Asparagus Festival

It was perfect timing that good friends Jeff and Amy advertised their free tickets to the local Asparagus Festival on a day when we were looking for a little outing.  The Asparagus Festival was fun...but kinda strange.  The odd things we saw and ate prompted us to play the "What what the weirdest part of your day?" Game on the way home.  Though, I suppose we've been to enough of these fairs and festivals to be familiar with the eclectic mix of people and shows they attract!

 We waited in long lines to get in.  Then we waited for food tickets, then we waited to spend the food tickets and we waited to see shows.  It was hot and we did a lot of waiting, which made our free admission extra awesome! :)

The first fun food we tried was deep fried asparagus.  You know we love our fresh fruit and veggies and have been trying for years to get the girls to be better vegetable eaters.  It's been a real delight that they decided this spring to loooove asparagus.  Though fans of the way I cook them, they weren't big on this fried version.  More for Dave and me!

We saw two shows and both had the girls squealing with happiness.  The first was the Sky Dog show, which featured rescued pups doing frisbee, fly ball and jump rope tricks.  The grand finale was Tyson the Skateboarding Bulldog.  I guess he's pretty famous on You Tube.  The second show was the Sea Lion Encounter where we learned a lot about how sea lions are trained to do certain behaviors.

And here's what won that "What was the weirdest part of your day?" Game...eating asparagus ice cream!  Ella was certain she wanted to try this, so we let her!  I was only brave enough to try a few licks, but she gobbled the whole thing up.  Asparagus is not her new favorite flavor, but she liked it well enough!  I found it kinda chunky and asparagus-y.

So, huge thanks to Jeff and Amy!  We were so happy to be able to get out and see something new this weekend.  And while the festival was fun enough and definitely worthwhile, we're not sure it would have been had we paid to get in!

Sometimes You Just Gotta Make Pancakes

It's the time of year for Delia's preschool class to pull out the "Let's Grow!" song.  Having just endured Delia visiting kindergarten at Beginner Day, though, I'm feeling especially nostalgic about the quickly diminishing number of days that she has at home with me.  When she gets to the "Let's Grow!" part of her song, I've started interjecting, "Don't Grow! Staying, staying, staying, staying, staying little and small...", which makes her laugh and protest.  I do love the girls growing, of course, and all the learning-to-read, wiggly-tooth, school-programs, new-friends excitement that comes with each milestone. But I'm more than a little sad to imagine life without Delia's constant presence in it next year.  It makes me want to crumple up the to-do list and spend the morning in jammies cuddling and making decadent pancakes with my little buddy.  So, that's what we did today!

 

These Cinnamon Roll Pancakes were pretty awesome.  Just take 3 bowls and create these 3 mixes:

1.  Your regular pancake mix

2.  The cinnamon swirl, which is 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 Tbs. cinnamon and 3/4 cup brown sugar.  After melting and mixing, put it in a baggie with a corner snipped off to swirl on your pancake batter once it's on the hot griddle.

3.  Top with cream cheese syrup, which is 4 Tbs. melted butter, 2 oz. cream cheese, 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 3/4 cup powdered sugar.
(This seemed like a lot. I cut it all in half to make just a few pancakes.)

Oh yeah, they're terrible for you.  But if your baby is headed off to kindergarten in a few months, and you're tyring to cherish the mornings you have left with her, I think it's okay to splurge! :)

Our plan to throw out the plans and spend the morning relaxing (or more likely, the sugary-sweet breakfast) got "Two thumbs up, standing up, tippy-toes!!" from this big girl.

Little Scientist

Baking soda + vinegar + food coloring + old pan + eye dropper + goggles to look the part = A good hour's worth the fun!

Weekend Update

Just noticing that my last post was last Saturday, so I thought I'd give a quick recap of the week.  Admittedly, getting back into the routine after such a stellar Spring Break has been difficult, but we still had some highs this week that made it go quick enough.

Ella does love school, but had such a wonderful week off, that heading back all the way until summer was feeling like a bummer to her.  So, we made a chain to help her count down to the end of school.  Removing one link at the end of each school day, she gets to watch the chain get shorter and the summer get closer!  We actually get out early this year, so only 24 more days!

