Ignite the enchantment of the season with a special excursion that brings holiday movie magic to life for your whole family. Holiday train rides are waiting to take Portland families on Christmas-themed adventures through the scenic Pacific Northwest landscape. Think Polar Express, Portland style. Our suggestion? Don’t wait too long, as those golden tickets get snapped up fast. Grab your little railroad enthusiast, and get ready for one of the season’s most beloved experiences. Who knows? You might even meet Santa.
These Portland Holiday Train Rides Add Magic to the Season
Head to the Hood River for a gorgeous mountain experience and an unforgettable holiday train ride. The Mt. Hood Christmas Train captures the magic and the spirit of the Christmas season with warmth and charm your family will love. Upon arrival your family will be greeted by the cheery and festive staff before the conductor calls “All aboard! Characters from The Train to Christmas Town book are magically brought to life to welcome and accompany passengers on an entertaining trip to Christmas Town. Everyone is served hot chocolate and a cookie by the cast and The Train to Christmas Town story book is read aloud for all to enjoy. Your kiddos might even get a chance to meet Santa Clause and his elves.
110 Railroad St. Hood River, OR Online:mthoodrr.com
Chehalis Centralia Railroad & Museum Polar Express Train Ride
Families ride in comfort and privacy on this vintage railcar during their trip to the North Pole on THE POLAR EXPRESS™. Set to the sounds of the motion picture soundtrack, you and your little elves will relive the magic of the story as they are whisked away on THE POLAR EXPRESS™. Hot chocolate and treats are served as you listen to the classic children’s book, The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg. Then Santa and his helpers greet passengers at the North Pole and then board the train, where each child is given the first gift of Christmas – a silver sleigh bell. Chefs aboard each car lead passengers in singing Christmas carols on the ride back to the Depot. Tickets for all ages cost $39 and children under age of two are free but must be on adult's lap.
For families who love holiday train rides this one runs year-round. It offers a six-minute excursion that is perfect for the littlest locomotive lovers in your household. The regular daytime zoo loop offers an overview of the animals and the rides last just long enough for the wiggliest ones in your crew. Best of all, you never have to wait longer than 15 to 20 minutes to catch this excursion. While you can take this train ride all year long, it turns into something special during the holiday season! The holidays just wouldn't be the holidays in Portland with out a spin on the Zoolights run. This ride gives you the best view of the dazzling display of more than 1.5 million lights in the zoo.
During the winter, this beloved holiday train rides takes the area's natural beauty to the next level with the Candy Cane Express. Passengers take in spectacular views on this steam-powered trip while enjoying hot chocolate and cookies. Kids get to write letters to Santa while traveling along, and enjoying the lights! The train is lit up with Christmas lights to add festivity to the evening trips. Santa visits one-on-one with each family to spread the cheer. This round-trip excursion departs Garibaldi and runs to Rockaway Beach for a total of one hour.
Portland is the only U.S. city to own two operating steam locomotives. and you and your young train fanatics can explore and get up close to these giant marvels of the past. On Saturdays, you can hop aboard the charming, family-owned Oregon Pacific Railroad passenger train for the short trip down to the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge. Trains travel on the Oregon Pacific Railroad along the Willamette River in SE Portland, but when the holiday season rolls around, you won't want to miss The Holiday Express! Join Santa Claus and his elves for a magical ride behind Portland’s famous steam locomotives. Santa joins every ride!
Want to hear a story from Betty White? Or print off Barbie summer camp activities? And help kids in need at the same time? Then we’ve got the program for you!
Save the Children just launched its annual summer reading campaign, 100 Days of Reading. The website is packed with fun activities and ideas to keep kids reading and learning this summer. You’ll find book suggestions, playlists, imaginary activities and more—plus new things are added every week!
Better yet, every link that is clicked or tapped will help impoverished children across rural America. These actions unlock donations of books, educational materials and healthy food for 750,000 kids. Save the Children’s mission is to ensure kids are getting the early support they need to be successful in school and in life. If you want to take it one step further, you can join in a summer fundraising program. Create your own page, choose an activity (like selling lemonade or gardening) and share on social to make even more of an impact!
Ready to get started? Visit the 100 Days of Reading website and start exploring the site and logging your reading minutes. It’s one more way to help your kids have the ultimate summer of fun and learning, while giving back at the same time!
This holiday season is going to look different from years past. Yankee Candle is spreading the holiday magic by giving families a sneak peek into Santa Claus’ workshop via The Official Santa Cam. They are also offering a series of backgrounds for those virtually celebrating the holidays with loved ones.
Yankee Candle sent a magical candle to Santa Claus. This candle has a special power to connect everyone around the world to Santa Claus’ private office. This one candle will make you believe in the magic of Santa.
