Easy Kid-Friendly Flagstaff Hike: Crystal Point Trail

5 kids ready to hike!

Let's face it, kids like to whine. They whine about trivial things, like the color of the cup you gave them, who got more juice, not wanting to pick up the legos. . .  etc etc. And if your kids are anything like mine, they will also whine about the idea of seemingly fun and exciting things, like going on a hike. But when I'm in a place as scenic and with such beautiful summer weather as Flagstaff, we are going to get out and enjoy it every day, even if just for a short nature walk.

Crystal Point Trail in Munds Park, is a great hike for said whiny kids. It's 1.3 miles of easy terrain and not too steep.

First and foremost, I love hiking trails that are easy to find and with ample parking. This was both! I used the GPS directions on the All Trails app. But to get there, take I-17 to the Munds Park exit and then follow Pinewood Blvd all the way up to the large parking lot on the left. Cross the road to the trailhead.

We brought 5 kids on this hike, ranging in ages from 3 - 13.

Brilliant idea alert! I decided to create a Scavenger Hunt before we left with things for us to look for on the trail - this they LOVED. It took their mind off of the hiking and got them looking around and enjoying themselves. I tried to come up with things I knew we would be able to find and then maybe a few tricker ones. I also left room for creativity. This was fun for my 13 year old daughter to help with, she came up with many of the items herself.

On our way we went, list in hand, ready to hike! I noticed immediately that there was a variety of birds in this area, and I wished we had brought our Arizona Birds book - so if you have one, bring it.

Here is a copy of the scavenger hunt we used

Something red

A rock shaped like an animal (cat)

One thing on the list was a "scary tree" - a nice, vague item and open to interpretation. We found many trees that qualified as "scary" and also some very beautiful ones, and ones that were fun to climb.

After awhile though, fatigue set in and we did have to stop near the end of the trail for a snack. We found a good spot to rest, with a lovely view.

It was just what we needed to reenergize and for the big kids to run up to the end with me. The trail was a little steeper and this point, but shady and cool. Once at the top, we saw a quaint bench that looked out on a fantastic view! A fellow hiker told us there used to be an old telephone attached to a tree, but that the tree fell. Bummer.

The trek back to the parking lot was downhill and we only need one brief piggyback ride and MANY water breaks to make it down. Overall, it was a lovely hike and one the family very much enjoyed. I recommend to anyone! Someday (maybe without the kids) I would love to do the loop and check out the lake.

Party Time: Minecraft Themed Birthday

Like many almost 8 year olds out there, my son was obsessed with the MineCraft video game. So when it came time to pick the theme for his birthday party, this was kind of a no-brainer. At the time however, I was not that familiar with the details of the game. I decided to educate myself, so I watched some online tutorials, asked him some questions, and soon I felt I was good to go. One word to mostly sum it up: square. Everything in the world of MineCraft is pixelated and therefore made of squares, so I had to think "inside" the box. 

Here is the tutorial I watched (I also included it in my Evite, in case others were unfamiliar): 

http://www.minecraftopia.com/how_to_play_minecraft

And now on to the party details of our "MineCraft Madness" party . . . 

DECOR:

On the front door, I hung a vintage looking MineCraft poster, purchased at Walmart. Since they were only $5, I got a different poster to hang up inside the house as well. 

I decided I wanted to make a big impact with a large creeper head. To create this, I taped salad size square paper plates (7 inch) in shades of green and black to the wall.  I covered the food table with a "grass" tablecloth.  I also picked up a few large square bowls for food and large square dinner plates for the buffet. All of these items were purchased at Party City.
http://www.partycity.com/product/kiwi+paper+square+dessert+plates+20ct.do?from=Search&navSet=square%20plates&bypass_redirect=1

I drew creeper heads and TNT with a sharpie on heliums balloons. I also added little creeper heads to a paper lanterns garland from Party City.  http://www.partycity.com/product/kiwi+lantern+garland+12ft.do?from=Search&navSet=green%20lantern%20garland&bypass_redirect=1


This MineCraft banner was purchased on Etsy (instant download, then printed and cut out at home).


https://www.etsy.com/transaction/136811758

ACTIVITIES:

Since "crafting" is how you create things you need in MineCraft, I decided on a crafting area at the party. Kids were able to make a pickaxe with popsicle sticks and tin foil or create a "skin" with small squares of paper. I pre made the masks by cutting out eye holes and a mouth and attaching them to popsicles sticks. This saved a ton of time at the party!

FOOD:

I used food directly from the MineCraft game for our buffet (melon, carrots and cookies). We also served square pizza (I ordered from a pizza place that cuts their pizza into squares, so handy!). Also from the game, we had "sticks" (pretzels), "spider eyes" (grapes), "water" (blue jello) and "lava" (red jello). The "creeper juice" was Warheads sour apple squeezers (purchased at Walmart) with the label removed and a creeper label added.

The cupcakes were from Safeway. I simply ordered chocolate cupcakes and ask them to decorate them with green "grass" on top. I purchased the cupcake toppers from Etsy (download only, print and cut out at home, attached to toothpicks). https://www.etsy.com/transaction/136486065

For the cake plates, I created TNT labels and glued them to red square plates. 

This awesome party was actually very simple. The food was ridiculously easy, the decorations were simple to create and had a big impact, and were mostly "made" (printed) by me. It was easy on the budget, a good bang for your buck, if you will. If you know a MineCraft lover, I highly recommend throwing them a party like this one, they will LOVE it, trust me.