Daily Food for Ultimate Health
February 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment
One of the most effective things you can do to have better health is to post in your kitchen a list of things you will eat every day. At each meal, I review this checklist to make sure I am getting all the great foods I want in my diet.
I made this list from combining things from Dr. Phil and other health reading I have done. Your list may not be the same, but all of these things are good for everyone to have regularly. Tweak this list for yourself, but be sure to print it out and try to get every food in your diet every day.
- Vegetables - Not corn or potato
- Fiber - Pinto Beans, Black Beans or Lentils
- Green Leaf - Spinach or Callard Greens
- Healthy Nut Mix - Including almonds and walnuts - not peanuts.
- Asprin
- Fish (Salmon at least 3 times a week)
- Water
- Low Fat Milk
- Coffee
- Cooked Tomato
- Low Fat Yougurt
- Sunflower Seeds
- Red Wine - 2 times per week or more.
This is my personal list, but it works very well for me. With the kids, we take out coffee, red wine, asprin and fish (vegetarian) and add things like flax seed, soy sauce, berries and bananas.
They key is to identify what you want in your diet and post a healthy checklist that everyone mentally checks every day. This works like a charm and is a great way to support each other.
Kalahari - Sandusky Ohio
February 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Kalahari Indoor Waterpark – Sandusky, Ohio
In February, we decided to make our family adventure the Kalahari Indoor Waterpark in Sandusky Ohio. Kalahari’s website boasts that it is America’s largest indoor water park. In February, nothing seems more like a welcome adventure than to go run around in your swimsuit and act like it is summer on water slides.
We decided to stay in a hotel room. The package included the room, tokens, the water park and some discounts for under $300. We were able to spend most of the two days in the water park, which would have cost more if we bought straight admission to the park for two days.
Whether you have a 2 year old or a 10 year old, Kalahari has a lot to do for all ages. We spent a lot of time together in the wave pool. Our younger daughter would then go with one of us over to the toddler area while the other half of the family would explore some of the many water slides.
The pool area was well kept, busy but not packed, and really fun for the kids. If you are thinking about swimming some laps while the kids play, don’t get your hopes up. The park has not place you can actually swim more than a few feet. But there is a fitness room in the hotel, so go run and then play in the water.
Best of Kalahari
- We were there nearly 24 hours and did not have time to do everything.
- Life guards were quick to jump in and help someone that was struggling.
- Could almost feel like we were in Mexico with the margaritas by the pool.
Worst of Kalahari
- We took beach towels and did not need to. We failed to take sandals and should have.
- Hotel room smelled like bacon from the people before us. (There is a microwave in the room) Our vegetarian daughter found that repulsive.
- Line at the counter to cash in your tickets from the games was disorganized and understaffed. We wasted at least a ½ hour trying to cash in those tickets for some candy. Not how I like to spend my time.
- While we got into our rooms early, we did hear other people complaining about taking a while to get the rooms.
Ideally, you will be able to go during the week when you can save some money on Kalahari. They have discount packages during the week. http://www.kalahariresorts.com/hub/
If you have a comment on your experience with Kalahari, please leave it in the comments section to help others decide if they should visit.
We found many positive and negative comments at Kalahari Wisconsin and Kalahari Sandusky.
Overall, we did find Kalahari a bit pricy, especially if we were to just go for the day. While we had no major negative experiences, the reviews on the links above show that many people have. Had we not gotten into our room early (luck) then it would have been impossible to start swimming as early as we did. We’d have needed to rent several lockers to put our stuff in. My solution to this is to leave everything in the car if you are checking in early. Have your swimsuits on under your clothes, leave your coat & baggage in the car and go back for it once you have your room. Then you should just need one locker ($5 + $5 key deposit) to stash everything in and swim until your room is ready.
We tentatively recommend Kalahari to charge your summer-time battery in the winter. Just be ready for some bumps in the road and plan ahead for them.
Downhill Skiing Tips for your First Time
February 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Getting out and doing downhill skiing can quickly change you and your kids from waiting for winter to end to waiting for more snow to fall.
This year we took the challenge and bought a package for skiing. It contains 6 weeks of lessons and passes, plus three free passes to use whenever we want.
After the first trip, our 10 year old daughter was ready to quit. Luckily, we’d made the financial commitment and we were going back even if it killed us.
Now, 6 trips later, it is her favorite sport and we are thinking we should have bought a bigger package. To help you get through that first ski trip, here are some tips we learned the hard way.
- Boots go on and off much easier if you fully loosen them. I mean take off the binding so it is flapping around. We struggled the first couple of times because we did not know how loose they go.
- The first time skiing stinks. It does for everyone and you just have to go back and try it again. Once you start to get it, you will love it.
- Take lessons. They usually offer fairly inexpensive lessons and they really do help you get the basics down so you can start enjoying it.
- Don’t go someplace where they only have a tow rope. Probably the thing that made our first trip the most miserable was that we had to use the tow rope. It is a cable that has metal bars and you hang on as it drags you up the mountain.
