Dear reader,
One Thousand Things To-Do is in the process of moving to its new home on new servers. The result will be worth the wait, but in the meantime, please excuse the mess and please don’t hesitate to contact us if you see glaring mistakes, omissions, etc. We’re here to serve you and are dedicated to making sure that’s always the case.
Thank you for your patience. Please come back soon!
-One Thousand Things To-Do Support
As mentioned in previous posts, my children are park-a-holics. As this is one of their very favorite activities, winter, when it is absolutely too cold and nasty to be outside, is hard on them. Thank goodness for Wahooz! (formerly known as Boondocks) where for a modest fee they can climb, slide, and swing like the jungle animals they are even when it’s 13 below outside. A few weeks ago we agreed to take them on a Saturday night, invoking a high state of excitement between our little beasts. Read the rest of Boondocks or Wahooz!-A Play Place By Any Other Name is Still as Great »
One of my kids’ favorite things to do is play pretend and consequently they love to head to the Discovery Center of Idaho. You may wonder what pretending and science have to do with one another, but one of the permanent exhibits at DCI is a kid-sized grocery store. Knowing this, when it was my turn to plan a field trip for our little homeschool group I decided a great choice for a cold day and a group of diverse ages would be to head downtown to a place that has something for everyone. Read the rest of Shopping and Science at Boise’s Discovery Center of Idaho »
“Well,” said my husband. “Do you want to do anything special today on your birthday?” My first response was “Oh, I don’t know. We don’t need to do anything. I have plenty to do here.” Then my more adventuresome side kicked in and I said, “You know, it would be a good excuse to visit something in the area that we haven’t taken time for.” With that I pulled out the file of “day trips” that I have been saving since we moved to Caldwell. My choice for the day was the Basque Museum in Boise. The Basque sheepherders had always held a certain interest for me and having a Basque boss a number of years only added to my curiosity about this special group. But life had kept me from pursuing that interest. Fortunately we are between inversion gray days and the drive to Boise in the sunshine was a welcome winter outing. Read the rest of A Birthday Outing to the Boise Basques »
The incessant fog, a.k.a. inversion that has been plaguing the Treasure Valley and hiding the sun for the past two weeks finally seems to have blown off to some other unsuspecting location, but never fear. At some point it will be back, and when it is, you may be able to soak in a little Vitamin D for an afternoon without jetting off to Arizona. My family is not into downhill skiing, but almost every year we find ourselves making the trek up the mountain to Bogus Basin in search of the sun. Such was the case a week ago, when my husband declared he couldn’t stand it a minute longer and loaded us all up to climb through, and hopefully out of, the fog. Read the rest of A Drive Through the Clouds: The Trip to Bogus Basin on Inversion Days »
To start this post, I have to say that while it features Caldwell, it also contains important information for anyone who lives anywhere in the area, from Ontario to Mountain Home. So if you are truly completely uninterested in the rest of the post, at least scroll to the bottom and read the last few paragraphs!
I realize that to the majority of the Treasure Valley population Caldwell is not a hot spot for entertainment, and many of us out here in the western end of the valley regularly drive into Boise for shopping, concerts, events, dining, etc., although that has changed some recently with many stores and restaurants moving out this direction. All of that being said, however, we Caldwellians can definitely be proud of our Christmas spirit. From the annual night light parade to the hundreds of sparkling Christmas lights bedecking the trees along the newly redeveloped Indian Creek greenbelt, Christmas is in the air! Read the rest of Christmas in My Hometown »
Our family is all about traditions, and when we find something we enjoy, we usually try to make it a regular thing. One of our favorite October activities is our annual fall drive and picnic. The basic instructions for this outing are: pack the car with the kids, some riding-along activities, some CD’s a picnic, and a camera and head to the mountains. Watch for beautiful autumn foliage (along with keeping an eye open for hunters and maybe some cows in the middle of the road), take pictures wherever the spirit moves, and ultimately find the perfect spot for a cool weather picnic. This may be in the back of the SUV, on a flat rock, or at a campground picnic table—whatever is available when you get hungry and ready to eat. Much like the menu suggested in Fall Fun Part 2, the picnic is most tasty and appreciated when it includes warm foods, like soup or hot chocolate in a thermos. Another great option is something that really fits the fall theme—in our case, our favorite pumpkin cake. This year, our autumn mountain trip took us on another adventure to add to our scrapbook, although there were parts of it I probably won’t care too much to remember. Read the rest of Fall Fun Part 3 (A Little Farther from Home) »
A couple of weeks ago I started this little series of fall fun ideas, and then I got so busy with the “un-fun” things that make up life’s routines and to-do lists that I haven’t had a chance to work on it. Ahh, to have more time! But without further preamble, here we go with Idea number 2. Read the rest of Fall Fun in Your Own Backyard Part 2 »
Until the last few days autumn has been amazingly gorgeous here in SW Idaho this year, providing us with no excuse not to get outside and enjoy! Over the last month or so, our family has experienced some great fall fun that could be adapted and enjoyed on a crisp autumn day or evening anywhere in the country. We just happen to think our little corner of the world is the best! The first event occurred literally in our backyard, and was one of those spontaneous things that turned out to be a hit. The mission: paint pumpkins. The operatives: my own two kids and two friends who were spending the afternoon. Read the rest of Fall Fun in Your Own Backyard Part 1 »
Although summer and thus the traditional camping season were both officially and unofficially over several weeks ago, we wanted to squeeze in an outdoors excursion before it got really cold. For a variety of reasons, our family did not get in our usual assortment of weekend camping trips during the summer, so when my husband had to attend classes all weekend and my parents invited the kids and me to camp with them, we jumped at the chance. Back in September their church had enjoyed a weekend campout in the group site at Farewell Bend State Park and they wanted to go back, which was perfect because it’s not too far (just 20 miles west of Ontario, Oregon), it isn’t in the mountains (good for this time of year), and I had never been there, despite having lived in this area for 12 years. So the plan was on. Read the rest of Farewell To Summer in Farewell Bend »
