Kids Yoga Ages 3-7

This is approximately 45 minutes long.

Names/ hello/ welcome

Cat/ Cow (in cow, lion breath out)

Warrior series (if older kids)

Stand in tree (challenge- close eyes, move arms around), tree jumps


Pilates Balls: toss to partner, roll on it, hold in feet overhead, happy baby, ask kids for ideas


Foam Roller: roll on it, ask kids for ideas, make trees around room and move around them

Walk like a bear, Walk like a crab

Froggy jumps, Star jumps (can hold onto a tree*roller)


Snakes slithering on mat on bellies or waving upward

Down dog tunnel – snake through the tunnel, then become part of the tunnel


Seated stretches- over one leg, over both, butterfly

Lying butterfly, twist to each side


Put everything away

Sit cross-legged, Ohmmm chant

Song: goodbye, everybody and namaste


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DIY Kids Haircuts - Clipper Cuts

These haircuts were a dramatic change this time!  The little one hadn't had a haircut excepting for trims.  And it, admittedly, had been a while since my older son's hair has been cut.

It had been hot here so they wanted a change.  I took out the clippers, and these haircuts are seriously so easy.  The boys take their shirts off and stand over the sink, and I run the clippers against the hair grain and run it through until there is no more hair clipping off.  You need to pay extra attention at the edges like the nape of the neck, the front, and the ears.





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The Growing Trend of Home Winemaking in Lamorinda

THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN FOR THE LOCAL MOMS' GROUP NEWSLETTER AND IS SHARED HERE
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Three years ago, Liz Kelly's daughter was born and she joined Muir Mommies.  One of the many benefits of the group was that husband Tom, who had recently been learning more and more about wines and wine culture, met another dad with a shared interest in wine who had been making it himself for several years.  

Time passed, and Tom decided to partner with his new friend on making his next batch, a Syrah.  The barrel is stored in his friend's Walnut Creek Garage, and is almost ready for bottling.

"He has a chemistry background," Kelly said, whose background is in product management and marketing, "which is incredibly useful for serious home wine making, especially during the fermentation.  We can take samples, and send them off, and he knows how to read the results and we can make changes."

Kelly has recently received a wine certification after finishing a 12-week course in San Francisco.  

"The program is set up for people who want to do wine education, and I want to do that: help educate people about world of wine- it is so infinite- there is no way anyone could know everything about it- and that's what is so fascinating," said Kelly, who starting educating himself when they moved to the bay area.  "The class got pretty deep on all wine regions of the world.  They are so different, with different grapes, styles, and processes."

Even with this new education, Kelly emphasized the importance of scientific knowledge in winemaking.

"Unless you go in, studying the science behind it, you are at a disadvantage," he said.  "You test [the wine] -- and things can happen, and if you know how to read the results, it's really helpful."  

When making their wine, Kelly and his friend researched their grapes, and purchased theirs from a vineyard on the Russian River.

At the Russian River vineyard when Tom Kelly's grapes were being picked last fall. 

"We rolled up in my truck, looking for a half a ton of grapes," Kelly said.  "Typically most commercial wineries won't sell grapes to someone that small.  We were one of 15 or 20 ventures buying from them- and everyone gets the same short notice they are picking- and his staff of pickers goes through the field and you can go with them- or wait- while your buckets are filled."

They chose to buy grapes from that specific vineyard on the Russian River because, "it's impossible to make good wine with bad grapes.  Most of the magic happens in the vineyard."

Anne Cole, second from left, at their First Crush.  

Another Moraga resident, Anne Cole, can be found in her air conditioned shed with her barrels of aging wine.  That is, when she is not teaching group fitness at 24 Hour Fitness or with her children or partner David Eikel.  Eikel is also her winemaking partner and, though she lives on a vineyard, they buy grapes.

"I also have a vintner." Cole explained a vintner is a mentor for winemaking.  She said that when she and her ex-husband bought they property, they intended to make wine, and she started learning then. 

But last year was her first year actually making wine, and she bought 1,400 pounds of grapes and has two barrels that are nearly ready to bottle.  She is going to name the Syrah Damn Good Cookie and the Cabernet Sisters of Steel in honor of her girlfriends from her group fitness Bodypump class who helped her with the press and bottling.

"You are the most popular person on the block when you are making wine," Cole said with a laugh.  "The alcohol is already present." 

Additionally, Cole said she loves caring for the grapes, tasting the wine and noticing how it changes in the oak.

Cole and Eikel doing their First Crush.

Her vintner is Christopher Lynch, whom she met because their children are classmates at Bentley.  He explained they use semi-neutral, or slightly aged, oak barrels because they don't want too much of the flavor of the barrel to get into the wine, though it depends on the variety of wine you are making.

