, and 2—performs, either playing the piano or another instrument, doing skits, reciting poetry, or putting on a puppet show.
Sometimes other families in their homeschooling group join them and bring snacks. Adults can perform, too, says mom, Megan Banderman.

They make sure all ages are involved. "The little kids do something short," Banderman says. "Our 2-year-old dances in a circle and we all clap and she feels good."

Although the Bandermans spend time in a variety of "fun" activities, what they do doesn't seem to matter. "We have found that what our children want most from us is 'just being' time," says Banderman. "They just want to spend time with their parents and have us focus on them and have fun together."

Friday Night Pizza, American Style
When the Oxenreider family lived in the Middle East, American food was hard to come by, so Tsh and her husband began making homemade pizza on Friday nights. It was a chance to eat a familiar food, says the author of Organized Simplicity (www.organizedsimplicity.net) and mom of children ages 5 and 3 years old and 4 months.

Now that the family lives in Austin, they've continued the Friday night activity. "We celebrate the start of the weekend and the end of the workweek," Oxenreider says. She and her husband make individual rounds of dough, while the kids add their own sauce, cheese, and toppings such as pepperoni, red peppers, pineapple, and olives.

No-Fuss Pizza Recipes

Picnics All Year Long
The Tardibono family of Oklahoma City, also does Friday night pizza, but both parents usually decide to go with one of the local $5 pizzas.

The kids pick out a blanket to spread on the living room floor, get out paper plates, turn the TV to something like America's Funniest Home Videos, and eat on the floor, says Daniel Tardibono, dad to a 5-year-old daughter and sons, age 2 1/2 years and 5 months.

"Usually all the food is eaten at the kitchen table so it's fun to break the rules," he says. "But what's great is everybody is laughing. We tell each other something funny, like what would be really strange to put on a pizza."

A bonus: Spending fun time together, whether it's a picnic indoors or at the beach, "can open up lines of communication," says Lisa M. Schainker, Ph.D., M.P.H., associate scientist for Iowa State University's Partnerships in Prevention Science. "Parents may have better luck discussing important or serious issues with their kids after completing a fun activity together."

The Perfect Picnic

Indoor Camping
When you camp outdoors, you have to contend with bad weather and hungry bugs. Instead, it's become a Friday night tradition at Dawn Schnake's Overland Park, Kansas, home to have a campout in the family room. She, her husband, and their two sons, ages 7 and 4, get out the sleeping bags, make popcorn, and watch a favorite movie like Star Wars, Veggie Tales, or Madagascar.

"We started doing this when we lit a fire in the fireplace during the winter and the boys wanted to sleep in front of the fire," says Schnake.

She likes their Friday night indoor campouts. "There's so much to do during the week," she says. "But when we stop and do this, it brings us closer together and we can communicate without arguing."

The Great Outdoors
Robin Prehn of Golden, Colorado, figures her family has used their $50 tent so many times it costs just pennies a night now when they camp. And they can pitch their tent on Bureau of Land Management land—plentiful in Colorado—for free. Hiking and camping are family traditions, says Prehn: Her son, 8, and daughter, 7, have been hiking since both kids "were so little they were in carriers."

Prehn writes about their outdoor adventures, along with other family activities like reading, for her website family-fun-together.com. She believes playing together outdoors strengthens family relationships and "can produce a family that can weather any storm."

Family Camping: Tips to Make Tenting Fun

Play with Your Dinner
Dinner conversation at the Young family's home in Overland Park, Kansas, has become livelier with their question-and-answer game. Each family member, from parents, Cregg and Karin, to son, Hunter, 16, and daughter, Harper, 7, recounts one good and one bad thing from the day.

But sometimes the answers have been too brief—"The good thing was pizza at lunch and the bad was that recess was too short"—so mom, Karin Frakes Young, looked for a way to get the conversational ball rolling a little faster. "We needed a way to connect and get everyone talking," she says.

