Rocky Peak Trail

So we decided yesterday that we should do something we have been wanting to do since we moved here-go hiking!

We are surrounded by the gorgeous Santa Monica mountain range, but had not gotten out on the trails yet, until yesterday!

It was a beautiful day, clear blue skies, 75 degrees, and a day off!  Off to the trail we went!

We parked and walked up to the Rocky Peak Trail, and what is the first thing we saw? 

A snake.

Yeah, a snake, just all coiled up in the middle of the trail.

I took a ton of pictures of him, but didn't realize till later, that my camera was set on manual, and I hadn't adjusted it for outside :( 

Anyways, he wasn't a rattler, Mike said he was a king snake, and he appeared to be not feeling so hot. Another guy on the trail got a huge branch and moved him into the brush.

Once I figured out my camera issue, Mike and I did get some great pictures of the kids and the view.

 Love this picture, they look like little ducks :)

Brothers enjoying the view.  

They chose this pose!!

Notice they are up high, I'm not :)

Two beautiful girls

My silly boy.

Beautiful!!  Can't wait to take some winter pictures when everything is GREEN!!!

Exploring a little cave.

I think this is where I decided I really like hiking- on level ground, that is paved, when I'm wearing flip flops :)

Feed My Starving Children

We ended our school week this last week with a trip to Feed My Starving Children. It was great! The kids loved helping to fill the food bags with the nutritious food mix and they did such a great job!!

Joshi loved his hair net. Well, they all, except Faith, loved their hair nets. They really thought daddy needed one on his chin.

We had 86 people in our group and we packed a total of 90 boxes! The lady said that was enough food to feed 56 kids for one year! Amazing. Such an easy thing to do and it makes such a huge impact. We will definitely be putting it on our family calendar to do once a month, at least.

After we were done packing food, they had some of the food, that we had just packed, prepared for the kids to try. Seth devoured his and said,"Mom this is sooo good!! Can you make it at home?"

At first I thought, maybe he shouldn't like it so much.

I wanted him understand how desperate the situation was.

That these children are starving to DEATH and they will eat whatever, it is a matter of survival.
But then I realized, he had spent time and energy packing this food for these children who desperately needed it. Not only were these kids getting nutritious food that would help them survive and grow, but it actually tastes good too? How cool is that! He was really happy to have helped these kids and know that it wasn't some nasty concoction, but something that was yummy! What a cool kid!

Kristen

Chicago!

We spent the day in Chicago on Friday. I had organized a field trip to the Adler planetarium for our home school group so that was our first stop. It was nice, but lots and lots of school groups. Now, I am not trying to be anti-public school here I am just giving an observation from the museum time we have spent this year, but the school groups are just soooo rowdy. It seems like maybe there are too many kids and not enough supervision, and the supervision they do have don't seem to have much control. So in the bigger museums it isn't too bad because you can get away from those groups but the Adler is a smaller museum so it was a bit crazy. But we did get to see a few things before we took off for the Museum of Science and Industry.

The Museum of Science and Industry is huge and also free for the rest of January so it was awesome!!! Mike and I refuse to pay the parking garages so we found great parking down the street and walked in the - degrees temperatures. Our ears were a tad cold but it was worth the 20 bucks!! I think the Museum of Science and Industry is my favorite so far. So interactive and just a lot of cool stuff to experience and see.

After climbing a bit on this cool rock wall at the Museum we were all starved and decided to hit China Town for a little dim sum. We made it to Happy Chef Dim Sum by three o'clock so we got to experience dim sum which they only serve until 4. It was so good. We tried a bunch of cool stuff, some that we had tried before and some that we hadn't. And the kids had a blast reading the signs of the food we didn't try like geoduck and eel.

Kristen

I Did Great!!

We had such a great day yesterday!! So many reasons why it was a successful trip.

First, I got there with no incident AND found parking!! We got there an hour early and had time to walk around and enjoy the city. The kids loved it and so did I! It really is great!

Second, when we got into the museum I met up with my group and they were all the women I already knew from a previous get together. Wonderful women and sweet kids!

Third, the Docket lady who organized our tour was quite prejudice against home schoolers and was not kind. But Suzanne, the lady who organized it, handled it so well and with such grace.

Fourth, the mean lady turned out to be my groups leader and was very unkind to Josh not letting him join in on the drawing and such. The other mom I was with was upset and tried to get me to get her to include him. But I held my tongue and soon she threw him a piece of scratch paper and pencil. He began drawing what the other kids were drawing and really just as well. She noticed him and asked how old he was and said he was very talented and she couldn't believe how well he did. After that she gave him the same materials as everyone else. So because I held my tongue everything worked out!

Fifth, the kids, all the kids, were so incredibly well behaved I was blown away!! They were great!!

Sixth, I loved loved loved the museum. Getting to see all the art from the men and women I had studied so much in college was like being in the presence of greatness. I was over whelmed and like a child in a candy shop. The kids totally fed off of that and got excited with me. It was awesome.

Seventh, the sweet lady who organized the trip has two awesome daughter of babysitting age so I have now found two new babysitters!

Eight, I got home with no problem.

It was a great day!!

Kristen