Working Motherhood Is Insane… Or Is It?

Editor’s Note: If you missed out on this morning’s review of the luxurious Tigh-Na-Mara Spa & Resort, you can read all about it HERE. Now, here’s Robin with a look at working motherhood.
It’s hard to hear, that sweet voice sitting next to me coloring at the kitchen table that pipes up when my computer mysteriously [...]

Buyer’s Remorse – Facing The Barbie Dilemma

Editor’s Note: Good morning! Karen Pantuso-Swanson is here with another insightful look at the trials and tribulations of parenting. Here she is:
“Math class is tough.” – Mattel’s Talking Barbie
I lost myself for about half-an-hour one Saturday afternoon. I’m not sure where I went, but another mom who buys high-heeled shoes and Barbies for her daughter inhabited [...]

Naturopathy & Autism Spectrum Disorder

Editor’s Note: Happy Friday! Dr. Amy Wells is here with a naturopathic view of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Have a great day. Here she is:
This month, I thought I’d shed some naturopathic perspectives on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a disorder affecting many families, regardless of race or socioeconomic status. ASD is defined by the Autism Society of BC [...]

Spring Break 2010 – Easy Family Activities Around the Region

Editor’s Note: If you missed out on this morning’s list of 10 must-have kitchen gadgets, you can find it HERE. Now, here’s Robin with some fun family activities to keep you busy for the rest of the week.
Okay, it’s day three of Spring Break. Breathe. There are still ways to occupy your kids that don’t require packing the car up, [...]

Spring Break 2010 – Craft Roundup

Good morning. You have to admit that the weather report is not looking up for the next couple of weeks. That could spell some serious trouble for getting the kids out of the house more than once or twice for an outdoor adventure.
But, that doesn’t mean that you are stuck with screaming, bored children.
We’ve got [...]

Spring Break 2010 – Family Trails for Spring Fun

I have no idea how it’s possible that Spring Break is already here. But, hey, now that the kids have a week off and we have to find ways to keep them in motion without tackling each other, we might as well all get on the bus together. In the next seven days or so, [...]

Spend An Afternoon Combing The Beach For Treasure

Editor’s Note: Good morning. Jocie Ingram is here reminding us about our fabulous beaches and the treasures we can find on them. It’s time to hit the beach! Here she is:
On the weekend, we often take the kids up to “Granny’s house” at Miracle Beach. When we get there, our two-year-old son Alden heads straight [...]

Watercolor Painting In the Waldorf Style

Editor’s Note: If you missed Robin’s review of Canadian author Wayson Choy’s fabulous novel All That Matters, you can read it HERE. This afternoon, we have Waldorf educator Rebecca Watkin back on site with a look at the Waldorf method of watercolor painting. Here she is:
A Painting Verse
The sunlight shines into each day
And sends the [...]

Kids Get to Jam at The School of Rock

Editor’s Note: Good morning. Bobby Herron is here with the scoop on the Comox Valley’s very own School of Rock. Here he is:
I’ve seen the movie School of Rock a few times and have to admit it was part of the inspiration behind the musical boot camp I facilitated a few years ago as part [...]

Making Room for Baby – Tips For Nesting

Editor’s Note: If you missed out on Alix’s morning post with tips on planning for large family gatherings, you can read it HERE. Now, we take nesting to a new level and get you organized for new babies (or even just to be more organized) with some tips that simplify, focus and pamper:
I don’t think I [...]

Develop A Kids Cultural Palette-Learn to Make Sushi

Editor’s Note: Good morning. Sarah Stromquist is on site this morning sharing her recent adventure in making sushi with her lovely girls. She definitely inspired me to give it a whirl. Here’s Sarah:
Straying from my usual barrage of recipes, I decided to focus on one idea in hopes of convincing people to undertake their own [...]

Horne Lake Caves

Crystal clear water and Vancouver Island’s coolest outdoor adventures makes Horne Lake an outdoor-lovers dream. Two parks offer a wide range of activities for all ages and abilities including camping, canoeing, rock climbing and cave tours.

Simon’s Cycles

We are the Comox Valley’s full-service bike shop with family-friendly gear including Bob Strollers and Trail Bikes. Come by and meet the team.

Reel Films at Frelones

We are a cozy, personable movie house showing a wide range of films. Birthday party bookings welcome!

Sound Advice Music Shop

We are the Island’s full service music center. We offer a full range of instruments, lessons and rentals and professional event staff.

Product Review – Strap-On Trainer Skates for Kids

Editor’s Note: If you missed Anthony Edwards this morning, you can read his post on investing in fair trade foods HERE. Now, here’s Robin with the scoop on children’s strap-on trainer skates:
Ken is Mr. Hockey. Seriously, he doesn’t even know what a sports junkie he is. On our first date he told me he was [...]

Getaways – The Pacific Rim Whale Festival

There are days, this time of year, when all I can dream about is the vacation that we aren’t taking. Leaving the house is monumental sometimes, leaving town – Ha!
I suspect we are not the only family for whom jumping on a plane and wandering the world is not an option right now. But, that [...]

Choosing Love – Making Friends From Enemies

Editor’s Note: Good afternoon. If you missed Gayle’s post on culture and waste, you can read it HERE. Now here’s Karen Pantuso-Swanson with another lovely story of motherhood:
“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.” – Abraham Lincoln
Not everyone is a fan of Valentine’s Day. Some people detest the commercialization [...]

Is Montessori Right for Your Family?

Editor’s Note: Good afternoon. If you missed out on Wendy Johnstone this morning, you can read her post on the value of seniors in the community HERE. Now we have Pauline Rae on site with an in-depth look at whether a Montessori education is right for your child and your family. Here she is:
If you are considering [...]

Getting Kids Into The Olympic Spirit at Home

Editor’s Note: Good afternoon. If you missed this morning’s interview with Canadian cookbook Wise Women Shannon Loeber and Mary Edwards talking about their sexy take on food, folklore and sparking that magic (we’re giving away copies), check it out HERE. Now, it’s time to get our families into the spirit of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic [...]

Kids Crafts – Making Fun Fairy Bowls

As our “magical world” project continues this year, we are still super focused on the fairy forest part of that imaginary adventure. The tiny person is so excited about creating the bits and pieces that line the path to her castle and lead the way along the path into the fairy forest, that we found [...]

Deciding on Kindergarten – Options, Talk & Opinions

Editor’s Note: If you missed the Sunday Morning Walk post, you can read it HERE. The forests are alive with mushrooms and fungus and other coolness this time of year. Now, we dig into Kindergarten options here in the Comox Valley. Please jump in on the discussion.
It’s the hot buzz among preschool parents in the [...]

Nature Journal – It’s The Peak Season for Swans

Editor’s Note: Good morning. Naturalist Jocie Ingram is here with some great information on swans. Until now, I had just admired them for their beauty and grace! Here she is:
I’ve recently introduced my toddler to the story of the “Ugly Duckling” by Danish poet Hans Christian Anderson. He loves the way the ugly duckling (actually [...]

Paper Crafts – Valentine’s Day Treat Holder

Editor’s Note: Good morning. Vanessa Falle is back with us in time for Valentine’s Day. Today she leads us through a fabulous paper craft. Here she is:
I don’t know about you, but I love to make special things for my kids. They know how much time and thought I put into each one of their [...]

Product Review – Melissa & Doug’s Wooden Castle

Happy Monday! It was a fun and exciting weekend at OBE HQ as we were nominated for two Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce community awards and were so very honored to be a finalist for the Chamber’s Environmental Initiative. So many fantastic businesses were honored over the weekend. It’s amazing to see the drive, ingenuity [...]

Homeschooling – A Look At Theme-based Learning

It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten a chance to talk about homeschooling here on OBE. For the last year or so, we’ve been mulling around our educational options for the tiny person and it wasn’t until this month, actually, that we solidly moved forward with our plans to home-school.
It’s not that I think [...]

Winter 2010 NeighbourWood Walks Registration

Editor’s note: This morning’s post on making felt fortune cookies to celebrate the combo of Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day (both Feb. 14 this year) was so much fun. You can check it out HERE. Now, it’s time to finally get back outside as we get down to the business of registering for our [...]

Craft – Chinese New Year + Valentines = Felt Fortune Cookies

I was completely stumped this year when we started going through the craft books and websites looking for Valentine’s Day crafts. The sense was that there are some cute ones out there, but neither of us really wanted a pile of paper hearts, or to spend the time peeling and grating crayons to make a [...]

Books to Teach Kids About Chinese New Year

Editor’s Note: If you missed out on Rebecca’s morning post giving us a look inside the Waldorf classroom, you can read it HERE. Now, here’s Robin reviewing a cool collection of children’s books that help kids learn about Chinese culture and Chinese New Year. Have a great afternoon. Here’s Robin:
I get sort of droopy after [...]

Empowering Your Kids to Become Housework Helpers

Editor’s Note: Good morning. Marcie Dumais is here this morning with some tips and insight on getting our kiddos to clean up after themselves and share in household chores. Here she is:
I get serious heebie-jeebies about clutter at this time of year. Who am I kidding? I can barely make it through Boxing Day before [...]

Tips for Making Hearty Food Fit For Your Family

Editor’s Note: Happy middle of the week! This morning we have food lover Sarah Stromquist dishing up tips on a year of positive eating. Here she is:
I no longer make unrealistic resolutions for the New Year, only to later feel the guilt of not sticking it through. That sense of failure does nothing for me [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Discovering Community Literacy

When you say the word “literacy” the images of libraries and academia often come to mind. It takes you down a mental path of helping kids learn to read and guiding adults through the challenges of needing to be able to interpret for themselves written words in order to manage the day-to-day tasks.
To me, it [...]

The Wisdom of Children – The Freedom of Innocence

Editor’s Note: Good morning. Karen Pantuso-Swanson is with us this morning sharing a lovely story that displays the ease and confidence that come with the innocence of childhood. Enjoy. Here she is:
“Kids: they dance before they know there is anything that isn’t music.” – William Stafford
My mom is a tap-dancer. She taught me to dance when I [...]

Kids Food Crafts – Painting with Jello

It has been so crazy dreary around the Comox Valley the last couple of weeks that we have been super dug in at the craft table and looking for ways to combine all sorts of things like food and paper into good fun.
Jello isn’t something we regularly eat around here. But, it is super cool [...]

Exposing Kids to Great Music is Easy in the Comox Valley

Editor’s Note: Happy Tuesday! This morning we have Bobby Herron on site giving us the low-down on where to check out all the music greatness in this Valley of ours. Here he is:
Many people around this time are inspired to organize neat little lists that express their opinion of what was good and what was [...]

New Kids Science Programs Make Courtenay Museum Come Alive

Editor’s Note: Happy Saturday! If you missed the morning post, you can read Robin’s review of two sweet Canadian authored books HERE. This afternoon we have the scoop on two new and very wonderful science programs offered at the Courtenay Museum. Check them out:
As self-proclaimed science nerds over here, the recent announcement from the Courtenay [...]

Ask A Midwife – Top 5 Questions From Pregnant Women

Editor’s Note: Good Morning! It is with the greatest of pleasure that we launch the new Ask A Midwife column here on OBE with the midwives of Plum Midwifery joining us monthly to answer your questions about pregnancy and childbirth.
I’m honored to introduce you to Joanne Daviau, Amy Kelly, Emma Gledhill and Jessie Shannon, as [...]

Nature Journal – Animal Tracking Basics for Family Nature Fun

Editor’s Note: Good morning! Jocie Ingram is here with some great information on animal tracking. Now you can hit the trails like a pro! Here she is:
Tracking wild animals is a skill that takes years of experience, but anyone can follow a set of footprints and learn to become a keen observer of nature.
A familiar [...]

Restaurant Review – Downtown Courtenay’s Atlas Cafe

There are a few staple restaurants in life that I know any time I head out – whether it be for a business meeting, a late afternoon drink with a friend, lunch with the family or dinner with that hot guy I married, but never seem to have time to hang out with – the [...]

Sunday Morning Walks – Winter Museum Walking

You have to admit that, some days this time of year, heading outside for an adventure in the perpetual downpour is not on the list of things to do. But, needing to get out of the house is going to be the one thing that keeps everyone from going off of their rockers in the [...]

New Year’s Skating Traditions & Cheer

On this eve of the new decade, we here at OBE HQ are perpetually socially challenged in terms of where to get in a great party and take the kiddo. There are some cool things going on tonight around the Valley like the Family New Year’s Carnival Featuring Bobs and Lolo up at Mt. Washington.
But, [...]

Year In Review – Hottest Family Food Fun of 2009

It has been an excellent year for eating (especially eating local) here at Our Big Earth. We’ve loved learning lots of new and delicious recipes that are perfect for that family meal and really enjoyed learning how to create new and different dishes from a multitude of yummy ingredients.
Our recipe book is getting better and [...]

Year In Review – Favorite Family Nature Locales for 2009

Oh my goodness 2009 has been a fantastic year for weather, exploring and general outdoor adventures. The Comox Valley and Vancouver Island are absolute perfection when it comes to hanging in the outdoors and making family time nature time.
We’ve explored a lot of cool places, taken more than 150 kids and their parents on hikes [...]

Year In Review – The Best Children’s Books of 2009

One thing that never seems to give in our house is the love of a great story. We pound through tons of books and if anyone knows what she likes best, it’s the 4-year-old.
We’ve had such a great time discovering some seriously great new reads this year to spend afternoons curled up on the couch [...]

Year In Review – Family Health in 2009

Editor’s Note: If you missed this morning’s post, check out Assistant Editor Bevin Clempson’s tips for reducing holiday waste HERE. Now, it’s time for a trip in the way back machine to check out 365 days of preventative health care with Dr. Amy Wells:
If there is one thing that has dominated family life this year [...]

Year in Review – Best Crafts of 2009

Good Morning. As I looked back through some of the creative projects we took on this year, it was great to check out how much fun we had learning about and discovering nature through creativity. There was lots of painting and gluing for sure. But, I’m wondering which project you all liked the best this [...]

Getaways – The Ultimate BC Toy Adventure

Editor’s Note: Good Morning. As we all gear up for some holiday travels this week, Comox Valley mom Alix Wilson has a great suggestion for a fun detour on the way to Grandma’s house – or anywhere on the Lower Mainland for that matter. Safe traveling. Happy Winter Solstice and enjoy this lovely week.
As a [...]

Book Review – Favorite Stories to Celebrate the Solistice

Editor’s Note: Good afternoon. If you missed out on the morning post, you can check out Rebecca’s post on Waldorf Kindergarten classrooms HERE. Now, we’ve got four of my favorite books to celebrate the solstice with your kids through stories.
Although we are just short of a week away from celebrating Christmas, one of my [...]

Getaways – Learning, Adventure & Airplanes Up Close at YVR

When I was a kid in the 1970s one of the things that I waited for all year was to be able to stand right at the gate, face glued to the glass, waiting for my grandparents to get off of the airplane – whether it be for Summer vacation or Christmas holiday. We would [...]

Independent Education – Beachcombers Community School

We are science geeks in our house. There’s no denying it, we dig bones and organs and bugs. If we had our way, our days would be spent exploring the tide pools any time of year.
I’ve long been concerned about what school would be like for the tiny person. We’ve been contemplating homeschooling for quite [...]

Send Your Letters to Santa via Canada Post

Editor’s Note: If you missed our morning post, check out some easy ideas for making holiday cards HERE. Now, it’s all about getting that special letter off to Santa (and getting one back from the big guy) thanks to Canada Post. HOHOHO.:)
You know Dasher and Dancer, maybe even Prancer and Vixen. But, did you know [...]

Holiday Crafts – Easy Kids Cards

One thing I promise myself that we will do every year is send out homemade cards. When Ken and I were DINKS (Dual Income No Kids) we made the craziest Christmas cards ever like us hanging lights off of the Golden Gate Bridge, us as Star Wars characters, the list goes on.
But, that would mean [...]

Kids Book Review – Winter Gems for a Roaring Fire

Editor’s Note: If you missed our morning post, Gayle Bates gives us a peek into holiday traditions around the world and how to take part in some global giving HERE. Now, we’re checking out two Winter children’s book faves that are a part of OBE’s holiday events at the Filberg Lodge.

Chestnuts roasting on the fire [...]

Register Today for the OBE Heritage Holidays at Filberg Lodge

Editor’s Note: If you missed our morning post today, check out Bobby Herron’s take on why music lessons aren’t always the right path for your budding musician HERE. Now, it’s time for some holiday cheer and a fun, old skool Comox Valley event that is all about family, stories, treats and the traditions of the [...]

Kids Rock – Music Lessons Are Not for Every Musician

Editor’s Note: Good morning. Bobby Herron is on site today talking shop about why music lessons work for some kids and not for others. Finding creative ways to help your kids learn all kinds of things is a bit of an art in and of itself. One that is different for everyone. Here he is:
Music instruction [...]

Hand Sanitizer – Not Every Germ Killer is Equal

While I was in Vancouver last week, one of the pervasive concerns amongst the crew – none of whom were Canadian except for me – was not getting sick.
This was especially true for the moms in the group who, even though they were in professional mode and sans kids, found themselves seriously concerned about taking [...]

Book Review – The Dino Adventures of Cats & Dogs

Editor’s Notes: Good afternoon. If you missed out on the morning post from Rebecca on the tradition of advent, you can catch it over HERE. Now it’s time for a review of two very fun children’s books and a giveaway…

We have moved into the comedy portion of our daily story routine these days. There’s still [...]

Santa’s Workshop Needs Your Help

Editor’s Note: It is getting all holiday-ish around here the last couple of days. If you missed this morning’s craft post, check out the vintage ornaments Robin made from recycled lids and bottle caps HERE. This afternoon, it’s all about hope, community and the warmth of coming together for a fantastic cause.
The news that the [...]

Homemade Holidays – Easy Recycled Ornaments

As the holidays begin to descend upon us, the tiny person and I are very seriously focused on learning about traditions, honoring our own and creating some new ones this year.
We’re also working hard at keeping with the whole idea of creating more and consuming less. And that has lead to great projects in the last [...]

Getting Away – Planning Your Family Winter Road Trip

Editor’s Note: If you missed Robin’s morning post on holiday sanity savers, you can check it out HERE. There are definitely some tips I need to incorporate! This afternoon we have Alix Wilson with us sharing tips on preparing for and enjoying the holiday road trip. Here she is:
The holidays are alarmingly close. For my family, [...]

Book Review – Sometimes You’ve Gotta Go Kid

Editor’s Note: If you missed the morning post on the amazing things kids say that make us rethink our perspective from Karen Pantuso-Swanson, you can read it HERE. This afternoon we have a book review and a giveaway. Have a great afternoon.

There are some books that you and your kids are just generally going to [...]

How to Create Emergency Kits & Plan for Natural Disasters

So, yeah, Mother Nature has been having some very serious personal issues with us folks on Vancouver Island for the last week or so. It’s nerve wracking at these sort of times when you look around your house and realize that you’ve got one match, a tiny tea light, no stored water and the pantry [...]

Is It A Cold or the Flu? Symptom Checker

Editor’s Note: If you missed the morning post by Marcie Dumais on helping kiddos learn the value of generosity, you can check it out HERE. This afternoon, we have some great information on the topic of cold Vs. flu.
With the news this week that St. Joseph’s Hospital in Comox is asking people who have only [...]

The Fit Family – In The Groove…Getting Motivated to Move

Editor’s Note: Whoa is it ever wet out there! This late Fall rain is absolutely crazy, definitely time for hats. If you missed it, be sure to check out our piece from this morning on scoring the coolest hats in town HERE. Now, it’s time for our fitness update. Stay dry!
Getting fit is an uphill [...]

Eye Checkups are Key for Preschoolers

Editor’s Note: Happy Saturday. This morning we have local Optometrist Dr. Elaine Kerr on site educating us about the importance of preventative eye care. Here she is:
Imagine you are about five years old and your parents take you to a new and interesting place. There’s a kids’ play area where you entertain yourself for awhile, then [...]

A Peek Inside A Celebration of Comox Valley Spirit

The day didn’t necessary start off on the brightest foot. Rain, rain, rain – that was the forecast for Sunday. But, with a 40X40 heated tent, happy spirits and a sense of creative flexibility we headed out for a day of celebrating our heritage.

Thankfully, the sunshine made an appearance just about the time we got [...]

Heritage Crafts – “Stained Glass” & Decoupage Lanterns

All of our Heritage good times out at The Filberg last Sunday made me get all nostalgic for projects that induce that cozy feeling, are not so frustrating and generally keep a kid’s attention for more than a milisecond. Two that we did over the weekend were super fun and easy – stained glass and [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Currently Cumberland’s Kathryn Chung

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Montessori in the Comox Valley

Editor’s Note: Today we take a peek inside the world of Montessori education in the Comox Valley with Pauline Rae and learn a bit about why this public-school program is beloved by so many parents, as well as in need of strong community support. Enjoy!
During the year before my oldest child started kindergarten, we looked [...]

Gather for a Family Heritage Experience

Editor’s Note: If you missed this morning’s AMAZING nature journal, you’ve got to go check out Jocie’s fantastic post on identifying slugs HERE. It’s fantastic. This afternoon, we’d like to extend an invitation to families of all ages to join Our Big Earth and The Filberg Heritage Lodge and Park for the Family Heritage Experience. [...]

Learning Through Online Music Labs

Editor’s Note: This morning we have Bobby Herron giving us a look inside the creative world of online music labs. Here he is:
I recently began looking online for websites that help teach drumming fundamentals and techniques so that my students would have some resources to help them learn at home. I stumbled upon a tremendous [...]

The Fit Family – Creaky Bones & The Death of Procrastination

Editor’s Note: Happy Monday. If you missed our early post, check out our review of Roylco’s fossil rubbing plates HERE. Meanwhile, we are slugging through finding our workout groove:

Oh how uninspiring we find ourselves these days. Ken and I both agree that we have mental blocks when it comes to long term fitness. But, really, [...]

Halloween Safety Tips for Families

The trick-or-treat festivities are just about upon us… and so is the weekend. Fright night or a Monday or a Wednesday, well, pretty chill. Saturday’s frightful activities might be a bit less tame than usual.

So, in the name of good, clean, spooky fun, here are some hot tips from the Comox Valley’s own Street Smart Kidz, [...]

Craft – Day of the Dead Skulls

I love Halloween. But, one of my favorite celebrations every year is the Mexican tradition of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), honoring our ancestors, heritage and the renewal of life.
This gorgeous celebration is one that we had the honor of participating in for years when we lived in California – learning the [...]

