Kid friendly baseball in San Diego?

When in San Diego it is hard to pass up the chance go to an all-American baseball game with the Padres. I was told that PETCO Park was kid-friendly with its sandbox the "Beach." What a great idea! How else can you keep a three year old entertained? So not knowing the lay of the land we got some premium seats and figured that when the Little Man got tired we would breakout the sandbox surprise. We didn't last long before we were making our way out to it. When we go there we were shut out. It turns out that you are only allowed to be there before or after the game not during. The only people allowed there during the game are those who buy bleacher seats -so here we were holding our premium tickets and the usher was telling us to go buy bleacher seats for this game if we wanted to enter. Errr! You've now been warned to just buy the bleacher seats next to the beach.

Autumn Pumpkin Waffles

Giving Chocolate Away?!

We love chocolate and this year the Little Man and I will be Reverse Trick-or-Treating for a good cause. When we show up on your doorstep we will hand YOU a piece of Fair Trade chocolate (you deserve better than that mass produced stuff any way -right?).

What is the catch? We'll also hand you a little note explaining that we are doing this in order to:

END poverty among cocoa farmers

END forced/abusive child labor in the cocoa industry

PROMOTE Fair Trade

PROTECT the environment

Not familiar with what Fair Trade is?

Fair Trade certification prohibits the use of abusive child labor, and encourages the adoption of safer, chemical-free farming methods. Also, the guaranteed Fair Trade price paid for cocoa raises farmers’ incomes and supports a more environmentally sustainable small-scale farming model.

The best news is that you can join us for FREE (well, you do have to pay for shipping). You have until October 13th to order your free chocolate and cards and I hear that supplies are limited so sign up fast! While I was signing up I also bought an extra few bits of chocolate for the ghouls that go bumping on my door.

If you live in the US: you MUST DO this

My friend Gloria has just alerted me to this and I believe that stopping child exploitation and sexual abuse is a very important issue. There is a bill called the Protect Our Children Act that will help fund the technology that already exists that will aid in finding and arresting these criminals who are profiting and abusing children.

This is the testimony of Grier Weeks, Executive Director, National Association to Protect Children before the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary on April 16, 2008:

The maps you are seeing today of domestic child pornography trafficking are not simply visuals depicting illegal Internet activity. Nor do they simply tell us where the criminals are. These are rescue maps. Law enforcement is now providing you with information that can lead authorities, very predictably, to tens of thousands of locations within the United States where children are in immediate danger and waiting for help.

That is because while all of these suspects are contributing to a massive black market that commissions the rape of children, a certain percentage are also directly sexually assaulting children themselves. Law enforcement has consistently estimated that somewhere between 30-40% of arrests for child pornography possession turn up evidence of local child victims.

We all need to come together and let your Senator know that you support this bill. Write or call your Senator NOW. To find out where to write or call follow the link below:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

And if you don't know what to write Oprah has a great form letter you can personalize here:
http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20080911_tows_predators

Hurry -they are voting on it this month!

Soothing your Mysophobia

Hello everyone! My name is Alex and I'm a germaphobe. I just got great news in my inbox from a company that has a GREAT hand sanitizer -Cleanwell. I've blogged about them before here. Their product does not have any alcohol nor does it have anything toxic and it has a pleasant scent. I've used their product and I swear by it -it works wonders even on a trip to the local vet office yesterday. The vet office had a "veterinary grade hand sanitizer" that was so bad that the nervous dog smell remained on my hands (yuck!). I pulled out my last remaining drops of Cleanwell and the smell and grime was all gone! It is safe around babies and pets with no worries of toxicity or intoxication.

You could win a one year supply just go to their sweepstakes page here and sign up!
By the way you know I won't steer you wrong because I will tell you what is NOT worth the money. Cleanwell is well worth it. Check out their site they will also email you a $1 coupon!

Manners and the Little Man

My Little Man has all sorts of books from travel, art, things that go 'vroom,' to things that go 'moo.' One of the things that has been missing from this collection is an etiquette book and I don't think he would take to well to an Emily Post book --unless he used it to reach the chocolates on the kitchen counter. 

I recently found this really cool book, Mind Your Manners, B.B. Wolf by Judy Sierra, while browsing in a local children's store. Turns out the Big Bad Wolf has retired and left his sinister life behind. It is a really neat book with lots humor for the adults reading it and cool colorful drawings. I give it 4 sleepy bears out of 5. Get a copy through my Amazon link (it is free to use the link).

Wise words to live by -no matter the age.

Food Faces

Helping to encourage a toddler to eat isn't always the easiest thing. I've never understood the idea of fun food. To me food is a necessity and at the best of times a wonderful celebration of taste, texture, fragrance and talent. But fun?

Well, I've turned over a new leaf and here I am in 'mommy-hood' trying to make food fun. Imagine my delight when I get an email from my friend Gloria with this wonderful photo:

She has used a Japanese rice shaper and then used a Nori cutter for the faces -how ingenious! I suppose you could also use one of those crafting cutters too. How cute are these? Thanks for the idea Glo!