Trail Mix Day August 31

Coming Soon...Another Fun Day to Celebrate....Trail Mix Day!! (hey, why not?)
And this one comes with a free outing for St. Louis Mamas. Just bring you little ones to Whole Foods Galleria between 1:00 and 4:00 to make their own trail mix....FREE!! Sounds like a fun outing. If you're not in STL, look for it in a Whole Foods near you. That not a option? Celebrate the day anyway by picking up seeds, nuts, dried fruit, etc, etc, and creating your own at home. For very young kids you may want to just use cereals (puffed rice, oat o's, puffed wheat, etc.) that are easy to chew and not a hazard. A great hands on activity for kids. You could even step it up for older kids by talking about the nutritional value of the various ingredients. Again I choose not to give my toddler nuts until he's three, this is a choice you make between you and your pediatrician. Please also be cautious with little ones and the ingredients may pose choking hazards.

Outings: Border's Story Time

Last week we tried out the story time at Borders (Brentwood). It was nice with a little snack (2 animal crackers), 2 stories, a "craft," and even a small gift to take home (pencil, paper doll, bumper sticker), but just not well suited for my 18 month old. The stories didn't seem to be the best for sharing with a group (one was a lift the flap book) and the craft was tic-tac-toe with these shape markers (which I don't think were washable) and was definitely over my little guy's head. Just seemed to be more for the pre-K crowd than toddlers. So if you have a 3 or 4 year old I suggest checking out your local Borders. If your little one is smaller this may not be your outing. It is nice. And nice that they offer it. Just not for us....not now anyway.

Outing: Missouri Botanical Garden's Children's Garden

Saturday we took our first trip to the Children’s Garden. I have to say it was great fun. A good experience for our 18 month old, though I’m not sure if children much younger would get too much out of it. I do think it will be a good outing for years to come which is exciting; it just seems like great place for children of all ages. Though I did not think too much of their “spray” area, which is fine considering all the nice parks that have them. I was surprised at both how large the area was and how much there was to do there. Slather on the sunscreen and go out to give this one a try, the children's garden closes for the season October 31. We had a great time and hope you will too.

Members get into the Children’s Garden free all day Tuesday and until noon on Saturday. Our garden membership has definitely paid off, the best thing is with not paying admission each time I feel I can go for shorter amounts of time than if I paid for each visit (which is key when you have a little one). You can find more information about visiting the gardens here http://www.mobot.org/visit/hours.asp and about the children’s garden here http://www.mobot.org/finn/

Bottom line: Highly recommended my both my son and me