Planning for the Worst Makes Family Travel the Best

Editor’s Note: Happy Monday. If you missed our morning post, OBE and Bitchin’ Kitchen have hooked up for a spooktacular giveaway. Check out the details and video HERE.
As we start to plan for the holiday season, traveling with our families enters into the picture. Before you run screaming from the thought of taking a long [...]

Book Review – Not So Scary Monsters & Witches

Some kids love Christmas. Some love Easter. Mine, she L-O-V-E-S Halloween. I love the wawawahhhhhhhh coming from her when describing vampires and ghouls. But, really when you ask the tiny person what kind of stories she wants to read right now, the terms mildly spooky, a little mysterious and a lot funny are on the [...]

What to Do About The Flu

Editor’s Note: Happy Friday! There is some serious goo going around town right now. So, we thought we’d pass along some resources and info this afternoon. If you missed this morning’s story, Bevin gave us some great advice on some DIY ways to conserve heat this season. Check it out HERE.
There’s a wild wave pounding [...]

What Is Your Personal Parenting Style?

Editor’s Note: Good Morning, today early childhood educator Heather Magdanz is here to talk shop about parenting. She’s got some interesting insight into why we all parent the way we do… food for thought. Here she is:
Have you ever considered what kind of parent you are? Come on… who thinks about that really?
It is busy [...]

NeighbourWood Walking at the Courtenay Air Park

Happy Friday afternoon. Hopefully you all are just about done with your weeks and ready to enjoy a fun Fall weekend. We’ve got lots going on including the Cumberland Harvest Fair where we’ll be making binoculars and other coolness from 10 a.m. to Noon tomorrow.
If you missed our morning post today, Deepa took a peek [...]

Nature Journal – Leaf Watching 101

Editor’s Note: This morning we have naturalist Jocie Ingram on site, giving us the low-down on identifying leaves. Jocie is new to the OBE team and will be sharing her knowledge with us monthly. Here she is:
My toddler son is keen to collect fallen leaves, clutching fistfuls in each hand and sorting them by shape [...]

Taking The Farmers Market Indoors for Winter

I was only half joking yesterday when I updated my Facebook status to “It’s now officially toque season.” It’s COLD outside and it will take me a bit to adjust from the luxurious amount of gorgeous Fall sun that marked the end of September.
When the toques, gloves and scarves come out, I tend to start [...]

Public Ed – The Scoop on Split Classrooms

Editor’s Note: Good afternoon! If you missed our morning post you can find book reviews on salmon learning books HERE. This afternoon we have three experienced teachers Marieke Holtkamp, Michelle Honeysett and Eileen David giving us the scoop on public school multi-grade classrooms. Here they are:
At the end of the summer, that buzz of back-to-school jitters becomes more and more [...]

OBE Meets Pumpkin Patch

Good afternoon! If you missed the morning post, Wendy Johnstone offered some wonderful insight into aging with dignity. You can find her post HERE.
The Our Big Earth crew had a fantastic time collecting pumpkins, checking out the spooky barn and chasing chickens yesterday as we headed out to Shamrock Farms for the annual OBE Pumpkin [...]

Fostering a Musical Environment for Kids

Editor’s note: This morning, we here at OBE are excited to unveil the debut Kids Rock column from Comox Valley musician and music teacher Bobby Herron. He’s the creative genius behind the seriously successful School of Rock program through Courtenay Rec and has been living music just about as long as he’s been alive. He’ll [...]

The Comox Valley’s Cody Rodgers

Editor’s Note: Today we have Lindsay Sterk giving us the scoop on one every talented Comox Valley youth. Reading it makes my feet start moving…
This is a story about a Comox Valley boy who made it to New York on pure passion and dedication to tap dancing.
From the day I was asked to take the [...]

Lunch Box Recipes Kids Will Love

Editor’s Note: The lovely local foodie Sarah Stromquist is with us today. She’s serving up some ideas that are sure to rock the lunch box. Check them out:
It’s that time of year again, when the weather starts to cool down, the days get shorter and, as school starts, parents everywhere are making lunches for their [...]

Product Review – Preschool Learning Games

I often have this naïve notion that anything educational I bring home will be received with stellar enthusiasm and a rousing round of “Mommy, you are so stinking cool”.
Obviously, this notion is something I entertain in the privacy of my own mind, since 90% of the time I offer the 4-year-old – who has completely [...]

Found-Object Food Jar Terrariums

Science in a jar is something that scores me some serious cool points in the scientist in training universe. That’s especially true when it means that we can head out for a walk around our local park – or even the backyard – with express permission to pick up, handle, pack away and take home [...]

Green Lunch Box Options

Gulp, gasp and hooray. This week is all about getting the kiddos back to school.
The tiny person started back at preschool a few days ago and it seems like a different universe. Getting her ready was pretty easy since the extent of her school supplies were a big giant smile and some wizard shoes (they [...]

Sunday Morning Walks – Miracle Beach Forest Trail

Whenever I say to folks that we are headed out to Miracle Beach, there’s a bit of an assumption that the beach will actually be involved.
I have to admit that, much of the time, I forget that this fantastic provincial park extends back into the forest as well as out to the shore. But, when [...]

A Salmon’s Sky View

When I start pulling out the turtlenecks and cozy socks, it’s a sure sign that Fall is setting in around the Comox Valley.
The trees are still mostly green and kids aren’t even back in school. But, both the tiny person and I are counting the days until our very favorite nature spectacle of the year [...]

SPROUTS – Fall Flowers and Garden Chores

Editor’s Note: Kendra Quince is with us this morning. She’s got some serious fall gardening fever and has been busy harvesting, cleaning up and preparing for next year. Plus she has a fabulous way to make good use of fallen flower petals. Here she is:

Ah, September.  I get that back-to-school feel even though my children are not [...]

Register for the Fall NeighbourWood Walks Today!

Good Morning. I am soooooo excited to finally be getting back to the business of NeighbourWood Walking after our Summer hiatus.
The tiny person and I really miss our weekly walks with the Our Big Earth crew and we are totally looking forward to catching up with new and old friends this season. The free eight-week [...]

Preparing Kids for the 1st Day of School

Editor’s Note: Today we’ve got School District 71 teacher Marieke Holtkamp in the house talking shop about how to help your kiddos and yourself ready for the first day of school. Enjoy.

“Will my teacher be nice? Where will I sit? Will the other kids like me?”
Ah, back to school a time of excitement and anxiety [...]

The Green Kid Party In Action

Editor’s Note: Bevin Clempson is here today letting us take a peek into her son’s very cool green birthday bash and her adventures in planning. This whole green thing is complicated some days. Have a great Friday!
Last month my wee dude turned 3. It was the first ever kiddo-centric party I had ever thrown. The [...]

Symphonies and Fiddlejams

Editor’s Note: Good Morning! Lindsay Sterk is here today giving us the scoop on two very cool Comox Valley music organizations that welcome music lovers of any age and level to participate. I loved learning about these crews. Looks like it’s time to dust off the old trumpet and go jump in at the symphony.

I [...]

Nature Crafts – Plaster Fossils

Science girl has decided that her major professional interests are learning toward paleontology of the late – so much so that we are in full roar around here in terms of dinos, digs and – of course – fossils.
We’ve spent most of the Summer on the hunt for the coolest rocks and the collections that [...]

Accepting Change By Creating Memories

Editor’s Note: Marcie Dumais is here today to offer up a very personal perspective on coping with major changes in our lives with grace while helping our kids cope with their own change-related anxieties.
Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a sense of grace…here she is:

Let’s face it.  Having children is all about change.  I [...]

Family Eats – Summer Soups

Editor’s Note: Ah, Wednesday. Yummy day. Family chef Sarah Stromquist is here today offering up some tasty insight into Summer soups. delish.
Anytime of year soups are a wonderful way to enjoy a healthy and generally quick meal. Paired with a wrap, sandwich or some such delight they become a full meal.
But I usually think of [...]

Back to School Crafts – Clipboard Organizer

Editor’s Note: Crafting guru Vanessa Falle has come on board here at Our Big Earth to take us on a funky project-focused journey in the land of the creative. She’ll be here once a month bringing you cool ideas on how to make just about anything fabulous, and the major bonus is that she also [...]

Fast-Dry Towels for Active Families

We are big on the outdoors thing. I know it’s not a shocking statement if you’ve been following us here at Our Big Earth for a while. But, whether it’s the middle of a glorious Summer or the dead of a gloomy Winter, you’ll more than likely find us in the forest or on the [...]

Getaways – Victoria Family Staycations

There’s been a lot of talk from local tourism folks this year about it being the Summer of staycations. With folks out of work, scaling back and tightening their belts, the great family Summer holiday has taken a bit of a back seat. Staying close to home makes sense.
But, that doesn’t mean that we all [...]

Books for Girls Who Stand Out

Editor’s Note: Wow, what a gorgeous weekend. If you are wondering what to do with such a beautiful Saturday, come join the Our Big Earth crew out at the Filberg Lodge and Park in Comox today for Kids Day at the Park.
We’ll be there from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. helping kiddos make instruments out [...]

The Good & Bad About Fluoride

Editor’s Note: Good morning. Dr. Amy Wells is here today talking shop about teeth and the ongoing debate about the use of fluoride. As usual, I learned a ton of interesting information.
Enjoy your Friday.

The topic of teeth seems to keep popping up in our household this month.  My sister was horrified to report to me [...]

Traditions for Long-Distance Grandparents

Editor’s Note: Today we have Wendy Johnstone discussing long-distance grandparenting. Here she is:
It’s been a flurry of activity and excitement for Carly around our house for the past 3 weeks.  (Actually, if any of you know me personally, there’s never a shortage of excitement and flurry in our house).  However, the charge in our house is [...]

Farm to Family – Go Organic at Pattison Farms

When Gerry and Dagmar Pattison broke the news to their family 14 years ago that farming was their future, disbelief seemed the appropriate response.
After decades as a marketing professional, Gerry knew his decision to get back to the land would spark some wrinkled eyebrows.
But, they bought their first piece of land at Saratoga Beach and [...]

Natural Pod Tree Branch Blocks

Ken laughed at me. “You brought home a cut-up tree,” he quipped smuggly, looking at me like there were plenty of more useful things to have spent our money on.
Yep, I did indeed bring home a bag filled with a cut-up tree – a gorgeous, light, fun and imaginative tree.

He’d give that it was a [...]

SPROUTS – Getting The Most Out of Tomatoes

What’s growing in the garden? Some tasty treats to eat, bake, blend, and freeze!
Toe-may-toe. Toe-mah-toe. Yummy yum yum.
Now that Summer’s in full swing and my tomatoes are nearly 2 meters into the sky, each day brings me closer to harvesting these glorious red goodies! So far we have had about 15 grape tomatoes to snack [...]

Nature Journal – Captivated by Raptors

Editor’s Note: Good Morning. Today we have a special guest on site helping families learn about some of the coolest birds on the planet – raptors. Joanne Bentley runs Emrys Raptors in the Cowichan Valley, a fantastic spot for the whole family to learn and experience these majestic birds.
If you are headed south on [...]

Kid Science – All About Apples

Summer is starting to break a bit (gasp) and sooner rather than later it will be time to break out the turtlenecks and toques. The big sign for me that my favourite time of year is nearly upon us is the arrival of local apples at the market.
I am, thankfully, on the early end of [...]

Quick Kids Recipes – Zucchini Fries & Onion Rings

Good Morning. The first Wednesday of every month is usually reserved for restaurant reviews. But, we are clocking some chill time this month in preparation for proper introductions to some new foodie folks here on Our Big Earth. In the meantime family gardens around the Comox Valley are bursting with lots of onions and zucchini [...]

Homeschooling – Find the Right Curriculum

Now you’ve pulled your kids from the public schools, for reasons that vary from family to family and it’s time to decide what you are going to do with them at home.  Chances are your mother and/or mother-in-law are breathing down your neck about wrecking your kids’ future because they don’t go to school.  (Not [...]

Sunday Morning Walk – Willow Creek Conservation Area

Good Morning. I have to admit that it feels terribly strange to have no editor’s notes, calendars to keep up with or some place to be. Slow is not my normal pace. I’ll have to get used to it because Ken and I have promised that August – mostly – will be the month of [...]

Books for Hands-On Nature Learning

Our month-long adventure in local food may have come to an end. But that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped thinking local. On our adventure out to Miracle Beach Nature House the other day, I made a very lengthy pit stop at the Nature House’s book store and picked up two fantastic nature learning books for kids [...]

Intergenerational Music Programs for Toddlers

Editor’s Note: Good Morning. Wow has this last month flown by. As we head into these last two days of the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge, enjoy a couple of great Brambles demos. Today, think dairy goodness as the folks from Island Farms are on hand at 11 a.m.
Don’t forget that, in order [...]

Get Into Nature – Miracle Beach Nature House

Editor’s Note: Where could that second post from yesterday possibly have gone? The heat made my brain disintigrate into a pile of goo and my computer nearly melt down.
We’ll check out Saturday’s fun later this week.
Anyway, it’s time to chill out today with the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge and head over to [...]

Cougar and Bear Safety as a Family

Editor’s Note: Quick, rearrange your schedules, there is ALL KINDS OF CHEESE GOODNESS going on today as Natural Pastures Cheese Co. wraps up its month of cheese from around the world. Head on over to 635 McPhee Ave. in Courtenay for fantastic cooking demos at 11 a.m., Noon and 1 p.m. I know it’s killer [...]

Out and About – Does Sunscreen Equal Prevention?

Editor’s Note: Beat the heat today out at ASH Berry Farm as Don and Louisa McClellan host the final Farm Event of the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge. This fun day is all about berries, pigs (brings your veggie scraps to feed them) and farm sprinklers.
It’s all from 10 a.m. to 2 [...]

Foodie Crafts – Seashell Maracas

Editor’s Note: Good Morning. If you are looking for something fun to do in the local food universe today, be sure to head over to Brambles to meet the folks from Hazelmere Farms. Their unusual and tasty greens are a treat at any dinner table. The demo runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Meanwhile, as [...]

Store Review – Planet Kids Opens in Courtenay

Editor’s Note: Ah, cheese. GLORIOUS cheese. Natural Pastures Cheese Co. is hosting cheese making demos (and tastings) on the cheeses of Holland today at 11 a.m., Noon and 1 p.m. So, come out and discover the world of cheese, locally, at 635 McPhee in Courtenay.
Then, head right on over to Zen Zero in downtown Courtenay [...]

Nature Journal – The Edible Forest

Editor’s Note: Today, join us out at Tannadice Farms, 3465 Burns Road (just off of Condensory Road), for a great farm tour as part of the the Know Where Your Food Comes From Tour and the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Challenge. Heather and Allan will be on hand from 1 to 2:30 p.m. taking [...]

Family Eats – A Day of Local Food Meals

Editor’s Note: Good morning. There are some seriously exciting events going on today as a part of the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge. Join us out at Simms Park near the Kiwanis BBQ for NeighbourWood Eats where families gather for a potluck lunch and are learning how to Winter garden with the Comox [...]

Foodie Crafts – Homemade Dyes

Editor’s Note: Good Morning. It’s time for a mid-week meal as part of the 30-Day Food Challenge. I think I may try to talk the hubby into sneaking off to Bisque with me this afternoon. Locals and Anderton Bistro-Pub are open today too.
I’ve been cooking up a storm at home these last few weeks [...]

Dr. Amy Wells – Pesticides Effect on Kids

Editor’s Note: Good Morning! Today is the last day to get yourself registered for the 30-Day Challenge. Whether you make it to one or all of the events, registering means you get cool bonus material AND get a chance at all kinds of prizes. We are registering people live at Brambles from Noon to 6 [...]

Food Through the Generations

Editor’s Note: Bite-Sized Specialty Foods is going to be at Brambles from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. There is some serious yumminess going on, so I would head in the direction of downtown Courtenay and check it out.
I would also like to encourage you to take some time out at Noon today and attend [...]

Six Local Food Gems to Check Out

Editors Note: Today we are headed out to the Wednesday Farmers Market at Simms Park in Courtenay for the first of four NeighbourWood Eats events as part of the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge. Bring a picnic (including a dish to share) and join in near the band stand as kids get to [...]

Eat Local, Comox Valley – The Locavores at Locals

Editor’s Note: Locals – Food from the Heart of the Island is a Featured Restaurant in the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge. You can earn a stamp and cast your vote for the 2009 Yummy Awards at Locals as well as Bisque, The Great Escape and Anderton Bistro-Pub throughout the month.
If you [...]

SPROUTS – Family Greenhouse

Editor’s Note: Good morning. Thinking local food today is all about date night. Get on the horn to grandma or the babysitter and plan for a great evening of local food at Bisque, Anderton Bistro-Pub, The Great Escape (I am so in the mood for Indian food) or Locals-Food From the Heart of the Island [...]

Summer Crafts – DIY Canada Day Magnets

Ah, Canada Day.
I love this country and give it a solid go every year when it comes to busting out the patriotic gear. But, getting the tiny person plugged in to something more than the candy from the Canada parade is, well, challenging.
She’s at the age of dis-interest – too young for a bigger history [...]

Bobs and Lolo Rock Comox

My pal Ange is ground zero for all things kids and cool. She’s proven it over and over again as I can officially say that I’ve never been steered wrong by her kid sensibility. So, it’s no surprise that – when she heard years ago that the tiny person was seriously ocean-minded, she introduced us [...]

Maddy Erickson Reviews Fern Verdant

Editor’s Note: Good morning. Summer break kicks off this week and, for lots of parents, that means finding some perfect Summer reads for their families. Now, you can get some tips on THE tween Summer book list, and not from crazy, old parents.
Today, I’m excited to introduce Maddy Erickson as the newest addition to the [...]

Kids In The Arts – Rainbow Youth Theatre

I went into theatre to be a part of a family.  Not the kind of family with the “tantruming toddler  at the dinner table”, but a group of like minded theatre folks who get together to play and tell all sorts of magical stories.
I don’t join for the limelight and I certainly don’t take accolades [...]

Family Local Food, NeighbourWood Eats

Good morning. Registration for the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge is in full swing and we are excited to see people gearing up for the next month of learning how to eat local. If you’ve picked your challenge passport up from Brambles Market, be sure to register online here at OBE in order [...]

Foodie Crafts – Macaroni Necklaces & Musical Beans

It’s no shock that I am knee deep in the foodie universe right now. Between the garden, the food challenge and the general joy of eating when all of the goodness that is Vancouver Island food is in season, I can’t help myself.
The same seems to apply in the kid-style creative universe too. Seems like [...]

Mommy Talk – On Fatherhood

I am the first to admit that I totally take my husband for granted.
It’s an embarrassing reveal. There’s a part of myself that takes a bit of pride in owning the burden of primary parenthood. If there’s laundry to do, meals to cook, noses to wipe, temper tantrums to navigate – I’m the it girl [...]

Using Anti-Depression Meds in Pregnancy

I know the last few cool days of rain in the Valley are lovely, but the continuous sunshine just seems to be infecting us all with joy.  It is the start of the season of moist plums, laughter at the water park, sandy toes, breezy fragrant endless evenings, and picking out corn kernels from your [...]

Parent Wellness – Facing Fear

I had no choice.
I had to write this article about the fears that accompany motherhood. I apologize in advance for the heaviness of the topic. I realize it is a contrast from the usual sweet spirit of most Our Big Earth posts, but like I said, I had no choice.
Let me explain.
It [...]

Backyard Craft – Butterfly Feeders

Editor’s Note: Good morning. We’ve got a fun craft for you this morning. But, it’s this afternoon that brings big news here at Our Big Earth.
It’s a deliciously detailed dish comes with a month’s worth of community goodness, family fun of the foodie kind and the chance to win nearly $3,000 in tasty treats.
So [...]

Greening the Places that Children Play

Where Do The Children Play?
O.K. I’m dating myself but I’m sure you’ve heard of the peace lovin singer/song writer Cat Stevens. And who hasn’t heard of Dr. Seuss? One of my favorites books of his is The Lorax, while published 38 years ago the environmental message still rings true today.
What do the two have in [...]

Getaways – Comox Valley Shellfish Festival

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time in my head thinking up places and spaces where we can escape to for a couple of weeks this Summer.
We are – very seriously – in dire need of some unplugged family time of the leaving-town kind. But, while it may be a bit before we can [...]

Farm to Family – ASHBerry Farm

Don and Louisa McClellan once saw themselves as the unlikeliest of farmers.
Globe hopping with the Canadian Armed Forces, they lived in corners of the Earth most North Americans rarely see. But, it was that time away, and the start of a family, that brought a military pilot and his self-professed “B.C. hippie” bride back to [...]

Eco Crafts – Egg Carton Shadow Boxes & Rock Gardens

So, I have to say that it’s a good thing that the only people who have been subjected to the condition of our house lately are my sweet friend Kathy and her family. While she might think “Oh my God, don’t touch anything!” and her lovely little girl did actually ask if she could help [...]

Books Review – Fairy Folk & Spring Day Dreams

Long hot days this time of year make me want to find a big, giant maple tree to spread a blanket out under, unpack a lunch full of cool veggies and fruit and lay back to begin a few hours of uninterrupted day dreaming.
Since the likelihood of that happening is less than the odds of [...]

SPROUTS – Get the Low Down on Good Garden Bugs

Editor’s Note: I am loving all of this time in the garden this time of year. My mother-in-law might wonder “What time in the garden is she talking about? I never see her in the backyard.” It’s true. It seems that most of my time is spent out at the Comox Valley Regional District Compost [...]

I’m Supposed to Be Having A Baby

It’s all I have left of him – a pair of footprints locked away, never to be seen again, and a single heart filled with petals that hangs in the kitchen window.
I had convinced myself, for a long time, that this week would come, I would acknowledge it and we would continue on.
Life, it doesn’t [...]

Restaurant Review – April Point Resort

I have this general theory these days that, once a month, we need to get the heck off of the island.
With the ferry to Vancouver forcing us to take a personal loan out to go to the aquarium, we’ve decided that means island hopping of the more local kind.
The Discovery Islands are awesome, and I’m [...]

Choices & Good Books About Homeschooling

Since our daughter was about 18 months old and I started looking into the whole idea of homeschooling, I was pretty much sold on doing the learning at home thing.
We are a hands-on bunch to begin with, spending lots of our time looking for bugs in the forest, trying to figure out what bird we [...]

Sunday Morning Walks – Quinsam River

Good morning. It’s another gorgeous island Sunday, which seems like the perfect time to recommend a walk in the woods.
Beachy sunshine is so fantastic. But, when the temps start pushing the high 20s, I start thinking about heading toward the cool shade of the forest.
That’s exactly what we did yesterday, checking out the Quinsam River [...]