"You could [age the wine] in a glass carboy," Lynch said.  This is a five gallon growler style jug with an airlock. "I started with those when I started making wine eight years ago in my basement in Oakland, but moved up in the world to barrels because they let a little air in and a little air out.  This improves the flavor as well."

Lynch's business is helping home winemakers start making wine.  He calls it Temescal Creek and charges a flat fee to mentor you in your winemaking cycle for a year.  This includes the grapes and equipment, as well as his knowledge.  

"And I prefer to be called a Garagiste," Lynch said. "It's the garage winemaking [yeast] movement."  With a French accent, it is a word play on garage-yeast.  Lynch continued,  "We make wine in the garage.  The garage is a good temperature for fermentation, punching the cap, and then pressing the wine.  I store wine in my basement since that temperature is more consistent.  Though you could store it anywhere." 

In addition to being a winemaker, Lynch studies oenology and viticulture at UC Davis.  Lynch recommends a chemistry for winemakers class for any budding winemakers.  The Lamorinda Wine Growers Association is another resource.  Though Lynch's best advice?

"Call me.  I'll do it with you."

In addition to the DIY appeal of making wine at home, Lynch's student Cole says she wants to be able to control what's in the wine.  

"My wine is natural. I don't want chemicals or additives in it," Cole said.  "Producing a natural product is important for me.  For example, there is sediment on the barrel because it's been sitting for a year.  I won't filter the wine- the tannins in the bottom are good for the wine- they are tasty- some people even put them on cheese."

"I am also making a by-product - sugar scrubs - from my wine. It smells like the grapes- not alcohol," said Cole.  "I also want to dry the skins with the seeds and make flour."

Cole said winemaking is fun and that everyone should try it.  Her kids, 9 and 11, help by pressing, helping to top the barrels off, and helping to put nitrogen on top of the wine in the barrels.  They also punched the grapes while fermenting and will soon help with the bottling.

Tom Kelly after they finished pressing the grapes.

Kelly thinks that when his daughter, now 3, is older, she will be able to help by stirring the barrel and pushing down on the grapes. 

"It's a cool experience," said Kelly of winemaking.  "I want to keep doing it."

"Some people paint," said Lynch, who has continued to make his own wines in his basement in addition to his vintner duties.  "This is my art."

As an urban vintner, Christopher Lynch labels his wine by hand.

HOW WINE IS MADE AT HOME (THE STYLE OF WINE WHICH IS AGED IN A BARREL AND MADE AFTER PURCHASING GRAPES)~my summary,with many thanks to Christopher Lynch, Anne Cole, Tom Kelly and ye olde Internet~

1. Decide on what kind of wine you are making.
2. Order your grapes in July.
3. Pick up your grapes between September and November.  The exact timing depends on the vineyard.  As harvest gets closer, the vineyards are measuring the grapes for sugar content and acidity daily.  They will give you one to three days' notice.
4. Use a crusher/ de-stemmer to take the stems out and split the grapes. *Note: you can rent or purchase all equipment at More Beer! in Concord or Oak Barrel Winecraft in Berkeley.
5. If you are making a red wine, add the yeast into the bucket, and stir it.  Then punch it down multiple times daily for ten days (it will get bigger like bread when it rises).  This is called fermenting.  Then press it with a wine press. Barrel it for a year or more. Bottle it.  You can taste it or take samples to send away at any point (During fermentation, your samples will help you make changes.  When it is in the barrel, your samples will help you determine when it can be bottled). 
6. If you are making a white wine, press before fermenting, and then continue otherwise.
7. There are many ways to make a rose.  One is to let it sit for three to four hours, then press it and continue otherwise (since the color of the wine comes from the skin of the grape).  Another way is to bleed some off of a red a few weeks into its aging and bottle it as a rose then.

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DIY Tetherball Pole

This is an awesome DIY tetherball pole we got at an estate sale and bought a new ball and rope for.  

But it was really cleverly made.  

The base is a tire with a circle of plywood underneath and a short length of pole (about two feet) inserted in the middle and concrete poured around.  

The second piece is the outer pole, which sets on top of the little one.  On the top is a round hook which you carebeaner (or tie) the ball onto.

Great find (and you could really DIY one like it).

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DIY Cross-Country Kid Sled from a Bike Trailer - PART 1: The tow poles and skis

We rented a ski Chariot and both my son and I were impressed by it while cross-country skiing.  He was comfortable, and it was a breeze to pull, even as a novice at cross-country skiing.  It had ample storage, and a nice waistband.  The sled nicely rotated when I would go side to side and turn.  I only felt slightly weighted down, and not pulled, even on hills.  My son loves the Burley Bee we use for the bike sometimes, and the Chariot is likewise designed with the child's riding comfort in mind.  We made it for an hour until he wanted to do something else.  That's pretty good for a 2.5 year old to sit still and watch the world go by.