Families will have the opportunity to check-in on Santa by logging into TheOfficialSantaCam.com. Access to Santa’s virtual office is available this holiday season, around the clock, now through Dec. 24, when Mr. Claus heads out for work. The virtual Santa Cam will feature Santa’s routine at the North Pole including:
Santa will start his morning with a cup of cocoa and read through the North Pole News. As the day continues, Santa will look through his schedule, write at his desk, build toys, read letters, eat cookies, take naps and watch as Mrs. Claus delivers sweets.
During the prime hours of 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., Santa will partake in extra activities including learning a TikTok dance, sketching a picture of Rudolph, painting toys, taking a Zoom call, among others.
Yankee Candle is also launching a series of virtual backgrounds for those celebrating the holidays virtually this year! Families can access the holiday inspired backgrounds on yankeecandle.com/inspiration starting on Dec. 9.
Don’t forget to check out Yankee Candle’s Magical Christmas Morning Holiday Scents.
Santa’s Cookies: A treat worthy of Santa’s attention: Freshly baked vanilla sugar cookies with a dash of spice.
Christmas Morning Punch: A spectacular blend of ruby-red pomegranate, strawberry, cranberry — a celebratory drink the whole family will love.
Holiday Hearth: A cozy gathering by the fireplace, all decked out with festive décor…warm, spicy, and sweet, like the magic of holiday traditions.
Singing Carols: A harmonious combination of fruit, evergreen, and spice notes that create an inspiring Christmas melody.
Happy Morning: Awaken to the delight of Christmas morning with a cheerful fragrance bursting with bright berries, evergreens, and a touch of caramel.
Are your kids obsessed with YouTube? Since 2015, With so many children logging on each day, the demand is high for fresh and exciting content. Frugal living blog Top Dollar researched every country’s most popular kids channels to help your little one find a safe new channel to enjoy.
As well as mapping the top channels, the team also found the top earning child YouTubers.
In order to find out the most popular YouTuber in each country, the Top Dollar team used statistical websites Social Blade and Vidooly to find out which YouTuber has the most subscribers.To calculate each channel’s earnings, researchers then used Banner Tag to find the average daily views for each channel and estimated how much it was earning using a site called Noxinfluencer, which estimates earnings based on views and subscribers.
To find the top beauty, gaming and kids channels, the team studied the most subscribed channels, read ‘About’ pages and watched the videos to see if they fit into these categories. It proved difficult deciding what channels would fit the ‘influencer’ category for some countries, especially those with obscure content. In these cases, if it looked like it was an individual making the videos, they counted them as a YouTuber. For some countries, the team were not able to find any reliable channels. For others, they couldn’t find the CPM rate. In many cases, a channel claimed to be from one country when it was obvious from their videos that they lived elsewhere. Any channels that did this were not included.
Your baby’s birth certificate. Medical records. The family’s passports. Social Security Cards. Your will or trust. Family photos and mementos. Do you know where to find them? It’s always a good idea to keep your important documents safely stored, but even more so after you have a baby. Between mombrain and lack of sleep, you may struggle more than usual to find things when you need them. And that’s where these document bags come in super handy.
If you’ve ever asked yourself what you’d grab in the event of a fire or flood at your home, here’s your answer: Grab your Secure My Legacy bag. These fire-resistant and water-resistant document bags can hold about 300 documents each and are compact and easy to take with you in an emergency. You already have enough new-mom anxiety. Give yourself the peace of mind that you have all of your documents organized and easy to find when you need them.
What It Is
Made from silicone-coated fiberglass and secured with both a zipper and VELCRO flap, each bag is large enough (11 inches by 15 inches) to hold all sorts of important documents. The company suggests storing things like a contact list, passports, financial documents, insurance papers, medical records, legal documents and family documents.
Have a lot to keep track of? Each bag is imprinted with a specific term (including Emergency, Medical, Legal, Business, Real Estate) so you can get a few and store items separately.
Why You Need One
When faced with an emergency, you don’t want to have to search for your important documents or waste time finding them them. As a new parent, you’ll want to focus on your baby, not trying to remember where you put important paperwork. If you keep all of your documents organized in these document bags, you’ll find what you need in a snap. Plus, you’ll have kept them protected from fire, water and smoke damage. And that means you’ll be able to get your life back on track more quickly.
Keep separate bags for the family’s legal papers, real estate documents, medical records and wills. Cards from Grandma, photos and newspaper clippings of dearly departed ancestors and birth mementos are also worth tucking into a bag to keep them as safe as possible.