Retro Saturday – Natural Nature Journals

OK, I concede. I’m EX-HAUSTED. There’s this great delusion in my head that if I just keep going my energy won’t realize that it has been non-existant since July of 2005:)
Anyway, I logged 13 hours of sleep last night (about 3 times my normal) and the price was no e-mails answered, no posts written, no [...]

Kids In The Arts – Exploration Art Camp

Today I had a chat with my friend Heili Garcia. She’s got this fun, fantastic Summer art adventure going again this year and can’t wait to share her stories about art boot camp.
Exploration Art Camp began up on Mt. Washington in 1990 and the original facilitators were Heili, Lea Mann and Penny MacCullough (all of [...]

Esther Kane – Mindful Eating Roadblocks (Part 2)

Editor’s Note: Speaking of mindful eating, get yourselves on over to the Today Party from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at Karen McKinnon’s studio, 4th Street and Cliffe Avenue (enter in the parking lot behind Brambles).
There will be cupcakes to decorate and take to someone special, not to mention a few to nosh on [...]

Green-e-ology – Green Your Kid’s Birthday Party

Editor’s Note: Today Suzanne Corrin, owner of Green Planet Parties in Port Moody has dropped by to give us some seriously great tips on how to green our kids birthday parties.
I have to say that I personally love the Suzanne’s (both owners are named Suzanne) and their products. After searching high and low for [...]

Parent Appreciation from the “Middle Place”

A few months back, a friend sent me a YouTube internet link that led me on a journey. The link was to Kelly Corrigan reading words about women and strength in a speech she calls “Transcending.”
A full Kleenex box later, I was ordering her book The Middle Place and within days of receiving the [...]

Nature Craft – Flower Chains

Good morning! It’s that time of year where the big debate in our house over what flowers can and cannot be picked rages wild.
Pretty much, our kiddo would prefer to pick every flower in sight.
Wild, someone else’s, grandma’s favourite in the garden – it doesn’t matter. Flowers should be for picking, she believes.
Since not everyone [...]

Come and Celebrate Community with Cupcakes

I have to start this one out with a big, gushy moment. I love you guys. Seriously, you are inspiring.
There is a purposefulness about all of you that I want to forever linger in – that warmth, sense of place, community and love for others is unmatched and I am so very grateful to connect [...]

Guides for Tiny Explorers

Good Morning. With the sun making a regular appearance these days and our NeighbourWood Walks finally started back up, we are spending a whole lot more time outside right now.
My scientist kid told me the other day that she wants to be a paleontologist (actual use of the word, which makes my jaw drop) when [...]

Grand Parents – A Love That Defines Generations

Editor’s Note: Good Morning. I am over the moon to have Solutions for Seniors Eldercare Planning’s Wendy Johnstone here this morning to kick off our new Grant Parents column.
Wendy brings with her a lovely, warm, soulful perspective on learning, love and compassion through the generations and I am truly honoured that she has agreed to [...]

For the Love of it – Good Earth Farms

One day, not so long ago, there was a couple who would soon know that a life in the garden would be something they made together.
On that first date, the guy – Simon Toole – brought with him some home grown gems and seeds he’d saved and offered them to a gal named Heather.
That day, [...]

Blog Book Tour – Crocodaddy

Once in a while we jump in on the KidBookBuzz.com Blog Book Tour and today we are checking out the very sweet, dad-focused tale of fun Summer imagination Crocodaddy by Kim Norman, illustrated by David Walker.
Early readers and picture books are the hot thing at our house right now – right next to crazy creatures [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Aline Wittwer of Benino Gelato

Editor’s Note: Happy Mother’s Day!!!
I could wax on for days about motherhood. But, this year – I have to say – is the year of inspired motherhood for me. The women in my life – so many of them mothers even if they do not have their own children – are remarkable.
They have guided [...]

Bike to Work Week Goes Bike to the Playground

When we first heard about Bike to Work Week, Ken and I chuckled a bit talking about pulling the tiny person’s tricycle in from the back porch and riding it from the bedroom to the office – which involves a short, straight hallway and just enough time to pick up speed for an awkward crash.

Just [...]

Reclaiming Our Childhood Connection to Nature

Editor’s Note: Good morning. Today, local mom and outdoor education advocate Barb Haffner is her to kick off her regular Nature Journals column on OBE.
In my own experience, getting kids outside and letting them discover the natural world for themselves is a remarkably eye-opening experience. From the relationships that they develop with other children to [...]

Restaurant Review – Maple Noodle House

I need some help. Seriously, my poor family is suffering from “Mommy hates to cook” syndrome.
By the time I get to 4:30 p.m. every day my enthusiasm for the kitchen is sooooooo not happening. I would rather eat nothing than spend an hour cooking a meal. It has become my drudgery – the one thing [...]

Mom-Rated Family Learning Websites

The kiddo totally decides what is cool in our house.
Yeah, I lead her in directions I would like to see her pursue. But, cripes if she thinks my coffee filter butterflies are lame and I am a dork for any number of not-so-veiled attempts and exercising my parental will in the educational universe lately.
She likes [...]

Summer Planning – Tips for Traveling with Kids

Editor’s Note: So, I woke up this morning, doing my normal morning thing, and hit 9:50 a.m., was in the middle of answering about 1.2 million e-mails, and realized I hadn’t posted yet today.
Some days…I feel like I need a brain transplant.

The good news is you don’t have me writing something unintelligible here today [...]

Great Canadian Kids Nature Books

Spring brings out the scientist in me (ha, you all laugh. When am I not in science girl mode?)
I am a botanist/ecologist/microbiologist/nature loving curious type from the word go. But, this time of year I get serious about our nature learning and head out into the deep forest of the local bookstore for some non-library [...]

SPROUTS – Creating a Kids Garden

Another sunny day. Everyone loves it when warm days blow in. With all this good weather I can finally tackle the weeds that have been meandering in my garden beds and deadhead a few of the plants that escaped me in the Fall.

It is so refreshing to be outside for hours these days – with [...]

Spring NeighbourWood Walks Series Delayed

Good morning. It was a troubled evening last night as I continued to read about the increasing global concern over the spread of Swine Flu – particularly in North America.
There are now at least 19 cases confirmed in Canada – including one in Victoria – and the World Health Organization has raised the alert level [...]

Register Today for Family Community Garden Plots

I have a huge confession to make. My thumb, it’s brown. I’ve perfected the art of picking and eating veggies, am a big fan of the farmer’s market and all things farm stand related. But, please, don’t give me something and ask me to make it grow. The chance of seeds actually becoming veggies is [...]

Nature Crafts – Building Bird Nests for Kids

Good Morning. I’m still basking in the glow of festival goodness from the weekend. I feel like the tiny person saw enough and made a few very important discoveries about taking care of the Earth this weekend that got her brain moving even more in conservationist mode.
Leave it to a nearly 4-year-old’s bluntly honest ways [...]

Plan Some Family Fun in May

Did I say May? This year is racing by at the speed of light for me. I can’t believe we’re already nearing the middle of 2009. But, what that does mean is that things are starting to get very, very busy again around the region and doing some family fun planning for the next month [...]

Earth Day Family Fest is All About Community

Right around Noon yesterday I looked across Simms Park from where I was guiding folks to art making, terrarium construction, binocular building and wool felting and spotted my childhood.
There stood about 15 or 20 kiddos, potato sacks pulled up to their waists, waiting, waiting, waiting – GO!
Down the field hopped smiling faces, laughing, cheering, testing [...]

Esther Kane – Mindful Eating Road Blocks (Part 1)

Editor’s Note: Good Morning! We are here today hanging out with Esther Kane.
But, if you are out and about, be sure to come on over to Simms Park and hang in the Our Big Earth Family & Kids Zone at the 2009 Earth Day Family Festival. It’ll be packed with projects like a community art [...]

Green-e-ology – Equitable Eating’s Many Forms

Genetic engineering. Antibiotics. Pesticides. Additives. Air pollution. Animal welfare. Economics. Irradiation. Hormones. rBGH. Water pollution.
Now that I’ve got your attention, do you think about any of the above before making food choices?
If so, then you’ve likely been far ahead of me for years. I’m a little slow with the food.

[give that head [...]

Kids In The Arts – Get Perspective on Competition

I had a conversation a while back with someone who asked why I did not place my students in competition.  When I conveyed my mandate of non-competition the reply was, “Oh, you mean just for fun.”

This is an interesting perspective because it is not necessarily what I have in mind when I talk [...]

Earth Day – Top 10 Reasons to Eat Local

Happy Earth Day!
It’s Food & Your Family day here at Our Big Earth. With all the talk around food sustainability and the ever-increasing prices at the grocery store these days, there are a lot of questions about why local food is such a big deal.
There are a ton of scientifically significant reasons why food that [...]

Earth Day Crafts – Binoculars & Mini Journals

Editor’s Note: This week we are plugging in to all things Earth Day and thinking green as we work our way toward Saturday when we celebrate island-style with the Earth Day Family Festival.
Our Big Earth is running the Kids and Family Zone and, whoa, there is some seriously fun, green-ness on the schedule. Check it [...]

Monday Morning Mom Poll – Green Dish Soap

Good Morning! Today’s topic – finding green dish washing soap and dishwasher detergent – is seriously hot.
When I sent out a note to the usual Mom Poll suspects last week, the general response from nearly everyone was “I can’t wait to hear what everyone else says because we haven’t gone green in the soap department [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – The Value of Success Circles

Editor’s Note: Good Morning! Today we have small business consultant Karae White, owner of Morgan Ebbett Career Services, here to talk to us about how developing a tight-knight circle of business associates can be a valuable tool that helps you resolve business issues, flesh out ideas and even stretch your marketing dollars.
But, first, a quick [...]

Book Review – Earth Day Stories

Good Morning! It’s time!
Today is HUGE in the OBE universe as we kick off a week’s worth of fantastic Earth Day good times with the opening of our new Family Community Gardens in partnership with the Comox Valley Regional District.
The ribbon cutting is the culmination of a day’s worth of family-friendly events including those fun [...]

Where is The Love? Finding Time for Each Other

“It feels like I’m running a daycare with someone I used to date.” I’m not sure who the frustrated husband is who made this remark about parenting, but it really struck me and made me laugh.  I think the statement was particularly meaningful because I fell in love with my husband 13 years ago… at [...]

Lower Grocery Bills with Smart Food Planning

Editor’s Note: Sarah Stromquist is here this morning with her supermom advice (she’s amazing) on how to shop, cook and plan smart while keeping to a strict grocery budget.
That leads me to our Earth Day thought for the day.
Think local.
I know, I know. It’s all the rage. But there’s a good reason for it.
When you [...]

Earth Day Craft – Recycled Paper Bag Puppets

Editor’s Note: For the next few Tuesdays, we’ll be featuring art projects that you can come out and do with us at Earth Day events that Our Big Earth is taking part in.
Today’s project – recycled paper bag puppets – will be one of the fun projects your kids can try out when you head [...]

Spring NeighbourWood Walks Registration…x2

I am so excited to say that the Our Big Earth NeighbourWood Walks program is officially one year old. We’ve completed four seasons of walking in the woods, on the trails and at the shoreline, exploring nature kid-style. (By the way, this is double-post Tuesday. I’ll have some crafts for you this afternoon)
And, with that [...]

Mom Review – Woodland Rogue

Editor’s Note: In honor of Earth Day (April 22) and all of the exciting OBE events going on like the CVRD Earth Day celebrations and ribbon cutting on the new Family Community Gardens this Saturday, we’ll be focusing the next couple of weeks on ways that you can think green and live gently on the [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Keli Carpenter of Warriors Realm & Raw Realm

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Getaways – Family Time on Quadra Island

When I sit down to plan a bit of a family escape, my mind has always wandered toward the west side of Vancouver Island. With all of its tide pooling, surfers and sea life, the West Coast has its beauty. But, lately, I’ve been dreaming spending some serious time on another island.

The northern islands – [...]

Prevention to Keep Kids Asthma at Bay

As I chase my toddler around the backyard on these Spring afternoons, I breathe deeply the fresh newness of this season.  I watch as my little guy gets out of breath from running, takes a quick five-second rest and recovers enough to continue playtime.  I take a minute to be thankful for his gift of [...]

Family & Freshness – Seaview Game Farm

Editor’s Note: This is a bittersweet day as Robyn Butler hangs up her OBE columnist pen when she moves into her new role as our advertising and marketing associate.
I have been inspired over the last half a year to spend way more time cruising the local farm scene. Eating local is as easy as it [...]

Homeschooling – Choose The Right Books

Editor’s Note: Good Morning. Today, Royston farmer and homeschooling mom Louisa McClellan is here to talk shop on how to find the right books for your kids.
Reading is a HUGE part of our lives around here and I, seriously, pound through dozens of books a month searching for the gems out there (long live the [...]

Register – SPROUTS Children’s Gardening Series

Good morning. After such a gorgeous weekend filled with beach, trail, art, Easter events and all kinds of Spring-like fun, it seems like the perfect time this morning to open up registration for the first SPROUTS Children’s Gardening Series in partnership with the Comox Valley Regional District.
A while back, the CVRD’s  Education and Event Coordinator [...]

Books for Tom Boys & Spring

Good morning. It’s super late for me to be getting going this morning (8 a.m., yikes!). I am totally dragging my butt today in the work universe, mostly because I have plans to ditch the office long enough to spend the ENTIRE DAY outside combing beaches, roaming trails and wrapping it all up with a [...]

SPROUTS – Composting, Family-Style

Editor’s Note: Good Morning. SPROUTS gardening goddess Kendra Quince is here to kick off our Earth Month goodness with a quick lesson in composting.
While I’ve got you thinking gardening, this gives me the chance to announce some big news here at Our Big Earth.
On Monday morning (April 6), if you wake up bright and early [...]

Get Organized – Planning Out A Nursery

Editor’s Note: Today the lovely and ever-organized Arran Kerrigan drops by to give us the scoop on getting the nursery organized.
I sure could have used this advice the first time around. I’m still looking for that pair of Canucks Robeez that disappeared about six weeks after the tiny person was born.
Organization is something I could [...]

Restaurant Review – Benino Gelato

 
There we were, standing at the corner of Fourth and Cliffe a few days ago snacking down in gelato, chatting up Benino Gelato mother-daughter team Ruth and Aline about life in general when it occurred to me that I had yet to chat up our most favourite afternoon treat locale with OBE readers.
Maybe it was [...]

Crafty Imagination – Easter Masks

Is anybody else dealing with some seriously crazed kiddos lately? I’m hoping there’s something in the air and our tiny person hasn’t gone completely bonkers because she’s more than a wee bit wound up these days.
Normal, relatively quiet crafting that would normally take place around our house is not even an option at the moment. [...]

Family Fitness – Safety Keeps You Fit on the Trails

Editor’s Note: Good Morning. Today we’re hanging out with Equilibrium Lifestyle Management owner Sarah Seads as she gets us geared up for long Spring days out on the trails or at the beach.

After this crazy Winter, I know I’m totally excited to get back out there and spend some quality time working out and [...]

Sunday Morning Walk – Time to Tide Pool

The starfish are calling. I’m totally serious, they’re wondering where all of the humans are. They’ve finally come up for some air after a long, chilly Winter under water.
So, it must be time for us to dig out the wellies and head for the waves…or at least the low tide line.
This is the time of [...]

Parent Health – Managing Blasts From The Past

Many of my clients express confusion and concern about the new complexities of human relationships Facebook and other websites that have resulted from the advent of that make you easily accessible to the world, including people from your past.
I, personally, took myself off of Facebook after about two weeks precisely for this reason.
Clients often [...]

Green-e-ology: Hanging Laundry = Big Savings

Showing up at my house unannounced on a laundry day during Winter months has people wondering if they’ve entered some type of laundry house.
Clothes are hanging to dry ALL over.
Shirts, jeans, socks and underwear are in plain view.
[that’s right, even underwear]
I make good use of my wooden drying rack and the four dining table chairs.
When [...]

Growing Children with Song

Editor’s Note: This morning, Comox Valley Children’s Choir Director Carol Anne Parkinson has stopped by to talk about the wonderful ways song can help your children grow strong.
Music was a huge part of my childhood. It gave me the space to be that could be found no place else.
Enjoy!

From my very earliest memories, I [...]

Fostering A Community Without Hunger – LUSH

Food security is a hot topic these days and one enterprising local non-profit is putting the Valley on the map when it comes to sustainable practices.
The folks at Lush Valley Food Action Society are seriously committed to the health and well-being of us Valley folk by offering a whole load of fun and encouragement when [...]

Local Youth, Helen Austin Create “Island Home”

So, a while back the Shape The Future Comox Valley folks invited me to give a quick talk to the crew at their meeting of local residents focused on developing a sustainability plan for the Valley.
While I was there to talk to the adults, I was totally wowed by a crew of Huband Park Elementary [...]

Crafty Imagination – Cardboard Cameras

If there’s one thing our daughter could spot a mile away, it would be a camera lens. For the last 3.75 years, she’s had that thing in her face nearly non-stop without much complaint at all.
In fact, for most of that time, she barely noticed the thing constantly hanging around mommy’s neck. Unlike most kids [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Boundaries vs. Balance

Editor’s Note: Karen McKinnon is dropping by today to offer up her insight into life as a mom in business for herself.
If anyone can lend a hand in working the kinks out, it would be Karen. With her busy house, growing business and warm sensibility, she’s mastering the art of learning how to say [...]

Book Review – Art Science & Messy Math

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a kid who wanted to move her life to one centrally scientific and seriously fun location – Science World.
Somewhere between the dinosaurs and Lego land, her brain engaged the science universe (or at least the serious fun universe) and now there’s no turning [...]

All Maternity Leave Is Not Created Equal

Sometimes I think people who stay in one place for long periods of time are the smartest people I know. There is wisdom to just being happy where you are.
I have been bouncing around the world over the past decade and although we are broke and exhausted, there were some advantages. You gain some serious [...]

Family Eats – Kitchen Tools 4 Family Cooking Fun

My kiddos each have a preference for certain tasks in the kitchen. Wearing their aprons and standing on their designated stools, they have mastered many duties and discovered their kitchen karma.
My youngest, E, loves to peel, cut and stir literally everything.
My oldest, K, is a precise measurer and is the self-professed best recipe finder. She [...]

Crafts for Boys – Marble Mech

Just call him the gadget man. If there is one thing Ken has always loved, it’s figuring something out. He’s not a guy who gets under the hood of a car or hides out in the garage building things. But, he digs figuring the science of things out – especially when it looks a little [...]

The Making of a Mom Entrepreneur – Voice

I had NO IDEA what I was doing when I first started Comox Valley Kids.
That’s not entirely true. I’d been writing professionally for about 17 years – a serious bonus. But, really, it wasn’t about the writing for me. The trick came with figuring out what “I” sounded like. It seems a little silly, since [...]

Get Away – The Brant Wildlife Festival

Good Morning! With Spring Break upon us it seems like the perfect time to scramble for something cool to take the company to or get the family together for.
Easier said than done.
I’ve said it probably way too much. But, Spring is one of the most amazing times of the year on Vancouver Island. [...]

Kids Health – The Pros of Probiotics

Nature provides us with a bundle of resources that help heal our bodies.  There are definitely a handful that I couldn’t operate my practice without, one of which is probiotics.
Probiotics, also known as good gut bacteria or acidophilus, are receiving more attention for their impact on health.  The literal translation is “for life” as it [...]

KidSports – Our Hockey Preschooler

How could I forget that day two Octobers ago when Ken and the tiny person hit the ice for the first time.
It was love at first sight – for both of them.
The trainer skates we’d picked up for our daughter seemed the perfect way to start her off easy. But, she’d have none of this [...]

Go Old Skool (and delicious) at DeeKayTee Ranch

Ah, how I live for Saturday mornings. It’s become a necessary ritual to indulge in some “me-time,” and my favorite way to cap off yet another busy week is to set out to explore what’s fun on the farm market scene in our beautiful little corner of the Earth.
My latest discovery is DeeKayTee Ranch, [...]

Home Learning – Life Cycles for Preschoolers

OK, so there are a couple realities to working on “learning” projects with a preschooler:
1. Attention span that generally amounts to nanoseconds
2. The constant reminder that 37-year-old mom obviously knows far less than 3.5-year-old child
3. Permanent mess syndrome
4. Sitting at the dining room table is the LAST thing on anyone’s mind when the sun is [...]

Mom Poll – Tips to Sneak In Food Kids Won’t Eat

It’s the ultimate parenting dilemma – how to get your kids to eat healthy foods.
There’s always the theory that if you never give things like candy and cookies, pizza and McDonalds to them that kids will never know what they are missing – until a friend of yours catches your kiddo in the corner [...]

An Interview with BC Kids Book Author Scott Higgs

Good morning. Today we’re checking out the charming tales of Haley & Bix, two best friends who are sweet, caring and totally cool.
Our daughter and I picked up the first in the series: Haley & Bix, Best Friends No Matter What, a while back and totally loved this easy reader.
So, we jumped at the chance [...]

SPROUTS – Early Spring Kid Gardening Fun

Brrr, it’s chilly.
On those afternoons when the bright sun makes it tolerable, I stroll aimlessly around my garden with hopeful ideas of planting.
My daughter and I sample a bite from a patch of oregano as it pokes its head out of one of my veggie gardens.  In the front yard we marvel over little yellow [...]

Moms in Need Seek Affordable Fitness Trainer

As parents, we will do almost anything to ensure that our children are healthy and well cared for.
We do whatever it takes to get them to eat their veggies, give them creative/ play time, and make sure they get adequate sleep and exercise each day.
Our priority is to give them the best possible start, all [...]

Restaurant Review – Cumberland Village Bakery

When we discovered, much like the rest of us around here, that our daughter is wheat intolerant, I personally mourned the loss of the bakery.
Yes, it had been at least a couple of years before that when muffins, cookies and crusty bread went the way of the Dodo for me after I discovered that wheat [...]

Preschool Craft – Marble Painting

Editor’s Note: While we usually run our homeschooling column this first Tuesday of the month, we are trading Tuesdays in order to welcome our newest OBE partner – Let ‘Em Loose Play Land.
This fun family-friendly, energy releasing indoor play land in Campbell River has re-opened to the public full time and we are excited to [...]

Monday Morning Mom Poll – Toilet Paper

Seriously, I kid you not, today we are talking TP. If there is one thing that I struggle with EVERY time I put it in the grocery cart, it’s toilet paper.
Ummmmm, not going to go without it. Can’t think of a way to make me think I’m doing something eco for the universe by using [...]

Sunday Morning Walk – Pt. Holmes Beach

Editor’s Note: Parents, one of the lasting legacies we can leave for our kids is the way our communities are allowed to develop today. Preserving parkland, ensuring smart, green development, making use of land in a way that nurtures nature as well as inspires a thoughtful business community is crucial.
We as parents now have an [...]

