Parent Life for May 2012

MAY 4, 2012 L E E S B U R G T O D A Y 33

VOL. 1 NO. 1 www.sungazette.net APRIL 8, 2011

Parent Life

Camila Fishtahler, Yorktown High SchoolWon “Gold Key” Award for her submission “Red Hat”

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Brett Scott with his daughters Avary and Alexis in their Ashburn garden. Photo by Lisa Scott

34 L E E S B U R G T O D A Y MAY 4, 2012

Therese P. HoweFor Parent Life

From small lots in Ashburn backyards to 3 acres in Purcellville, local families are spend-ing quality time with their kids in the garden. In the Scott household in Ashburn, it’s dad Brett who takes 4-year-old Avary and 2-year-old Alexis into their backyard almost every night to tend to their 8- by 8-foot veg-etable garden. This year, he hauled the girls in a covered red wagon around the recent Leesburg Flower and Garden Festival, where they picked up this season’s crop, including tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, watermelon, zucchini and herbs. “They love to see things grow and pick the food they are going to eat for dinner,” he said. As a child growing up around farms in Springfield, OH, his parents had a large garden in their backyard. “When we moved into the Hamlets at Red Cedar in Leesburg, my next door neighbor (the Celentanos) put in a large garden. Watching them brought back those great childhood memories of gar-dening and I had a large enough yard to put in my own garden.” While many families imagine fruits and vegetables in the backyard when it comes to gardening, others gravitate toward creating natural habitats. Michelle Drake and her twin

6-year-olds Hailey and Sydney put in grasses and plants that will attract wildlife to their 3-acre lot in Leesburg: “lots of things that the hummingbirds like, and thistle seed or the echinacea for the goldfinches and vibur-num—the berries—for the mockingbirds in the winter.” While she appre-ciates that gardening encourages the girls to be outside and get exercise, her primary motive is letting them “get to see the wild-life up close. I think there’s a lot of peace and beauty in birds and squirrels and chip-munks and all that.” “It’s a great way to teach (kids) about nature,” Brett Scott added. “We talk about the soil, plants, insects and the rodents (squir-rels/rabbits who steal our bounty) and the roles they all play in the garden.” Besides connecting with nature, gardening also teaches children about the importance of eating seasonally and locally. “My kids are very in tune with the sea-sons when it comes to fruits and vegetables,” said Linna “the Loca-vore” Ferguson, a moti-vational food garden speaker based in Purcellville. “When it’s straw-berry time, we will go out and we will eat until our bellies hurt and we’re sick of strawberries. We eat and eat, and I put no limits. I say, you eat as many strawberries as you want and we’ll have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And then they’re kind of sick of it, and then I freeze enough for the winter. And then they don’t eat strawberries all year until strawberries come in again. … They’re just used to that. They don’t ask for strawberries in January because it’s not happening. So it’s getting your kids to understand that when things are plentiful, take advantage of it.” Inspired to start with your own kids now? For families just starting to garden,

Master Gardener Diane Hayes suggests start-ing simple. “Lettuce grows within 7 to 10 days; you can go out and cut your own lettuce and have a salad that night,” said Hayes, who is the co-leader of the Loudoun Master Gar-deners children’s programming. Other plants she suggests are marigolds and sunflowers, which yield seeds that kids can eat once they’ve grown. Veggies take more time, so “we just tell parents to take bean seeds and put them between wet paper towels and put them in a plastic bag and in a couple days you can see things sprouting. You can talk about the stem coming out first, and then the leaves come out next, and then the roots. Most people think the roots are going to be first, well the roots

P A R E N T L I F E

Spending Quality Time In The Garden

Top: Skyla Ferguson helps in one of the 16 garden beds at her family’s Purcellville home. Above: Avary and Alexis Scott help their dad choose plants for their Ashburn garden at the recent Leesburg Flower & Garden Festival.

Courtesy Linna Ferguson

Photo by Therese P. Howe

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MAY 4, 2012 L E E S B U R G T O D A Y 35P A R E N T L I F E

Gardening Resources• “Pinterest is pretty cool,”LinnaFer-

guson said. “On Pinterest you canfind all kinds of kids’ gardens, likeplanting a circle of sunflowers andthenplantingpolebeansandmakingthis kindof clubhouse for kids.Allkindsof littlegardeningideasareonthere.”

