Last week, Utah lost one of its most famous (and photographed) arches in Arches National Park to time and gravity. Visitors to National Parks are down, due to what is believe to be increasing competition from theme parks, high gas prices, and a sedentary lifestyle.

Theme parks may make it easier to entertain kids with low-attention spans from electronic gaming, but they can never match the feeling of awe one gets when viewing the vastness of the Grand Canyon, taking a tour of Mammoth Cave, or discovering a waterfall after hiking in the mountains.

It's easy to take natural wonders for granted. But as Wall Arch reminds us, these marvels may not be around forever. Instead of going to Disney again, why not spend some family time exploring some of Mother Nature's parks?

Most National Parks offer free activities and information packets geared toward children and have friendly rangers on staff trained to answer any questions about the natural world kid campers might have.

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If you want to avoid the constant queries of "Are we there yet?", try mixing rest with your ride.

A lot of people are choosing to skip the traditional summer vacation -- thanks to the cost of gasoline being nearly five dollars a gallon -- and instead are staying close to home -- a staycation. One Texas Minnesota county is suggesting a way to spice up your staycation -- turn it into a "fair-cation". The 124th annual Mower County Fair will be happening in early August at the fairgrounds in Austin, Texas Minnesota.

Before we had kids, my wife and I went to a lot of local fairs around the Northwestern US and hit the California state fair on a regular basis. There is always a lot to do and see at state and county fairs, including plenty of interesting exhibits and great music. I love hearing new musical groups that I might not have heard anywhere else. The Breeders' World website maintains a list of fairs around the country and it looks like almost every state is represented. A quick search on the internet, however, will likely turn up fairs in your area, even if you don't see any listed at Breeders' World.

So pack up the kids and head on over to the fair this summer for a good time close to home. And if you hear any great new bands, be sure to let me know!

Update: Thanks to reader Julie for pointing out that this particular Austin is in Minnesota, not Texas!

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In some small way, I wish we'd never started with the whole Santa Claus things. My kids are so deeply invested in it that I'm afraid finding out the truth is going to break their little hearts. My hope is that they'll learn gradually, like I did, and not all at once. Christmas is still magical to me, and I know that all those years experiencing the mystery and magic of Christmas is part of that feeling.

Cole Gamble, over at StrollerDerby, disagrees with me. He calls Santa Claus, along with the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, one of the 14 lies we should stop telling our children. Others include:

• Just tell me the truth and you won't get in trouble.
• Do this or you won't get [something big you possibly can't take away anyway].
• Big kids eat their vegetables; aren't you a big kid?
• You'll make more friends if you play nice.
• Mommy and Daddy are "taking a nap."

Cole says it's also statistically impossible that your child is the prettiest/most handsome in the world, because in fact, his children already hold that title. Since we've been talking a lot about lying this week, I think Cole's timing with this hilarious list couldn't have been better.

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Three-year-old Caitlin Powell was diagnosed with Sanfilippo Syndrome, a rare disease that will, according to her doctors, bring her life to a close before she's a teenager. Now, most parents, upon hearing such news, would continue with their lives while trying to make their child as comfortable and as happy as possible.

Not so Ben and Emma Powell. They weren't content with the idea of taking their daughter to the local park after work and on weekends; instead, they wanted to fill her remaining years with more joy and excitement than most people experience in a normal lifespan. So they started making sacrifices. The quit or cut back on their careers so as to have more time with Caitlin and then sold their house to have the funds to do so.

10 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up

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First up on their itinerary is Disney World in Florida and, while they're there, swimming with dolphins. Then they'll hit a couple of theme parks back home in England along with the Scottish Highlands. Next year, they'll hit the African continent for a safari. "She won't be with us for very long so myself and Ben have made a conscious decision to make every day special for her from now on," says Emma Powell. "Caitlin's happiness is our motivation."

