Field Trip to Balboa Park

We started off with a picnic and then went to the Japanese Friendship Garden.

Eli is beginning his Japanese studies this year, so this trip gave him a little taste of Japan.

We walked the grounds and got some boba lemonade.

We stopped by the fountain and then walked through the botanical gardens.

Then we went to the San Diego Museum of Art.

A favorite feature was this section where you could learn how to write calligraphy.

 

Museum of Making Music

Rick came to visit for a long weekend and while Ben was at work, the rest of us went to the Museum of Making Music.  It was fun to be able to play a bunch of different instruments.

 

Maple Tree "farm"

 We went with our co-op to Brenners Maple Tree farm.  It was a true Long Island experience.  What I had in my head, definitely did not meet reality.  We drove an hour out east to get to the "farm".  I put it in quotations because any place that has a little space on it is considered a farm here.  Sure, it had a barn and a few chickens and a cow, but while everyone else was wowed, we were not.

We listened to Bob give a powerpoint presentation on plant science in the barn.  I really took this picture to document the NY coats...all the moms wear long puffy coats with fur hoods, all.the.time.  This day was in the 50s and everyone was in giant puffy coats.

Then, we went outside and saw THE maple tree that they tap.  This was the moment when Alison leaned over and whispered to me, "Did you pay for this?"  Yes I did.  I paid money to look at single tree.  To be honest, maple tree farm in my head equaled a whole lot more trees and maple gathering.

But you can see Eli has his arm around Alison in this picture ;)

Then we watched him boil down the maple.  Again, I thought this would be a whole lot more interesting.

At the very end, they served pancakes with the maple syrup and fresh maple candies.

This trip goes in the category of "we tried".  We went, we saw, we experienced.

Old Westbury Gardens

I will forever be thankful for Sarah Miller.  She was the first person I met on Long Island who also homeschools.  She is the pastor's wife of the church we've been attending and she was the first person to come up and talk to me...it took everything in me not to hug her!  It was like a weight came off my shoulders to finally meet someone who got our life.  Up until then, I got judgy faces and rude comments.  Granted, most people move to Sea Cliff for the schools, so I can understand why most don't understand homeschooling, but it was starting to feel very isolating.  Anyway, Sarah swooped me in and within 24 hours, had me plugged into LEAH (the main homeschool group on Long Island) and invited me to come to a picnic, where I was able to get plugged into the Thursday crew, where I found the Sports with Friends group.  The lifeline she threw me will never be forgotten.  Her daughter, Brieyn, and Alison have become good friends and have spent many days at each others houses.

Sarah texted me one day and asked if we wanted to join them for a picnic at Old Westbury Gardens.  Sure!  A picnic sounds nice.  HA!  We did not know that the gardens were actually at the Phipp's Mansion and were miles long.  It was beautiful...beyond beautiful.

There was actually a girl getting her quinceanera pictures taken with a whole entourage in this picture.  She had the biggest dress on that I have ever seen!  At first I thought maybe they were filming a movie.

They had these fake people all around and it started to get creepy.  We started to play the game "Is that person real or fake?".

I think we're going to put "visit all the mansions on Long Island" on our bucket list while living here.  I'll be better prepared next time to spend many hours there.

Old Bethpage Village Fieldtrip

We went to Old Bethpage Village on a field trip with our homeschool group.  We had a great time meeting new friends and exploring.  Thankfully, this wasn't a novel experience for the kids...it gave a Williamsburg meets the ghost town in Idaho vibe.  However, now that we live in a 100 year old house, I appreciate learning more about the history of these buildings.

We got homemade root beer and candy sticks.

 

It's hard to find homeschool high schoolers and I am so thankful to say that we have found a great group of them!

After the field trip, we met our other homeschool group at the park nearby.

Day at camp

We went to a day at camp up in Santa Barbara with our homeschool group.  It was a beautiful day up in the mountains!

We started off at the ropes course.

Then we tie dyed shirts.

And played "throw cheese balls at someone's head covered in shaving cream".

 After lunch, we did archery and shot BB guns.

Then we went swimming.

 Then the kids did a slip N' slide.

The boys played ga ga ball

And Alison joined the teens in another round of the cheeseball game.

 

We ended our fun filled day with songs and a little lesson.