Digital Dating & The Single Mom

Editor’s Note: Esther Kane is back today to talk about digital dating for single moms and I have a quick digital dating success story to share – mine.
Ken and I had moved to Seattle within two weeks of each other eight years ago, and both of us for just about all the reasons Esther points [...]

Green-e-ology – Save Money, Unplugged

Not so long ago I was searching online for power saving ideas (no gigantic bill this time, just pure curiosity).
I came across information about power usage for electronic devises that are not in use and was amazed to learn that many electronic devices continue to use power when switched off, or in stand-by mode.
This continuous [...]

Kids In The Arts – Get Them Dancing

Dance in the Comox Valley is absolutely on fire.  Given a population of less than 70,000 people, you would assume one or two choices for your tyke would be the maximum a community of this size could sustain.
When I was approached to take over leadership of Pantuso Dance I looked at the fact that there [...]

Preschool Crafts – Salad Spinner Painting

Editor’s Note: It’s no news flash that we are big fans of art around our house. But, I have to admit that I’ve been finding myself in serious need of inspiration and a little artistic freedom that the dining room table just isn’t currently capable of offering.
So, our daughter and I have been hitting Becky [...]

Mom Review – Eco-Friendly Bedroom Paint

About 18 months ago, I took it upon myself to paint our daughter’s room. Yellow with red trim – bright and cheery yet not overly girlie. At 2, she could have cared less, excited only to be out of her crib and happy to have access to most of her toys long after she should [...]

Mom’s Office – Must-Have Organizational Tools!

Editor’s note: Good Morning! As part of our ongoing commitment to fostering the entrepreneurial spirit of moms everywhere, we are launching our Mom-P-Inc Small Business Consultation column on OBE this morning.
This is a space where moms with ideas brewing, new businesses on the launch, a position in a larger company or solid businesses in [...]

Stories for you Ears with Odds Bodkin

There once was a little, orange record player. You know, the kind that had it’s own case that you could close up, tucking the electric cord inside and would play LPs or 45s if you hadn’t lost the little insert that made the tiny records fit on the turn table.
It followed me everywhere – on [...]

Fit Pregnancy is Possible (and fun!)

How are your New Year’s resolutions going?  Did you manage to start eating healthy, exercise daily, be good to your family, and meditate all while living in the NOW?
We all know how hard it is to keep promises to ourselves.  It can be even more difficult to set goals and achieve them while you are [...]

Parent Wellness – Trading Tots for Time

Editor’s Note: Happy Thursday. I am so excited to introduce Comox mama of two Marcie Dumais and her wise parenting ways as she shares her take on parenting and taking care of ourselves.
I am legendary in the “can’t ask for help” universe – some weird mental health issue that I apparently need to take some [...]

Family Eats – Getting Your Kids In The Kitchen

Editor’s Note: Good Morning and welcome to our first installment of Family Eats – a journey in getting kids back into the kitchen – with lovely local mama Sarah Stromquist and her family.
Sarah lets us peek inside the food-friendly evolution of her family and the family-friendly evolution of her kitchen, offering insight, tips, recipes and [...]

Crafts for Boys – Recycled Space Robot

Need I say more? The Dad in our house is here to share. He’s all imagination, goofiness, a love of recess and the reality that Star Wars will never die.
Have fun with our first project…
…and take the Craftizmos ROBOT CHALLENGE! Make your own version of this creature from the Planet Recycle and win the Clone [...]

Monday Morning Mom Poll – Wet Gear

We are back at the kitchen table talking shop today about what outdoor kids gear has proven out as most necessary, and most fantastic, as we take this sunny, balmy February week and pretend like it will last until October.:)
Moms, take it away:

I’ll chime in first with our deep and abiding love of Kidorable rain [...]

Making of a Mom Entrepreneur – How OBE Began

NOTE: Robin will be writing about the evolution of Our Big Earth – offering insight on how everyday moms can create the life’s work they envision – every month here on OBE. Check back in for tools, tips, tricks, ideas and inspiration. Plus, take a peek inside the Our Big Earth machine and get a [...]

KidSports – Big Fun, Build Skills with New T-Ball

Editor’s Note: Good Morning! It may be still be Winter, but all signs point to sunshine and outside fun – including T-BALL REGISTRATION, which begins Monday morning (Feb. 16) at the Lewis Centre, Comox Rec and Happy ’s Source for Sports (on Sixth in Courtenay).
That also means there couldn’t be a better time to [...]

Healing Childhood Eczema Naturally

Our skin is an amazing thing. The largest detoxifying organ of our body, our skin functions as a protective barrier from the outside world while providing a route of elimination for waste products within.
As kids, our skin takes a beating.
Learning to walk results in tumbles and bruises. Bike riding spills end up with [...]

Preserving the Comox Valley, One Bite at a Time

When Karen Pattison bottles up local crops using the age-old tradition of preserving fruits and vegetables, she’s also preserving fond memories of her childhood in Willow Point near Campbell River.
Now the owner of Bite Size Specialty Foods, she grew up eating tasty veggies from her grandparents’ garden in their neighbouring property. And after a lifetime [...]

Family Craft – Keepsake Flower Petal Valentines

M and Ken wandered into the recovery room after my surgery nearly three Fridays ago with piles of flowers and a Tim Horton’s Boston cream doughnut.
The doughnut lasted about 30 seconds. The flowers, a fair bit longer.
When it came time to empty out the vases, I couldn’t bring myself to just ditch them. To me, [...]

Monday Morning Mom Poll – Green Laundry Soap

Welcome to Monday. If yours is anything like our house, one of the biggest challenges we have with being more eco-minded is the constant din of the washer and/or dryer. We hang clothes year-around and try like heck to keep the laundry low. But, it seems like someone is always down in the basement throwing [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Rhonda Parker of Well-Balanced Fitness & Bodywork

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Magic Tales of Unicorns, Dwarves & Discovery

Our house seems to draw a huge crowd of the mystical and magical lately. Every since we discovered Forest Fairies with the help of our friend Maureen (of Strong Start fame) and The Last Unicorn showed up in the DVD player, our house transformed into a fairytale land that pretty much skips the prince and [...]

SPROUTS – Plan Your Family Garden

I’m getting excited! The odd peek at sunshine and warmer afternoons means Spring is on its way!
I may have a few months to go before I can even plant outside, but I can already taste the sweet harvest… that means its time for me and the kids to start planning our family garden
After [...]

Homeschooling – Child-Guided Learning

Editor’s note: Today, homeschooling mom Susan Spyker joins us with her first homeschooling column. Susan has spent years educating her children at home – exploring a huge variety of learning paths including Waldorf, Montessori and more.
Her insight into giving children the space to discover how they learn best is a great first step for [...]

Restaurant Review – Lunch Time Crown Isle Style

When someone mentions heading to Crown Isle for the afternoon – where golf and getaways are the style – it generally doesn’t evoke that family-friendly vibe. In fact, the first time my mother-in-law suggested that she and I head up to the Silverado Steak House for lunch with the tiny person, I thought she had [...]

Family Craft – Paper Tulip Garden

One of my major small successes during the doldrums of any dark and rainy February is to brighten up the house with signs of Spring in any way humanly possible.
If I could paint sunshine and blue skies on all of the windows and not know that if I went outside the sky would be five [...]

Product Review – ELC Travel Felts

Welcome to our first official Monday Product Reviews post. Mondays, they pretty much leave us all needing a bit of therapy. So, why not the savvy retail kind? This is a place where you’ll get the chance to talk shop about all kinds of kids, household and outdoor gems that make your life healthier, greener, [...]

Our Big Earth – Now with 35% More Content

Good morning! February has started off with its usual gray and rainy patina outside. But, it kicks off with a bright, lively celebration here at Our Big Earth.
Today, we unveil a new tab structure to make it easier to find the features you are looking for as well as some fantastic new features, columnists and [...]

Win Kids Gear with the Click of the Camera

M and I just spent an hour or so watching the gorgeous sunrise this morning and, while we were busy telling stories about unicorns in the clouds and watching them change lovely, mid-Winter shades of pink and orange, she belted out “This needs a picture mommy. Go get the camera.”
While I passed, wanting more to [...]

Learning to Live With Loss – Together

 
Down a Friday post, Ken and I hashed through a whole whack of topics that seemed a perfect fit to jump into while we all piled into our bed for movie night with the kiddo yesterday.
Taking a look at your water usage and how critical it is to start reigning ourselves in terms of consumption [...]

Family Literacy – Caldecott Award-Winning Style

Good morning. For the last few days, I’ve been meaning to pull something substantial together as a part of Family Literacy Week in Canada. But, my mental idea bank wasn’t letting me withdraw much in the way of anything labeled “substantial.”
Thankfully, there are brilliant people out there who are great at lending a hand in [...]

Enjoy A Local Chinese New Year Feast

With the Lunar New Year starting Monday (January 26), what better time to gather the family and celebrate by creating a local feast to commemorate the Year of the Ox.
In Chinese culture, food prepared during this celebratory season is meant to bring luck as many dishes have symbolic meaning in relation to their appearance and [...]

Family Craft – Paper Robots

Another snowy morning in the Valley means another day at the craft table for us. The cold and our daughter have no issues. As for me, I prefer a cozy blanket and a cup of tea (actually, back to coffee) right now – and she’s currently very accommodating.
When we got back from Victoria, she immediately [...]

Winter NeighbourWood Walks Registration

Good Morning.
If you all are anything like us, this crazy Winter of snow, snow and more snow followed up by freezing, fog and more fog has left us a bit less active outside than usual.
I always need a bit of group motivation to get me outside when the weather looks much more suited for a [...]

Restaurant Review – Sushi Kobo, Takeout Goodness

Growing up in the Rocky Mountains, sushi wasn’t exactly on my list of favourite foods as a child. Actually, it wasn’t until I moved to the West Coast in 2001 that it even showed up on my radar.
For our tiny person, though, sushi and the yummy sides that go with it is one of those [...]

Family Craft – Your Animal Family Genealogy

As my belly gets bigger, there are TONS of questions about how families are made and our ongoing “Family Tree” project expands, I found myself a little stumped recently when working out age-appropriate ways to talk with our 3.5 year old about families and who goes where.
Traditional genealogy – packed full of research and hunts [...]

Sunday Morning Walk – Courtenay Riverway

Good Morning. Hopefully, the strange fog that’s been dominating our days is headed in a different direction as we look forwarded to a bit of sunshine. But, in the mean time, checking out the cool effects of light and clouds – all while getting a front-row seat to hang out with some of the most [...]

Winter Nutrition From The Grocery “Garden”

Another new year! But with the remnants of snow it is hardly a time to be gardening. So I thought we’d take a look at a few common foods available at the grocery “garden!”
Typically the new year ushers in new year’s resolutions, and eating healthier is a common goals after the onslaught of Christmas [...]

Kid’s Mental Health Effected By Heavy Metal Toxicity

During this time of environmental uncertainty, we’re all doing our part as parents to protect our kids against pesticides, hormones in our food, plastic by-products and heavy metals from various sources.
Because our children’s bodies are smaller and made up of fewer cells, equal amounts of pollutants and chemicals are exponentially more toxic to our little [...]

Sir Ken Robinson – Creativity, Crux of Education

A few weeks ago, as he often does, Ken slipped me a link to a www.ted.com talk on creativity in education. Ted, Ken and I have developed a long-standing mutual affection. So when I saw the link wasn’t a Saturday Night Live skit from Youtube (Ken likes to send those along too), I snuggled up [...]

Local Fresh Bread – Wheat- & Gluten-Free

Eating wheat-free or gluten-free doesn’t mean you have to give up foods you love! It seems these days.
Many families have to eliminate wheat products from the household grocery list because of intolerance or allergy. Bread lovers (myself included) find it hard enough to curb this staple from our daily diet (who can resist carbs!), and [...]

Family Craft – Glitter Mushrooms

We are having more than a wee bit of trouble getting our rears out of bed the last few days, and this morning was no exception as all of us rolled over at about 8 a.m.
But, the one thing that seems to get us over the perpetual mist and gray is our “Family Tree” project [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Karen McKinnon of McKinnon Photography

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Book Review – Jan Brett’s Winter Fun

There are a few truly great children’s book authors – storytellers who can take a piece of imagination and bring it alive with the touch of a pen.
They’ve got that magical touch, mesmerizing children (and parents too) for generations. Jan Brett is one of those greats.
Maureen over at Brooklyn Elementary Strong Start first introduced us [...]

Nature Journal – Family Listening Walks

Good morning. Between sickness (mostly mine), insane amounts of snow and the general hibernation-like blah blahs this Winter, it’s been a tough sell to get us out the door every day and into the fresh air lately.
It’s not that we don’t want to (in fact, we all well know how squirrely each of us gets [...]

Product Review – Bambu Utensils for Kids

We have de-plasticed. From cups and bowls to forks and spoons, the melamine and other kiddo plastic gear that has dotted our house is gone.
There’s lots that says melamine (hard plastic) and the #5 is fine. But, I totally admit that my reading and a certain relative who shall go un-named scare the hell out [...]

Family Craft – Waldorf-inspired Winter Birds

I am a bit of a Christmas scrooge when it comes to taking down the decorations. The pile of pine needles on the floor and the clutter from the holidays send my brain into crazy mode and generally everything comes down within 24 hours of the big day.
This year was just the same, and we [...]

Homeschooling – Car School

Editor’s Note: I am sad to announce that this is Rosina’s last homeschooling column with Our Big Earth. Life is a busy, happy, complete place for her and balance is the key to anything good and true in life.
So, she is off to pursue more homeschool, family-focused goodness and we’ll all be looking forward to [...]

Top 10 Valley Nature Spots for 2008

We did a heck of a lot of discovering of new outdoor spaces last year – friends clued us in to not-so-secret spots that we’d just never gotten the scoop on before and we made our way out to some cool locales that became serious favourites.
The tiny person and I clued in to the [...]

Best Family Food of 2008

I love to eat great food. My mother, brother and father all duked it out over time in the kitchen when I was a kid. So, I enjoyed being out of the mix, eating rather than creating.
(there’s a pattern surfacing here. My parents suspected I came out of the womb a career girl)
But, as usual, [...]

Snow Sled Walks in the Comox Valley

Every day, it’s the same question: “Mommy, when is it going to snow? Santa won’t come if it never snows.”
While I’m sure kids in warmer climates would definitely debate the merits of her theory, our daughter could not help but find herself bundled up and ready to hit the hills the last couple of days [...]

Buy British Columbia at Courtenay’s Newest Grocer

We interrupt regularly scheduled programming today for a couple of reasons. This week, when I took a look at what was on deck for our Nature Journal, the calendar read something that we have yet to witness this year – ice.
You will not get even an ounce of whining from this direction about one of [...]

Homemade Holiday Treats – Baklava

It was my childhood Winter wonderland – this magical place where all things flour and powdered sugar, pecan tart and almond brittle converged and I knew I had caught a glimpse of perfection.
To the average person, that place looked like my grandmother’s basement. But, to me, with it packed – literally – from floor to [...]

Holiday Tutorial – Card Making with Kids

There once was a little girl who so wanted to make her own holiday cards. Her mom, relatively junior in the crafty universe, yet fussy nonetheless, had personal issues about it all.
Preschool cards are messy and generally not so pretty in a traditional, big person sort of designer style way. They require a fair bit [...]

Farewell Disposable Drink Containers

This girl’s hooked on coffee. My love-affair with the drink started back in high school with study sessions at the local Husky, stretching into the early morning hours and during last minute essay writing, pushing the limits to mere hours before submission.
Slinging lattes and mochas as a barista further strengthened my bond with the bean. [...]

Wholesome Goodness In A Nutshell

Editor’s Note: A trip to just about any local farm – or as a rainy-season alternative, your local Farmers Market – is a great way to connect kids to food. Putting that together with family reading of a book like This Is The Feast by Diane Z. Shore, illustrated by Megan Lloyd, which we [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Paola Lewis of The Rusty Rooster

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Nature Journal – Nutty Buddies

So, I’m crashed out in bed here after a huge day of walking (Mother Nature loves the NeighbourWoodies, holding back on the rain until we were on our way home) totally chilling out to the Ray LaMontagne CD my lovely pal Karen McKinnon gifted me with recently (oh how I love the Ray, Karen).
I’m totally [...]

Go Eco-Baby with Sage Creek Organics

This holiday season, I’ve had a huge whack of requests from friends and family about some special deliveries for our new arrival.
He/she won’t be greeting us formally until June. But, one of the most fun parts of pregnancy (besides back pain and nausea, of course) is getting all of those special little pieces of clothing, [...]

Parent Getaways – Snuggles, Wine & Dessert

Editor’s Note: Reality of Parenthood #1 – if mom and dad aren’t happy, nobody is happy.
Finding those moments to reconnect as a couple or spend a bit of time regrouping by yourself may seem nearly impossible most days. But, making them possible can be what levels your head, rejuvenates you and helps you [...]

Stress-free Holidays – Tips for Getting Organized

Editor’s Note:
If you are anything like me, it generally dawns on me somewhere around Dec. 10 that Christmas is two weeks away. In the mommy universe, that very late recollection of time and, well, time, is a not-so-happy moment.
Now that we have a baby on the way (holy cow, yes, it’s true, we are pregnant [...]

Create A Winter Wonderland In The Garden

It’s true – Winter is on its way. These warmer days and sunny mornings aren’t fooling me. When I open the door my breath fogs out in a misty veil around me and the grass actually crunches underneath my feet.
It’s getting colder and it’s about time I get outside to tend to my garden. If [...]

Nature Journals – Great Blue Heron

Editor’s Note: We had a fantastic launch to our Fall NeighbourWood walks yesterday, with an incredible crew of families out watching the salmon run at Morrison Creek.
Check out some of the photos from the day on our NeighbourWood Walks page

One of the great rainy season survival tools that I dug into while slugging through [...]

Get Water Wise, Turn the Tap Off on Your Hydro Bill

Editor’s Note: I very much believe that it is up to us to make sure our children’s Earth is alive and well. We are the keepers of the future. If we live for today, that’s not good enough.
I could, and often consider, going on a mad tirade about it all. But, we all know [...]

Nature Journal – Gone Batty

It’s actually a bit true, our house has turned into a bat festival this year. It seems the tiny person can’t get enough of those creatures of the night. She has a million questions – do they bite? Will the drink your blood? Are there nice bats? Why do bats sleep upside down? Doesn’t it [...]

Kid Toys to Spark Imagination, Naturally

Editor’s Note:
As a part of our new editorial format, Our Big Earth will be reviewing kid- and family-friendly products that are available locally or from regional online retailers.
The idea is not to fill up your house with all kinds of new gear, but offer you some greener, creative and healthy options that are available [...]

Flying Bat Puppets

Ugh. One very sick monster decided to visit our house last night, passing by everyone else and gifting his goo to me and me alone. It is remarkable how unwell a person can feel in the span of a couple of hours. So, here I am at 8:30 a.m. still making my way through the [...]

Discover Fall at the Puntledge River Fish Hatchery

When I think about crisp, Fall morning walks, a trip to the fish hatchery isn’t the image that instantly comes up in my slide show of ideal family moments. Or at least it hadn’t resonated as a place with a bit of magic. That was until last week when – on a dreary day when [...]

Turn Your Halloween Green with Free Gear

If I was talking to our daughter, she’d be hoping I was bringing up the green chatter about the spooky monster costume her daddy is concocting for her this year. It’s between that and a spooky ghost. Somehow, if daddy is in charge, the green monster will definitely win.
The tiny person may think green monsters [...]

Announcing The Fall NeighbourWood Walks

Good morning.
I am happy to say that after a couple months of NeighbourWood Walk withdrawl since our fantastic Summer series that saw 60 kiddos and their families out for walks all over the region, the Fall walk series is nearly here.
September is always a nutso month for families, and October has been a bit of [...]

The Spooky Family Tree (& Free Craft Gear)

We have been gearing up for Halloween around here for a looooooong time. In fact, I’m quite serious when I say that I am nearly out of ideas for ghoulish holiday creations and am now going to have to dig in to come up with something of which the 3-year-old approves. Seeing that the daily [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Jan Peavoy of Dark Side Chocolates

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Spooky Stories of Bones and Bunnies

In a little, tiny house on an everyday sort of street lived a little girl who loved monsters.
It seemed her destiny to dig those spooky ghouls, as her dad had adored them even longer than her, creating more than a few in his time, and they lived everywhere in that house – framed, in notebooks, [...]

Building Immunity for Children, Naturally

A week ago, my little guy and I were walking by Thrifty’s and I was showing him how the leaves on the two big trees out front where changing from green to yellow, and how when we walked over the leaves on the sidewalk, they made this beautiful crispy, crackling noise.
Yesterday, as we walked [...]

Salmon Journals

Editor’s note: Most of my memories from childhood – at least the ones that truly stick – live outside. The explorations, the learning, the absolutely amazing discoveries made in the woods or even just the park down the street shaped me, made me want to do one thing – get back outside for more.
Giving your [...]

Welcome to Our Big Earth-Comox Valley!

Hey! This isn’t Comox Valley Kids?:)
It’s funny when you start to consider how to properly introduce your new baby. “Here it is.” “Check it out.” “Look what we did.”…Meh.
So, I thought the most proper way to ring in the launch of Our Big Earth-Comox Valley is to take you on a bit of a [...]

Whooooo’s There – Paper Owl Door Decor

When I woke up this morning and realized this was the last time I’d ever post on Comox Valley Kids, I had one seriously weepy moment.
Tomorrow morning, most if not all of you will be redirected over to Ourbigearth.com and we will launch our new phase as Our Big Earth-Comox Valley.
I feel like I’m in [...]

Thank You!

Good Morning! On this rainy Thanksgiving Day I have to gush. Prepare yourselves. I am out-of-sight emotional these days.
When we first moved to Vancouver Island, I felt so very alone. I’d left a family of friends who held us up and guided us through the transition to parenthood.
I’d left a town with which I had [...]

Thanksgiving Family Walks in the Comox Valley

We realized yesterday, at the point when we were still debating what will be on the table at Thanksgiving dinner – including a yet-to-be-purchased(oops) main dish – that we are a bit overworked right now.
We’ve debated the merits of breaking for a few minutes to go remember what the beach looks like or stretch our [...]

Family Traditions – The Gratitude Alphabet

I’m always looking for new ways to celebrate old traditions around our house.
One of those oldies but goodies I remember fondly from childhood is sitting around the Thanksgiving table – staring down my brother for the rights to be the first one to dig into the fresh perogis – taking turns telling everyone what we [...]

