Summertime!

Summer is coming and we are already thinking about fun activities to do with the kids. We are making our lists and checking them twice, but more than that we want to hear what is on your lists! Do you have some great activities and adventures planned for your kids this summer? Camping? Kids camps? Crafts? Festivals? Let us know and share them with other Ottawa parents.

If you are interested in writing a blog post for Kids in the Capital email us at kidsinthecapital@gmail.com with your ideas. Because we want to add your list to ours!

- Brie and Lara

Question of the month

Kids in the Capital is all about parents in Ottawa helping each other out by sharing tips and advice. Not everyone wants to write a post, so we thought we'd introduce a new monthly feature - question of the month! Each month we'll ask a parenting question and we want to hear all the gems of advice you have to deal with this problem. Just leave your answers in the comments! And if you have a question you'd like to see in a future question, leave it in the comments too!

Question of the month 1:

What tips and tricks do you use to get you and your kids out the door with the least amount of hassle (and tears)?

While it is easier now that it is warm out, it can still sometimes take me twenty minutes to just get the kids to put on their sandals and grab their hats.

How do you do it?

Colour me happy, and clean!

by Vicky Bath time is always a lot of fun at our house. Joel requests a bath every single night, and plays in the tub until his fingers are pruney. Last year for his birthday, a friend gave him a big tub of Crayola Color Dotz. I had never seen them before, but they were a huge hit! The container of 30 red, blue or yellow dotz did not last long once Joel realized he could change the colour of his bath water by mixing in different colours! His request for a bath each night quickly turned into a request for a 'colour bath!'

If you have a child who does not like taking baths, I'm sure these would help turn bath time into a fun experience!

You can find Crayola Color Dotz at Mrs. Tiggy Winkles for about $5.99 for a container of 30. I recently found Alex Toys 'Rub a Dub color your tub' dots at Winners for $3.99 for 50 tablets.

Product Description:

Crayola® Color Dotz™ are fizzing water colour tablets that turn ordinary bath water into colourful, fizzy water. The red, yellow and blue tablets of Crayola® Color Dotz™ are great for colour mixing, allowing children to create their own unique colours. Crayola® Color Dotz™ provide children of all ages with a world of colourful fun in the tub. Non-toxic.

Color Your Tub Fizzy Tints - Turn ordinary bathwater into a tub of colorful fun! The primary colored tablets (50 each in red, blue and yellow) can be mixed and matched to create all the colors of the rainbow. There are enough tablets for over 50 colorful baths! Suitable for age: 3 year(s)

All About Kids

by Vicky When I was a child, the only toy store around was a small Toy World at the local mall. I remember saving my birthday money to buy myself a Pogo Ball. Remember those? It was my favourite toy until it got a slow leak and never quite bounced the same way.

Another favourite toy was my Cabbage Patch doll. She had gold coloured hair and blue eyes, and wore a teal dress with lace around the edges. I remember the day she became mine, like it was yesterday. We were on a family vacation in the states, and stopped in at Toysrus. I stood in front of a towering stack of Cabbage Patch dolls and my mother said 'pick one.'

Fast forward 25 years, and I still get that rush of excitement when visiting toy stores - especially when it's All About Kids! All About Kids is the mother of all toy stores. You will love it. It is my first stop for birthday presents. The selection is remarkable, and the toys are good quality. It's an educational supply company, so they carry a very large selection of art & craft supplies, games, puzzles, and equipment for daycares and preschool. You'll find all the big names there, like Little Tikes, Melissa & Doug, Plan Toys, and Playmobile. But they have THOUSANDS of items to choose from.

The front has a good selection of outdoor toys and structures, and a play area for kids - but who are we kidding here, you try telling your kid they have to stay put in a huge warehouse! The back of the store has teaching resources galore - lots of posters, borders, and anything you could possibly need for your classroom.

What I love about buying toys here is that you can find such a variety of things that you don't see at the other big box stores. You won't be bombarded with all the latest Pixar characters on every toy. You won't see aisle after aisle of battery operated toys that break before the batteries wear out. You'll find quality toys like this marble run game for example; it was a huge hit for both my "boys"

Or this set of wooden playfood that Joel gave Kiernan for his last birthday.

Or this set of Gears! Gears! Gears! that we gave one of Joel's preschool friends for his 3rd birthday.

I'm thinking Mieka might just NEED to have one of these dolls for her 1st birthday.

All About Kids is tucked away on Canotek Drive, in an East End industrial park, so it's not obvious to find. But it's definitely worth a stop in!

All About Kids 5369 Canotek Dr - Map (613) 742-0308 www.allaboutkids.info

9:30 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. Mon. to Fri. 11:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. Sat. Closed Sundays.

Vicky is the mom to 3.5 year old son named Joel and 9 month old daughter named Mieka. You can read her blog at blog Some Kind of Wondermom.

Zucchini chocolate chip muffins

by Vicky Here's a great kid-friendly muffin recipe that contains not only chocolate chips, but zucchini! They're great for after school snacks, or to take on playdates. I can't take credit for them though, they came from Shannon's blog 'Crafty Mom Cooks'. Check out her blog for some really great recipes the whole family will enjoy.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 egg, lightly beaten 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup milk 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup shredded zucchini 1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. I'm a big fan of Epicure, and I really love their cinnamon and real vanilla extract so those are the ones I used.

Also I used brown sugar, but you can use white if you prefer.

Combine the egg, oil, milk, lemon juice and vanilla; mix well and set aside. Stir into dry ingredients. Add the zucchini, chocolate chips and walnuts (which I skipped this time). I use the finest grater I have for the zucchini, which makes it disappear into the muffins, (not that I'm trying to deceive anyone).

Fill greased muffin tin. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until muffins are golden brown on the top.

I was trying out my Pampered Chef muffin stone for the first time, and muffins tend to stick until it's well seasoned, which is why I used muffin cups, but you can make these without the cups. These muffins are moist and really tasty. They don't last long in our house! I'm sure I'll be making them weekly come September once Joel starts school (eep!)

(Photo courtesy of A Crafty Mom Cooks)