Tetra Pak Milk!

I'm not sure how new it is, seems to have been out for a year or two now but it was new to me when I found Tetra Pak milk at our local Trader Joe's last week. I think I'd seen it before but it has always been chilled and I didn't realize it was stable outside of a refrigerator. The Tetra Pak company site suggests one issue in the North American market for them is that "American" consumers don't trust their packaging for sensitive products like milk.

I'm not sure about the market at large but I was more than pleased to both find and trust picnic basket and diaper bag friendly milk that doesn't require a cold pack. Granted, cold milk is still preferable but my little one doesn't really seem to mind the temperature either way.

Definitely one to add to the daddy arsenal if you haven't already.

Activity: Daisy Chains

The term daisy chain is common enough but it seems we don't see many being made in our parks, yards and woodlands these days. Even as recently as a few decades ago most children would have known how and made them at least once in a while. It would be a sad thing to lose, so here's a quick verbal "how to" guide to making daisy and other flower chains to pass along with the next generation.

1.Find some flowers.
This works well with daisies because they are relatively common and have slightly fibrous stems. While dandelions are even more common and would no doubt make a lovely chain, the stems are so fragile I doubt they'd survive the crafting.

2.Using your thumbnail, make a small slit in the stem of each flower. It only needs to be big enough to slip the stem of the next flower in the chain through the opening.

3.Chain the flowers together, inserting each stem in turn through the flower that precedes it until you have a garland the length you'd like.

Nothing to it.

So, take your troupe out into whatever constitutes the wilds in your area and hunt up some pretty flowers. The size, color and type don't matter so much as that they have a fibrous stem.