Jennifer Fontaine

Mommy Hiker’s Fall Activity Guide PLUS an #OutdoorFamilies Fall Activity Link UP!

Posted on October 21, 2013February 24, 2016 by Jennifer Fontaine

Fall is definitely my most favorite time of year. My crafty side peeks its little head out, my yearning for family time doubles or even triples and my wide-eyed smile can be seen from miles away. There’s just something about the crisp fall air, the bright hues of orange and red and the smell of far-off fireplaces that get my outdoor energy flowing overtime and my kitchen working double shifts. I love every minute of it!

In honor of my fall euphoria, I thought it would be fun to compile a guide of our family’s favorite simple and fabulous fall activities! Feel free to add your family’s favorite fall activities in the comments!

Take a Fall Foliage Hike!

Of course, hiking is one of our family’s favorite pastimes, so it would only be fitting to kick off the guide with a great fall foliage hike.

We recently hiked Lake Hollywood which was an incredibly easy trail full of amazing discoveries! The Lake Hollywood Reservoir trail is a 3.5 mile, fully paved hike with only a total elevation gain of 100 feet, making it very stroller friendly.

Visit a Pumpkin Patch!

During the fall, pumpkin patches abound, full of parents pining for the perfect picture of their babe climbing, lifting or trying to eat the largest pumpkin in the patch!

Here’s a great compilation of pumpkin patches in Los Angeles County, but our favorite, for sure is Underwood Family Farms!

Make an Acorn Necklace!

I got this idea a few weeks ago and luckily, I was able to scrounge together supplies that were already cluttering the junk drawer, so all that was left was to forage for a few beautiful acorns!

This was super easy craft and a great way to hone in on V’s concentration and fine motor skills!

She wore it proudly for about an hour…

…until she delightfully pulled it off, watching gleefully as the beads bounced and rolled in a million directions.

Have a Picnic!

Change up your daily routine with a meal outside. It’s a great way to mix things up, get some fresh air and perk up your mood.

Throw some nosh in a bag and drive to the closest park, or just walk out your back door and spread out your blanket.

Adventure out on a Family Camping Trip!

This post would be missing a glaring piece of the Fontaine Family puzzle, if I didn’t include camping. Anytime of year is a great time to get out of the house and get in to nature, but fall is probably my favorite.

Climb a Tree!

Get up close and personal with the gorgeous, bright colors of fall by climbing a tree! A simple, pure delight for any kid (or adult, for that matter)!

Watch a Pig Race!

This year was our first time at a pig race.

At first, I was a little apprehensive of the whole idea, but the little piglets were so cute and the faces of the kids were lit up like it was christmas morning.

Explore a Corn Maze!

I must admit, that I’m a pretty non-directional person and I most certainly cannot rely on my 2 and a half year old’s keen navigational skills to lead us out to the other end of a corn maze.

We have been 2 years in a row and both years we have gotten lost, confused, befuddled and amused! But, I’m keeping hope alive. There’s always next year!

Create Pine Cone Christmas Trees!

On last week’s hike, V was absolutely obsessed with the plethora of pine cones surrounding the trail,

so we hoarded a dozen into our backpack figuring there was definitely something fun we could do with them! Once home, we got out the green acrylic paint, one super big paint brush, a bunch of paper towels and we painted little christmas tree pine cones!

It was an hour filled with creative, slightly messy together time and in the end we had a few cute decorations for the mantel.

Precious Perfection!

Check out these other fabulous Fall Activities from some of my favorite #OutdoorFamilies

Adventure Tykes: Fall Picnics and Camping

The Kid Project: Seize the Fall Season

Adventurous Moms: 5 Fall Activities

On The Beaten Path: Autumn Activities

Family Adventure in the Canadian Rockies:
Autumn Family Fun

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[Food Series] Ginger Salmon En Croute

Posted on October 17, 2013February 24, 2016 by Jennifer Fontaine

You know when you suddenly find yourself in the middle of an impromptu dinner party for 6 and you decide to make something that was barely a thought which only the second before flew into your head?! Well, I found myself doing just that a couple of weeks ago. In the middle of grating some ginger and seasoning up some salmon for my pop up guests, I turned to my mom and said, “How about I do some sort of puff pastry salmon?” “Like an En Croute?” she replied and I just looked back at her confused and said, “Sure!” (whatever that means!) Well, whatever it meant, it was a big hit! And, it was still pretty delicious when I ate it cold, for lunch the next day! Enjoy!