Putting The Garden to Sleep

So, here we are with the cooler nights and still the hot sun during the day. Ah, Fall.
Time to harvest the rewards after a long season of gardening. Seems a shame to put the garden to bed with the weather we’ve been having, but alas it must be done before we are caught off guard [...]

Veggie Puff Pillows

Good morning.
As we wind down here on Comox Valley Kids and gear up for the launch of Our Big Earth-Comox Valley (next Wednesday, Wow!) it is my honour that our final Food & Your Family entry comes from one of my favourite food bloggers, Mohini from Mango Power Girl.
Her wonderful, delicious treats make this bitter [...]

Wax Paper Pressed Leaves

The other day, I was clicking through blogs, pawing through craft books and staring blankly at a bowl full of Fall leaves we’d collected on a recent Filberg adventure when I thought (uhoh) – wax paper.
Who knows what triggered this childhood memory. But, I was trying to figure out a way to press leaves that [...]

3D Pumpkins, Witches, Bats & Spookiness

So, I completely cop to loving Halloween.
Other holidays, they’re fun.
But Halloween, even minus the stat holiday, is hilarious and weird and creative and outrageous – which ranks it right up there in my bizarre book. Any chance to get dressed up…
While the candy is all well and good – and the pumpkins rock – I [...]

Beakers KidScience – Alternative Energy

I’m a science geek…and I’m good with that.
So, as we wrap up with Jeanne DuPrau’s blog book tour for the fourth Books of Ember Diamond of Darkhold it was pretty much required that I geek out in the kid learning department.
I don’t suspect that our 3-year-old is going to be picking up DuPrau’s novels for [...]

An Interview with Jeanne DuPrau

I love talking with other writers, getting a bit of insight into how their creative brains work and how they pull everything together.
Jeanne DuPrau and I had the chance to trade questions in a brief interview recently as she heads off to promote Diamond of Darkhold and her soon-to-be-released movie City of Ember.
As a part [...]

Tween Reads – Diamond of Darkhold

For a long time, parents with older kiddos have asked me to offer up book reviews for the tween crowd. We read and read, and read some more around here. But, chapter books and novels hadn’t been a part of our repretoire – until my oldest nephew fell in love with books and now inhales [...]

It’s Raining – Time to Head Outside

Editor’s Note: OF COURSE the sun is back out today. Ha, ha Mother Nature.
But, do save this post for later reference. The sun is bound to disappear again, soon.:)

Mother Nature, she’s not exactly the subtle type.
No easing us into Fall, giving us a few clouds here and there before commencing with the deluge.
My mental space [...]

Family Card Games, BC Wildlife Style

I don’t mean to be a grouch about this, but what about Canada?
It is so amazingly tough to find cool learning tools and games for kids that are based on all of the amazing sites and experiences this great nation holds.
Canadians are a modest bunch. We figure the beauty speaks for itself.
But, I totally want [...]

Register Today to Hit The Pumpkin Patch

Good morning!
The rumors are true – We have hooked readers up with Shamrock Farms and their giant pumpkin patch to do a little farm visiting and pumpkin picking.
We can take 30 kiddos and their parents on our Thursday, Oct. 9 tour of the farm, on Anderton Road just across from Watrin Orchard. The tour begins [...]

Bacon & Egg Cups

Editor’s Note: Since the chilly weather set in the last couple of days I have been in serious comfort-food craving mode.
Whipping out the homemade pastas, soups and snagging warm loaves of fresh bread from the bakery keeps us all feeling cozy and centered as we move away from the sunshine and into Fall.
Bacon ranks right [...]

Shadow Lanterns with Repurposed Jars

The tiny person totally digs shadows these days.
She follows hers around, has lengthy conversations with them on the walk to library, thinks that our bedtime routine is nowhere near complete until a round of shadow making commences.
She’s also right into the whole spooky Halloween tale universe – insisting that Eve Bunting’s “Scary, Scary Halloween” and [...]

Harvest Tales

I love Fall.
How can you not dig a time of year when the toques come out, the skies turn a brilliant shade of blue and everything delicious in the comfort food universe is fresh from the fields?
So many of the quiet, heartfelt, comfortable memories in my life come from picking apples in Eastern Washington State, [...]

Natural Remedies for Hyperactive Kids

Ahhh, September! The time of the year for new beginnings and fresh starts.
As our children head back to the classrooms, meet new friends, and adjust to new teachers, we expect this transition to go smoothly and quietly. Frustration can soon set in when Johnny can’t seem to get out the door in the mornings [...]

Building Community – YANA Comox Valley

As we near the relaunch of the website, Ken and I have spent a lot of time talking about making sure that all of the amazing support the website gets every day is returned to the community – both locally and globally.
We can’t always give the kind of time we’d like lending a hand to [...]

Summer Borscht

After a great Summer of wonderful guest foodies, sharing dishes that have now become household staples around here, I thought I should maybe, kind of, sort of, pitch in one of my own.
It is no secret to anyone who has ever dropped by our house on occasion that I have a thing for cabbage. I [...]

Learning Trees With Leaf Hangings

There is a bit of a chill in the air and early last week, as I was packing us into the truck, I spotted red leaves.
Then yellow, even a couple of orange beauties stood out against the bluer than blue sky.
We’d been talking, the last couple of times out in the woods, about getting to [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Teneille Higgins & Chelsea Kennedy of Firefly: New Beginnings

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Studying Sunflowers

The sun this week has totally inspired us to dig out our science gear and plug into some Fall nature study projects in the form of those gorgeous sunflowers brightening patches all over town.
Grandma is completely to blame for our love affair with sunflowers this year, as she planted a TON of them in the [...]

Mac ‘n’ Beans

Editor’s Note: Tree Haverner from Tiny Morsels is back today to share a yummy kid-friendly version of an Italian treat that is absolutely delish.
We made this a few weeks ago, and holy cacamaymee was it ever tasty. I loved how it was packed with so much amazing nutritious food, but the tiny person would NEVER [...]

Making Paper Beads

If there is one thing our daughter ALWAYS notices about anyone, it’s what is around their neck.
A cool necklace could be a mile away and she would spot its shiny glint, stopping the person in their tracks to make sure she told them what a gorgeous piece of jewelry they were sporting.
“That’s a beautiful necklace [...]

Comfy, Urban, Vintage – Freakin’ Coffee Shop

Dining may not be the first thing you think about when it comes to a place to load up on caffeine. But, it’s all about the experience at Tin Town’s Freakin’ Coffee Shop on Rosewall Crescent in Courtenay.

Food is optional.
Since my first job out of school, I have lived quite fondly for the cozy coffee [...]

Make Some Forest Fairies

We have always been into the lives of forest fairies around our house.
From some of our earliest days of walking the trails, it didn’t take much convincing to make us believers that some forests are truly the land of fairy people.
It’s one of those things that we casually weave into stories about the forest…or at [...]

Homeschooling in BC, How to Get Started

Homeschooling Valley mama Rosina Huber is here today to talk shop about how to go about getting your kiddo hooked up as a homeschooler this year.
If you’re considering or continuing homeschooling your tiny people, Rosina is the mom in the know.
Her article was originally published on the BC Homeschool Network.
Here she is:

It’s that time of [...]

Top Local Back-to-School Must-Haves

Some days, I prefer living in my pretend world where life has nothing to do with what is cool, hip or just plain old gotta-have-because-everyone-else-does.
But, really, who am I kidding?
I dig the feeling I get putting on that great pair of jeans I saw in a magazine or getting that excellent, trendy hair cut that [...]

Back-To-School Safety Tips

Editor’s Note: Street Smart Kidz’ Steven Baird is here with us today to share his wealth of knowledge about ways to keep your kiddos safe as we head back to school.
Safety is one of those necessary evils in the world and Baird’s organization does a fantastic job at giving parents the tools to make sure [...]

Green Your School Gear with Consignment

Let’s face it, the bill for back-to-school shopping is beginning to equal a rent check.
Clothes, gear, all of those special touches that makes hitting the classroom again totally cool don’t leave much room for things like, say, dinner after a long day of shopping.
Even the preschool crowd can rack up one heck of a bill [...]

Kid-Friendly Garden Parties

Rain, rain go away….
But, on the other hand, a cooler day makes it easier to get out into that garden to investigate.
Suddenly treasures are popping up everywhere! One by one our tomatoes are turning red, the peas are plump and sweet.
Then, we find something new in the garden – a gnome hiding in the tomatillos… [...]

Top 10 Herbal Remedies for Children

Herbs have an amazingly powerful effect on children.
An important contributor in restoring balance, botanical medicine is easily recognized by the body, easy to metabolize in the liver, illicit few side effects and has the added bonus of being a complete structure, as opposed to pharmaceuticals which are extracted chemicals.
Plants are often the raw material for [...]

Summer NeighbourWood Walk No. 7 – Paradise Meadows

Ummmm, well…yesterday up on the mountain was…WET.
I had suspected it would be mildly damp, in a Summer sort of way – and the smallish group of morning walkers who headed up to Paradise Meadows early yesterday did hit the trail for a quite dewy wander full of friendly whiskey jacks and curious stellar jays, hunting [...]

Growing Sprouts

Editor’s Note:
Krista Johnston of Big & Little Green fame is back with us today to talk shop about sprouts.
I love sprouts on salads, in salads, as salads – and growing our own is a fun, healthy way to peek into the science of plants as well as have some yummy, fresh goodness.
Krista’s tutorial on growing [...]

The Farm – Paper Quilt Making

It seems that all good things (like Summer) must come to an end – and our time with Popsicle out at the Filberg’s Hands-On Farm officially wraps up this Sunday.
We have totally loved spending the Summer getting to know this feisty friend who greets us at the barnyard door and nudges us into hugs and [...]

Seal Bay Nature Park Beach Trail

There are a few special spots in our collection of adventures that spark imagination and make the tiny person buzz uncontrollably at the mere mention of a potential day spent.

Seal Bay Nature Park and its winding, lush, bit of a butt-kicker wander down the Main Beach (Don Apps) Trail to one of the most beautiful [...]

Motherhood Shared can Truly Inspire

As I was reading through Seeds Natural Food Market owner Tina Willard-Stepan’s Mompreneur Profile last week, I was entirely inspired to see her talking about times and places for what is important in life.
Her wise insight about childhood being too short and that putting many of the things she’d enjoy doing on the back [...]

Cell Phones and Kids, the Debate

I’d feel naked without my cell phone.
It’s my only phone (I’ve chosen not to get a home phone line) and it remembers all my family and friends’ phone numbers so that I don’t need to.
It serves as my alarm clock.
For a lot of parents, it’s mandatory to help keep control over their busy schedules. If [...]

Summer NeighbourWood Walk No. 6 – Lazo Marsh

Good morning!
We had nearly a full crew (52 kiddos) for the NeighbourWood Walk out at the Lazo Marsh yesterday and wow was I ever impressed at the ingenuity and sense of teamwork this group of tiny people have developed with each other.
But, before I gush, some cool breaking news.
Our long-term NeighbourWood Walks partner Active Comox [...]

Homemade Butter/Buttermilk

Today we have with us, all the way from Wisconsin, the delicious family-focused food adventures of Mom In Madison’s Denise Cusack who also writes up her foodie ways over at Cook.Eat.Think
I really dig Denise for so many reasons and absolutely L-O-V-E her take on getting her little people involved in every aspect of food, from [...]

The Farm – Everyone Loves Apples

Last Sunday we had a house full of old friends from Vancouver. The combo of energetic kiddos and sleepy adults meant we b-lined for the backyard, only to discover something fantastic – the apples are ready.
That may not mean much to anyone else. But, we weren’t even sure there would be any apples in the [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Tina Willard-Stepan of Seeds Natural Market

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Handmade Paper Bracelets

Our daughter isn’t generally what you’d think of as traditionally girlie.
She serves tea to her monsters while having a growling competition with them, has a distinct aversion to a life that doesn’t involve dirt, thinks dolls are silly (she prefers the “human kind” of babies) and is spending next week learning the ins and outs [...]

Summer NeighbourWood Walk No. 5 – Seal Bay Beach Trail

Good Morning!
Well, the hiking gods conspired against our trip out to Cumberland this week as, while the family and I were out on our test run of the trail out at Cumberland Community Forest last Saturday we ran into a few unfriendly bits of poison foliage and bugs that, while they shouldn’t discourage you from [...]

Double Shot of Zucchini

Editor’s Note: Tree Haverner from Tiny Morsels is back with us today giving us the inside scoop on how to use up those overflowing mounds of zucchini that are either overcrowding our gardens or showing up on our doorsteps in the middle of the night.
Tree offers up an original recipe exclusive to CVK and the [...]

Fingerprint Bug Parade

Editor’s Note: This short week has thrown me for a loop. And, the Filberg Festival meant I had no access to our pal Popsicle all weekend. We’ll have to check in this week to see what mischief he’s up to lately.
So, I wanted to share an older post about a favourite craft around our house [...]

To Nap or Not to Nap, the Drama

I don’t even remember what it was like to have our daughter nap on a regular basis.
The occasional act of God does occur, with her crashing for hours on end with no sign of waking while her go-go disposition refuels. But, when my friends who have 3+ year-old kiddos who are still napping in the [...]

Product Review – Mama Merit Badges

There are those days when we’re all solid in the belief that the phrase “Motherhood has its rewards” was coined by the same soulless *&^%& who invented high heels and panty hose.
I survive those days by knowing the tiny person HAS to go to sleep at some point and, honestly, by treating myself to something [...]

Making Bookmarks to Track Our Tales

Our daughter loves stories.
From the second she pops her head up in the morning until she falls asleep to them at night, yarns about everything from how monsters make nutty butter to the vacations her collection of puppets are on float through the air non-stop.
She is ALWAYS making something up, building imaginary cities, talking with [...]

Summer NeighbourWood Walk No. 4 – Fanny Bay

Note to self: wine with the girlfriends after a long day on the trail is excellent fun at 9 p.m., not so excellent fun at 6 a.m.:)

A small group of super intrepid walkers made it out to our fourth NeighbourWood Walk yesterday, which took us to the far south end of the Valley and a [...]

Veggie Jelly Melons

Editor’s Note: As our Summer of Guest Foodies continues, I am beyond excited to bring you local mama Rosina Huber whose Nature Mama blog is packed full of nature learning, great crafting, homeschooling goodness and homestead cooking that looks and sounds so savory it’ll make you think comfort food for days afterward.
Rosina and her family [...]

The Farm – Rocking the Barnyard

When we popped in at the Hands-On Farm over at the Filberg on Sunday, Popsicle was giving us the evil eye.
Maybe it was the “Please save me from these crazy pigs” eye. Nonetheless, his new “buddies” Penelope and Veruca are scaring the spots off of him.
P & V may only be six weeks old. But, [...]

Paradise Meadows

With the wet, cold, L-O-N-G Winters we’ve had the last couple of years, we can only hope that Summer lingers a bit longer than usual.
Personally, I hope the sunshine puts in some overtime this year so we can spend some long days wandering the forest of Strathcona Provincial Park taking in the absolute magic that [...]

Seashell Maracas

Editor’s Note: In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that the NeighbourWood Walk for next week would be out at Cumberland Community Forest. I blame it on birthday brain. We aren’t in Cumberland next week. We’re out at Ship’s Point in Fanny Bay.
Sorry about that.
Read on and it may make sense to you why my brain is [...]

Summer NeighbourWood Walk No.3 – Oyster River

I realized yesterday that one of the most fun things to do on a day in the woods is have a picnic.
OK, so that’s an easy one to figure out.
But, we are always hauling around food, snacking on the go, on the move. Stopping to actually sit down and have a formal, yet informal, meal [...]

Time to Cool Off with Peppermint Tea

Editor’s Note:
I know, I know. Wednesday is food day.
But, in honour of the birth of Sprouts writer Kendra Quince’s baby boy, and the fact that some cool minty tea sounds perfect during this very steamy week, we bring you Sprouts, the foodie version.
Congratulations Kendra and family.
Time for some leisurely back porch sitting with a glass [...]

The Farm – Keep Cool, Pioneer Style

It is HOT on the Farm these days.
This week is blazing as the dog days of Summer set in the animals are feeling it too, bucking for shady spots and taking quick dips in the pool (they have one, ya know) to beat the heat.
Our Hands-On Farm Friend, Popsicle, was feeling a little sluggish in [...]

Oyster River Nature Park

Editor’s Note: I admit it, I’ve been holding out on you a bit.
U-Pick Blueberry season is ON. Blue Haven Farm at Anderton and Idiens Way in Comox is open daily now and McClintock’s on Dove Creek Road expects to be ready for blueberry picking this week.
Raspberries are already being picked out at McClintock’s and ASHberry [...]

Book Review – Running Through The Meadow

Since I finished reading Food Not Lawns by H.C. Flores I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the changing face of yards.
When I was a kid, a big yard, perfectly mowed and glistening green was the envy of every parent in the neighbourhood. But, it wasn’t the manicured lawn I loved.
I spent most of [...]

Fish Oils & Children’s Health

When I remind my dad to take his omega 3’s, it will inevitably result in a history lesson on Newfoundland’s cod fishery! That being said, my grandmother knew the benefit of subjecting her kids to their daily spoonful of cod liver oil. And back then, I’m told, there wasn’t lemon flavour!
I started my [...]

Summer NeighbourWood Walk No. 2 – Pt. Holmes Reef

There is a perfection to kids in nature.
Those times when they can soak themselves down, run around barefoot and discover unbelievable sorts of wonders – together – force us as adults to slow down a bit, let a few things go, and just let them be for a while.
We find ourselves standing back and reminiscing [...]

Family Dinner – Spanikopita

Editor’s Note: Today we continue with our second installment of Summertime guest foodies with Nanaimo mom of four, master organic gardener and local food chef supreme Krista Johnston.
I first discovered Krista’s warm, wonderful, community-filled spirit years ago and have been a huge fan of her sensibility from that moment on. Her perspective on food is [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Sarah Stromquist of Kasa Bags

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Mommy Talk – Keeping Kids Safe

This week marked a grim time when the first Amber Alert ever to be issued on Vancouver Island came out of the Comox Valley.
Although the details haven’t been released about a 10-year-old who was allegedly abducted by a 32-year-old local man, it has sparked more than a bit of fear in the hearts of parents [...]

Summer Sun Safety

Editor’s Note: Patti Fletcher is taking a break this Summer, on sabbatical from her post as Comox Rec Program Director.
Mandy Johns has stepped in and graciously agreed to write Patti’s column while she’s on leave. Mandy is busy this Summer filling in for Patti all over the place and we are grateful that she took [...]

Summer NeighbourWood Walk No. 1 – MacDonald Wood

It’s about 8:45 a.m. as I sit down to write this post.
As a general rule, I write the night before. Mornings are nuts around here and throwing blogging into that mix is generally a stress of the unnecessary kind. But, today, it’s entirely beautiful.
That’s totally because I got out of bed about five minutes ago [...]

Coconut Carob Ice Pops

Editor’s note: Today kicks off an entire Summer of Guest Foodie bloggers that range from the kid-friendly, uber healthy Tree Haverner to the wonderful local goodness of Denise Cusack and Krista Johnston.
This wonderful treat means that you guys get something a little different each week from foodie bloggers all over North America, with recipes you [...]

George Sawchuk’s Enchanted Forest

The forests of Fanny Bay are enchanted.
A walk along the trails near Ships Point reveal dichotomy, controversy, community and absolute beauty.
Tucked away, just past trail heads hidden by a bit of overgrowth, is at least a Sunday morning’s worth of exploring art and nature – separately or together depending on what suits you.
CVK mom Melanie [...]

Book Review – Life on The Farm and Ferdinand

When I was a kid, I loved the loners.
The ones who stood out and moved away from the crowd always won my heart – especially if they found themselves stepping back in the name of a big, gentle heart.
Characters like Thumbelina, Aslan and Pippi Longstocking took their rightful places as staples in the imaginary world [...]

Homemade Matching Games

Our daughter loves to match.
You wouldn’t guess it from her willingness to throw outrageous outfits together on a whim (although, they are amazingly colour coordinated).
But, she is methodical about discovering how things go together in a pattern, texture and colour sort of way.
She’ll spend literally hours making piles of buttons, shells, ribbon, anything she can [...]

Mommy Talk – The Grandparent Effect

Today is Grandma’s birthday.
July happens to be a big month in the being born universe here (five family birthdays).
And, Ken’s Mom kicks it all off in style.
While I know she will be stomping up the stairs and kicking me in the head for announcing her big day in a public forum, she will be doing [...]

The Farm – Cow Lips

Happy Canada Day.
While you are soaking up all of the family good times in the Valley that is celebrating the nation’s birthday, we are busting out our maple leaves and saluting the cow in Canada – in honour of our Hands-On Farm Friend Popsicle.
First, a few facts:
- Popsicle is a Holstein, the breed of [...]

Which Cloth Diaper to Choose?

Editor’s Note:
Comox Valley Mom Kathy Roberts is a cloth diaper convert.
In her quest to make life easy and non-disposable, she took it upon herself to test drive just about every type of cloth diaper out there, even making a few of her own.
Thankfully, I’m annoyingly persistent and she is incredibly generous, now sharing her cloth [...]

Valley Insight – The Lazo Marsh

Editor’s Note: If there is one trail in the Valley that we L-O-V-E, it’s the Lazo Marsh loop. Short and sweet, this flat walk is just over 2K, but full of some of the coolest sights any kiddo can imagine.
We discovered this trail thanks to the Comox Valley Naturalists Society, and the first time we [...]

Summer Reading Together

Editor’s Note:
Mom and CV teacher Helen Oliphant has dropped by today to lend us a hand getting into the learning that happens away from the classroom this Summer.
She kicks it all off with tips on how to help your kiddos get reading, with a little help from mom and dad.

“Thurs. June 2, 1977.
I want to [...]

Cherry Bread

While it may not have seemed like it here on site, I’ve been on staycation for the last 10 days or so.
No packing, traveling or expense involved – just a whole lot of sleeping in, napping and working less hard than usual.
With all of this “free” time, I have found myself wandering the veggie stalls [...]

Family Crafting – Tin Punching

When I first started collecting supplies like a mallet, a nail, wood and tin plates, Ken wasn’t too stoked about the tiny person taking part in our first crafting adventure involving actual tools.
I totally admit that the whole concept of a 35-month-old and a mallet was mildly daunting. But, she digs tools and I really [...]