One of my few regrets is that I didn't take out a second mortgage in order to take my dad on a trip to his native Germany before he died. It sounds like the Powells won't have the same regrets. Kudos to them for putting their daughter first.

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Because we don't like to deal with the traffic and because our town has an enormous fireworks display, we usually stick around town during the Fourth. We noticed, though, that a lot of other people stayed home last weekend, too. Our normal haunts, which typically would have been somewhat busy, were overwhelmingly crowded. In a state notorious for its northbound traffic on summer weekends, it seems like a lot of people decided to stay put instead.

On Friday, I canceled an upcoming camping trip due to a conflicting obligation. The woman on the other end of the phone sighed. "Can you please tell me," she asked, "Is it because of the gas prices? Because you're the fourth cancellation this morning and we're starting to keep track."

Though it's painful every time I have to fill up our gas tank, I can't really say that the gas prices have slowed us down that much this summer. But after this weekend, I'm starting to wonder if people are staying home to save money. We've talked about staycations before at ParentDish, and we're talked about them again this week. So I'm curious what other families have to say. Are gas prices keeping you home this summer?

Little Levi Alves McConaughey just made his mommy and daddy a wee bit richer. The newborn son of actor Matthew McConaughey and Brazilian supermodel Camila Alves earned $3 million for his first photos, which the proud parents have sold to OK! Magazine.

Whether or not you agree if it's appropriate for the parents to be pimping out selling the photos of their young son to the press for some cold hard cash, there is one thing upon which I think we can all agree: that baby is cute. No doubt, given the serious hotness of both his parents, this will be the first of many times he graces the pages of a magazine.

Apparently the real winners in this deal are the folks at OK!, who allegedly also get first shot and the family's first Christmas and the wedding should McConohottie and his girlfriend decide to tie the knot. I find that very, very odd. I mean, I sent pictures of a holiday photo of my new family at Snapfish and sent those around to friends and relatives, but having OK! parade them around to millions seems a little out there to me. What do you think?

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State employees in Utah are about to get an extra day off -- sort of. The state government is switching to a four-by-ten work week, beginning in August. Instead of working eight hours a day, Monday through Friday, about 17,000 workers will put in ten hours a day, Monday through Thursday. This will save on heating and electrical bills for buildings that will be mostly unused on Fridays, as well as saving money on gas for state vehicles.

While they will have to work longer days, there are a lot of benefits for the employees. First, and most obvious, every weekend becomes a three-day weekend. Second, there is the savings on commute costs -- gas isn't cheap these days, in case you hadn't noticed. And, of course, there is the convenience of not having to work on a day when other businesses are still open -- I imagine that pediatricians will be pretty booked up on Fridays over the next year. I suspect, too, that schools will be getting a lot more classroom volunteers on Fridays -- always a good thing.

I applaud the state of Utah for working to save energy (and to save money) and hope it works out for them. Having worked both a four-by-eight and four-by-ten work week in the past, I have to say I really liked the freedom that an extra day off -- especially one during the week -- gave me.

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The pledge of allegiance, with its references to "Richard Stans" and our "invisible" nation, is mis-quoted every morning by public school children across the nation. There are those, however, who are unhappy about this, most famously because of the two-word phrase added in the 1950's in order to ward off the communist threat.

The pledge was written in 1892 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the new world by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister and Christian Socialist. The original version was "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." In the 1920's, "my Flag" was changed, against Bellamy's wishes, to "the Flag of the United States of America."

The phrase "under God" was added in 1954 due to pressure from the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal service organization. According to Bellamy's granddaughter, the original author would not have approved of this change either. There is a lot of opposition to the recitation of the pledge, as it stands, by schoolchildren, most notably by Michael Newdow, an attorney and physician who, in 2000, filed a lawsuit in order to make sure his daughter could "go to public school free from daily theistic indoctrination."

