Root for Trees 2013 - Kids Tree-athlon/Treeathon

Last Saturday the kids participated in a Kids Tree-athlon at Government House Park.  They had to run 500 meters, then plant and water a tree, then run another 500 meters.  They started off strong but grew a little tired by the end, we should have trained more for the race I guess.  It was a lot of fun, but the best thing for the kids was the vast amount of activities (all free) that were available:

• Craft tent - crafts included colouring, bird feeder construction, and preparing a newspaper wrapped bean plant
• Temporary tattoos - excellent tattoos, they had obviously hired a professional and they looked really good
• Face painting - it was kind of the opposite of the St. Albert Children's festival, there was only one person face painting but she was a professional, so she did a really great job but the line/wait was a little long
• Bouncy houses - the kids love bouncy houses, they can never get enough...
• Tons of trees you could take home to plant yourself
• Cake booth - free cake!
• Lots of information booths about planting trees and various other nature themed topics

Registration for the kids was $10 each, which was excellent value for what you got.  Parents could run with the kids to help them as well, for free, which was nice.

Tree-athlon Race Site From Above

Photosphere from the Middle

Poutine Food Truck!

Warm Up and Pre Race Instructions

More Pre-Race Instructions

At the Start Line

Spiderman Tattoo

Bouncy House Fun

Root For Trees Awards

Resources

• City page
• Nature Alberta blog post
• Nature Alberta event pictures

A Visit to the Muttart Conservatory

On the weekend we stopped by the Muttart Conservatory to take some family photos.  It was a great place to do it, it wasn't very crowded so we had lots of time to take pictures without getting in people's way (too much).  It also provided fantastic backgrounds.  It is a little pricy at $36 for a family but it is still a great bit of fun for the kids on a rainy day.  There are four pyramids with vastly different plants, and the kids did seem pretty interested in reading about them all.  As always, I got lots of pictures, and worked on some photospheres too.

The Entrance

The Kids Were Impressed With this Edmonton Pyramid Outside

Muttart Photosphere in Preview Format

Cactii!

Elephant Stump Tree, Pretty Cool?

Pond and Lilly Pads

Foilage

Cool Trees

St Albert Children's Festival

We headed out to St. Albert Children's Festival last Friday evening, and it was a lot of fun.  We didn't go to any shows, but just walked around and checked things out.  It was a pretty fun atmosphere, and there was a ton of stuff for children.  It was a nice atmosphere too, down by the river.

We did the following:

• saw some fairy tale frogs
• stilt walkers!
• kids bounced in the bouncy house
• ate hot dogs from Fat Franks and mini donuts and ice cream
• kids got their faces painted (the festival did a great job at this, there were tons of volunteers ready to paint and no line at all)
• saw a juggler walking around
• there was another show on the main stage, but I don't know what it was...  But it was good!

The Frogs!

The River

Mini Train Giving Kids Rides

Stilt Walkers Playing with Kids

The Festival

Main Stage

Resources

• official site