Bernie's Barnyard at Adventureland

photo credit: Adventureland parks

Bernie's Barnyard And what you need to know:
-Like all the rides and attraction, it's free with paid admission, or with a season pass. 
-Located by the entrance by the Tornado
-Toddler area and older/bigger kid area are separate
-2 new rides perfect for families.

Photo Credit: Adventureland Park
It's finally open I thought to my self, it' better be worth the long wait! Yes, I believe it was, Bernie's Barnyard was THE PERFECT PARK FOR KIDS AND PARENTS!  I am happy that Adventureland has this new addition to its park, A much-needed place for elementary kids to play and explore. We were able to go on the second day of its opening. Of course, these pictures are what my kids loved about the park, We easily spend the whole afternoon here, I had to pry them away and say if you want to swim at the wave pool we need to leave! (that's how much they loved this park)


E loved the slide, underneath was a fruit stand that my daughter and son loved to play store at. 

C enjoying the new slide, (perfect for all children. I even went down it, it's a bumpy as it looked.) Part of the fun.

The fruit stand, they loved playing store in this. Great place to learn and play pretend!

Why do all kids love tunnels? this one reminded me of a tunnel at a park we use to love until we moved. Thanks for the happy memories of that park Adventureland, I am glad to see another play area with tunnels. 


When you walked in there is a "life-sizexylophonees, drums, and other musical instruments that the kids loved to play with. This musical feature captured all my kid's attention for a long time, more time than I expected. 




Lot of ways to climb, this is just one of them, it's a rope latter, one of E's favorite part.


Everywhere you look there is something for little hands to be busy with, I counted like 4-5 gear stations for them to explore. 


another way to climb, can you tell my kids are part monkeys?






one of many views of the playground.




C's happy dance, she loved this area!


At this park inside of Adventureland, they have two rides, shakin Bacon, (as C pointed out, it's like the Falling Star for kids)  and pictured here is the horse ride, if your kid is less than 42 inches, a parent has to ride with them. It was fun to hear the giggles from my 4-year-old while on the ride. (one of my new favorite family rides.)


They also have a toddler section, pictured above is my 4 yr old in the toddler section. It was filled with houses and other little tike toys for the toddlers. 


For an art project in the spring, our elementary school chose some students to paint a birdhouse, my Niece was able to be part of this collaboration, she was so sad she couldn't take home the birdhouse until she saw it proudly displayed at Adventureland in Bernie's Barnyard. It was such a treat to see her work and see her smile bright as she realized that it's part of her new favorite park! 

My thoughts: this is a great place for families. They had lots of picnic tables for families to enjoy, It's very open, I was able to chat with the mother I was with while watching my kids. Bernie's Barnyard is the perfect size for kids to explore while moms/parents/ caregivers can sit down and relax a tad bit. There are concessions, that sell kid food ( Peanut butter and jelly, milk, animal crackers, and other kid-friendly snacks.) 

I will continue to make my way towards the tornado (the park is right by the entrance of the Tornado roller coaster) when we visit every week (Adventureland passes are worth every penny in our family.) Because it's the perfect size for our family. 

Well done Adventureland! Thank you for providing a great play area for my kids to explore and enjoy!

Check out my other post about Adventureland Day Trips, to help make your day at Adventureland as stress-free as possible. 

Back to School shopping Check list

Des Moines Register contacted me, about how  I save money during tax free weekend in Iowa, I am happy to share with you a lovely conversation I had with Mackenzie, from the Des Moines Register, truly a fun conversation, lots of great tips are in her article, by none other than my self and another blogger from the Des Moines Area as well!

There are some really great ways to save money this month, I love spending money this month because there are some great deals that I can only get in August, Stock up and save!

Read about what was said in this conversation, and to view the whole article.

Learn more about Tax-free weekend go here

Here are my go-to things I get for during Tax-Free weekend and why:

Underwear: They almost never go on sale, but usually, I can get a buy one get one half, or they are just reasonable. My price point is about $2-$4 per pair of underwear.

Socks: Same thing, but I get just the fall/ spring socks, not the heavy socks that you would wear in the Winter.

Jeans: Can you see the pattern? I stock up on the essentials, The things that never go on sale.

Clearance items are a huge way of saving, I am always looking for the next size up for kiddo's, the next season's pants, and jeans. I will also look at clearance racks for shoes, especially for kids, like gym shoes, or dress shoes.


Happy Saving! or in this case Happy Shopping!

Thank you Des Moines Register, and a big shout out to Mackenzie, she did an amazing job with the article!



Colored Rice: How to make my 3 year old's favorite sensory table activity



My kids love playing in the sensory table! I often have to think outside the box for new ideas on what to put in my sensory table. Some things just make sense, rice, beans, corn...

AWESOME things happen when we give kids open-ended material to play with! My kids play with the colored rice a ton more than if I were to just give them plain rice. Thier imaginations run wild, sometimes the rice is a habitat, other times it's a birthday cake or a secret ingredient to solving a crime, it's so fun to see what they come up with!

Here is how you make Colored Rice (1 cup) I like to do this 4 times with 4 different colors of Rice
In a quart size bag:
Take 1 Cup of Rice (4 parts)
1/4 Cup of rubbing alcohol, or vinegar (1 part)
add food coloring, or if you have it liquid watercolor (my favorite way to die rice)
The knead the color around in the closed bag, once all the rice is colored lay out the colored rice on a pan.  Let the rice dry for about 6-12 hours, I did mine in the morning and by the afternoon it was dry and ready to go.

I did have each color of rice in a bag for each color for longer than I thought, then I let them play with all the colors together and that was entertaining a bit more, now we just have Rainbow rice and it's so fun to play with!

This is such a great book That has great ideas, to do with young kids



Here is how you make Colored Rice (1 cup) I like to do this 4 times with 4 different colors of Rice
In a quart size bag:
Take 1 Cup of Rice (4 parts)
1/4 Cup of rubbing alcohol, or vinegar (1 part)
add food coloring, or if you have it liquid watercolor (my favorite way to die rice)
The knead the color around in the closed bag, once all the rice is colored lay out the colored rice on a pan.  Let the rice dry for about 6-12 hours, I did mine in the morning and by the afternoon it was dry and ready to go.

I did have each color of rice in a bag for each color for longer than I thought, then I let them play with all the colors together and that was entertaining a bit more, now we just have Rainbow rice and it's so fun to play with!


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...