Delia had Beginner Day this week, which was an opportunity for her to visit and spend a few hours experiencing kindergarten.  She was SO excited, she could hardly sleep the night before or eat the morning of.  When Dave pulled up to school, she just took off waving, "Bye Dad!"  In the time that she was gone, I had a little taste of what next year will be like and, though the quiet house was nice for about an hour, I really, really missed her.

Delia's been on this mail kick too.  Every day I receive at least one of these love letters folded up and sealed in an envelope.  It's gotten so I've had to hide my envelopes and make Delia reuse them because she was burning through them!  The note is almost always the same-- a picture of us together labeled "Delia Mom".  She mixes it up just slightly by deciding to draw me with or without legs or glasses! :)

Dave and his Evangelism Committee came up with a new ministry called Family Dinner that we participated in last night.  Over 40 families signed up to be randomly put into groups of 3.  These groups of 3 families have the whole season to plan at least one time to get together to share a meal.  Last night we had 11 people over for dinner and really loved getting to know some church friends better.

Earlier this week the girls created a pretty elaborate replica of the Marine Mammal Center and spent a good amount of time "operating" on seals and blending fish up for them.  And this morning I'm listening to them play.  This exact line just came out of Delia: "Let's play 'Going on Vacation!'  First we'll look for whales, then we'll check on the seals, then we'll stay at the hotel in Seattle, then we'll go to Disneyland!"  I'm reminded of how valuable that investment we put into exploring our corner of the world is.

So, another week of April is in the books as we feel like we're marching towards the light at the end of the tunnel.  It's been a great school year, but with a summer full of Mount Hermon, camping, service trip and vacation with family in Seattle plans, we're excited for that too! 

Tooth Fairy Visits the VM House for the First Time!

She's still one of the smallest in her class and she tells us regularly how she's the only 1st grader to have not lost a tooth yet.  She's been so desperate to join this rite of passage that she prays about it and made "Lose a Tooth" her 2012 New Year's Resolution!  Well tonight prayers were answered and resolutions completed.  Ella lost her first tooth.  She noticed it was wiggly this afternoon while eating something crunchy for a snack.  She spent the rest of the day beaming with happiness and exclaiming over how weird it felt.  While she brushed her teeth, just a few hours later, it came out! 

We're thankful there was absolutely no trauma with this first lost tooth.  It couldn't have really been any easier!  Ella's one concern was that the tooth would slip from under her pillow and fall in the crack between her headboard and mattress, confusing the Tooth Fairy, so she devised this tooth pouch and instructional note to help out.  Ella will wake up to her first tooth fairy dollar (which we decided was fair for the first tooth, the rate will drop to $.25 from here on out...) and a teeny tiny letter from the Tooth Fairy telling Ella how happy she is to FINALLY visit her house. 

Two-wheel bike riding and a first lost tooth-- what a milestone-full Spring Break this has been for Ella!

Stinson Beach and Muir Woods

Day 3 had us hiking and enjoying the ocean again.  The first half of the day was spent at Stinson Beach, a lovely 3 mile stretch of sand that we had practically to ourselves, except for the surfers.

The drive there was on the cliffiest, snakiest, scariest road we've ever been on (and we've been on some twisty roads-- like the road to Hana in Maui or the road to Yosemite-- nothing compared to this!)  Sorry, Mom and Anna, this is one place I guess you'll just never see! :)  The views were incredible, though!

The beach was unlike any I've ever seen.  Big waves, fog-covered hills immediately above us and lots of signs warning us that Great White Sharks are abundant here and have attacked swimmers on this exact beach in 6 feet of water.

I've spent many a Spring Break laying in the sun and sand of some beach in a southern state.  California beaches are not really like that.  You wouldn't dare to go in the water without a wetsuit (with shark warnings, I wouldn't dare go in at all!) and we build sandcastles with winter coats and hats on!

Other beachy things we did on this day were chase sea gulls, walk half the beach collecting treasures in a bucket and make little fairy houses.  The girls received this sweet Fairy Houses book for Easter and the one thing Ella wanted to do on this vacation was follow the instructions in it to make a beach house for fairies.  Done!

