RAIN OR SHINE Spring has sprung and along with it some budding eco-friendly fashions and accessories. Take a look at Get Dressed for ideas on freshening up your kid's look and skip to Fun&Games for some positively unique gifts and ideas for around the home. This Spring Break leave the kids at grandma's house (or with a nanny) and treat yourself to some "me" time at Miraval Resort & Spa, an experience that promises to create awareness and heighten the senses so that you can appreciate the moment and bring life into balance. In Food we feature food writer Janice Cole's memoir about the trials and triumphs of raising chickens at home. Plus her delish recipe for Scrambled Eggs over Buttermilk-Chive Biscuits. Need a new set of wheels? Check out our review of the 2011 Honda Odyssey. Last but not least, the American Academy of Pediatrics recently updated their car seat recommendations and now advises that kids remain in a booster seat until they turn 12. That's a long time so better pick up a belt-positioning booster seat that's stylish and comfortable. Check out our three picks in Good, Better, Best. LIKE US, FOLLOW US & WIN Don't forget to sign up for our email newsletter, delivered directly to your Inbox. And to win great prizes every month, Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter. Tweet

Past Issues: Go Organic Jingle Bells Wicked Fun Back to School Mid-Summer Night's Dream Father's Day Mother's Day Spring New Year Trick or Treat Water Summer Travel Food Sleep Sex&Love Winter '08 Holidays '08

BALANCING ACT
Miraval

In a quiet valley surrounded by the Santa Catalina Mountains, there's a 25-foot pole with a disk at the very top. I'm climbing up at a snail's pace to the encouraging sounds—You can do it! One more step—of 14 people whom I just met, including the belay team holding the safety rope. As I put my left foot on the disk, a gust of wind hits me squarely in the face and sends a shiver down my neck. All of a sudden I am shaking like a leaf, covered in goose bumps and terrified. I try to recall the instructor’s words—It’s as easy as climbing up on a chair—but that seemed well and good when I was down there, standing on firm ground. Did I mention I’m afraid of heights?

It’s been less than 24 hours since I arrived at Miraval, a luxury health resort tucked away in the Sonoran Desert outside Tucson, Arizona, where the modus operandi is balance and the goal is living in the present. The elegant casitas spread over 400 acres of manicured lawns with flowering succulents, prairies of wild flowers and gushing rivulets aren’t enough to keep guests lounging about once they consider what’s on the activities menu. Prior to my arrival, I had a number of phone conversations with the resort’s fitness manager, nutritionist and spa director to come up with a customized program of seminars, activities and physical challenges that, according to their splashy website, would allow me to connect with life, meaning and purpose. Somewhere in their colorful brochure I read that the Miraval experience creates awareness and heightens the senses so that you can appreciate the moment and bring life into balance. Sounds good to me. With a plethora of activities to choose from including meditation, rock climbing, hiking, nutrition and photography classes, guests are free to design daily agendas to suit their moods and goals. Without a moment’s hesitation I signed up for a five-day retreat.

A veteran spa visitor, I was looking for more than yoga and mud wraps. Though certainly Miraval offers plenty of spa services and meditation classes, what intrigued me about the resort was its Life in Balance programs, which are designed for guests with a specific goal or focus. Whole Person Healing, for example, helps individuals who are recovering from an illness, surgery or injury readjust to a balanced life by taking into account not just physical healing but also emotional, psychological and spiritual recovery. Other programs include Smoking Liberation, Stress Management and Love, Sex and Energy and each combines exercise and healthful eating with an emphasis on the mind-body connection.

My goal during my stay is not only to put to the challenge some perceived physical and mental tolerances but also to figure out how to prepare for an upcoming biking trip in Ireland. With that in mind I sign up for the Focused Athletic Training, a program that aids guests take a sport to the next level. Over the course of my stay, I meet with fitness manager Mary Horn to come up with a systematic training plan and learn about sports nutrition and hydration. Herself a triathlon and Ironman athlete, Mary has helped seasoned and beginner athletes reach their full potential, whether they’re training for their first 5K race or their tenth marathon. Mary says she loves hearing about guests who thought they’d train for one event and end up making a lifelong commitment to staying active. “Sometimes I go out to watch a 5K race and I see a woman in her sixties or seventies crossing the finish line. It’s the most beautiful thing,” Mary says. “I cry every time.”

After determining my fitness level, we discuss my goals and timeline and then she designs a program that includes endurance and speed workouts. “Being fit and healthy is not just about losing weight,” she says. “It’s also about having fun.”

Which brings me to Quantum Leap, a challenge course for adventure seekers like myself looking to explore the limits of their comfort zone. Having taken an earlier seminar on “mindfulness”—the practice of approaching life with self-awareness and self-acceptance to promote physical and mental health”—I realize that my biggest obstacle goes beyond the 25-foot pole and my fear of heights. With the little voice at the back of my head whispering things like “Oh, I hope I can climb better than him” or “I bet I look fat in these shorts,” I grasp that my mind is rarely in the same moment or “place” as my body. Instead of just being, I often worry about the future, dwell on the past or think about the moment in an abstract way. “With intention,” the mindfulness coach explained, “we can train ourselves to be more fully engaged in the now.” So I force myself to quiet the chatter in my head, I take a deep breath and become still; suddenly the astounding mountains in front of me come into focus. I acknowledge the strength it took me to climb up, smile and leap. For the next few days, whether I am doing yoga, getting a hot stone massage or lying by the pool, I focus on experiencing the moment-to-moment with receptiveness and openness.