A lot of people, however, don't get what all the hoopla is about -- why not just let it be, especially since the Supreme Court has ruled that students are not required to recite it? There are a number of reasons, actually, so in the interest of fostering understanding on this, the anniversary of our nation's birth, here are some of them:

Beyond hot dogs and fireworks, have you taught your child the meaning behind Independence Day? I'll admit that I haven't even started. We have our Fourth of July traditions, but even my older daughter has only the vaguest grasp on what the holiday is all about.

One of our traditions is meeting our in-laws in a town in between ours and theirs for a road race early in the day. My husband's brother is a runner, and he does a 10K there every year. This year, he and my husband took our girls in the 2K fun run as well. As we stood watching the runners go by, a group of racers carrying flags and wearing t-shirts emblazoned with "support our troops" went by. The crowd went wild as they passed, and my older daughter asked me, "Why are they clapping for them?" Not the most perfect place for a civic lesson, but I did my best.

CNN asked their readers to share their own thoughts on patriotism today, and the responses are interesting. I'd like to go one step further and ask ParentDish readers: How do you teach your own children about patriotism and what traditions do you have that help teach your kids more about this holiday?

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With some cities canceling their fireworks celebrations due to budget problems, watching a good old patriotic film might just be the alternative you're looking for. But what to watch? There are so many to choose from? Well, here's a list of a few of my favorite American films. These are mostly family-friendly, although some might be a bit over the heads of younger children.

• Mister Smith Goes to Washington -- Jimmy Stewart is wonderful (as always) as a naive and idealistic senator who finds himself surrounded by greed and corruption in Washington. Stewart, however, sticks to his guns and tries to do the right thing and, in the end, prevails. In America, every man counts and one man can indeed make a difference.
• Dave -- When a corrupt president falls ill, his good-hearted doppelganger is tapped to fill in so the American public don't find out. Instead of being a patsy, he comes to take over and turn the presidency around. It's a fun little film that shows what the presidency should be about -- helping people.
• Young Mister Lincoln -- A classic, fictionalized look at one of our greatest president's early days, this film is fun and uplifting. If only all our presidents could be this upstanding, we'd be a lot better off. Henry Fonda is wonderful as the man he felt was almost too great for him to play.
• The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming -- I first saw this when I was younger and was impressed at how the Americans, after first going into a tizzy when a Russian submarine runs aground on their island, come to understand that regardless of where you come from, we're all just people.
• My Fellow Americans -- Two ex-presidents, running for their lives, get to meet the real people who were affected by their presidencies. It's a reminder that our politicians are there for us, not the other way around. Of course, this is wrapped up in an adventure with danger, corruption, and, of course, a ton of laughs.
• 1776 -- Imagine how much more our founding fathers could have accomplished if only they had broken out into song now and then. Actually, after watching this powerful portrayal of the days leading up to the signing of the declaration of independence, I'm convinced they did. Every time I watch it, I get choked up thinking about what these men went through and what they sacrificed to make this great nation possible. If you only watch one patriotic movie in your life, make it this one.

So there you go, half a dozen films that will make you think about what it means to be an American and what a great country this is. It may not be perfect, but it's pretty darn good and we've got the means built into the system to make it better.

Happy 4th of July! Welcome to the one holiday nearly as fun for kids as Christmas, only with fewer financial obligations for parents but with the painful twist of the grand finale (fireworks!) at the very end of the day instead of first thing in the morning.

If you aren't the lucky owner of a cottage or waterfront property (or related to someone who is) it can be really tempting to let the kids plop in front of the television while you work on marinading the steak and prepping the potato salad for a cookout.

However, with just a few craft materials you probably already have lying around and some easy instructions, you can quickly throw together a last minute 4th of July Kid Parade that will be the talk of........well, everyone who was actually around on the 4th! (And if you keep the neighbor kids occupied for a few hours, their parents might even invite yours over to burn some daylight out of gratitude!)

Looking for an, er, interesting way to celebrate the 4th of July holiday this year? How about with food! Sure food will play a crucial role in your celebration--it generally does--but why not toss things up a bit this time around, and even make it fun for the kids?

