Ticket To Ride

Have y'all ever heard of the board game Ticket To Ride? It looks like it would be incredibly confusing, with 240 little plastic train cars, 110 paper train car cards, 30 destination cards and 5 scoring chips, but it's super quick and easy to learn. I promise! My 7 and 9 year old both love this game, and it's a fun way to hangout together and enjoy a family game night. Ticket To Ride is for 2-5 players, as there are only 5 different colored train cars. We play with 4 people most of the time, but my husband and son like to play together after school too.

In Ticket To Ride, you have gone back in time to October 1900 in the train-era. The goal is to conquer as many railway routes as you can, connecting them to create the specific route spelled out on your destination cards (say New York to Portland or Miami to Chicago).

You start the game with plastic train cars, several destination cards (which will show the paths you will try to connect your train cars through), and  several train car cards (which show the colored paths you can place your little train car on). On your turn you can either lay down the train car cards to conquer a route, select 2 new train car cards or select from up to 3 new destination cards. There are rules to each of these, but you must do one of these on each turn. The key is,you must have the specific number of train car cards to complete a specific line (say Boston to New York, or LA to San Fran), so you want to try and gather all the train car cards you can get in your possession so you can take control of the specific routes on your destination cards.

Clear as mud? Ticket To Ride is honestly very easy to begin playing, and it is not a fast-paced, trick each other type of game. We worked together the first few times to help the kids understand their best options to build their railways. Turns out, our youngest seems to win each time we play, and does much better figuring out his own paths!

We have the original Ticket To Ride, which is the United States version, But there's also Ticket To Ride Europe, Ticket To Ride UK, Ticket To Ride India, Ticket To Ride Asia, Ticket To Ride Nordic Countries and several others.

Ooey Gooey Monkey Bread

Monkey Bread is a favorite in our house. It's delicious straight from the oven, when you can pull apart the ooey gooey cinnamon sugary goodness and pop it right into your mouth. Yum-O! You all will love this recipe!

Ingredients:

• 4 cans refrigerated biscuits
• 1 cup packed brown sugar 
• 1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup white sugar 
• 2 Tablespoons cinnamon 
• 1/2 cup raisins (these are optional, it's great with or without them)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9-10 inch tube pan.
2. Mix white sugar and cinnamon in a bowl or medium sized plastic bag.
3. Cut the biscuits into halves or quarters.
4. Place 8-10 biscuit pieces in the cinnamon-sugar mix and shake well.
5. Arrange coated pieces in the bottom of the greased pan. Continue coating and layering until all the biscuit pieces are in the pan. If you are using raisins, I usually layer them with the biscuit pieces.
6. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute, then pour over the layered biscuits.
7. Toss in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, until dough is fully cooked and the crust has caramelized. 
8. Let the monkey bread cool in the pan for a few minutes, then turn out onto a plate. 
9. Pull apart and enjoy!

Ski free in Pennsylvania with 4th grade ski passes

Updated 09/14/2019 - Did you know there are several ways your kids can ski for free in PA? If they are in 4th grade, they've can ski all season for free at Spring Mountain (in Spring Mount, PA) and they can also take advantage of 3 free lift tickets at each of 20 different ski resorts. This is a HUGE DEAL! If your child is in 5th grade they do not quality for the Spring Mountain free season pass, but they do qualify for the 3 free lift tickets at each of the 20 participating ski resorts.

1. The Pennsylvania Ski Areas Association offers a Snowpass Program to 4th AND 5th graders. The following resorts are participating for the 2019-2020 season (subject to change): Bear Creek Mountain Resort, Big Boulder, Blue Knob Resort, Blue Mountain Resort, Camelback Resort, Elk Mountain, Hidden Valley Resort, Jack Frost Mountain, Laurel Mountain, Liberty Mountain Resort, Montage Mountain, Mount Pleasant, Mystic Mountain, Roundtop Mountain Resort, Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Shawnee Mountain, Ski Big Bear, Ski Sawmill Family Resort, Spring Mountain, Tussey Mountain and Whitetail Resort. Each resort has specific rules, check those out here. This also includes one free "Learn to ski/board" package (includes beginner lift, lesson & rental equipment).
1. Submit your application online, including a copy of your child's report card showing they are in 4th or 5th grade (last year's report card is valid to show they completed 3rd grade if going into 4th this year). Include a color photo of child.
2. You can also print and mail in your application. The form can be found here.


2. Spring Mountain offers a free season pass to local 4th graders. They are participating in the PA Ski Free Program above, but also allowing 4th graders to ski all season for free at their resort once you've signed up for the PA SKI pass above.

Remember, rentals are not included in either of the above deals (except for the "learn to ski package" at the participating PA ski resorts). And the cost of rentals add up, as well as uses up time while you stand in line to pick up skis from a resort (trust me, we've wasted 1.5 hours standing in the rental line... never again!). For kids under 12, they are $28 for a day at Spring Mountain and $35 for a day at Blue Mountain (our favorite). If you are signing your children up for one of these ski pass programs, I strongly encourage you to consider purchasing a season-long rental.

But skiing together as a family has been so fun! We've logged many hours together out there, although now the boys in our family snowboard, while the girls ski.