The Farm – Meet Our Farm Friend Popsicle

We’ve been waiting for this all year.
Spring gave us a taste of Summery good times. But, now it’s official.
Today is opening day at The Hands-On Farm over at The Filberg.
It’s something our daughter looks forward to every year – weeks on end of getting to know our farm friends and trying to talk me into [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Sherry Turnbull & Kristina Jespersen of Podlings (formerly Little Me)

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Valley In Sight – Williams Beach & Seaview Game Farm

Editor’s Note:
As part of our Valley In Sight series we take a look today at the first Valley beach our daughter and I ever truly loved and its neighbouring farm that has become a mainstay in our Summertime and eating universe.
If there’s one thing the Valley has plenty of, it’s beautiful beaches.
I still find it [...]

Announcing the Summer NeighbourWood Walk Series

It’s with some serious excitement that I announce our Summer NeighbourWood Walk series.
After such a fantastic response to our first series and some disappointment about our time choice, we knew we were going to have to plan for two walks this Summer.
So, here’s the scoop.
Our NeighbourWood Walk series will run for eight Wednesdays this Summer [...]

Valley In Sight – MacDonald Wood Nature Park

Editor’s Note:
I used to drive by MacDonald Wood Nature Park and wonder what could possibly be behind those trees. Good or bad, I eventually decided we needed to expand our trail repertoire and just pulled over one day to discover one of the most lovely slices of the Valley during any season.
In fact, we spend [...]

The Path to Edible Plants

Editor’s Note:
The relationship between me and gardening is a little too green for me to think that sharing my experiences with you are something useful, although they may be mildly entertaining in a Ben Stiller embarrassing sort of way.
But, I am not without hope that gardening will grow on me, and the tiny person.
Thankfully, there [...]

Valley In Sight – Courtenay Air Park

The Summer is such a huge time for people who drop in on the Valley to soak up the gorgeous beaches, hang out with family and even be tempted to relocate if given enough reasons on the plus side.
The messages pouring into my Inbox lately from folks who want the skinny on Valley life as [...]

Hanging with Dad!

Editor’s Note:
In celebration of Dad’s Day, we are taking a break from regularly scheduled programming.
We’ll be back with the final Mompreneur for June next Sunday. The Mompreneur series has received a really great response from everyone. So, we’ll be turning it into a regular monthly feature starting in July.
If you have someone you’d like to [...]

Give Dad A Hand (or Two)

So, I left it up to the preschooler this year as to what we would do to make sure her Dad knew how very special he is to us on Father’s Day.
We started talking about it two weeks ago – paint a picture, make a card, catch bugs (her fave, although she didn’t want to [...]

Natural First-Aid Kit

As we head into the middle of June with high expectations of warm summer days filled with fun adventures, I can’t help but feel a little hesitant.
While I’m excited for outdoor exploring time with my toddler, I’m also anticipating a few more bumps, cuts and tears as I watch him run faster than his little [...]

Final Spring NeighbourWood Walk – The Filberg

I am shocked at how little time six weeks actually is.
Blink.
From our first meeting out at MacDonald Wood Nature Park to the last moments of exploration and hanging out yesterday at The Filberg, CVK’s Spring NeighbourWood Walk series seemed to just fly by.
I suspect that’s because we were so busy having fun, making friends and [...]

Coconut Cocoa Date Balls

Ken is a chocolate junkie.
From goo to gourmet, if it looks like chocolate and smells like chocolate, the rest of us aren’t going to be getting much of it.
That would be just fine for me. In the sweets universe, chocolate rates well below sour candies and rides at the back of the bus when in [...]

The Sacrifices Dads Make

The day our daughter was born, my husband knew his personal universe had to change.
The 3-hour commutes into downtown San Francisco, 15-hour work days, no longer made sense. He spent more time listening to audio books on the ferry or bus than at home hanging out with us…and that killed him.
I first started taking pictures [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Kyla and Marussia Nesling

Motherhood, it changes you.
For four weeks now, we’ve been taking a look at moms across the Comox Valley who have taken the ingenuity thrust upon them by parenthood and turned it into businesses.
Today, we get to know two local mamas who took their passion for health, the environment and family and worked together to build [...]

Homemade Non-toxic Finger Paints

My husband has spent his life in the midst of paint, charcoals, canvas and the computer as a professional artist. He’s also always passing along his concerns about our daughter’s zeal with paint. Her willingness to paint herself from head to toe leaves Ken in pieces, concerned for the tiny person’s health.
I didn’t get it.
He’s [...]

Spring NeighbourWood Walks – Seal Bay

It’s official.
Mother Nature loves us.
Once again, the skies parted momentarily yesterday – long enough for the fifth in our Spring community walk series to be all sunshine and good times at Seal Bay Nature Park’s Swamp Loop.
This is a longish trail, made double long by the fact that there were creatures EVERYWHERE requiring a stop [...]

Summer Kanten

Editor’s note: Christa and I work tandem on the food column these days. She writes the stories and I take the photos.
I love Christa’s yummy un-jello Jello recipe this week. But, my family is totally not down with melon – of any kind. So, you’ll see that the photo doesn’t really look like an apple [...]

A Home Museum with Shadow Boxes

Zoology, Botany and Forestry aren’t exactly in the vocabulary of the under-5 set.
Yet, every time we hit the beach, the garden or the trail, science is following us around.
Each pine cone or shell tucked in a tiny pocket reveals something significant about a place we’ve explored. (Yes, OK, I am total science nerd.)
And I’m pretty [...]

Union Bay’s Coal Hills & Flower Chains

There are some places that need to be seen in the name of historical reference.
You may not be catching said locale in its heyday. But, the remnants of a past long gone are amazing clues to recreating the scene for yourself.
The Coal Hills in Union Bay is one of those places.
Ken is my reference, as [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Louisa McClellan of Ashberry Farm & Usborne Books

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Preschool Crafts – Frog Hats

It’s that time when early morning or evening walks are filled with the white noise of unending croaking.
When tadpoles turn marshes and backyard ponds into a black mass of squiggling tails.
Frogs are so crazy cool…and there are so many around the Valley it’s not even funny.
They seem to be following us around, too.
A friend and [...]

Shaker Salad Dressing

I don’t have to tell you that I’m a big proponent of getting kids involved in the kitchen.
Kneading dough, scrambling eggs, flipping pancakes- some of my best childhood memories are of learning basic kitchen skills from my parents.
It’s with a love for nostalgia and good food that I find myself encouraging my little person along [...]

How Much Is Too Much Safety

I have a reoccurring waking nightmare that I am always just out of reach as our daughter falls off of a cliff, slips off the side of a building or tumbles down a 1,000 meter embankment.
When I watch her run to the railing at the Comox Pier or the Courtenay Estuary and peek her head [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Jennifer Barth of Be on Sixth

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Family Crafts – “Stained Glass” Butterflies

We have a soft spot in our hearts for butterflies.
Family folklore has it that when my grandfather died many years ago the butterflies descended upon his funeral and reclaimed him as one of their own.
Since then, grandpa is legendary for showing up at special family events.
One of the most memorable for me was, as my [...]

Spring NeighbourWood Walks – Miracle Beach

I admit it.
I’m an over-extender.
I tend to jam in as much as humanly possible and, some days, the To Do List gets lost in the deep crevasses of my jumbled brain.
After story time at the library, a zoom through the grocery store, lunch on the run, picking up a friend, the weather at Miracle Beach [...]

Raspberry Yogurt Ice Pops

Everyone keeps telling me it’s still only spring- that summer hasn’t truly arrived yet, and that we may see many more weeks of inconsistent weather yet.
The boots may come out of the closet again.
The SPF 45 might sit on the shelf for a week or more.
The barbeque cover might be put back on.
I’ve had no [...]

The Weather & Garden Synch Up

It’s true.
Our Sprouts preschool garden experiment, well, died.
Being entirely new at making anything grow, I had no plan for dealing with the record-cold April and the reality that frost always wins over veggies when push comes to shove.
I’m a little embarrassed, mildly comforted by the fact that a whole whack of people I know [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Julie Catania of Organic Family Natural Home

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Spring NeighbourWood Walks – Puntledge Greenway

When I woke up yesterday morning to drizzle and chill, I seriously wondered whether we’d hit the trail for our weekly community walk.
Happily, I trusted the weather predictors (dangerous territory) and it turns out that while they were totally wrong about bright sunny skies this morning (where’s my 26 degrees I dreamed about all night?), [...]

Freezer Muffins that Rock

Moving to the North Island has turned my family in to a trio of frequent road trippers.
There are piles of friends and hot spots we’ve left behind in our former cities of Vancouver and Victoria, and we make a point of visiting often to soak up a bit of the good stuff we’ve left behind.
Our [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Carol Anne Parkinson of Kindermusik

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Mom & Baby Yoga

BB (Before Baby) my relationship with yoga constituted the primary focus in my life.
I discovered it in early 2002 while recovering from a lengthy illness, when I needed the space to focus on physical well-being in a quiet, centered way. What I discovered was the doorway to a healthy head that began with working out [...]

Our Very First NeighbourWood Walk

We couldn’t have asked for a more awesome day to kick off the Spring series of NeighbourWood Walks over at MacDonald Wood Nature Park yesterday.
The sunshine and low tide meant this fun walk through the forest turned into a great afternoon checking out crabs and snails and logging serious splashing in with some new friends.
You [...]

Spinach Pesto Fettuccine

On this, the week before Mother’s Day, I’d like to offer up a recipe that I have come to love for its simplicity- or in other words- I have come to love this recipe because it is easy enough for my husband to prepare, and is downright delicious.
I know there are many husbands and partners [...]

Mother’s Day the Together Way

There’s a running debate amongst my girlfriends about whether or not we personally should have a hand in what happens on Mother’s Day.
Yes, there is a wonderful charm about waking up to a magical surprise this Sunday morning (yes, gulp hard dads, Mother’s Day is Sunday) completely crafted by your partners and tiny people to [...]

Kin Beach & Bird Badges

On those sunny days when the wind is warm and a day digging in the sand is in order, starting your morning out at Kin Beach Provincial Park is the way to go.
This tucked away spot, just down the hill off of Kilmarnack Road in Comox, is the perfect combination of quaint picnic/cookout locale, beach [...]

Digging Disc Golf

The birds are singing.
The sun is out.
Approaching the start of the first tee, you feel the wind blowing gently on your face. It’s a beautiful day.
As you prepare for your tee shot, you shift your target and aim a little bit more to the left, hoping to get around that tree in a tricky spot [...]

Flower Stamped Mother’s Day Cards

It’s about 10 days before every holiday that demands something cute, sentimental and homemade be sent thousands of miles to grandmas and grandpas that I realize I have failed. (mail takes roughly two weeks to get where it is going for us)
I am, or at least have been, the woman who shops or makes or [...]

Join Us for our NeighbourWood Walks

Want to go for a walk?
With the weather warming, little feet in need of a good run and an itch to explore the region together, we are excited to invite you to join us for NeighbourWood Walks – a series of weekly community walks at spots around the Valley where you can explore the trails, [...]

Apple “Cupcakes”

A Case of Mommy Guilt

I am, how do you say it, feeling a bit guilty lately.
Not enough time outside.
Too much time playing by herself.
Sending the tiny person off to grandmas.
Planning my life around meetings and the ever-growing to-do list of work and home instead of focusing on all the goodness that is our daughter.
Griping at my husband because he’s [...]

Seal Bay Swamp Loop & Boot Plants

When you wake up early, the kiddos are going stir crazy and you just need to get out of the house on a Sunday morning, there are walks that make all of that chaos fade away.
Taking the winding drive out to Seal Bay Nature Park is relaxing all on its own – with its fields [...]

Nature’s Recreation Centre

Comox Rec Program Director Patti Fletcher is in the house today talking about how recreation centres can serve as the portal to having fun exploring the outside.
I particularly appreciate Patti’s perspective since I often see local community centres as the alternative to the outside, not really understanding how much they offer beyond their doors.
Always having [...]

Recycling Project, Homemade Crayons

Crayons have long been a tough sell in our house.
While art is way up on the daily to-do list, crayons often linger at the bottom of the barrel in terms of preferred mediums.
Emerging motor skills and the quite possibly a bit of peer pressure from the crayon-loving crowd have made crayons at least usable for [...]

Banana Walnut French Toast

Good Morning
When you read on and check out Christa’s yummy breakfast recipe today, you’ll notice that her column has a gorgeous new banner. As a part of our ongoing redesign, all of our regular columnists now have customized banners designed by Ken Henderson Design with photos courtesy of Karen McKinnon.
This is one of the many [...]

Kitty Coleman Woodland Gardens & Pressed Flowers

Let me just start by sending out a big, warm hug to all of the wonderful folks who braved the cold to hit the Today Party yesterday! More than 200 kiddos dropped by to decorate cupcakes, colour like crazy and meet some friends over at Karen’s studio.
I loved it – getting to meet so many [...]

Community Cupcaking Tomorrow

Look at our kiddo slaving away in the kitchen, baking up cupcake after cupcake for all of our guests tomorrow.
It’s amazing how much time she’s logged in the kitchen this week.
Or, it would be if she’d actually made cupcakes. The Sugarheads – who are a bit more adept at the art and craft of baking [...]

Family Craft – Button Flowers

“We have to go out and check the flowers!” our daughter has yelled from her room the second her eyes popped open each morning for the last week. “They might have bloomed overnight. We have to go see.”
And so, every day about 7 a.m., you can find us standing on the cedar boards of the [...]

Simple Lunch Box Salad Rolls

When I was in elementary school, I found myself endlessly envious of the other kids packed lunches. I would go out of my way to trade anything from my box for something that someone else’s parents had gone to the trouble of preparing.
Today, of course, as a parent of one (who is a couple of [...]

Check Out Library Books On-line

Late breaking comment challenge: What is your experience with tiny people at the library? Any tips? Tricks? Words of wisdom?
Tell me I am not the last mom in the universe to figure this one out.
Please.
For nearly two years, I’ve had my mother-in-law’s library card. She doesn’t use it much. So, when we first moved here [...]

The Northeast Woods & Hand Trees

This is the second in our 4-part series of Spring walks that include insider details and activities to pair with some of our favourite trails around the region
Check back in every Sunday in April for a new walk and some fun tips to get the family outside enjoying the season together.

Wow, it’s gorgeous outside, [...]

Nature Crafts – Make Your Own Nature Journal

I cannot even begin to count the number of science, language and history lessons that went in one ear and out the other for me in my life.
Book learning has never been my forte.
I appreciate having a book in hand – field guides take up some prominent real estate in our day pack – but [...]

Build A Pollinator Garden

The first year we lived in our house, the bees were everywhere and our apple trees rewarded us with the biggest, juiciest apples I’ve ever had the pleasure of biting into.
Last year, for some reason, the bees came in much smaller waves, and our apples were nearly non-existent. It was sad and a bit baffling, [...]

Bee-Free Backyard BBQ

* Fact: Most flowering plants require pollination in order to reproduce.
* Fact: The relationship between plants and their pollinators dates back 140 million years. Dinosaurs, bees and butterflies once lived together.
* Fact: Pollinators bring the pollen from one plant to another and in return get food in the form of nectar that the plants [...]

Eat Local at Comox Valley Farms

Ash Berry Farm, on Royston Road in Royston – U-pick strawberries, raspberries and gooseberries.
Blue Haven Farm, at the corner of Anderton Road and Idiens Way in Comox – U-Pick blueberries.
Seifert’s Farm Market on Knight Road in Comox has a farm market open daily and packed full of locally grown (some from BC like Okanagan fruit) [...]

The Birds and the Bees Pollinate Please

The rather frigid nature of our Spring this year may have you thinking twice about the season (although the shot above from local mom Krista gives me hope). But, even as we continue to scrape the occasional frost off of our windshields in the mornings, Mother Nature is waking her kiddos up from their long [...]

MacDonald Wood and Magic Wands

This is the first in our 4-part series of Spring walks that include insider details and activities to pair with some of our favourite trails around the region. Check back in every Sunday in April for a new walk and some fun tips to get the family outside enjoying the season together.

We first discovered MacDonald [...]

Product Review – Kumon Preschool Skill Builders

Our daughter couldn’t be bothered.
Crayons were so not in her repertoire. Colouring – no thank you!
As you know, she would paint until the cows come home. But, crayons, pens, anything that involved lines – not so much.
The omnipotent “they” tell us that our kiddo should be thinking hard about the whole line-making thing. I get [...]

Kid-Friendly Power Balls

In our house, forgetting to pack sufficient snacks for a day away from home constitutes a moderate role of the dice where our little person’s diet is concerned.
My son has a small-ish repertoire of healthy foods he deigns acceptable for consumption. It’s definitely enough to meet his basic dietary needs – the boy baffles me [...]

Family Craft – Waldorf 3-D Butterflies

Our kiddo has never been into doing the girlie girl thing.
We instituted the no-pink, no-ruffles rule (applied loosely).
She loves bugs and snakes, Roberto Luongo and digging in the tide pools for creatures of all kinds.
But, lately, our house has gotten very fairy tale, very pastel, very soft and pretty thanks to the tiny person’s newfound [...]

Spring Training for the Family

We are hitting the beach and the trails while the sunshine lasts today.
So, local fitness guru Sharon de Goede is here to chat about getting outside and getting moving with the family now that Spring has sprung!
Here she is:
Give yourself a shake!
The ole body is STILL there, still working for you, but have you prepared [...]

Family Craft – Waldorf-Inspired Watercolors

The gig is up.
Our kiddo is a painting maniac.
Seriously, the older she gets the uglier public painting becomes. Just the mere mention of tempera paints and paper sends her into an uncontrollable frenzy during which she paints every inch of her body – and anyone standing within swiping distance, gets a gooey paintbrush on all [...]

Cream Cheese Penguins

If spring break is seeming as endless at your house as it is in ours, you’re likely looking for some inspiration to keep the kiddos occupied.
The kitchen is always a great spot for enthusiastic little people, with lots of opportunities for mixing ingredients, getting a little messy, and watching their efforts materialize while sitting cross-legged [...]

Surf & Turf, Comox Valley Style

Of course right about the time I am back to full steam after a super busy weekend what happens? The rain kicks in. I could complain, but am entirely grateful that – for the most part – the rain skipped all of the fun events over the last few days.

We haven’t done a comment challenge [...]

Spring Break Reading Adventures

After a long Winter of snowy tales, the tiny person and I hauled out the books about blooming flowers, baby animals and sunshine a few weeks ago to get ourselves geared up for the activity of Spring.
I’ve definitely had a tough time charging myself up lately…whether it’s the chill factor in the mornings or feeling [...]

When Preschool Gardening Gives Way to Absentmindedness

Bad news first: I have no brain.
It has been missing since about six months into pregnancy…and it is now becoming painfully apparent that its continued decline is starting to effect our day-to-day well being.
…at least when it comes to gardening.
After our unfortunate leaving-outside-overnight incident last week, I lovingly put the sprouts back on the front [...]

The Paper-Bag Easter Basket & Easter Bunny

The other day I found myself cruising the aisles at an unnamed big-box store in complete awe of the piles of gear available for Easter festivities of the kid-related kind.
Unbelievable…really.
..and then I left, entirely empty-handed.
I was shocked at my lack of a purchase. My childhood Easters were filled with plastic eggs cracked open to discover [...]

The Babka Kitchen Adventure

Before I get started, here’s more farm fun from Day 2 at the Hands-On Farm. The place is hopping with tiny people (and tiny lambs, two that are just one-week old):

Christa and I have teamed up today to offer up a Spring Break Adventure in the form of a family day in the kitchen.
The [...]

Hit North Vancouver Island Museums

So, the tiny person and I hit the opening day of the Spring Break Hands-On Farm yesterday. It’s most definitely a scaled-down version of the Summer farm. But, it was totally great to see our daughter getting into hanging out with the bunnies and guinea pigs inside, and getting the chance to feed the donkey [...]

Breaking News – Major MEGA Brand Recall

CVK Mom Robin – AKA Another Robin – just sent me a note about a major recall from the makers of MEGA Blocks.
More than 1.3 millions MagnaMan Magnetic Action Figures are being recalled because swallowed magnets may cause aspirational and intestinal trauma.
The small magnets inside the figures are known to detach and if more than [...]

Recycled Easter Crafts

Today’s comment challenge: What is your favourite part of Easter? What events do you try to hit or traditions do you have? Bonus points for craft and food ideas:) I’ve got a Super Scrapbooking Kit for one random commenter.
There are times, on those days when I have to fight through the gigantic pile of [...]

The Importance of Nutrition in a Child’s Development

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
I was never quite sure what the heck my parents meant by that enduring little phrase until our tiny person showed up and NOTHING became more painful than to watch her slug through a horrible bout of sickness.
I’m not one to pound a huge whack [...]

Pear with Honey & Pecans

Today’s comment challenge: What are your favourite snack foods to take on a day trip. Recipes welcome but not required:)

Daylight savings has really put a spring in my step this week. All of a sudden, summer feels within arm’s reach.
I bought Capri pants.
I rolled the car windows down once or twice.
I realized the Farmer’s [...]

Our First Preschool Garden Casualty

The whole gardening-for-the-first time is bound to have some seedling drama.
Today, we had to officially say goodbye to our lettuce, which struggled long and hard after the transplant (note to self: plant lettuce directly into the ground)

It was a sad, solemn day as we had hoped that somehow by magic everything we planted would live [...]

A Barn As A Recreation Asset

I cannot be happier to report that Comox Rec Program Director Patti Fletcher kicks off her monthly column today with talk about the Hands-On Farm.
This gem, which generally is open at The Filberg for eight glorious Summer-time weeks each year, has some big news. We all can jump in for some Spring farm fun (and [...]

Spring Migration

The swans are disappearing.
The thousands of lovely, white, long-necked beauties are vanishing by the day after packing local farm fields snacking down all Winter.
Thankfully, they aren’t being destroyed. It’s just time for them to head back to Alaska because a cozy rainy season on the island means they’ve got some baby making to attend to [...]

Retro Mama’s Blast from the Past

My mother made me wear a babushka. (Not unlike the vintage dress in the above photo that I would prefer the tiny person wore every day:))
She thought it looked so crazy cute on a preschooler that I ended up with a whole wardrobe of ethnic head scarfs.
My grandmother loved it so much I acquired my [...]

Spots to Watch Spring Migration

Today’s comment challenge: Where are some of your favourite wildlife watching spots on Vancouver Island and other places around the world?
Did you check out the great thread about food and your family yesterday? Thanks to everyone who jumped in. And the winner of a cool dino puzzle is…Stacey. Wahoo. Boynton books up for grabs today.

There [...]

Creamy Vegetable Spread

Every so often there comes along an easy, healthy, delicious recipe that becomes an instant household classic. A few weeks ago, I sampled a recipe for Creamy Vegetable Spread from the November 2007 issue of Everyday Food Magazine from Martha Stewart that I had that gut feeling about.
“We will make this forever!” I declared.
We’ve long [...]