• The experts who tend the MasterGardenersdemonstrationgardenandChildren’s Garden at Ida Lee ParkinLeesburg. “On the first Saturdaymorning of each month starting inMay there will be Master Garden-ers out there answering questionsfor people on how to do plantings,whattogrowandhowtomaintainit,things like that,” Diane Hayes said.She suggested comingby thegardenon July 4 before Ida Lee opens forfireworks.

• The Loudoun County ExtensionOffice at 30CatoctinCircle SE haschildren’sgardeningbooksandhand-outsforkids,Hayessaid.

• You-pickfarmsandfarmersmarkets.“Therearelotsoffarmerswhoare…morethanhappytoanswerquestionsforparents,”Hayessaid.

• TheLoudounSpringFarmTourtakesplace the weekend of May 19-20from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. For a list andmap of participating farms, wineriesandothervenues,visitwww.loudoun-farms.org.

• TheNationalGardeningAssociation’swebsitewww.kidsgardening.orgoffersHow-To Projects, How-To Videos,familygardeningactivitiesandmore.

therootsaregoingtobefirst,welltherootsarethelastthing.Andtheycantakethebeanseed that’s already sprouted and then put itintothegroundandwatchitdevelopintoaplantwithbeansandstuffonit.” Here’s more advice for families new togardeningfromparentexperts: “Start small,” Brett Scott said. “Onetomatoplantinapotonthedeckora4-by4-footplanteronthepatiowithafewdiffer-entvegetablesisallyouneedtoseeifgarden-ingisforyoubeforeyoucommittoalargergardenthatwillrequireafairamountofworktoplantandmaintain.Usingagoodsoilandwateringproperlyarealsoveryimportant.” “Let them pick their own stuff out,” Michelle Drake said. “In other words, letthem be a part of if they want to create agarden,(suchas)whatcolorsdotheywanttochoose.”Shesuggestsgoingfurtherbyhavingthemconnect theplants to theirpurpose inthe garden. “Are there any animals that eatit or does it provide nourishment—is thereanother purpose for it beyond just a prettyflower?” “Knowing that kids have short atten-tion spans, you have to create some kind of draw,” Linna Ferguson said. “I’m alwaysthinking of games because I would like tospendmore time in the garden and I wantthemtherewithme.Sowecreatedthiswormthing,whereweweretestingthebedstoseeiftheywerehealthysoifwehaveworms,it’shealthy. So I taught themhow to dig holesand look for worms. Once we found someworms, we would each take a worm andputthemonthetopofthesoilandthenwewouldhavewormraces,andwe’dseewhosewormwon. It seems so simplebutwemusthavespentanhourandahalfdiggingindif-ferentbeds, checking thehealthof thembyseeing if therewereworms,picking awormandthenracingthem.”

Courtesy Lisa ScottBrett Scott shows his daughters Avary and Alexis how to tend their vegetable garden in the backyard of their Ashburn home.

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Therese P. HoweFor Parent Life

Families can enjoy some of the most popular Washington, DC, area children’s enter-tainers closer to home twice a month at a program that recently launched at the Village at Leesburg. Called VAL’s Pals, the program features entertainers such as Mr. Knick Knack, Mr. Don and Tony M. Music. “We’ll have some jugglers here sometimes and some face paint-ers,” said Tonia Chagnon of JP Events and Consulting, which puts on the events for Vil-lage at Leesburg. The program, which was created as an attraction for stay-at-home parents with young children, takes place the first and third Tuesday of the month from 11 a.m. to noon at the Fountain Court. On rainy days, the fun moves indoors to one of the empty suites at the retail center. At the April 24 event, Mr. Knick Knack had toddlers and preschoolers dancing to his performance, sending many for refreshments at a nearby table with free snacks and drinks. The kids also received free yellow VAL’s Pals backpacks that included small toys, hand sanitizer and coupons from Village at Leesburg merchants. “So if you come back with your backpack, you’ll get special things from the merchants to encourage repeat attendance,” Chagnon said. “We also have Inova Loudoun Hospital, who is one of our [program] sponsors, that is onsite each time with their Mobile Health van

and the kids can come on board and take a tour and get some free goodies from them as well,” Chagnon said. At the bus April 24, Inova drivers Anthony Straub and Tony Chandler and nurse Lilsa Evans were giving away activity books, crayons, lip balm, health brochures and more. For a schedule of the entertainers appear-ing at VAL’s Pals, visit the Village at Leesburg’s website at www.villageatleesburg.com. To get news and updates, including whether the event will be moved indoors on a particular date, check their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/villageatleesburg/.