We love the bundle that comes with one bag and a notebook for logging important information about your contacts, medications, finances and more family and household information. The notebook is key for parents who use babysitters regularly or have caregivers in the home. It ensures they’ll always have access to important information if they need it.
Kids and teens have more access to the internet than ever before. Mobile devices have kids logging on without parental supervision. The internet experts at USDish.com, an authorized retailer of Dish Network, compiled the best online safety tips for parents and guardians.
According to the Pew Research Center’s 2018 report on Teens, Social Media & Technology, 95% of American teens ages 13 through 17 have a smartphone or have access to one. With so many social media platforms to choose from including Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok it’s no surprise that about 90% of those surveyed say that they are online for a large part of the day.
Add in worries about the risks of sharing on the internet and cyberbullying, teens have a lot on their plates when they venture online. By starting the conversation early you can empower your child with the tools they need to protect themselves online.
Share what you learn through this guide with your teen and teach them how to consume online entertainment safely and responsibly.
GiGi’s Playhouse Down Syndrome Achievement Centers has launched GiGi’s Step to Accept Challenge, a virtual run-walk-ride designed to send a message of acceptance across the world. On Sat., Jun. 6, teams from 60 GiGi’s Playhouse locations and startups nationwide will take to the streets, parks, bike trails and basement treadmills, set on amassing 7 million “steps to accept,” enough steps to span the entire United States.
The challenge invites supporters of acceptance, in all its forms, to join the effort by signing up online to begin logging their steps.
“This goes beyond individuals with Down syndrome,” said Nancy Gianni, founder and Chief Belief Officer of GiGi’s. “We’ve been fighting for acceptance since we first conceived GiGi’s Playhouse in 2002 and we aren’t alone in that struggle. Every step matters because every life matters, which is why our initial goal is 7 million steps, but we would love to hit 50 million steps which is the amount of steps to walk around the world spreading our message of acceptance.”
Funds raised through GiGi’s Step to Accept Challenge will enable the not-for-profit to continue its mission of providing free life-changing therapeutic and educational programming, including GiGi’s at Home Virtual Programming, for more than 25,000 individuals with Down syndrome. Launched within days of the devastating closure of 48 GiGi’s Playhouse locations nationwide, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, GiGi’s at Home, an essential service for families at home dealing with a 24/7 diagnosis, currently offers 28 national and more than 100 local chapter live programs every week, along with more than 150 On Demand videos.
GiGi’s at Home content is targeted for ages infant through adult, addressing everything from one-on-one math and literacy tutoring to fitness (GiGiFIT), art, music, dance, cooking and social skills. In just five weeks, there’ve been more than 150,000 visits to the GiGi’s at Home website, with more than 300 new families signing up to participate in GiGi’s programming.
The culmination event of GiGi’s Step to Accept Challenge is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. CT on Sat., Jun. 6. Following warm-ups and inspirational remarks, step-off will take place at 11:15 a.m. Those interested in registering for the Step to Accept Challenge or making a donation, can visit StepToAccept.org. Teams and individual participants are welcome. Registration is $21 per adult and $10 for children 12 and under. Free access to Virtual Coaching and the Strava fitness tracking app for monitoring and recording steps is available through the website.
It’s a boy! Last month Mabel, a 4-year-old pygmy hippopotamus at the San Diego Zoo gave birth to her first calf. This is the first successful pygmy hippo birth at the zoo in more than 30 years.
The male pygmy hippo calf was born just before 9 a.m. on Apr. 9, and weighed 12.4 pounds.
The zoo announced the birth on May 15 in recognition of Endangered Species Day. The zoo said, the calf, which has not been named, is meeting and surpassing milestones, including the ability to go underwater.
There are fewer than 2,500 pygmy hippos living in rivers and streams in the forest of West Africa, and their species are threatened by logging, farming and human settlement in their habitat according the the announcement on the zoo’s website.
The new wizarding world version of Pokémon GO won’t be available until later this year, but game designer Niantic is already expecting the excitement around the game to be big so it’s offering players a chance to sign up for a Harry Potter: Wizards Unite wizard name now.
Existing Pokémon GO players have the opportunity to reserve their Pokémon GO Trainer Nickname for use in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite before the game launches. All you have to do is go to Niantic’s Reservation portal to sign up.
Logging in to your Pokémon GO account via Google, Facebook or Niantic Kids you can reserve your current Pokémon GO Trainer Nickname in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite if it’s available. Other options include using your Pokémon Trainer Club account or Ingress Agent Name as your Harry Potter Code Name.
If for some reason there’s overlap in names between the various accounts, you may be out of luck if someone else beat you to the handle, but then again you may just want to pick a new name befitting of a wizard.
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