- Make sure your books are tight. If you are not snug in those boots you have much less control.
- Keep turning. If you can keep turning, you will eventually be going up hill and slow down.
- Go regularly when you are learning and you really do pick it up fast. I can say I tried the black diamond once, and paid. But I feel great on the intermediate hills. Our first trip is a distant memory.
- Use Goggles - If it is at all windy and cold, using goggles keeps the ice and snow from blowing in your eyes. We bought a pair for $15 and it was a good investment.
If you are visiting us, I hope you have made a commitement to add more adventure to your life, and downhill skiing is a great and fun adventure.
Your Family Enterprise
February 16, 2008 | 1 Comment
One of the greatest mistakes our schools make is the lack of focus on finance. Not balancing your checkbook or managing your charge cards, but how to create wealth. When someone complains about the economy or the job market, what are they complaining about? They are complaining that there are not more individuals that are skilled at creating businesses, jobs and wealth. All business starts with individuals.
Family Entrepreneurships is one solution to this problem. We do not mean family entrepreneurship as in starting a family restaurant. We are talking about setting off on a journey to learn how to be entrepreneurs together.
First let’s look at the word Entrepreneurship. It is not the same as business owner. An entrepreneur is skilled at creating wealth. A business owner should be skilled at managing. If you are a family of entrepreneurs, you are using your skills to produce wealth, but not necessarily opening up and office or hiring staff.
This is an important distinction. My first attempt at family entrepreneurship was my 8 year old starting a business. She had a lot of fun, but the difficulty of building a business instead of focusing on building wealth hurt our success.
Start Simple and Learn Together
The first step to creating an environment is to start very simple and grow. Your primary goal is wealth creation, even if it is $50 a month.
There are plenty of business plan templates online. Write a business plan that focuses on wealth creation – but keep it to only a few pages. If you need more pages, the idea is too complex for your first idea.
Your business plan should answer the following questions:
- How will we make money?
- How will we find customers?
- Why would customers by from us?
- What are our start-up expenses?
- How much time does each person need to put in?
- What are each person’s responsibilities?
- What do you currently spend money on that could become a business expense?
The benefits of having a while family involved in a successful enterprise are big. There are substantial tax advantages, there is the learning your family is getting, there is freedom if you build your business to the point where it becomes a reliable cash machine and you are building and investment for the future.
The key thing to remember is you are going to have many more benefits if it actually has some income. Don’t start something that is going to take a year to see a dollar unless you already have other money making ventures running. Simplicity and an income focus are what is going to sustain your energy and contribute to your family entrepreneurship success.
Ice Skating with 2 Year Olds
February 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Taking a 2 year old ice skating can be tricky. When you go, you may be there for 5 minutes or two hours. It just depends on the reaction of your child after they first set foot onto the ice.
Our first trip we did not take safety gear - imagining that we’d be there for a few minutes and never let her go. It turned out she was there for almost two hours and did some independent skating right away. Our advice is take a bike helmet and any other desired safety gear, because you never know.
How do you get your young child interested in ice skating?
Our daughter Maya watched ice skating on television first. She loved the outfits and the skating and wanted to go right away. We actually used this as a reward for potty training - you can’t skate as well wearing a diaper.
Six things you can do to help your young child get a fast start in ice skating:
- Get stiff skates to support their ankles or cut a cardboard tube to insert into the skate and give them more ankle support.
- After one or two trips, buy them skates. You can get great deals on skates at a used sporting goods store and they quickly pay for themselves. Then you just trade them in when you need a bigger size.
- Practice marching before you go. The first thing they will do is march on the ice with their skates. Later they will glide.
- Take a skilled skater with you. You cannot just shove a new skater out there. Someone has to be with them until they develop great skills.
- Take pictures, clap and encourage their small successes. They will love it.
- Build a lifestyle where the whole family can go during the day when there are not crowds. Doing things during the day, during the work week is a great advantage.
This is one of those great workouts that you and your kids can enjoy all their life.
Opening Doors with Music & Art
February 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment
If you are waiting for public schools to turn your kids into great musicians or artists, you are in trouble. Creativity and expression, even if it is not a chosen profession, is a key component to great Lifestyle Design.
Adventure is the cornerstone of Lifestlye
February 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Family Travel and Adventure is the cornerstone of making a lifestyle change that frees you up to enjoy life. This category has articles about where to go with kids, how to take more trips and how to enjoy locations with the whole family.
Family Enrichment
February 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Everyone should commit to life long learning. What better example for your kids than to show them that everyone still has things to learn? Look for ways to enrich each member of the family with a lifestyle of life long learning.
Family Health & Fitness
February 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The family health and fitness category is geared towards getting the whole family involved in better diets and more physical activities. This category will include sports, diet, fitness and activities that will help craft a family culture of health.
What is Fast Family?
February 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Fast Family is a category of articles for fast moving families on the go. Articles in this category explain how do you optimize your time and get the most out of life.