We're considering doing a menu of all red, white and blue foods. Yes, blue foods. Now we all know there are no naturally occurring blue foods--unless you count blueberries amongst your tally--but it's a fun treasure hunt to think of and then collect foods that are blue (if not naturally so) along with their easier to uncover red and white versions, all in the name of patriotism.

Red foods include strawberries, tomatoes--if you're feeling adventurous, and I'm decidedly not this holiday weekend--as well as cherries and various other kinds of fruit. One could twist on that and include red meat in the menu along with ketchup. White foods, while not that healthy, are in abundance. You have white bread, potatoes (and therefore potato salad?) as well as eggs (sans the yolk), milk, yogurt and various kinds of cheese. You could also go the white meat route with this one. And the blue foods? Well, other than the blueberry and some types of edible flowers, the only blue foods I can think of are Popsicles and Icees. You could dye pasta blue, as I did once, for blue pasta salad, but I don't think anyone would eat it. There are also blue potatoes and blue Terra Chips as well as blue corn tortilla chips. Dessert could always be blue--no one seems to fear blue icing.

Can you think of any 'blue' foods to include at a picnic or celebration this Fourth of July?

Pic of blue eggs by the_moog.

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"You look like a flag," my husband Tom tells me and I smile, because I know what he means. We go through this every summer in the days leading up to the 4th of July. It's a bit ridiculous, I know: cheesy and sentimental and a little over-the-top. But I can't help it.

I dress myself in red, white and blue.

It's my summer compulsion--just as surely as the days become progressively warmer, the color red pushes its way toward the front of my closet. Combine it with the already-busy whites plus the blue of my trusty jeans, and you've got the makings of an American flag.

Tiny white stars on a red background begin to appeal to me this time of year; alternating stripes of blue on a white background (or is it white on a blue background?) look lovely. And for this brief time at the beginning of July, I see red, white and blue everywhere: red flip-flops, red bandannas, ripe, red strawberries in the grocery store. Blue skies, blue jeans, plump blueberries the size of marbles. White puffy clouds, white petunias, white whipped cream. You know where this is heading, right? A resplendent vanilla flag-cake in the fridge, which is a whole new level of flaginess--not only am I wearing it, but I'm eating it, too.

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It's officially summer. To me that means long evenings, watermelon and picnics. Preferably watermelon served all day at the picnic and into the long evening. While I never grow tired of picnic food--burgers, potato salad and pasta salad come to mind--by the end of the summer many people do. The Minimalist over at the New York Times has compiled a list of 101 ideas to ratchet your picnic dining experience up a notch. I was interested enough in trying something new to give the menu a glance, but my critical eye looked for easy, simple recipes and ingredients I'd be able to both pronounce and unearth at a local supermarket while still tending to my number one job, being a mom.

Some of the recipes are familiar or simple enough. Make egg salad and add curry powder to make curried egg salad. That sounds yummy. If I had kids old enough to eat egg salad they might freak out though. The cornflake chicken bites seem more the kid-speed. If you're going to take the time to make fried chicken you might as well throw cornflakes on it and make it bite-sized for your little ones. I would definitely give that one a try. Other recommendations include some that can be store-bought, which is simpler and easier if not cheaper. My aunt never arrives to any event without a deli-bought relish tray. Does it really make a difference if she or someone else is cutting up the vegetables? I don't think so--they crunch just the same.

The 101 ideas provide something for everyone and some recipes are easy enough to make, to modify or to buy at the store. That makes for a good picnic. The kids might be confused by the non-picnic basics though. Worst case scenario? Make some of these for the adults and stick with the hotdogs and burgers for the kids. But perhaps try to get them to try some egg salad with curry in it, just for fun. Jsut don't forget the watermelon.

What about you? Any great ideas for a little something different at the picnic that even the kids will enjoy?

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