I attend a guided meal with a nutritionist, where we’re asked to really taste our food, the textures, the flavors and the aromas to determine if we truly like what we selected from the buffet. This is Mindful Eating, a class offered by the nutrition department, which approaches healthful eating and weight management by stressing a nurturing way to connect with ourselves. The emphasis is on becoming our own best experts about what our bodies really need and want. Most hands go up when the nutritionist asks how many of us eat lunch at our desks or dinners in front of the TV. “Sometimes we just shovel food in our mouths without really paying attention,” she says. After spending 10 minutes eating in silence we talk about our discoveries. “With no distractions I just realized that I really don’t like scrambled eggs,” one man says. Another person was able to notice the point at which she became full—and she stopped eating. By setting the fork down between each bite, I was able to pace myself and appreciate the meal. “Eating is something we sometimes do because we have to, but what if we took the time to really enjoy it?” the nutritionist asks.

On my last day at Miraval I sign up for a rock climbing class. Like other challenge activities at the resort, this one integrates elements of trust (on yourself and your safety team), balance and breathing and allows you to discover how mindfulness can change your life. I fall in love with it immediately and find both the physical challenge as well as the creativity involved exhilarating. If only for a moment, I am so focused on climbing that I feel calm and fully present. There’s no chatter, no analysis and no judgment. I am here now.

GO THERE
Miraval is located 45 minutes north of Tucson and provides transportation to and from the airport. Guests enjoy unlimited access to all scheduled programs and activities, three gourmet meals a day and one spa service, private consultation or round of golf up to a $110 value per room, per night of stay.
Don’t Miss: The Equine Experience for a journey in self-discovery. Uncover patterns of learned behavior that hamper or improve the flow of relationships while you work with specially selected horses.
What to Pack: Sunglasses, hat, 30 SPF sunscreen, sweater for cool desert evenings, hiking shoes, camera, bathing suit.
Contact Info: 5000 E. Via Estancia Miraval, Catalina, AZ, 800-825-4000. www.miravalresort.com

{ booster seat }

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently updated their car seat recommendations, advising parents to leave their kids in a rear-facing car seat until the age of two, not one. And they also recommend that kids remain in a booster seat until they are at least 4'9" and between 8 and 12 years old. For those that fall into that second age group, we've rounded up our three favorite choices. Buying your first booster seat? A belt-positioning booster seat raises the child so that the vehicle’s lap and shoulder belts fit correctly on your child’s hips and shoulder. Keep in mind that these booster seats must be used with a vehicle lap and shoulder belt system, not a lap-belt only system.

{ Odyssey }

2011 HONDA ODYSSEY

The 2011 Honda Odyssey is about as similar to its predecessor as your kid is to a distant second cousin. And that's a good thing. If you're familiar with Odysseys of previous years, the first thing you'll notice about this minivan is that, well, it doesn't really look like a minivan--from the outside anyway. And really, who are we kidding.... minivans are just not cool. Until now.

A decade or so ago some marketing person (no doubt a man) came up with a term to describe the mothers out there who attended their kid's piano recitals, who made cookies (from scratch, of course) for the school bake sale and who drove their kids to little league. Soccer moms, they were called. Today's moms, like me and probably like you, drive the kids to school, ballet and, yes, to their soccer games. But that doesn't mean we want to get behind the wheel of a cliche. And that's where the 2011 Odyssey comes in.

Like in previous models, this one features seating for up to eith passengers, sliding rear doors and V6 power. But it is also outfitted with a sleeker grille, a stylized rear beltline, more pronounced front fenders on the outside and a less cluttered dash plus higher-quality materials on the inside.

For one blissful week, I got to drive the Touring model, which comes with 17-inch alloy wheels, power-sliding doors, tri-zone automatic climate control, heated outside mirrors, a removable center console (big enough for your maxi purse), a multi-function second-row seat, retractable second-row sunshades ("mom, the sun doesn't go in my eyes anymore," my daugher cheered one particularly sunny afternoon), and an awesome audio system with 2GB of digital music storage plus seven speakers and steering-wheel-mounted controls. I loved the" cool box" (EX-L models and above) that kept my iced latte and the kids snacks chilled while I ran my errands. And the "conversation mirror" was also a great feature. It is basically a sunglass case that can open half-way to reveal a fishlens-like mirror to help you see everyone and everything going on in the back. So no more second guessing when the kids shout out "I didn't do it!"

There's also more legroom for second- and third-row passengers thanks to a size increase; this not-so-mini minivan is about an inch longer and two inches wider than the 2010 model. The best thing about the new width is that the second-row seat has a configuration mode wide enough to fit three car seats side by side. Car pool, anyone?

Tthe reconfigured seat's center section is awesome: it slides forward 5.5 inches so I could easily reach behind to put a blanket on my sleeping baby. Meanwhile, the third-row seat not only has an extra inch of legroom but also features a 60/40-split bench that drops neatly into the deep well thanks to a simple folding mechanism. Did I mention the "multiview" back-up camera? It gives you three different perspectives on the area behind the rear bumber.

Talk about a peaceful cabin. Once the kids lull to sleep, neither road nor wind noise will wake them thanks to an active noise-cancelling technology that emits counter-phase sound through the speakers. The drone that passengers often complain about is practically non-existent inside the Odyssey.

And last but not least is the VCM engine, which is programmed to run on three, four or six cylinders, based on the power requirement. The technology seamlessly activates or deactivates two or three cylinders so you get the best of both worlds: V-6 power when accelerating or climbing, and the efficiency of a smaller engine while cruising. EPA estimates for the five-speed automatic-equipped versions are 18 mpg city/27 mpg highway and 21 mpg combined, while those fitted with the six-speed transmission post 19/28/22.

The 2011 Honda Odyssey is the minivan for the modern--dare we say it?--cool parent.