Opt Outside

No Black Friday shopping for us--we opted to get outside and spend the day hiking.

The weather was a bit iffy, and had been raining so much during the week before, so I found an easy "hike" along a creek in San Jose that was mostly paved so we wouldn't have mud issues. The creek was pretty, especially at the beginning of the hike. The last mile or two were more urban and there are a lot of homeless encampments in the area, so it didn't have the same feel of being out in nature.

But a lot of the trail offered plenty of natural settings. We passed several ponds and saw a lot of birds (which was helpful for Bug's conservation merit badge he was working on for Scouts.) I didn't have my good camera with me, so no good pictures, but we saw several different types of ducks, egrets, and more.

The weather was good--cool, but not freezing. And beautiful clouds--which eventually started led to rain. That part wasn't so great. We weren't really prepared for rain and it came down steadily for the last 30 minutes or so of our hike. We had a plan to grab lunch at the end of the trail, which was just a block or so from shopping and restaurants, and then head back, but it was later than we'd expected and with the rain, we decided to cut the hike short. We'd already gone 4 miles or so, and knew that another 4 wasn't going to happen.

So, after a late lunch of Chinese food and 7-11 hot chocolate, Daddy-o got a Lyft back to our car while the kids and I wandered around a nearby neighborhood looking at the Christmas decorations and he picked us up there. It was a fun afternoon adventure.

And, this trail, despite being flat and between ridges, is officially part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, so I got 4 more miles of trail done. I think makes about 20 miles on the trail--not quite the number I'd been hoping for when I set out to hike the ridges this year, but it turns out that it's more difficult than I'd hoped to fit in these hikes, which often involve a couple hours of driving, out and back trails, and lots of up and down (which means slow going, and sometimes whiny Peanuts.) At this rate, it will take me 20+ years to finish the trail, but at least I have something to work towards :).

Tech Museum Field Trip

When you are studying human anatomy and find out that a museum nearby has a Body Worlds exhibit, a field trip is in order. We went with three families from my science class--I've tried to tie in a couple field trips each semester where we can experience a little more of what we've been learning about and am happy that I've had at least two or three families want to go each time.

The human bodies were fascinating. I didn't take a lot of pictures--it just feels a little disrespectful--but the kids loved exploring and noticed several things that we had just recently talked about in class, which was cool. A group of them ended up at this drawing station, sketching the brain. Note to self--include more drawing and art in class! 

Then, we moved on to other parts of the museum. They created their own digital animal after scanning in a Lego shape they'd built.

We were able to do a 45 minute inventing lab where they tried to create, and then improve a design to protect something they would drop 10 feet.

They all worked really hard building, and rebuilding their designs.

These two were diligent with their note taking on each test, and had a lot of ideas of how to change things. It was a fun lab.

There were a lot of other areas where they could build things as well.

Peanut and his little buddy had fun designing furniture 

while the big kids did a mini escape room (they made it out!)

A couple of the kids took a turn directing a hover craft "jet pack" vehicle to hit targets above them. It was a lot harder than it looked!

And then we had time for one last lab--a genetics sequencing activity which was also perfect for our genetics unit we did a few months ago. I had wanted to do something like the activity they had there, so was happy the kids got to try it.

I'm glad we found this museum--it's got a lot of really fun stuff to explore that goes great with all of our science. We'll have to come back  again sometime for sure.

Nature Play

Nothing is better than a couple weeks of field trip that are all about nature and science. Even when it's been rainy and kind of cold, we can still find ways to connect with nature.

We've squeezed in a lot of fun with our learning lately. We had a field trip to Sulfer Creek Nature Center in Hayward with the charter we're with, where we got to meet a few of their resident animals and learn about them.

Peanut loved learning about the animals. I wasn't going to sign up for this field trip because it was aimed at the elementary school age, and only one of the kids fits in that range, but I'm glad that we did. Even I learned a few new things.

And there were lots of beautiful animals that they've taken in. It's mainly a rehab center, and they release as many of the animals as they can, but the ones that aren't going to make it in the wild, they keep, and then they use them to teach people.

This week was also Trackers at Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont. It's an outdoor school program, and the kids have loved the couple days they've participated. This week was all about traps--they learned knife skills, whittled sticks, wove reeds and grasses, and learned how to set a trap used by Native Americans.

They all loved this. I now have hopes that we can survive the apocalypse.

Last Saturday was a family trip into SF to the CA Academy of the Sciences. We explored the rainforest,

visited the coral reefs, 

saw a lot of different animals. It was a great day all around.

And finally, this whole field trip series started with a trip to the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum. Their outdoor space was absolutely incredible. I wish that we had the space in our backyard to create this type of space--lots of places to explore, observe animals, play and experiment.

The gardens are fabulous--one of these days, I want to plant a winter garden.

Inside was pretty fun, too. The kids tried out face painting

Peanut requested a giraffe. I think Bug nailed it.

We explored all the different exhibits.

Creepy, but fun.

So much cool science to experience.

 And then there was the park day between rain showers.

The kids don't seem to mind what is going on outside.

They just want to experience it.