Tilden Park Field Trip

We had our first charter school field trip the other day. That's one of the things I've been looking forward to after joining this charter--occasional field trips that I didn't have to plan. I also thought we might meet some other homeschooling families, but that didn't happen this time around. Our field trip was to the botanical garden in Tilden Park (Berkeley) and they had enough docents that we were mostly divided into individual families. 

So, the four of us got a private tour of the gardens. They are organized by the different ecological environments found in CA, so we got a mini tour of the state. We learned a few new things, and the kids impressed the docent with how much stuff they did know, and how many of these environments they have been to and could tell her about. We're doing our best to get familiar with all things California.

I love that there are people like this who volunteer their time to share their passions with others.

And I love that these three kids get lots of nature time in school.

(And that we have these awesome redwoods we can visit.)

After the official field trip ended, we had a picnic and went to visit the carousel.

This is the 3rd Hershell Spillman carousel we've been able to visit--the kids love them because of our time in Michigan when they were tiny. CA has a couple more we'll have to go visit.

Sharing Adventures

One of Bean's birthday gifts was a backpack, with the promise that we'd take her on an overnight hiking trip, just the three of us, spending time with our now teenage daughter. We figure we need to enjoy the time with her while she's still excited about weekend trips with her parents. It may not last forever, and there will be bumps along the way, I'm sure, but that's why now is the time to build the good memories.

And this one will go down in the books as a great memory for all of us. About 17 miles of hiking in two days, beautiful scenery all around us, and good times together.

We had to make some last minute changes to our plans because of forest fires in the area of Yosemite we'd wanted to hike, but we found a good alternative that may have been even better for a first backpacking trip. We parked on Tioga Rd, and hiked about 2 miles in to the Yosemite Creek Campground. It wasn't nearly as far as we'd thought we'd be hiking before we set up camp, but we made up for it after we ditched our packs.

The rest of the day was a 12.5 mile hike to the top of Yosemite Falls and back. Easier because we didn't have our big packs, but still a physically challenging day for all of us.

But the landscape was incredible. We hiked through shady, fern covered forests along the creek, 

climbed over granite boulders and cliffs (more than we should have because of a few detours we took off the path),

and walked through sandy fields. And we kept reminding this girl of ours that we can do hard things. She was loving it all, in spite of the blisters, and getting a little tired the last couple miles. This girl is strong and determined, and also a talker who really enjoyed having our undivided attention for miles and miles of walking. We heard more than a couple Studio C sketches recited as we walked, along with stories and lots of observations.

The view of the falls and valley from up above was incredible, and terrifying, all at once. I don't know what it is about being up high with my kids, but I just can't do it without feeling sick. I don't really have issues with heights on my own, but even the open upstairs hallway in our old house used to make me feel sick when I was carrying one of the kids. I'm just can't keep the image of them going over the edge out of my mind. So this wasn't totally fun for me, but we got to see it, and rest for a bit, and then started back so we could make it to camp before dark. 

Back at camp, we pretty much just wanted to eat and go to bed. All the talk of looking at stars and soaking our feet in the creek was forgotten. I didn't even care too much about dinner, but we did cook up the mac'n'cheese we'd brought, and even made a fire, which was no easy feat with all the damp wood from a rainstorm a couple days before. We didn't last long, though and were all in bed by 8:30. Of course, as soon as we laid down, we saw flickering just outside our tent--the fire, that was so difficult to get started, decided to be equally difficult to put out. The coals reignited twice before it finally went out for the night. And then, just as we were all drifting off, a couple of guys walked into our camp, talking pretty loudly. We're pretty sure they didn't know anyone was there and whether they were going to take firewood, or our actual belongings, we don't know, but when Daddy-o called out from the tent, it startled them and they left quickly. Finally, we got to go to sleep.

The victorious hikers! Second day was pretty easy. We all felt a lot better after a good nights sleep, and only had 2 miles to hike back to the car. 

I'm so glad that we made this happen. Having three kids can be loud, hectic, and complicated, but getting to spend time with them one at a time makes it easy to enjoy them. Our Bean is an awesome person--she's strong, funny, creative, passionate, determined, and a million other things that we sometimes lose sight of in the day-to-day rush of life. This weekend, we got to slow down, breathe deeply, soak up some nature, and just enjoy our firstborn child.

When Friends Stop By

We had the best surprise for the kids the week after we got home from Utah.

Nothing better than some of your best friends from NC showing up on your doorstep on what you think is going to be a typical school day.

The school day quickly diverted into their complex games involving new civilizations, warriors, adventures, and lots of noise. It was fabulous to hear after all these months, and I appreciated the fact that they were able to adapt the games to our smaller space. We may not have the yard or house that we had in NC, or the farm that they had before they also moved this last year, but these kids can make it happen, wherever they are.

We were able to tear them away long enough for dinner downtown at a taqueria (because everyone's first trip to CA needs to involve some good Mexican food) and a little time exploring and finding Livermore Rocks!

The best part was not having to say good-bye at the end of the night. The boys stayed with us for 2 nights and then we met up with their parents each day for more adventures.

Day 2 was adventures with the redwoods in Muir Woods.

I'm pretty sure the kids would have had fun running around wherever we went, but they did enjoy seeing the trees, too.

 What's not to love about this place?

 And of course there were some impromptu nature/science lessons.

Thanks to S, and her ability to engage absolutely anyone in real conversation (it's how we met, during our first week in Charlotte, at a museum), we talked with some scientists who studying the creek and salmon habitats and making plans to replace some of the fallen trees that have been removed from the creek over the years, but they now realize are necessary for the salmon to have somewhere to lay their eggs. My kids can't wait to go back and look for spawning salmon.

We ended the day with a few minutes on the beach, which was the perfect place for these kids to run and climb like the wild children they are.

 Day 3 brought more beach time.

We drove down to Monterey for the day,

 which was a first for our kids.

During college, I spent a quarter here, with BYU's only marine biology professor (kind of amazing they have even one, considering how far they are from the ocean), at Stanford's marine facility. It was one of my favorite college experiences and I fell in love with Monterey, but it had been almost 20 years since I'd been back to visit.

We explored tidepools, played on the rocks and sand, and searched for as many animals as we could find.

And then it was time for one final stop on the CA tour--Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo . (Mission #8 for the kids and I this year.)

I don't really think these kids cared about seeing anything at this point. Actually, they would have been content to just play together the whole trip, and that is pretty much what they did, wherever we went.

But the rest of us enjoyed looking around a bit.

And then it was time to say goodbye. Not the favorite part of the day, but we're so glad that we got to see these friends. It helps to know that no matter how far we go, we can pick back up right where we left off.