Kids Kick It Up AtVillage At Leesburg

Photos by Therese P. HoweTop: Mr. Knick Knack gets kids off their seats and onto the dance floor at the Village at Lees-burg’s Fountain Court at the VAL’s Pals program this past Tuesday. Below: Tyler and AnneMa-rie Kosin picked up free VAL’s Pals backpacks to tote their stuffed buddies.

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From top: Leila and Grace Oat enjoy Pinkberry chocolate ice cream while listening to Mr. Knick Knack; Agnes and Patrick Reaser won a gift certificate to Salon Montage in a raffle drawing at the end of the program; driver Tony Chan-dler, nurse Lisa Evans and driver Anthony Straub staffed Inova Mobile Health’s bus; and families were offered activity books, cray-ons, lip balm and more on the bus.

Photos by Therese P. Howe

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P A R E N T L I F E


Rinse Hopper Makes Bathtime A Breeze

The Rinse Hopper couldn’t have come to us at a better time. We recently started our little girl, Dara, on solids—and after a few weeks of enjoying her many menu options including sweet potato, butternut squash, yogurt, green beans, peas—she sud-denly developed a nasty case of diaper rash. Needless to say, our formerly cheerful and easy-going new addition was cranky and fussy every time she had a wet or soiled diaper.On her pediatrician’s advice, we declared a moratorium on baby wipes (despite previ-ously using those formulated for sensitive skin) and switched to soft tissue and plain water when changing her diapers during the day. Our alternative “wipes” were obviously a lot less convenient than the ready-to-use type we were accustomed to, and there was also the concern that she just wasn’t getting clean enough, which would prolong the diaper rash. Enter the Rinse Hopper. Similar to a baby bathtub, with drainage holes in the bottom, it allows you to keep the baby in a shirt (or a onesie, with the flaps folded up) while you wash them from the waist down. Result: Fresh, clean baby—and the mess goes down the drain. The Rinse Hopper can also be used for baby’s baths, especially if all they need is a quick rinse (we wouldn’t recom-mend it for anything longer than that, since

the baby could get cold). The holes in the bottom prevent the

Rinse Hopper from filling up with water, so this product is safe for newborns. That said, one suggested improvement would be a pillow attachment/head sup-port—particularly helpful if the little one doesn’t have enough neck/head control just yet. Cut to two weeks after first using the Rinse Hopper. The little one is back to her giggling self again, thanks to a

combination of a little diaper cream, extra TLC, plus convenient (and frequent!) stints in the Rinse Hopper. Thumbs up!

Nerissa Shepard, Leesburg

Seeking Product Testers! Parent Life is seeking parents and kids who would be willing to test products such as toys, then submit a review of the prod-uct for publication in Parent Life and/or our website at www.leesburgtoday.com. In addition to a written review, fami-lies also will be required to submit photos and/or videos of the product and their review. If you are interested in becoming a family reviewer for Parent Life, please send an email to [email protected] with the following information:• Parents’ names• Childrens’ names, gender and age• Town/Village of residence• Pets (type)

Photo courtesy of Nerissa ShepardBaby Dara relaxes in her Rinse Hopper, cred-ited with alleviating a nasty diaper rash.

The Hill School Sunday, May 20, 2012

2:00pm

Please join us for an information session and tour led by

Treavor Lord, Head of School.

The goal of a Hill School education is to build character, self-confidence, and scholarship through academic

and co-curricular excellence, individualized attention, and a strong

sense of community.

To RSVP or learn more about Hill please call Kelly Johnson at 540-687-5897 or visit www.thehillschool.org.

community character confidence

The Hill School • 130 South Madison Street • Middleburg, VA 20117 K-8 Co-educational Day School • Founded in 1926

P A R E N T L I F E


Our family was immediately drawn to the unique card shape and beautiful colors of the new art-themed card games by Fun-nybone Toys. We “tested” three games: Array, CUBU and Spectrix. All three games are based on multiple short rounds of color-based matching or sequencing. The games are intended for ages 8 and up, which we found appropriate for our family which includes children aged 12 to 17. While we enjoyed testing these games, they are not likely to get much future use in our house. Fast rounds keep the games moving and balanced the competition among players of all ages, but the game design gener-ates only short-term interest. Victory depends on luck and some individual strategy, but the series of independent actions do not effec-tively engage others waiting for their turn and result in a quick loss of interest in the games. Pros for all three games: There is no real advantage for older kids (younger kids seemed to be equally likely to win), and games can be adjusted to fit time avail-able (quicker or longer games). Cons: Unclear instructions, differences in shades of color that led to debate about appropriate matches and difficulty in shuf-fling cards due to their shape. Specific comments: Array – We found this game to be the most entertaining of the three. It seemed fast paced and had the most interesting twists and turns. The game was logical and allowed the active player to incor-porate some strategy into their turn.