Now each person at the table takes turns asking another question as well, such as "Where would you live if you could live anywhere?" or "If you could be a character from a book, who would you be?" says Young. The Q&A sessions have gotten the whole family talking, and are extra fun when dinner guests join in.

The Family Dinner

Hometown Adventures
Sherri and Bryan Hefley, of Oronogo, Missouri, take their two sons, 3 and 4 years old, to the local home improvement store Saturday mornings to build small wooden projects—for free—such as bug boxes, pencil holders and periscopes. "The store provides the materials and gives the boys a free apron, safety goggles, and a badge," says Sherri Hefley. Both parents stay to provide adult supervision.

Hefley also looks for free events and exhibits at the local shopping mall. Recently, the local train club sponsored a train show, and the football team from a nearby college met with fans.

Check out museums, history sites, tourist attractions, and the zoo in your community for special offers or times with free admission.

Let's Volunteer: Family Philanthropy

New Holiday Traditions
The Hirst family of New Hempstead, New York, finds fun in their holiday traditions, from searching for the perfect Christmas tree to carving pumpkins for Halloween.

The search for the tree begins by spending the night at the home of an aunt. In the morning, after a breakfast of pancakes and sausage, they visit the local Christmas tree farm. "That's where we hunt for the perfect—or imperfect—tree," says Linda Hirst, mom of two sons, 11 and 7 years old. Once they've chosen a tree out of the hundreds available, they saw it themselves and load it on the car. That's followed by hot cocoa.

"It's a fun day," Hirst says. "It puts you in the spirit of Christmas."

The family also likes to go exploring during December to find Christmas light displays in other neighborhoods, while listening to Christmas music in the car. At Halloween, they choose pumpkins from a pick-your-own patch or a local store and then print out templates from the Internet for carving different designs.

A Spin on Family Game Night
Most families try to have an occasional family game night, but Cynthia Copeland, author of Family Fun Night, has some tips to jazz up this old standby. One of the biggest problems with game nights occurs in families with kids of widely different ages.

Copeland suggests playing in teams, pairing a parent or older sibling with a younger child, for a game of strategy like Monopoly. Or find a way to give the younger child more points or more cards to level the playing field. Have really young children roll the dice, move the game pieces, or control the timer. Choose games that depend on luck and chance rather than skill.

To encourage reluctant kids to participate—tweens and teens may say they want to hang out with their friends instead of family—let them invite a friend over or agree to play their music in the background.

When it comes to puzzles, especially for older kids, Copeland recommends "thinking outside the box." She suggests hiding puzzle pieces around the house or dumping all the pieces of three different puzzles in one pile to make it more challenging.

"It's things like the time Dad drew a chicken with four legs in Pictionary that kids remember and that make a family," Copeland, the mom of three, says. "We underestimate the value of casual family times."

By Diana Reese

Let's Help Astoria!

Astoria is close to becoming the coolest small town in America! Find the story here www.oldoregon.com

12 Ways To Lose Weight While Watching The Super Bowl

These expert tricks will help you painlessly blast calories at home without missing a second of the football action.


1. Jump rope for two-minute intervals. Repeat four times. (111 calories)

2. Run up and down the stairs of your apartment building or house during a commercial break. (42 calories)

3. Stand in front of your couch, squat until your butt is just above the seat cushions, and hold that position for one minute. Repeat four times. (80 calories)

4. Lie down on the floor on your side and do leg lifts for five minutes. (50 calories)

5. Do arm circles for one minute. Repeat two more times. (20 calories)

6. Sprint to and from the restroom for bathroom breaks. (30 calories)

7. Grab three-pound weights or two soup cans and do one minute each of lifting for your triceps (put your hands behind your head, with your elbows at your ears and lift the weight up and down). Do three sets. (17 calories)

