Exploring Martin Canyon Creek

Another Nature Explorations hike where we got a little bit of everything.

Time with friends.

Climbing.

Exploring the creek (thanks to rain that week, there was a little water.)

Learning about a few of the native trees.

Nature journaling--acorns and buckeyes.

Collecting bits of interesting nature.

 

Hiking with friends, which makes the miles go by so much faster.

Story-telling and make-believe play on the trail.

And even a (very dirty) banana slug! (This girl has eagle eyes--she's the best at spotting interesting things, no matter how small or hidden.)

The joy of reaching the top of the mountain. Only one other family stuck with us for this long, but we enjoyed the rewards of making it to the top.

Gorgeous green hills. I'm so glad this happened early this year. It felt like the hills never quite got green last year.

Lunch stop at the top. This ended up being a 5 hour nature day for the few of us who stuck around for the whole thing. I've left these meetings pretty open-ended so it can work for everyone, no matter their schedule or endurance. So we do the lesson part first, with some exploring, and then the hike can be however long people want. Some turn back early because they have to get to other activities, but the last 2 meetings, we've had once family who was willing to extend and make it a real hike, and so we've done some extra long days, and it's perfect for a Friday.

And finally, all my fungi pictures. The rain has made the mushrooms explode and I'm loving it.

Adventures with Animals and Acting

Day 2--a trip to the Lindsay Wildlife Experience where we watched a bird show,

touched a turtle,

(why are turtles so cute? You'd thing the wrinkly, strange faces might be scary, but they aren't at all.)

played beekeeper,

and met the many birds that live at the center. They've got all types of California local birds that have been taken in after being injured in the wild. Some are able to be rehabilitated and returned to their homes, but many of these are the ones that wouldn't survive if put back out in the wild, so they become the ambassadors for the program.

When we got home, these kids were anxious to perform for us. They love to come up with a play when they get together.

This year's was a comedy.

Here comes the rude surfer--always good for a laugh.

Excuse the blurry picture--evening indoor lighting and my phone don't mix. But you can still see the smiles--they were happy to take a bow after a great performance.

We ended the evening with s'mores in the backyard. We've been loving the firepit this last year. We don't use it really often, but it's so nice to be able to do a campfire at home once in awhile.

Love that these kids have so much fun together!

Frog Dissection

It's nice when you can provide your homeschooler with some of the traditional middle school experiences--like dissecting a frog. I didn't really want to do it at home, even though you can order the whole kit pretty inexpensively. But when I saw a 2 week class at the Lindsay Wildlife Experience, I signed Bug right up. He enjoyed it, and as I would expect knowing him, was extremely careful and precise. His lab partner's mother stuck around for the class and she was really impressed.

Venturing Out into the World

Jan. 2, and we decided it was time to leave the house, haha. This has been the most hygge, stay-at-home vacation we have ever done. We did go to a baptism last Saturday, and volunteered at a community breakfast Sunday morning before church, went to our own church, and then to a game night at a friend's house, but other than those short excursions, the kids haven't left the house this break. And I had a couple days that I didn't leave at all, either. It has been truly delightful.

But today's outing to the Lindsay Wildlife Experience was also delightful. We hadn't been here before, despite having had a pass for the last 6 months (which we used to go to a couple other museums, so not a waste), and I'm glad we finally made it. This is a large rehabilitation center for wild animals that are found injured or sick in the Bay Area. They have quite a few birds that were hurt too badly to ever be released, as well as some rodents and they do a lot of short shows and animal encounters. 

We were impressed with what we got to see and touch during the couple hours we were there.

As well as wanting to go back for the rest of the demonstrations that they do at other parts of the day, there are a couple classes that I'm interested in signing one or more of the kids up for. Dissection class that I don't have to find the dead animals and tools for? Sounds like a win!

On a separate note, I am really loving blogging right now! I have no idea if I'll be able to keep this up once we're back to the school schedule, but I love documenting little bits of our family and I love having somewhere to dump a few of the pictures I take each day (and the reminder to take pictures because I have it in the back of my mind that I'm going to want to have a picture to go along with the blog post that evening.) Maybe I should have a resolution to keep this going.