Summer Concerts!

San Diego Summer Concerts at the Parks:)

I hope everyone is having a fabulous June!  The kids are out of school and the summer concerts are officially on their way! We love this about our San Diego community – who doesn’t like to start off the summer with family fun at the local park?  We all live in a neighborhood or near a park where summer concerts will be hosted throughout the summer.  These concerts are a perfect time to get together with family, friends, neighbors and just relax while the kids run around, eat watermelon, dance to music and enjoy the wonderful sounds of many local bands. The concerts are a great place to meet your nanny or caregiver after work and pick up the kids – or bring dinner and stay and enjoy the warm summer evening together!

Here is a list of parks and their schedules. Enjoy!! And happy summer:)

BALBOA PARK SUMMER CONCERT SERIES 2012

See you out there!!

Let’s Hit the Beach and Mission Trials this Month!

Go Play Outside!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous May! Can’t believe we’re almost through the month. We’ve been having some amazing San Diego weather  which has us thinking two things, the beaches and hiking. We’ve gathered five top favorite  beaches that kids love and also some information on getting out and visiting our very own Mission Trails. So if it’s been a while since you’ve made it to the beach or explored Mission Trails….

For all you parents, nannies and caregivers out there here are a few ideas!

Coronado Central Beach

Ocean Boulevard
Coronado, Ca
619-522-7300
online: coronado.ca.us

Cardiff Reef Beach

Highway 101
Cardiff by the Sea, Ca
760-753-5091
online: parks.ca.gov

Moonlight Beach

400 B Street
Encinitas, Ca
760-633-2740
online: encinitas.ca.us

Del Mar City Beach

17th Street
Del Mar, Ca

Silver Strand State Beach

5000 Coast Highway 75
Coronado, Ca
619-435-5184
online: parks.ca.gov

Explore Mission Trails day is this weekend May 19th. It’s a great way to get yourself and the kids connected with nature!

Here’s the info:

“The 10th annual Explore Mission Trails Day, a celebration highlighting everything Mission Trails has to offer, will be held on Saturday, May 19, 2012. Most activities will be between 9 AM and 2 PM at the Visitor and Interpretive Center and the Equestrian Staging Area. The 2012 event, Connecting Children with Nature, will feature free guided nature walks, talks and programs throughout the park, including live animals, and special programs for children. The San Diego Natural History Museum and Scholastic Publishing’s Ms. Frizzle™ and The Magic Schoolbus© will present a special program about coyotes for children in the amphitheater at the Visitor and Interpretive Center. Other activities at the Visitor Center will include crafts for a children, Explore Stations, sunspot viewing and guided nature walks. There will be free pony rides, a climbing wall, crafts for children, and Discovery Stations at the Equestrian Staging Area. The Lake Murray and Santee Kiwanis Clubs will serve hamburgers, vegeburgers, hotdogs and refreshments at the Mission Trails Visitor Center and Equestrian Staging Area respectively.” -Mission Trails Regional Park

May 7th is Teacher Appreciation Week!

Teacher Appreciation Week!

“Teachers Plant Seeds of Knowledge That Grow Forever.”

Hey parents, families, nannies, and caregivers… remember this week is teacher appreciation week! It’s such an important time to say thank you to those who also such as yourself, care for and teach your children everyday. Education is so valuable and thanks to those wonderful people who enrich the lives of our children everyday, we have a reason to celebrate!  There are many ways to show your appreciation.  Here are a few ideas!

A simple Thank You card, can be the sweetest gesture. You can’t go wrong with that! You can help your child think of a specific challenge or example where their teacher helped them solve a problem or taught them something very meaningful that they’ll never forget. A funny memory or simply a thank you for all you do card!

Flowers. After all it is spring! A fresh bouquet from the garden or better yet, a potted plant or flowers. Succulents are great plants for Southern California and keep well both indoors or outdoors. Flowers and plants are a great way to highlight just about anyone’s day.

Help clean or decorate the classroom, maybe get the whole class in on it and make a sign to hang up for everyone to sign their appreciation.

I can’t think of anyone that wouldn’t love a gift card to a favorite coffee shop or local restaurant, everyone loves a special treat!

And of course, it wouldn’t hurt to do a great job and turn in all the homework this week as well:)

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” -Henry Adams

Earth Day 2012

Take Care of Planet Earth, It’s Our Home!

Taking care of the planet “our home” is very important. Everyone can take part, big or small, we can all contribute to making our living spaces a little cleaner, brighter and better, for today as well as for tomorrow. This weekend, April 22nd, we will celebrate Earth Day. A perfect reminder that everyday is earth day and a great opportunity for our San Diego families to work together towards making this south coast corner a better place! What better place to start than right here in our community, our home.

We have some ideas to help your family celebrate Earth Day:

#1 Go for a nature walk.

-This is a great way to get everyone outside playing and learning. Try and identify the trees, plants and animals and discuss how you can keep the area clean and safe for the plants and animals as well as for your next visit.

#2 Plant flowers. Or start a garden.

-Like honeysuckle, that attract bees and butterflies. Green beans, radishes, kale and lettuce are easy crops to grow.

#3 Build birdhouses or feeders and hang them in your backyard.