8. Sit on an exercise ball and do one minute of ab curls. Repeat four times. (50 calories)

9. If you’re not down with that, work your core by simply sitting on the ball for an hour. (38 calories)

10. Stand approximately five feet away from the TV and do lunges for five minutes. (37 calories)

11. Lie down in front of the TV and hold yourself in the plank position for one minute. Repeat two times. (35 calories)

12. Lie down on your couch and scoot around until your back is on the cushions and your legs are resting on the seat back, at a 90 degree angle to your waist. Curl your torso up towards your legs in a crunch and release. Keep doing them for an entire commercial break. (30 calories)

10 Ways to Cut 100 Calories

Make small tweaks to your diet to see a big difference in your body

by Joy Bauer, RD

Make It Count
Cutting back your calorie intake doesn’t need to be a painful experience. With just a few nips and tucks to your normal eating regime, you can easily save hundreds of calories a week. Read on to discover 10 tips that will help you toward a slimmer self.


Mustard
Swap mayo for mustard: 2 Tbsp of mayo has 200 calories; 2 Tbsp of mustard has just 30.

Fruit
Eat fresh fruit instead of dried. One half-cup of raisins has more than 200 calories, but one full cup of fresh grapes has just 80.

Oil
Use an oil mister instead of pouring olive or canola oil straight from the bottle. A Tbsp of oil has 120 calories, but with a mister you’ll use a fraction of that.

Cheese
Leave the cheese off your sandwich. Instead, pile on lots of very low-cal veggies. The veggies add nutrition and volume, so your sandwich will be extra-filling.

Bagels
Scoop out the inside of a bagel. It’s an easy way to make a high-carb treat a little lighter.

Sandwiches
Eat your sandwiches open-faced (with just one slice of bread instead of two).

Soda
Swap your daily (12-oz) can of regular soda (150 calories) for a can of naturally flavored, calorie-free seltzer. These seltzers get their taste solely from a shot of natural fruit flavor, such as lime, raspberry or orange. They don’t contain any sugar or artificial sweeteners, so they’re not super-sweet—but thanks to the carbonation, they have that fizzy pop we all love from soda.

Egg Whites
Eat two egg whites instead of two whole eggs.

Salad Dressing
Switch from regular salad dressing (about 140 calories for 2 Tbsp) to a light salad dressing. (Look for brands that have no more than 40 calories in 2 Tbsp.)

Pizza
Don’t eat the end crust on your pizza. It packs about 100 calories.

Explanation of God - Written by an 8-year-old

This was written by an 8-year-old named Danny Dutton, who lives in Chula Vista , CA . He wrote it for his third grade homework assignment, to "explain God."

Could any of us have said it any better?


"One of God's main jobs is making people.

He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth.

He doesn't make grownups, just babies

I think because they are smaller and easier to make.

That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk.

He can just leave that to mothers and fathers."


"God's second most important job is listening to prayers.

An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times besides bedtime.

God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because he hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears, unless he has thought of a way to turn it off."


"God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy.

So you shouldn't go wasting his time by going over your mom and dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have."


"Atheists are people who don't believe in God.

I don't think there are any in Chula Vista .

At least there aren't any who come to our church."

"Jesus is God's Son.

He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and

trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of him preaching to them and they crucified him

But he was good and kind, like his father, and he told his father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said OK."


"His dad (God) appreciated everything that he had done and all his hard work on earth so he told him he didn't have to go out on the road anymore.

He could stay in heaven.

So he did.

And now he helps his dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones he can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important."


"You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time."

"You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God!


Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach.

This is wrong.

And besides the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway."


"If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can.

It is good to know

He's around you when you're scared, in the dark or when you can't swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids."


"But...you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and he can take me back anytime he pleases.


And...that's why I believe in God."

VACATION DO OVER!

If you had a vacation where nothing went as planned, you've got a shot at winning one of five "dream" trips to Orlando. A Vacation Makeover contest by Visit Orlando is asking for tales of trips gone horribly wrong. To enter, you'll just have to describe the debacle in 500 words or less and upload a recent image to VisitOrlando.com/makeover.


Winners will get a week-long vacation, including airfare, lodging, admission to attractions and ground transfers.