Ingredients
6 Salmon Fillets
3 tablespoons freshly grated Ginger
6 Green Onions
2 tablespoons Sesame Oil
Salt and Pepper
Phyllo Dough
3 tablespoons Butter

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and set your butter in a bowl, on the stove top to melt. Peel and finely grate the ginger and split the green onions in half, length-wise. Place (approximately) 8 sheets of the phyllo dough at the bottom of your baking dish and brush the top layer with melted butter. In a small bowl, mix together the salt pepper, sesame oil and ginger. Place 3 salmon fillets on top of your buttered phyllo dough, then brush the salmon with your ginger mixture and a little butter. Lay three of the green onions on top of the salmon, then cover the salmon with 8 more sheets of phyllo dough. Brush the top of the phyllo with more butter. Delicately fold up the edges to seal the salmon in the package. Repeat this process for the remaining 3 salmon fillets, then place both of your neat little packages into the oven for 15 minutes and serve pipping hot!

Learning Life Lessons From the Alpacas at Windy Hills

Posted on October 14, 2013April 26, 2016 by Jennifer Fontaine

As you can probably imagine, living in LA offers a enormous mixed bag of events, activities and experiences to explore with kids. Having been a mom for a few years now, my Go-To list of things to do on any given day is pretty long, but at least a handful of times a month, I get stuck in a rut and need to find something new and interesting to do with V. Enter Red Tricycle.

RedTri.com is a portal that I have tapped into more than once, when trying to look for cool, new things to do with my toddler. Their mission is simple, to help parents have more fun with their kids. They offer ideas for cool things to see, eat, make and do with your kids in your neighborhood. Each weekday, they deliver must-have recommendations for hip people who happen to be parents too, whether it’s a kid-friendly food truck crush, a street festival that accommodates strollers, or a christmas tree farm that offers free hot chocolate and crafts. And that is how we found our way to this quirky, off-the-beaten path nugget of heaven called Windy Hills Alpaca Ranch.

Windy Hills is not a petting zoo. They are a real, working ranch and as luck would have it, on the second saturday of every month, the have an Open Ranch Day! The largest Alpaca ranch in California, they are just about an hour north of LA, situated on 25 acres surrounded by the gorgeous rolling hills of Ventura County, a perfect day trip!

The drive winds through picturesque country byways, passed roadside fruit stands and stunning agricultural landscapes. Once on the farm, we were greeted by Kate, a gracious and knowledgeable hostess, one of their many docents, who led us on a brief, but very informative tour of the grounds, then we were set free to wander and discover to our hearts content.

And wander we did, right over to the newest member of the family who had been born just hours before we arrived! In fact, there were 12 babies who had been born in the week prior, so we made a beeline to the newborn pen to watch the babies interact with their mothers. It was fascinating to watch how each mother really stuck to her own baby. There wasn’t much of a “village” attitude about caring for the young, but there was definitely a sense of curiosity.

We found the Alpacas to be quite curious little beings and seemingly gentle, quiet creatures. All we needed to do was to walk in the direction of one and they would immediately start walking towards us to get a good sniff.

We got to use all 5 of our senses on this outing and one of the coolest was to feel their coats. Alpacas are classified in two different breeds, the Huacaya and the rarer and more treasured Suri. The coat of the Suri is incredibly soft, more like human hair and tends to fall down in ringlets or locks, whereas the Huacaya’s coat looks more like a teddy bear, fuzzy and coarse. Be it silky coat or fuzzy, one thing is for sure, alpacas are undeniably cute!

We fed them…

Then, we fed ourselves…

We fell in love with a Ranch Hand…

And just as we were making our way out, we got news that one of the Alpacas was delivering! We all ran over just in time to watch her nuzzle her daughter for the first time.

The electricity in the air was remarkable. As we watched the mother deliver the placenta, my daughter’s hand in mine, I delicately explained to her what was happening and my heart was filled with gratitude to have shared that incredible experience. We stood there mesmerized, three generations of Fontaines (my mom was also with us), captivated by the strength of the little one, only minutes old, trying to stand on its own two feet, the inherent need for nourishment and a fundamental yearning for her mother’s unconditional love. What a delightful reminder that life lessons can be taught in the most unexpected circumstances.