CUBU – This game was the second most entertaining. The rules were a little more difficult to understand, and the range of colors and shapes made it more challenging to “read” the cards. Play combinations were limited, making the game predictable. After a few rounds, we were somewhat bored with the game. Spectrix – This was the least entertain-ing game of the three. The game cards are colorful, but the game is very simple with limited strategy. The game is built around a large color spectrum which was not natu-rally incorporated into game play and led to distractions.

Dee McGuire, Ashburn

Family Game Time Is In The Cards

Photo courtesy of Dee McGuireKenny McGuire plays the card game Array, by Funnybone Toys.

Year-round Horseback Riding LessonsHorse Shows ~ Girl Scout Groups

Troop Activities ~ Great Fun!Awesome Birthday Parties too!

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Ages 4-7 -Stage Play 4 KidzAladdin Jr.

Jason Robert Brown’s -13 Les Miserables

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“Reserve Your Place on Stage!”

Summer Musical Theatre Camps For Ages 4 to 17

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Grease

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P A R E N T L I F E


Kool Riders Create Authentic Motorcycle Sound A Kool Riders is a small plastic device meant to make your bike sound like a motor-cycle. It attaches to the front fork of the bike and is activated as the spokes hit the plastic. The package states, “Remember baseball cards in your spokes?” I was never successful at baseball cards in the spokes, so I was curious about this product. I passed them out to my three oldest kids: Jonathan, 6; Mia, 8; and James, 11. It was met with varying reactions. Jonny was excited and eager to try it out. Mia was curious but not overly thrilled. James was underwhelmed: “Big deal. I already know how to do that.” Truthfully, he does. He wedged a water bottle in the front fork of his bike and it makes a sound like a motorcycle in the distance. Still, I encouraged each child to give it a try. Each child was able to correctly install the Kool Rider without assis-tance. This was a major pride point for Jonny and Mia. Each child had a turn to ride solo. Jonny’s normal bike-riding smile cracked into a huge grin. When his test run was over, here’s what he had to say: “At first it sounded like a machine gun then it sounded like a real motorcycle. So, so, so, so awesome! Super awesome.” Mia took her Kool Rider for a spin next.

Her comments reflect the overall sound of the Kool Rider: “At first, it just sounded like a bunch of ticking, but as I went faster it sounded like a real motorcycle.” They don’t sound like a motorcycle when you start, but as you pick up speed, the sound quality and volume increases dramatically. It does not make a distant motorcycle sound. It makes an in-your -face motorcycle sound. Knowing her personality, I think Mia was happy to have an excuse to be loud. James went last, as a favor to me. He is happy with his water bottle method of motor-

cycle sound making and was reluctant to switch to another product. As he streaked past me on his bike, he shouted out, “I feel like a car with a bad muffler!” The Kool Rider produces a much louder sound than the water bottle, and for James this was not a bonus. He

is at an age where he doesn’t appreciate extra staring or attention. Later, he commented that it sounded “like someone put rocks and pencils in the blender.” Take-away point from James: the Kool Rider makes your bike loud. Loud is embarassing. Over the course of a couple weeks, I don’t think that the Kool Rider encouraged anyone to ride bikes more, but for those who like to

be loud or attract attention it increased their overall enjoyment when they did. I would rec-ommend this product for children ages 6-10 who like to ride bikes, have attention and/or

be loud. I think that covers most 6-10 year olds.

Tracy Sheppard, Leesburg

Photo courtesy of Tracy SheppardThe Sheppard family reviewers offer their take on the Kool Riders they installed on their bikes. From left: James, Jonathan and Mia.

Come Grow With Us

Marshall Nimick & EverReady, both age six Marshall , age 14, & Lavendore

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Conveniently located at 74450 Dry Mill Rd. in Leesburg - just off the Rt 7 Bypass at Route 9

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P A R E N T L I F E

Parent Life for May 2012

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