The Preschool Garden Replant

Today’s comment challenge: What were your favourite childhood family projects? Do you build those into your family life today?
Reesh, you definitely score in the comment department. A Log’s Life is yours! Today, I’ve got a cool dinosaur puzzle for one random commenter. So, jump in and win!

There’s nothing like digging in the dirt.
Kiddos know that [...]

Sprouts – Mid-Week Update

As part of the gardening journal, we’ll be doing short, periodic updates about what’s growing (lots of photos) in addition to the bi-montly write-up.

We have Sprouts!
Here are some from Day 3:
Lettuce and radishes just popping up.
Zucchini nearly sprouting.
Here’s from last night:
The zucchini and marigolds have sprouted and the radishes are just about in need of [...]

Homemade Pizza

In the realm of kid-friendly cuisine, homemade pizza is a traditional favourite.
It’s delicious, inexpensive, and easy for the kiddos to help prepare.
It is also the ultimate vegetable transportation device.
Moving away from the greasy deli meats and cheeses, our family has long experimented with veggie pizzas, topped with any assortment of produce, or whatever happens to [...]

Easter Tic-Tac-Toe Craft

How about that sunshine? The gray is back. But, we’ve had a great couple of days hitting the beach, wandering the trails and lounging in the backyard playing dominoes. I even hung a load or two of wash on the line.
I am so ready for a return to full-time sun.
That’s pretty darn evident in the [...]

Help! My Kiddo Hates Veggies (for now)

So, well…
…our daughter, who has always been a wonder in the eating good food department, is on strike.
Where I used to be able to set down bowl after bowl of carrots, broccoli, cabbage or swiss chard now lives empty space.
I was sharing with a pal last night that it’s like she’s put herself on a [...]

Sprouts – A Preschool Gardening Journal

There’s nothing like digging in the dirt.
For weeks around our house the gardening hats and wooden bugs have been planted and re-planted on the living room floor. Her afternoon “gardening” sessions haven’t resulted in anything edible or sprouting, but one thing was clear – our daughter’s itch to get some soil between her toes had [...]

On The Rocks climbing gym

Derek Kwan is here today with the scoop on a cool, relatively new climbing gym in Campbell River.
I very much appreciate Derek’s contributions to the site, not only for his plainly Dad perspective, but also for offering up some great scores in the fun locales department.
Without further delay, here’s Derek:

A friend of mine has proclaimed [...]

Salad People

The dining toddler is quite an enigma.
As the parent of one who will be 3 in April, I have shared in discussion after discussion with fellow parents of toddlers, and it seems there is quite the spectrum of eating habits from one child to the next.
My son in particular has a handful of staple foods [...]

The Not-So-Comprehensive Guide to Potty Training

When it comes to potty training tiny people, the verdict remains out on how to best do so (click the link above to see for yourself).
From the minute our daughter was born (actually, even before), advice about potty training was one of the most common topics in terms of other moms and professionals passing along [...]

The Great Escape Modern Indian Food

At last, our bad Valentines Day dinner karma dies.
It started out less than inspirational.
My husband and I, looking forward to an evening playing dress up, drinking something rather adult and eating well-spiced food at a leisurely, uninterrupted pace made reservations a week ago to finally hit The Great Escape in Cumberland for our annual Valentines [...]

Valentines Sugar Cookies

For this Valentines week edition of Food and Your Family, I thought I’d search the Martha Stewart website for a tasty holiday recipe.
Surely Martha would have the most adorable, impeccably perfect holiday treat ideas imaginable. She would have thought of something so great, so totally outstanding and unbelievable, that perhaps my head would explode.
Thinking of [...]

Homemade Valentines for Kids

Valentines Day is such a sweet treat to burst through the lingering gray of February.
These days of intermittent rain and chill make us wonder if it’s truly time to start spending most of our days outside again – or plan another big whack of indoor fun.
I’m halfway there, plugging away at getting the back porch [...]

Comox Parks

Anyway, as promised, we continue our quest to provide you all with a comprehensive list of parks in the region. Last week, we offered up the ins and outs of Courtenay parks. Today, we’re all about Comox.
As with last week, there are several city-maintained nature parks including MacDonald Wood, Condor, Pioneer, Foxxwood, Highwood and Mac [...]

Sandwick Park

CVK dad Derek Kwan has dropped by today to give us the skinny on a cool, lesser-known park in the Valley and I just have to say how excited I am to have a dad’s perspective in the mix here.
I’m not going to blab on too much today.

I needed a plane to help me [...]

Chinese Lanterns & Other Traditions

All he did was turn his lantern on.
I had no idea why it could possibly be so cool, but the Chinese lettering and lovely art that glowed red through the paper hanging from the ceiling sucked me in and my pal Cliff, with his parents smiling modestly in the background, began to tell us all [...]

Spelt Pancakes

Mmmmmm, pancakes.
Years ago during a short stint in Seattle, my husband and I would wake up every Sunday morning and wander the few blocks down Capitol Hill streets to an amazing soul food restaurant where the most lip-smacking delicious buttermilk pancakes in the history of pancakes lived.
Just the thought takes me back to childhood, warm, [...]

Helpful Hints for Art at Home

Creativity takes courage. – Matisse

Matisse couldn’t have been more dead-on.
The ways people get their creative groove on define them in huge ways.
They give people courage…
…a place to let all of their emotions spill out…
…and a voice to speak out, admire, honour or just simply reveal those things that mean the most.
Giving kiddos [...]

Courtenay Parks

Lots of parents have been asking me lately for comprehensive lists of local parks with equipment.
Today, I’ll start with the Courtenay City-owned parks. There are several city-maintained nature parks including Lerwick, Millard, Dogwood, Bear James and Huford Hill that are not included here because they offer no park amenities.

* Bill Moore Park: Kilpatrick Avenue and [...]

Product Review – Kai Kids organics

Anybody else having a tough time hunting down green gear for your tiny people?
The eco factor when shopping for kids clothes and gear in the Valley is something that parents searching for those organic-cotton t-shirts, toxin-free feeding options and chemical-free toiletries must almost solely rely upon the Internet for access to.
That’s not necessarily a bad [...]

Book Review – 8-year-old Inspiration

With family literacy on our minds around Canada this week, I found myself totally inspired by 8-year-old Caden Mack, who took it upon himself to rewrite one of his favourite stories and his parents, who took it upon themselves to foster his creativity and self-publish his book.
I can’t think of a greater way to honour [...]

Family Crafts – Making Spring Scenes

I am of the mind that it is time to will the cold away.
While at least mildly unrealistic as February dawns on us, I’m all too willing to perpetuate my delusions of warm sunshine, crocus and tulips pushing their heads up through the still-frozen front garden – in the form of construction paper and cut [...]

Nature Crafts – Bagel Bird Feeder

OK, I’m over all of this serious cold outside.
Brrrrrr…
In honour of coaxing Spring along, and making sure the local birds (who I think are as stunned as we are by this frosty snap) have enough to snack on, I went looking for some cool ideas for making backyard bird feeders today.
There are always pine cone [...]

Family Crafts – Spring Paper Flowers

If your house is anything like mine in January, we all are in serious need of a Spring-like pick-me-up.
Since it’s not quite time to bust out the garden hoe, your best bet for injecting some Spring spirit into your lives is to get crafting.
We found a fun Spring flower craft in, of all places, National [...]

Tahini Candy

I’m going to have to vote Christa most popular for this really amazing recipe. Besides being a smart candy alternative for your kiddos, it’s also a super healthy, energy-packed treat for pregnant moms or parents in need of a pick-me-up. This one is going to live around our house for a long, long time. [...]

Dining Out – Ethnic Food in a Small Town

Local Dad Derek Kwan asked a great question after our book review yesterday.

Where are some hot spots to actually get kiddos to test drive ethnic foods around here?

I honestly think that is a seriously tough question.
With no intention of dishing the restaurants that currently reside in the Valley, finding really tasty ethnic food here is [...]

Felt Boards to Spark Imagination

I have to be honest, I’d never even seen a felt board until we were shopping for the tiny person’s second birthday last summer and discovered some AMAZING ones at Kool & Child in Nanaimo.
We hooked her up with a huge ocean scene that now lives on a wall in our hallway thinking she’d love [...]

Penne with Squash and Black Beans

Over the years, my husband and I have had our ups and downs with the level of time and energy we have put into our meals at home. There was a summer years ago when, while saving every penny for a new van, we subsisted on bulk hot dogs & Alphaghetti. This was followed by [...]

Cakebread Artisan Bakery

As most of you know by now, we are a wheat-free family.
Each of us have a different reason for staying away from it. But, the reality is that lovely, comfort-food baked goods like breads, cakes and cookies baked by someone other than me have long been off the snack list.
Until lately.

I hadn’t even dared to [...]

Seven Books Packed Full of Rainy-Day Fun

OK, so I’m having a little trouble getting plugged back in to my daily schedule.
Vacation has a way of zapping your rhythm, which is a good thing when your rhythm is go-go-go. But, it sure is tough to jump back into the thick of it all for a bit afterward.
We hit the Lazo Marsh this [...]

The 8-Step Plan to Make Family Fitness Stick

Editor’s Note: I feel moderately guilty posting this today. We’ve done plenty of hiking, beach-walking and generally outdoors loving the last week. But, you can bet that has also included plenty of sleeping in, snacking and lounging around blissfully in need of doing absolutely nothing.
But, upon return, I will be hitting the pool hard, the [...]

Marine Habitats: A Natural Classroom

While I know that a January beach run may not be way up on your list when the skies are gray the temps are hovering around 0, this is the time of year (low tides) when a spectacular, mild, sunny day is the perfect time for exploring local shorelines. Getting out onto the beach with [...]

Homemade Granola

My husband and I are off enjoying some well-earned beach combing and snuggling by the fire in Tofino this week. So, while you won’t be hearing much from me in the next few days, several special guests will be dropping by to keep me from having to spend even one second on the computer while [...]

Family Craft – Pop-Up Thank You Cards

Before the husband and I took off for some time on our own this week I knew there was one thing the tiny person and I had to finish – the thank you cards from all of the great holiday gifts that showed up at our door this year.
If there’s one thing I am religious [...]

Bean Burritos with Sweet Potatoes

One of the big changes we’ll start off with this year is offering more regular features – in particular family-friendly recipes.
I am not so creative in the kitchen. Relying on me to bring you tasty treats is like being forced to eat that one casserole from your Auntie Edna over and over again. So, CVK [...]

Making New Year’s Resolutions as a Family

I have one resolution this year, to make 2008 the year of the strong, healthy family.
For us, that means physically, emotionally, financially and socially. One very serious tall order that appears at least mildly overwhelming.
But, as an overall goal, I’m thinking it’s right on target. So, that’s what we’re going to focus on here [...]

New Year’s Eve Crowns

New Year’s Eve is one tricky holiday to get the family involved with.
Most of the long-standing traditions of the event portion of it revolve around activities not meant for kiddos, and generally the big project for this day is finding a baby sitter that doesn’t mind an extra late night.
But, around our house, the festivities [...]

10 Ways to Enjoy a Rainy Day, Outside in the Comox Valley

Lately my commitment to getting the tiny person outside for at least an hour a day has gone the way of the dodo. I’d blame it on the holidays or the mad rush of company that invaded our house the last few weeks. But, since the holidays were actually pretty chill, and we had no [...]

Toilet Paper Roll Penguins

Ah, the Thursday after Christmas.
We are still very slow to get going around here, enjoying the leisure of snoozing at will, snacking on leftover turkey and trying out all of the new gear that Santa brought.
It seems like that should be plenty to do. But, there’s still a whiff of boredom in the air that [...]

Top 10 Tips for Boxing Day

It’s Boxing Day around these parts and that means one thing – SALES!
I had big plans to be out the door by 7 a.m. this morning in search of the deals of the century. But, a perogi hangover (those things are brutal in the food coma department) left me less than energetic and I am [...]

Winter Break Projects for the Whole Family

With the Santa countdown about to officially begin, family and friends about to gather and joy to commence there is a rather un-joyful reality that families often get at least a wee bit agitated when piled in the same general vicinity for long periods of time.
I’m no Scrooge, and I totally love getting the whole [...]

Homemade Wrapping Paper

I am not going to try today, in any way, to lead us all down the path of making our own paper in a by-hand, from-scratch sort of way. If I had infinite hours in the day and unholy amounts of patience, I might personally go that route of fiber, water and binding agents. But, [...]

Holiday Green Guide 2007

Pulling the trappings of the holiday season together and getting them ready for the big day is where you can really make a difference environmentally this year.
Millions of rolls of wrapping and tissue paper will end up decorating presents in the next few weeks – and I was seriously shocked to learn that not [...]

Holidays Around the World – Winter Solstice

A Winter chill is in the air. The days are short. Vacation planning to warm February destinations is at its peak.
And, by the end of next week, much of the world will be in the midst of mid-Winter celebrations that range from the simple placement of special gifts of food on Winter dinner tables to [...]

Holidays Around the World – Hanukkah

For the next few days we’re going to spend some time checking out other holidays celebrated by children around the world this year. When I was a kiddo, some of the most memorable experiences I ever had included experiencing the different holiday celebrations of friends of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds.
Giving your kiddos the opportunity [...]

Holiday Family Cooking with Kids

I am NOT the queen of the kitchen.
Growing up in a family of pretty darn great cooks, I never bothered doing much of it myself. It was something so much more beloved to other people. I happily watched while they created.
What I discovered years later, when I finally felt confident that our daughter could safely [...]

Family Philanthropy – Canuck Place Day of Giving

I feel bad that I’m posting this so late in the day.
But, if you were looking for a great place to do some serious giving to this holiday season, it most definitely has to be Canuck Place.
The Day of Giving annual Radiothon is today and children from around Canada who are coping with life-threatening illnesses [...]

Dr. Carl Ivey – Family Holiday Survival

Campbell River parenting coach Dr. Carl Ivey is back today talking about ways to lower the stress factor around your house this holiday season.
I hate to say it. But, the grumpy season has officially kicked in. I was hoping it had skipped the Valley this year – folks had been all smiles and really enjoying [...]

Bambu for Eco Kids Utensils

For ages and ages…and ages…I have been trying to replace the plastic eating utensils that our tiny person used to eat with.
Oh was it ever a painful process.
I went to nearly every store in town, and in other towns. I cruised the Internet. I even considered just converting to stainless steel camping utensils.
Then, one day, [...]

Holiday Mini Photo Books

While I realize most people aren’t generally as photo junkie-ish as I am (I take the camera to the grocery store…I know, it’s an issue), everyone always seems to have a giant pile of snapshots shoved in a drawer or in a computer file somewhere that needs pulling together.
With families living all over the globe [...]

Pine Cone Creatures

There is a pile of pine cones around our house that was becoming rather unwieldy.
Lately, the big thrill of a walk in the woods is the collection of anything cool that has fallen onto the trail – leaves from the trees, seed pods, acorns and one thing in particular – pine cones.
Knowing that eventually the [...]

Safety First – Dangerous Comox Valley Intersections.

I am having one of THOSE days.
You know, the ones where your kiddo wakes up at 5:45 a.m., screams at you for two hours, gives you a bloody, fat lip while at the pool and is generally as disagreeable as mommy is before coffee (the coffee shack was out of reach until about 20 minutes [...]

Bottle-cap Christmas Trees

Welcome to the first installment of Homespun Holidays!
Once a week for the next six weeks we’ll be offering up ways for you to build in family time, have some fun and personalize your holiday season with family-friendly crafts, eats and adventures.
Today, we start it all off with a craft favourite that I am personally quite [...]

Park the Car, Grab the Kids, Ride the Bus

CVK mom Christa Herrling is back here today talking about something she is most definitely an expert on – making excellent use of the Valley transit system. Avid bus riders, Christa and her tiny person clue us all in today on the nuances and benefits of leaving the car parked in the driveway and heading [...]

Family Fitness – The No-Excuse Excuse

It seems so very appropriate that, on a day when the weather man reveals that we are supposed to get 50mm of rain and that crazy wind action that is a solid island Winter storm, Comox Valley Kids debuts its new Family Fitness column.
Once a month, local fitness expert, Vanier track coach and nationally-lauded running [...]

Pools, Skating Rinks and Climing Gyms in the Comox Valley

The Comox Valley is home to a wide range of public sports facilities including skating rinks, pools and recreation centres that are in the process of expanding as the Valley continues to grow.
The Comox Strathcona Regional District maintains local public pools and ice rinks in Courtenay, Comox and Campbell River other than Glacier Gardens ice [...]

Safety First – Aqua Dots Recall

As if we hadn’t seen enough toy recalls this year, Tornoto-based Spinmaster Toys (their websites were entirely inaccessible this morning) is now recalling its entire Aqua Dots line after it was discovered that the coating on the plastic used in the dots “can turn toxic if swallowed” according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Meanwhile, [...]

Fall Leaf Rubbings

The last couple days of spectacular Fall weather have inspired us to spend as much time as possible outside soaking in all of the goodness of cool, sunny afternoons.
We also ended up collecting a whole slew of cool pieces of the outside – from seed pods and acorns to ALL KINDS of leaves to [...]

The Snack-O-Lantern

OK, so my guilt got the best of me (easy to do really). So, even though I attempted to skip out today, I decided to wow you with a super cool eco-minded idea from one of my very favourite family-friendly get-your-kiddos-outside sites Green Hour.
We carved five pumpkins this year. They kept showing up around our [...]

The Great Pumpkin Saves Kids from Sugar Overload

A while back, I discovered The Tale of the Great Pumpkin.
I heard it in conversation. I read it on website after website, this spookytacular tale of bribing the kiddos out of their candy.
I am convinced that one brilliant parent out there came up with this remarkably savvy tool for reducing the sugar buzz factor around [...]

Halloween Spookytacular – Fright Night Events

We were so stoked.
The tiny person had put in a request, nearly every hour, for more than a week, to be a spider for Halloween.
Not being the creative one in the family, I wondered where the heck I could buy a spider costume. My husband the artist, on the other hand, was all about making [...]

Halloween Spookytacular – Plan Ahead for Christmas

CVK mom and family-friendly photographer extraordinaire Karen McKinnon is so very far ahead of the holiday planning game this year. We all are totally going to have to do some serious sprinting to keep up with her.
Actually, the sprinting is going to have to be in the direction of the phone (890-9222), e-mail (info@mckinnonphotography.com) or [...]

Making Bats for Spooky Learning

When I sent away for the Canadian Wildlife Federation’s free Wild About Bats package a few months ago, I sincerely wondered what I would ever do with it.
The tiny person was not in any way interested in flying spooky creatures at that point and, much like the snake one I also sent away for, the [...]

Safety First – Bumbo Baby Sitter Recall

I’ll be back later this afternoon with some spooky crafting ideas. But, breaking safety news trumps Halloween crafts.

When a pal who owns a kids store in San Francisco first showed the Bumbo Baby Sitter to me before our daughter was born, I thought I had been saved from the curse of the tacky high [...]

Cool Mom Picks Safer Toy Guide

I am a H-U-G-E fan of the moms over at Cool Mom Picks if for no other reason than they keep me from totally losing my cool factor and giving in to the urge to live out my days in 6-year-old sweats and faded t-shirts.
They are super resourceful and totally funky, not to mention exceptionally [...]

Dr. Carl Ivey – Effective Discipline: Gain, No Pain

Finally, Dr. Ivey’s debut.
I had the great opportunity to meet this retired pediatrician turned holistic parenting coach a while back and, over lunch, he changed our lives.
My husband and I had been struggling deeply with ever-increasing toddler behaviours that we plainly had no tools to cope with and it was really starting to effect [...]

Groovy Gear – Aqua Socks with, well, Socks

Our daughter is a fish.
She dreams of turning into a whale, crawling like a crab and meeting a sea horse.
So, when we started swim lessons at the CV Aquatics Centre we thought for sure it would be an instant success.
Ends up, the bottom of the pool is a bit more rugged than her toddler feet [...]

Kid Internet Tunes that Rock

After the long haul to and from Victoria yesterday (whoa, the traffic down South is one very serious in-my-face reminder of why I L-O-V-E life in the Valley), I was completely shot.
Between the 6+ hour round-trip in the car, torrential rains, bumper-to-bumper traffic, toddler in the back seat and the deafening silence in the house [...]

Teaching Kids Financial Literacy

After a few weeks on the island, my parents are heading back East today and we’re hitting the road to Victoria pretty quick this morning.
We’ve all had such a great time just hanging out and soaking up being a family, it’s a bit of a blue day around here.
So, I thought I’d pull out an [...]

Mommy Talk – Thrifty Mommy

I’m not cheap.
I’m joyously frugal.
There are plenty of things that I’m happy to pay full-price for. We shop local, try to steer clear of Wal-Mart and are happy to pay for high-quality.
But, there’s nothing I love more than a very serious bargain.
If you are looking for me on the rare afternoon that the tiny person [...]

Returning to the Real World with Family Vacation Tips

I apologize for being MIA yesterday. A snail-paced internet connection and gorgeous, jacket-free last day in Tofino meant radio silence.
Anyway, back in the Valley and back to business, our week in Tofino has inspired me to begin putting together family-friendly vacation guides for hot spots around the island – with Tofino being the first.
Look for [...]

Tofino’s Ocean Kids

So, there we were driving along Campbell Street into downtown Tofino.
We had to make a Co-op run for last-minute ingredients (it was perogi party night last night) and ended up at this great kids store that is, in the end, now the sole reason that we as parents no longer have ANY excuses about why [...]

Kayaking Tofino

I know, I know. All of you were expecting Dr. Ivey today, and I planned on it – I promise.
But, the lure of the beach, the crisp of the air and honestly my unwillingness to think about anything other than where I’m at while on vacation means Dr. Ivey’s debut will have to wait until [...]

Get Your Family Involved with Conservation

The grandeur of the Pacific Coast Rainforest and the majesty of nature is one of North Vancouver Island’s most valuable resources, preserved and cared for by a diligent handful of dedicated organizations including:
LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS:
The Comox Valley Naturalist Society
Comox Valley Land Trust
Greenways Land Trust (Campbell River)
Friends of the Comox Lazo Forest Reserve
Greenways Land Trust
Ecotrust Canada
Strathcona Wilderness [...]

Family-Friendly Trails in the Comox Valley

Finding the safe, accessible and fun family trails on the North Island is no small task.
With plenty of trails to choose from, it’s the details on what works and what doesn’t that are often missing. Check here for a list of family-friendly trails around the Comox Valley and Campbell River regions.
SAFETY NOTE: Bears, cougars [...]

