Fun with MixBook ~ Giveaway *CLOSED
One of my “imaginary motherhood” dreams was to have amazing pictoral chronicles of my son’s life, and smoothly edited DVDs of each moment. Yeah, … then life happened. Photos and video simply take a lot of time to process and organize (and I truly love real-actual scrapbooking, except for the time!). I have folders and folders of digital images. A few times I have used my digital scrapbooking software to make albums. But then I don’t ever print them!
Photo albums are one of those projects for a “rainy day.” Well guess what, consider it pouring outside, because MixBook let me create a beautiful photo album in literally minutes.
I created a Camping Adventures album for our family. After two years of camping with a baby, I felt it truly deserved its own album. I loved that there was already a camping / adventure theme in MixBook, so I chose that – perfect!
First I uploaded photos. Then I let MixBook “auto-populate” my book. This created a nice layout, keeping similar photos together in collage-like pages. I tweaked the book a bit, changing backgrounds, adding pre-designed layouts. I added text and a few more graphics, and my book was done!
Cuteness, right?
I could have spent hours tweaking a million other things, but I felt good about the speedy version! MixBook has sophisticated templates for just about any life occassion or style. If you’re like me, you’ll be so happy the album is done, you won’t want to bother tinkering!
An interesting feature of MixBook is you can collaborate with friends and family to create a book, by uploading images and designing pages together over the Internet. I can’t wait to think of a cool project for that feature!
My MixBook arrived within about a week. It’s a neat, shiny photo album of all last year’s camping adventures! My son and I have fun reading “the camping book” before nap time. It’s a great way to remind him of the fun times we had when he was a baby!
Now I have to get going making a camping book for THIS past summer! I don’t want to get behind again!!
Buy it: Visit MixBook for beautiful photo books for your family! AND if you’re a first time customer, get 20% off with this CODE: AYEARW20
Win it: One lucky reader will get a code for ONE 20-page, 11×8.5 landscape, hardcover photo book with free US Ground shipping (code will expire 11/30/11). (ARV $19.99).
How to enter: Leave a comment for each entry task (1 comment/1 entry – total 3)
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GIVEAWAY RULES: Giveaway ends at 11:59, EST, Tuesday, October 25, 2011. A winner will be chosen via And The Winner Is… WP Plugin. I will email the winner and they have 48 hours to respond. Open US/CAN/UK. Must be 18+ to enter/win. Fulfillment handled by MixBook via myself!
DISCLOSURE: I was sent a product sample to facilitate this review. All opinions are honest and 100% my own.
Campfire Chili Recipe
I am stealing this recipe from my sister. I don’t know where she got it from – probably her brainy chef mind!
This soup is perfect for camping, and not just because it’s chili (which is awesome outdoor food!). The minimal ingredients and super fast prep make it perfect for just kicking back and enjoying the outdoors instead of slaving over a hot fire!
We’ve enjoyed this soup twice now (once with turkey, once with beef) and it’s been delicious! I am sure there are other ingredients you could add, but why complicate things!
| Campfire Chili |
- 1 lb. ground beef or turkey, precooked
- 1 can sweet corn
- 1 can beans, rinsed, drained (your chocie: black beans, canellini, or kidney)
- 1 jar salsa
- Cumin, to taste
- Chili Powder, to taste
- Salt and Pepper, to taste
- Add all ingredients into a large pot.
- Stir to mix thoroughly.
- Heat through until bubbly.
- Serve with shredded Cheddar cheese and / or sour cream topping if desired
For camping, brown meat ahead of time and freeze. Put frozen into your cooler, and when it’s time to make dinner, just add it to the pot at whatever thawing stage it’s at.
*Please take care to use or refrigerate the meat before it reaches 40 degrees F. (the danger zone for contamination).
What’s your favorite easy outdoor / camping recipes or food tip?
Weekend Camping @ Emerald Lake, Vermont
A lake. The forest. Owls. A trio of thunderstorms. And Twizzlers.
