Butterfly Grove

Here a couple of pics from the Butterfly Grove in Pismo Beach.

"Fighting" butterflies

At the beach, my 9yo got tired of coloring in the sand, in his art assignment, so he got creative:

Sunset pic that my dd took while we were driving off.

Pictures from Grandma's visit

Grandma, making cookies!

Christmas cookies

Stockings!

Christmas nap:

New Year's Eve 2009

Aquarium of the Pacific:

Lorikeets:

On the Queen Mary:

At the Lego Store at Downtown Disney.  No, we didn't go to Disneyland, but we did stay in a hotel right across the street!  We hope to go before the kids are all grown!

Sophie with R2D2, who is made entirely of Legos.

Grandma's Visit

Grandma from Canada was here for 6 weeks at Christmastime!  The first few weeks were filled with getting ready for Christmas...shopping, decorating, baking cookies, shopping, shopping...  Plus a few field trips and homeschool gatherings.  Christmas was nice, the kids were happy, everyone was blessed.  We ate good food. 

After the New Year, we had one more week off of school.  A few of us were sick.  The second weekend in January, we finally were able to take some time and go to Anaheim & Long Beach for a couple of days. We found a great deal at the Desert Inn that has rooms that sleep 8 & 10 people!  On Sunday, we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific .   It was great.  It was cheaper for us to buy a year pass, so we hope to go there again this year. 

 We also got to go to the Queen Mary, which had free admittance for CA residents in January.  It was interesting, but we kept getting separated!  The weather was fabulous, in the 70s & 80s!  A big difference from eastern Canada!

We didn't have time to go to a decent beach, so later in the week,  all of us, minus the Daddy, drove to Pismo Beach.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.  I missed the turn to the pier, so we ended up driving passed the Butterfly Grove!   We went back there after lunch.  It was really neat, about 25,000 butterflies migrate to these elm trees every year! 

Then we went to the beach by the pier and sat in our chairs while the kids played in the freezing water.  It was  a great day.  Since it was a school day, I had the kids draw a scene that they saw while sitting on the beach.  They all did great!  Ben got wise and put real sand on his paper, though!  He got tired of coloring it in, I guess :)

And so we got Grandma all warmed up for her trip back into "the deep freeze" as she called it :)  We  all miss having her here. But I think she is probably having a nice quiet time in her new apartment. :)

I will add pictures later.

Christmas Fun

A few things we have done for Christmas:

I made this little mini apron for my annual homeschooling moms ornament exchange:

California Snowman :

Gingerbread house.  We only had to decorate it. 

Our cats, Sparrow & Gandalf,  taking a moment to not fight and enjoy the Christmas tree together:

The Family: Together in God's Presence

This is a great article by John & Noel Piper.  It is very encouraging for those who prefer to keep their kids in church with them, as it is not a very popular practice.  Something to think about.

The Family: Together in God's Presence

Nevada Trip Part 2

Ok where was I?  We were leaving the Silver Mine in Tonapah, NV.  Which also happens to be, according to the town's  billboards and brochures, a top stargazing destiny.  Unfortunately, it was cloudy the night we were there.  Anyway, we drove south, then west into our beautiful state of California.  We drove through the Inyo National Forest and to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest .  I had always thought that the Giant Sequioas were the oldest living things on earth, at 1000 plus years old!  But did you know that the oldest tree is a Bristlcone Pine that is  4,700 years old?!  I had just heard about these trees from a friend and lo and behold, a couple of weeks later, we read about them in our Apologia Botany science book!  (that happens quite a bit while homeschooling!)  These trees have been around since the time of the flood!  There are NO other living things older than that.  This is evidence for the flood! The Apologia books says it a lot better than I do, but I hope you get the idea.  The Bristlecone forest sits on top of a mountain 10,000 ft high!  Wow!  Here are some pictures:

Utah Juniper, where we stopped for a picnic

 

 

 

We went on a small hike up the mountain:

Poster at the Bristlecone Forest, we made it!:

The burned down Visitors Center.  It burned by arson just 2 weeks before we were there:

On top of the world, at least 10,000 ft!:

My husband stopped along the side of the road on the way home just so I could take a close up of these flowers.  I think they are Rabbit Brush, but it could be something different:

Fabulous sunset on the way home:

Dressing up

I put off thinking of the kids' costumes this October, til the very end.  But  I think we did a pretty good job., thanks to the Goodwill. This year, for the first time in years, we didn't go to a church Harvest party thingy.  They are crowded, noisy and boring.....for me!  We went trick or treating, which netted plenty of candy, but we had to walk a long way!  Most houses on a block were dark, so we zigzagged our way along the road.  When we got home, we gave out candy.  Ours was only one of two houses on our half of the block with lights on!  Now I remember why we didn't do trick or treating in the past!  I think next year we will go back to a church.  Here are the kids:

A pink kitty:

A pirate:

A ghost, like in Charlie Brown:

Gen. John McCain:

without the mask:

A purple superhero...she had designed a black and purple outfit on paper.  When we went to the Goodwill, she found this purple dress, how could I not buy it?

Just the other day, I was talking to someone about the candy cigarettes we used to love as children.  The gum cigarettes would have powder that came out the tip if you blew on the cigarette, like smoke.  The person asked if they still sold them.  I said, "Oh no, they couldn't sell those now.  They stopped a long time ago."  Well, they are still around! Only they are called, "Candy Sticks"!!  And they taste terrible. I couldn't believe it.  Of course, they are meant to be candy cigarettes.  I should have looked to see who makes them.