On another cross-country trip, we rented a Kindershuttle and hated it- it was uncomfortable for my child (he kept sliding all over), and it tugged and pulled on me, I think because of its sled bottom instead of ski bottom.  We made it barely out and back and don't want to use it again.

They, unfortunately, don't make a kit for the Bee, so we would have to either make something or get another bike trailer to convert.  At this late stage in the child-riding-along-instead-of-participating game (ages 2.5 and 5.5), we thought it best to make something instead of shell out at least in the $300-range.

For inspiration, we looked to ye olde internet, and formed our plan.  Here was our inspiration:

• We! Ski Kit by Burly
• Ski Pulk Chariot using Snowboard Bindings and EMF
• Ski Trailer Conversion Using PVC on Wheels
• Another DIY Ski Pulk
• Ski Buggy Conversion/ Conversion Kit (already partially or totally assembled for the Bob or a bike trailer)

Here are the kids playing with the design elements.  The skis are 130s I got from the local shop for $20.  They were last year's, and hadn't been used.  We were playing with PVC for the towing.  You can see the wheel from our jogging stroller in front.  We were debating using it instead of the bike trailer, and decided on the bike trailer because of its rain cover (ie no snow in kid's face and slightly warmer).

The kids had to spend a few days towing each other around.

My husband used a jigsaw to cut a 2x4 into the shape of the wheel, with the idea to mount it onto a ski and mount the wheel on and off the skis using a quick release of some sort.

These are 4' lengths of EMF, bent slightly upwards so as not to tip the passenger back too much while being towed at waist height.

The EMF is attached with a hold drilled in it and a carebeaner permanently attached to the side without the towing bar and the EMF pole on that side clips on and off.  It threads through a zip tie to keep it in line.  On the other side, it is attached to where the bike tow bar attaches.  We decided to use two towing poles instead of one for balance and control.

My husband had to test it out by walking.

The waist ends are attached to a fanny pack with 1/2" PVC T's.  They have a hole drilled through and a quick release snap bar (like the one that holds the Burley Bee's bike tow bar to the bike for added support) attaching the PVC to the EMF.  The other part of the T is laced through any strap on the fanny pack.  I may sew something better (than a fanny pack).

This is the 2x4 that will connect the wheel to the ski.  This is before the coats of varnish it is getting.  It needs to be varnished because it will be used in wet conditions and we don't want it to mold.  The indentations are for the snowboard bindings that we will use as quick release holds between the bike trailer and the skis.  We got them at the local ski shop for $10 each.  We wanted to use bindings like this so we could tighten them up on the fly- as the tires deflate in cold weather.

Here are the bindings with the other pieces, as a work in progress (inside shot), then (in the outdoor shot), they have been attached together.

One finished ski!  My husband used stainless steel screws of varying lengths (to correspond to their location on the wood), and sealed the bottom (ski-side) hole with candle wax- two coats.

The kids had to make their own version of a ski sled.  His PVC pieces are poles, and his skis got left behind on the lawn in the back of the photo.

Stay tuned for the continuation of this project!!!

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On the Tubing Lift

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Kids' Sewing Project

My 5.5 year old made this on my machine, basically unsupervised.



Check out the tree stitch on the edges.

 

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We Skype from our Living Room TV

The kids love being the Jetsons.  They haven't know any other way.  Isn't that odd?

We used to use Vid and now we switched to Skype (Vid is no longer).  And we do it from our living room TV using a Logitech camera. It is awesome because:

1. We don't have to sit in my little office
2. It is a wide screen (gets the whole room) but still zooms in and out if you want
3. It sends great video
4. It is always "on" to receive calls (my husband was recently traveling and called at odd hours from China and we heard the TV ringing) -- this is a huge complaint of mine for video calling- nobody is there to call!

And no, they didn't sponsor this post. I just like the camera. It just sits on your tv and has its own remote when you want to use it. Easy.




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Water Table into a Bubble Table

  This is dish soap in our water table with some big bubble wands.

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Flies!!

So the worst part about chicken-keeping are the flies that come in the warmer months.

We were okay.

Then one day it was lunch, and hot, and I came into the kitchen to this.



And it was worse on the screen door.

So we swatted flies (I believe we have discussed our fly swatter collection before) for a day.  Literally. 24 hours.

And now they are back to a "manageable" population of swatting a dozen or less per day.

Yuk!

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Starfish and Sand Dollars

After seeing starfish at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco (here), there has been some fascination with them and sand dollars~ picked up on the beach.

We recently visited again and the kids touched the starfish this time.



Here is an interior display they have:

We have had to get some books about starfish from the library, and learned some interesting tidbits (like they can pry open clams to eat them, and if a leg falls off, it grows back, plus the leg that fell off will grow a whole new starfish).

In addition, sand dollars have been interesting.  They are less intriguing in the tank at the aquarium (below) than when you play with the white bleached-out ones you find on the beach.

 

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