This was our Labor Day weekend. We took the three hour drive up to a new campsite for our traditional Labor Day, goodbye-to-summer camping trip. This year our destination was Emerald Lake, Vermont.
We had a great (flat!) site right near the restrooms and showers. Our 18-month-old loved pushing his “big car” around in the dirt loading it up with “tree babies” (pinecones, that he pronounces as “teck-tones”).
I think he would purposefully get his hands all dirty just so he could take a short walk over to the water pump station to wash his hands! We must’ve made that trip a dozen times a day, he was so fascinated with the spigot!
Emerald Lake itself was just a short drive (or long hike!) down from our site. We claimed a great lakefront picnic table both days. The water was a bit chilly, although we were told it was actually seventy-one degrees.
Our son was not afraid to push his car right into the water up to his waist! He would’ve probably gone in further but mama would not let him!
I loved that this state park has a Nature Center with several activities daily. We talked to Park Ranger Sue about owls, and made a pinecone frame. Well, at least mommy enjoyed making the frame! Our toddler apparently doesn’t have the patience for that yet!
Our last night, we had just gotten a roaring fire going after dinner, thanks to some donated dry wood from a fellow camper (the wood the park sold us was way too damp to keep going). When suddenly a wind blew up and down poured the rain!!
We scampered to get everything under cover, then hunkered down in the tent. Unfortunately, we shoved the snacks into the car!
Our son was a little frightened of the booming thunder at first. I taught him to say “Boom!” every time the thunder rolled over us, and he soon got into trying to outshout the thunder! the rain came down so hard, we couldn’t even hear ourselves talking to each other!
It is pretty awesome to be outside with just a piece of vinyl between you and the thunder, rain, and lightning! Not so awesome: the pools of water under the tent that started seeping through, or the drips that kept up a “continual dropping” over my hubby’s head all night.
Three (yes, THREE!) thunderstorms later (7 pm, 2 am, and 4 am), our son decided to wake up and sleep in bed with us. He generally sleeps in the pack and play when we camp. He is a very squirmy, playful, co-sleeping (?) baby!! We were happy when he finally tired himself out and fell asleep.
Although we didn’t try any of the fancy cooking of our previous camping trips, we finally got around to having s’mores! And I’ve decided that rice krispie treats are the best camping snacks!
No matter if we go for a long camping trip or a short one, it always seems like we bring more stuff home than we took with us!
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Emerald Lake, and plan to return again! It was a great deal for the price, the sites were clean, facilities well-maintained, and access to a great lake!
Do you have family vacation traditions?
Little Tent in the Big Woods
I camped with my son in utero. Camping is just in his nature, I suppose!
We recently came home from two back-to-back camping trips. At Maidstone State Park in Vermont, we woke, ate, slept by this glittering scene for five blissful, technology free days. Not a cell phone signal to be had!
My 17 month old loved every dirty minute. He completely understood not to go near the fire! Phew!
Here he is totally chill as “Nonna” feeds him lunch. Someone must have told him this was vacation.
His favorite activity ALL day was to walk the path from the campfire to the lake, up and down. He manuevered suprisingly well over the rocks and roots.
He also loved pushing his truck up and down the hill in the dirt. “Vroom! Vroom! Dump!” was heard all day from a certain head-to-toe dirty little boy!
Which is why, of course, this has-to-be-clean mama had to bath him nightly in his tub! I had to boil water for the bath each night. It felt very Laura Ingalls. 
We took him for a bike ride… cutie pie fell ASLEEP in the trailer on the mile-long ride back from the beach on bumpy dirt roads. He sure knows how to wear himself out!
I think swim lessons paid off because he was so happy in the water!
Every day was a wonder to him. He loved being outside, collecting sticks and rocks. Throwing and dumping them. Playing with his cousins. He did not, however, like being in the tent at bedtime while the adults got to chat around the fire! 
What age did you start camping with your children? Or if you don’t camp, tell me why not? (there are lots of reasons if I stop to think about them, but I try not to do that!!).
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