-An easy but messy arts and crafts project that comes to mind is making a bird feeder out of fallen pine cones, slather them in peanut butter, dip them in bird seeds, hang them up outside on a tree with string and wait for the birds to come by for a treat!

#4 Visit the San Diego Zoo!

-Learn about endangered animals. Find out what you can do to help animals on the endangered list.

#5 Go no waste for the day!

-This might be a bigger challenge, but plan ahead and make it fun. Watch what a difference it makes.

There are many ideas your family can do together to celebrate Earth Day and making it fun! Check out the EPA’s Earth Day Take Home Kit as well for great ideas! Here is their link:
http://www.epa.gov/earthday/takehomekit.htm 

Also, one more thing! If you didn’t know, EarthFair, will be held in Balboa Park, on Sunday, April, 22, 2012, from 10am to 5pm. It’s their 23rd annual event and the largest free annual environmental fair in the world. We hope you all have a wonderful weekend and remember…take care of our earth, it’s the only one we have.

Ashely Perry Photography

Ashley Perry Photography

From the first glance of her work, I instantly became a fan. It’s neat to come across photography that makes you feel the moment as if you were right there, it’s like how a song feels and not how it sounds.  It’s so warm and intimate.  Ashley Perry captures the personalities and the happiness shared in a true moment.

Conveniently located in our very own Ocean Beach neighborhood, Ashley Perry Photography is highly recommended by us! Check out some of her work below, as well visit her blog ashleyperryphotography.blogspot.com and view her website ashleyperryphotography.com for further information.

April is National Autism Awareness Month

Don’t you just love how each month gives you something new to celebrate, learn about, support or advocate?  Months can have many different meanings, such as birthdays, anniversaries, when rent is due…but for many each month is a reminder of  very important causes.

South Coast Nanny, LLC was established on the basic principles of caring and sharing. We view each month as an opportunity for sharing, advocating and bringing awareness of important issues that not only affect our every day life, but our community, our nation and our world as a whole.  So many of you already knew or were informed that April is National Autism Awareness Month. And April 2nd was World Autism Day. These annual events serve to educate us about special issues within the special needs community and we feel it’s important to highlight them as they come along.

According to the Autism Society, Did you know that 1 out of 110 American children are on the autism spectrum? That’s a big number. This might not be as alarming to you if you have a child with special needs or know of a close friend or neighbor who does. It’s more common than we think. If you would like to learn more about Autism, for more information or to find events in your neighborhood here are a few sites you can visit: autism-society.org or lightitupblue.org.

July 25-28, 2012 – Will be the 43rd National Conference And Exposition for the Autism Society. It will be located here in San Diego, California. For registration information please click on the link below:

Happy Passover and Easter San Diego!

 

Volunteer in San Diego

Looking to get your family more involved with our community? We have some ideas! South Coast Nanny believes in not only volunteering and donating but also advocating for organizations we feel make a big difference in our beautiful city of San Diego. We believe it goes hand and hand and want to tell everyone about the organizations we love to support. It’s important for us to spread the word and remind people in our community that a small gesture of kindness can make a big difference and can go a long way. We would like to highlight a few organization that are making a big difference in the lives of our families here in San Diego, but without our support and donations, these are not possible. So get out there and get involved. Remember that new years resolution? Well, here is a reminder.

The Arc of San Diego

Miracle Makers (Rady Children’s Hospital)

The San Diego Foundation

Ch1ildren Now

Ronald McDonalds House Charities San Diego

It’s All About The Kids

Arts and Crafts!

So last week we endured some rainy weather, which got us thinking a lot about arts and crafts. Can’t say that for these last couple of days though, what a beautiful weekend we just had here in San Diego! I know we spent it at the beach and parks playing in the sun. But it does rain here, and when it does, get yourself:

Art Lab for Kids: 52 Creative Adventures in Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Paper, and Mixed Media-For Budding Artists of All Ages…

we highly recommend it. What’s great about this book is you don’t have to be a kid, it’s for all ages. I think we can agree ART is everywhere and for everyone. You don’t need a rainy day to get you in the mood for arts and crafts either, it’s always a fun and great way to spend creative time with the kids rain or shine.

We also collected a few links to wonderful and inspirational arts and crafts blogs. Check them out! They are great! You’ll get lost in all the creative ideas. So many fun projects to begin. Enjoy!

# The Craft Crow

# Bloesem Kids

# One Pretty Thing

# U Create

# Plum Pudding

Great Traits to Look For in A Nanny!

How do you know you found the right nanny?

Families may look for many different qualities in a nanny, but we believe they can all agree on important traits. Each family is unique and requires different needs. Some families might want a young and energetic nanny, while other families might want an older more mature and professional nanny. Overall we believe all families can agree on important traits they would like their nanny to posses.  Here is our list of important traits we believe great nannies should have…

#1 genuine interest in childcare/children as well as the whole family

#2 comfortable and connects with children as well as the parents

#3 respects parenting philosophies

#4 trustworthy

#5 reliable 

#6 excellent communication skills

#7 great at multitasking 

#8 patience 

#9 loving and caring

#10 flexible

but the most important things to look for are…is your child excited to see them every time? Is your child eager to tell you about their activities together? If they meet all the above, then we believe you have yourself the right nanny!