Salmon Viewing on North Vancouver Island

Chances to get outside and check out the amazing creatures living among us, or to find a place that teaches us all about the environment, natural resources and caring for animals on the island are plentiful. Here are a few spots to watch salmon as they make their way to their spawning grounds each year:
* [...]

Starting Family Holiday Traditions

It’s Thanksgiving Eve around these parts and alongside the onset of the holiday season comes the nearly compulsive desire by practically everyone I know to pull out some utterly fantastic family tradition that is yet to have been test driven.
I sooooo love the day dreams in my head of cozy holidays during which the family [...]

Holiday Stress Busters

My parents are in town.
It’s all good, as they seldom make the 3,000-mile journey around the holidays. So, it’s a fantastic chance to hang out, tour the island and have one of those classic family moments that is the idyllic notion of Thanksgiving.
Oh, the expectations.
I don’t think I’m the only one around who busts out [...]

Families Helping Families – Laptops for All Children

My husband is a gadget guy.
If it’s electronic, has anything to do with music, movies or art, he’s into it.
He’s also got a big, giant heart – especially when it comes to helping kids develop their potential anywhere, anytime.
So, while he was on the Web recently hunting down a starter computer for our tiny person, [...]

Dress Up That Salmon

I’m in a food rut.
Seriously, I have five dishes that work for me and we eat them every week.
It’s ugly and the family is starting to notice.
So, this morning I dusted off my e-mail folder that holds the billions of recipes from sites I subscribe to yet never, ever use. They all look so delicious, [...]

Nine Fall Comox Valley Family Walks (Rain or Shine)

This may seem like a silly topic on such a GEEEEEEEOOOOOOOORRRRRRGeous day.
But, I’ve had a whack of requests lately to pull together a single list of family-friendly walks that are do-able in all sorts of weather.
So, here it is.
9. The Courtenay Riverwalk including the Courtenay Estuary Loop: This is by far one of the most [...]

Boosting Kiddos’ Immune Systems Naturally

As a new feature at Comox Valley Kids, local experts will be jumping in from time to time to offer a helping hand to parents around the region.
It is definitely fast becoming hat and coat weather, and school or a whole whack of indoor activities for your kiddos always accompany the change of seasons.
That [...]

Safety First – Car Seat Recalls

Thanks to CVK mom Angela D’Eon for updated news from Transportation Canada on the car seat recalls for Cosco, Safety 1st and Eddie Bauer products.
The seats that are being recalled manufactured and sold between Nov. 1, 2003 and Dec. 31, 2005 include:
* Cosco Alpha Omega: 22C15BNP, 22C15CRK, 22C15ROR, 22C15TUX, 22C26BNG, 22C26GRH
[...]

101 Uses for Hemp Milk

A while back, after CVK mom Reesh recommended Hemp Milk, I started doing a bit of research into it all.
Cow milk is no friend to us, and the whole goat’s milk our daughter has been downing for a year or so is now – I’m told – a bit too fatty for her to drink [...]

Rainy Day Survival Guide – Hit The Pool

I used to dream of pools.
Big ones, that would take me what seemed like hours to swim the length of.
Diving for pennies.
Bobbing like a buoy.
Sneaking a trip to the snack bar to eat Tangy Taffy until my teeth fell out.
Except for the Tangy Taffy, pretty much nothing has changed.
So, when we jumped in and got [...]

Dining Out – Dick’s Fish & Chips

I have an extreme weakness for fish and chips.
Maybe it was all those childhood Fridays during lent when we couldn’t eat meat and ended up at the local fish and chips dive. But, there is something completely homey about a dinner that involves battered fish, fries and coleslaw.
That is not to say that all fish [...]

Find It – Comox Valley Diaper Gyms!

It’s that time of year!
Yes, it’s true, DIAPER GYM is nearly back in session (just a few weeks more, I promise).
Our daughter has been asking for WEEKS when she gets to see her friends at diaper gym again and, although I know it should be all about her, I can’t wait to see my friends [...]

Kye Bay Beach

It’s rainy.
It’s cold.
So, I thought I’d round out CVK’s Summer beach reviews with one last great beach to spot creatures, wander in the sand and hang out – even when the weather is ho-hum.
Kye Bay Beach is one of those spots that is well off the main drag, but definitely not off the radar for [...]

Time to Ditch the Plastic Sports Bottle/Sippy Cup

I’m about to scare you.
Plastic may be useful, but it is also potentially irreparably harming our children by disrupting their endocrine, immune and reproductive systems by leaching toxins into their water, milk and food.
That’s even the plastic in baby bottles, sippy cups and sports drink bottles.
If you are like me, you have to read it [...]

Getting Back to the Workout as Parents

If you are one of those women who gained like 25 pounds while you were pregnant and lost it all within a few months of giving birth, I salute you for recovering so nicely.
For the rest of us, it’s hell.
Actually, I did only gain about 28 pounds while pregnant with the tiny person. But, I’d [...]

Mack Laing Nature Park

I‘d heard a whole lot of people talk about how lovely and relaxing a stroll through Mack Laing Nature Park is on a lovely day. But, wow was it ever tough to find something that actually showed me how to get there. Like many of the wonderful slices of nature around these parts, Mack Laing [...]

More Recalls and Ideas for Being Proactive

The rash of recalls lately – particularly the ones for lead paint – have brought to the forefront a renewed deep concern on my end about the toys that live in this house.
I remember while I was pregnant and right after our daughter was born I wouldn’t have even considered putting anything plastic or painted [...]

Lavendar Essential Oil Helps Kids to Sleep

Working through our nightly routine of dinner, bath, books and bed last night I figured that today’s post would be my regular photo + “Have a lovely weekend” greeting.
Running the tiny person’s bath totally changed that.
Our daughter has always been an excellent sleeper. She’s the kid who used to take a 2-hour nap in the [...]

What to do with all of that fruit

We eat a ton of fruit around here.
From bananas and apples to as many berries as can be consumed in one gulp, fruit is definitely the big snacky fave.
That means I’m always buying fruit, and people are always buying it for us. I swear my mother-in-law and I have the same brain because almost religiously, [...]

Eco-Friendly Green School Supplies

Did I say it?
Is it possible?
Could it be that back to school is back on the brain?
OK, so getting your kiddos ready to hit the books hasn’t reached an emergency pitch right yet. But, if you are thinking about “greening” their school gear this year (a lot of this can apply to pre-schoolers and toddlers [...]

Product Review – Wrap-N-Mat

I hate plastic bags.
Hate can be a strong word. But, seriously, I hate them.
It may be the personal fact that the tiny person terrifies me with her fascination with putting them over her head or the environmental reality that millions of gallons of oil are consumed every year to produce the more than 500 billion [...]

Major Recall

Mattel has further recalled a whole whack of toys, this time those that older kids are more likely to play with.
The rash of toy recalls lately is really unnerving.
Check the Mattel site here to see if toys you own are a part of the recall as well as how to deal with them.

Ashprington Farm

With berry season in full swing, I have been running around like crazy trying to find a u-pick raspberry spot in the Valley. They are, in the end, not very easy to find.
On our way to and from the beach, other farms and adventures along the Old Island Highway I’d seen a sign for u-pick [...]

Safety First – Wasp and Bee Stings

Like just about any other parent of a 2-year-old, I totally freaked when our daughter was stung on her arm and back by a “buzzy” (as she calls them) at a backyard gathering a few weeks ago. A large swath of dark, red rash took over her lower arm, scaring me so badly that we [...]

Beating the Dog Days of Summer with Bubbles & Games

I was out having coffee with my pal Kathy recently when trading stories across the table turned to the topic of summer seemingly nearing its end.
The cloudy coolness of the last few days makes moms like us think maybe it’s time to start talking Halloween and Christmas instead of beaches and fun in the backyard.
We’re [...]

Lake Helen McKenzie Loop

My husband and I have declared Saturdays around our house the official day of the hiking boots.
Once a week we break from all of our regular around-town and beach action, fill up the backpacks and hit the trails up in Strathcona Provincial Park to suck up the mountain air, enjoy the quiet and take in [...]

The Ergo Carrier

Sorry for the late post today.
We got swept outside by the sun and had a little trouble talking ourselves back inside the house.
While we were out hiking in Strathcona Provincial Park this afternoon, though, we were reminded how seriously fantastic one piece of gear really is and I pretty much had to come back and [...]

“Green” Meat

OK, the first thing you think of when you see a post titled Green Meat is nothing edible, for sure.
But, while folks devote a whole lot of time to organic vegetables and fruit, switching over to free-range, drug-free and organically raised meat is – I was recently told by a friend and naturopath – actually [...]

Book Review – Nature Watching in the Comox Valley

Sometimes, I’m a little slow off of the block.
For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been running around trying to figure out some new local trails to check out and places to wander, frustrated a bit by my own lack of resources.
Then, I was out at the Lazo Marsh with the tiny people the other [...]

Major Recall of Dora, Diego and Sesame Street Toys

If you haven’t seen the news yet, Mattel has recalled a whole shwack of pre-school toys due to the discovery of excessive amounts of lead in the paint used on them.
After reading the news, we immediately went to Mattel Consumer Relations to look and see if any of the toys in our house are on [...]

Miracle Beach Provincial Park

There’s a reason this beach got its name.
If you drive up and down the east coast of Vancouver Island, a beach of this ilk is hard to find.
From the facilities right down to the seemingly endless stretch of barefoot-loving sand, Miracle Beach Provincial Park lives up to its moniker.
Right off the Old Island Highway, in [...]

Pattison Organic Farm Stand

I am always on the lookout for the least expensive way to eat organics.
Going the organic route with food has become more and more important to us – especially after the tiny person came along and I started reading up on the effects of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides on the immune systems, mental health and [...]

Kitty Coleman Provincial Park

When my daughter and I headed out this morning, I thought for sure I’d come back with a beach review to share.
I’d heard that Kitty Coleman Provincial Park was full of great beach action, excellent views and is just a really great place for families. And, while the last two are definitely true, we were [...]

Birthday Cake the Wheat-Free(and easy) Way

So, I’m just going to enact the right of the blog master and wish my daughter a big, giant happy 2nd Birthday today.
She’s been talking about birthday cake for two weeks straight now – much to my dismay. Not because the sugar-induced insanity should not be part of a toddler celebration. She’s allergic to wheat [...]

Worth the Drive – Kool & Child

My husband and I almost set up camp there – particularly happy that the tiny person and grandma decided to hang out at home instead of come with us. Otherwise, she would have insisted we move in forever.
I’d been told by more than one intrepid parent that Kool & Child in Nanaimo was one of [...]

Blue Haven Farm U-Pick Blueberries

It’s the season I wait for all year.
Not summer.
No, it’s blueberry season.
And there is one lovely U-Pick blueberry farm in Comox that you can hit for the next six weeks or so and snack down on those tasty blue morsels – Blue Haven Farm on Anderton Road and Idiens Way.

First off, let’s get the important [...]

Pt. Holmes Beach

On a long day, when nerves are frayed and adventures have gone less than well, a long drive along Lazo Road has saved us all from a severe case of the grumpies.
Right at the tip where it and Knight Road meet up, we pull along side the road, roll down the windows and let the [...]

Get Away – Butterfly World

Butterflies hold an honoured place in our house.
As the story goes, my grandfather who passed away more than 20 years ago, returns to everyone in the family from time to time in the form of a beautiful butterfly.
I’m a firm believer in his visitation policy as on my wedding day, just moments before my dad [...]

Safety First – Water Quality at Local Beaches

I’m pretty sure it never really crossed my mind to wonder if a local beach was safe to swim at until I had kiddos.
But, neither did a whole realm of potential health hazards that I am now more than a little neurotic about.
I guess I assumed that beaches around here just can’t be health hazards. [...]

The Goose Spit

I haven’t done a beach review in ages, which seems just plain silly since it’s summer and we do indeed live on an island full of places to hang out on the water.
So, I figured I’d get started with the most obvious of candidates: The Goose Spit.

Anyone looking for a beach that is close to [...]

Dining Out – Porch’s Take-Out

It’s one of those places that you wait all winter for it to re-open.
You know, those spots where – when you were a kid – you’d beg your parents to eat at because grease and fries and fish with a big whack o’ tartar sauce is pretty much the most awesome local island food ever.
Porch’s [...]

Camping in the Comox Valley

Camping is what Vancouver Island weekends are all about.
Here are some local spots to check out:
Kitty Coleman Provincial Park, 65 car-accessible oceanside camp sites. $10 a night. No reservations needed except for the group site.
Miracle Beach Provincial Park, Black Creek.
Kin Beach Provincial Park, Comox. 18 vehicle-accessible camp sites.
Elk Falls Provincial Park, Campbell River, 122 vehicle-accessible [...]

Kitty Coleman Woodland Gardens

After a very long, busy and people-filled week, quiet had the most appeal today.
We were in serious need of something that involved mom, daughter and nature – and we found it most definitely this afternoon out at Kitty Coleman Woodland Gardens.
I had long thought about turning off the Old Island Highway onto Coleman Road [...]

Dining Out – Michaels Off Main

My mother-in-law loves Caesar salad.
The love is so intense that she has spent many a day seeking out the perfect Caesar spot.
In the end, it only took her a couple trips to Michaels Off Main in downtown Courtenay to assure her she had found her Caesar soul mate.
She treated us to Caesars a while back [...]

Hot Spots – The Comox Hands-On Farm

I have this thing about farms.
There’s a connection to the land and a healthy respect for where our food comes from that makes me jump at any chance to hit anything even remotely farm-like.
So, when the Hands-On Farm at The Filberg opened a few weeks ago, we wasted no time in hoofing it right over [...]

Dining Out – Plates Eatery

One of the best moves Platers Eatery & Catering Co. owner Steve Swing made for his restaurant was to relocate.
While the family-friendly food has always been available along Cliffe Avenue in Courtenay, now that Plates is no longer hidden in a shopping centre and lives at the corner of 26th Street and Cliffe it is [...]

One-Spot Trail

To know the history of the Comox Valley you must know the life of a logger.
No other industry has had such a dynamic impact on the growth and prosperity of this region (mining and fishing aside) than the lumber industry.
Now families can fill up the backpack, bust out the hiking boots and hit the trail [...]

ASHBerry Farm

Since I first discovered the earthy goodness of hitting the berry patch for a day of digging in the dirt and coming home with buckets full of freshness, U-Pick food of any kind has ranked right up there.
The simple notion of literally knowing where your food comes from – since most of us aren’t lucky [...]

Dinner Recipes – Easy Curries for Your Family

I‘m pretty sure we are among the lucky parents.
From the time our daughter started on solid food, she’s been a huge fan of all that is veggies, fruits and exotic flavours. She’ll chow down on curries, coconut milk, basil and ginger-filled Thai cuisine, spicy Latino and lime-infused Caribbean food.
There’s not much, really, she won’t at [...]

Ode to Dad

We here at CVK are taking tomorrow off in honour of the Day of the Dad. So, I thought I’d pontificate a bit on the Daddy Factor.
Dads come in all kinds.
Loud, laughing, soft-spoken and unassuming.
They bring us hockey nuts, bowling buddies, football fanatics and golfing gurus.
They offer love and friendship, guidance and education – a [...]

It’s All About Dad – Learn to Fish

You don’t need to be a sportsman to love what a fishing pole does for a family.
As a kid, some of the daddy-daughter moments I remember best are the fishing trips, sitting along mountain rivers, simply not worried at all about whether or not we got a single bite. Every time my pop dug out [...]

Diaper Gyms In The Comox Valley

Finding the perfect place for your infant or toddler to make friends, play hard and have fun can be tough work.
Here are a few spots to try out:
CFB Comox Parents & Tots 10 to 11:30 a.m. Mondays and Fridays out at the CFB Comox Recreation Centre. $2 and parents are encouraged to contribute a [...]

Find Family-Friendly Comox Valley Beaches

If North Vancouver Island has one thing, it’s great beaches.
But, with the grandeur of the Pacific come some unique challenges in terms of finding family-friendly spots to spend the day beach combing, sand surfing and sunning your shoulders.
Start here with Great tide pooling locations.
Miracle Beach Provincial Park, Black Creek.
Saratoga Beach, Black Creek
The Goose Spit, Comox
Seal [...]

Beaver Lodge Forest Lands

Well, the constant rain sure doesn’t inspire one to trade the family car for public transportation as a part of Commuter Challenge Day today. But, don’t let the weather put the Comox Valley off the map in the nation-wide challenge in which communities see who can get the most people onto public transportation for the [...]

Safety First – Cougar and Bear Safety

Well, it took me a bit longer than expected, but today we’re finally getting to the good stuff in terms of keeping your family safe while you are out enjoying the incredible wild of Vancouver Island.
Senior Conservation Officer Dan Dwyer gave us a call over here at CVK yesterday to talk shop about cougar and [...]

Comox Marina Park

I grew up in the mountains…never even set foot on an ocean beach (Lake Ontario doesn’t really count) until my double-digit years…had no clue what I was missing.
When we finally met – the ocean and me – it was love at first sight. I can’t even imagine living away from it or even a day [...]

Dining Out – The Park Cafe

I L-O-V-E Sunday morning breakfast.
Actually, that would be any morning breakfast which doesn’t involve me cooking up anything at all.
But, those weekend jaunts to the local greasy spoon for some eggs and sausage have won my enduring adoration since Barry Manilow had a number-one record.
One of our favourite spots in The Valley for a down-home [...]

Comox Valley Water Parks

Summer is on!
You can have that officially confirmed by a drive by Lewis Centre, a look to the North and the sight of a horde of tiny people screeching with complete, total happiness in the middle of giant water fountains. Cruise on through downtown Cumberland and you’ll surely come upon the exact same moment.
Yep, the [...]

Safety First – Water fun for Everyone

I admit it, I’m going through a phase.
You know, the one where everything that used to be fun and carefree now completely terrifies me when it comes to participating in it with a toddler in tow.
…and I only have one. Yikes!
One of the biggest concerns now that the sun has returned from Florida for the [...]

Dining Out – Rocky Mountain Cafe

This is our first edition of Dining Out on Comox Valley Kids – and since it will be a regular topic in posts around here I thought I’d post a few details and a disclaimer.
Eat Out is designed as a section where we will review restaurants around the North Island for family friendliness. The opinions [...]

Tide Pooling on Comox Valley Beaches

With crystal clear skies, temps pushing 20 and the whole family itching for a serious weekend of surf and sun, one of the most relaxing, educational and absolutely fascinating family adventures around these parts has got to be hitting our rocky beaches as the tide heads out to sea.

The receding waters along our coastline are [...]

Art Galleries in the Comox Valley

The Comox Valley is packed full of small art galleries – in every medium – that are a uniquely British Columbian experience.
Taking a day out to see the work of the hundreds of local artists who live among us will amaze you at the talent around these parts.
Check out:
The Comox Valley Art Gallery
Denman Arts Centre
Pearl [...]

Seasonal Outdoor Tours on North Vancouver Island

There are several excellent spots around North Vancouver Island to check out working farms and heritage sites. Here are a few of our favourites:
- Seaview Game Farm petting farm tours run from late Spring to mid-Fall each year. Calling ahead to make arrangements is highly recommended for this experience on a working farm that is [...]

Bill Moore Park

On Mom:
I love the Hindu saying: Ishwar sarvavyapi ho, isliye ishwar ne har parivar mein ek Maa di hai.
…which translates to: God couldn’t be everywhere, so he gave each family a mother.
Now, back to business:
Not every park has a trail running through it. But, here in the Comox Valley, that’s the exception not the rule.
Even [...]

Egg Carton Tulips and, well, Bats

Egg cartons are one of those things that I never know what to do with.
The styrofoam ones are just plain landfill rubbish, the cardboard ones just beg to be reused. But, no matter what, I always end up with a stack of them cluttering up a corner of the kitchen (we are major egg gobblers [...]

Simms Millenium Park

There are those days when getting outside in the next 10 minutes is absolutely necessary. But, so is a swing set, some major open grass and a chance to check out some serious water.
When all of those things simply must be accounted for per the request of tiny people, I pack up the truck and [...]

Food & Your Family – Make it Fresh

I heard the groans from the gallery as soon as you busy parents out there read the words “Make It Fresh” in the headline. Fresh definitely doesn’t give off the aura of fast and easy, which for working parents with a house full of kiddos can be almost untenable.
I think a lot of parents, including [...]

Saratoga Beach

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On our hunt for family-friendly beach spots on the North Island, I was simply astounded it took us more than a year to make it out to Saratoga Beach in Black Creek.
Maybe it was all of the signs pointing the way to beach resorts (I’m a big fan of quiet) or a mommy [...]

Grocery Sack Bunnies

I love this craft project – mostly because you are almost guaranteed to have everything you need already in your house, or can easily substitute something to make it all work.
It’s also fast, fun and a bit silly, offering all sorts of options for decorating, having fun and being creative with something as simple – [...]

Weekend Adventures – Salmon for Kids in Campbell River

Big people looking for a little people learning adventure that pulls together everything from environmental awareness and natural resources to learning life skills on easy-going family afternoons can look no farther than a day in Campbell River.
Start off with a trip to the Quinsam River Salmon Hatchery for a self-guided tour that involves checking out [...]

Williams Beach

If your idea of a family day on the beach involves a quiet, out-of-the-way beach front with a quirky game farm/ice cream stand within a short walk of the shore, Williams Beach near Merville is an unusual, easily accessed spot.

At the end of Williams Beach Road, you can either head toward the beach (which butts [...]

Homemade Playdough Recipe

I don’t know how anyone else is managing this week’s worth of rain-filled, unscheduled free time. But, when we stumbled into the kitchen, peeked out the window and found rain again this morning I seriously wondered how today could possibly not involve many, many hours of Bob The Builder and Little Bear.
Hesitant to log the [...]

Sandwich Bag Butterflies

If the rain continues to plague Spring Break week, you can bet your last buck that by Thursday the Dollar Store craft supply section will be packed with parents.
My pal Ange across the pond in Vancouver is a master at entertaining her 2- and 4-year-olds on soggy, cold days. So, it’s no surprise that she [...]

Air Force Beach

If there is a kids beach in the Comox Valley, it has GOT to be Air Force Beach. Just one look at the sweeping sand (even at high tide) is enough to make every parent jump for joy next to children who are doing the all-sand-all-the-time dance.

A hidden treasure, this beach is virtually unknown to [...]

Local, Regional and Provincial Park on North Vancouver Island

North Vancouver Island is packed full of family-friendly parks that can turn the gloomiest of days into a full-fledged adventure.
We’re working on gathering comprehensive lists of local parks for you.
LOCAL PARKS THAT WE LOVE:
The Filberg Heritage Lodge & Park: In Comox just off of Comox Avenue. The Filberg is a family fave – filled with [...]