Following a picnic lunch on the beach, we hopped back on those switchbacks to finish off our day and vacation at another favorite day trip spot-- the John Muir Woods.  This huge forest of coastal redwoods has more hiking paths than we'll ever be able to explore.  We took a new one along a ridge that looked down into the valley of trees and creek the whole way.

 To make this hike fun for the kids, we gave them the task of finding as many Banana Slugs as possible.  I think we lost count we found so many.  We love finding these crazy bugs at Mount Hermon, but here in Muir Woods they're super-sized and EVERYWHERE!

We were each bold enough to even hold one, though it took the rest of the hike to get the thick slime the slugs secrete off our hands! 

This whole mini-vacation was born from Dave's desire to get away and recharge a bit.  Amazing wildlife encounters, breathtaking views of the coast, sand in our toes, slug slime on our fingers, exciting hikes, Redwood forests, a little bit of learning and play, plenty of quality time as a family and a new area of our state discovered and explored.  I'd say this vacation fulfilled its purpose!

Seal Hospital and Children's Museum

We thought day two of vacation would be all about the kids, but Dave and I enjoyed it tons too!  We started the drizzly morning at the Marine Mammal Center, which is a free-to-the-public rehabilitative hospital for sick, abandoned and injured seals and sea lions.  They cover pretty much the entire California Coastline and have over a hundred animals at the facility at any given time.

We got quite an education about marine life!  This statue showed us how big a male Elephant Seal is in real life.

In the classrooms we learned about the nature of the injuries and sicknesses of the seals-- swallowed fish hooks, abandoned and malnourished pups, plastic garbage entangling their necks, etc.  The items Ella and I are holding are actual things that were wrapped around seals brought in.  After removal and rehabilitation, the seals were released back into the ocean.  We got to see pictures and read their stories.

We also watched the seal meals being prepared in the kitchen.  Seeing loads of herring being ground into fish mash that would later be fed to sick seals via bottle or tube was both interesting and disgusting!

And then we got to walk above the actual hospital and see the various enclosures of seals being cared for.  In this front pool, the seals are being taught to fish again.   This whole experience was super cool! 

Since we were in Sausalito for the day, the next stop was the Bay Area Discovery Museum.  Some of this was your typical children's museum-- hands-on activities, art rooms and science experiments.  But, much of it was completely unique to the Bay Area.  The whole museum was spread through multiple buildings that were formerly a part of an army base.  And an amazing outdoor play area had unbeatable Golden Gate views right in the background!

Many of the play areas and exhibits had a San Francisco theme.  One playground had us pretending to be construction workers screwing divits into the famous orange bridge-- a pretty cool thing to play with the real bridge right over our shoulders!  Another play area taught about tide pools.  Again, I just couldn't get over watching the girls pretend with the great view right behind them!

There was a really cool maze made entirely of bent sticks and branches.  The artist specializes in willow sculptures and it was beautiful.

Two of the most fun indoor play exhibits were the Wave and Coast house, where the girls dressed up in one marine animal outfit after the next and the Explore the Bay house, where they actually role-played things like crane-loading freight onto barges or fishing for crabs and then selling them on the wharf.

We took a survey (which we filled out very positively) and received a free pass to visit the museum again.  If you're local and looking for a fun place to visit with your kids before December, let us know and we'd be happy to share our free admission!

Point Reyes

After yet another crazy March, Dave had the idea to use half of our Spring Break week to take a mini-vacation and he knew just where he wanted to go to relax too-- Marin County.  This is an area north of San Fransisco which includes the almost 60 miles of coastline part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  Many of our favorite day trips are located in this area, but it's one we have never explored fully.  Getting a major steal on a nice hotel cemented our plans.

On our first day we visited one of favorite places in this entire state-- Point Reyes.  This unique peninsula juts out into the Pacific and is teeming with wildlife.  Even the most mild of hikes rewards you with views of the ocean or incredible wild animals.

We started our hiking in these gorgeous wildflower hills.  The cool fallen tree trunks were fun to pose on and jump off of, until Dave spotted the furry, small-bone-filled poop piles and said, "I think snakes live here."  Seconds after bolting away, sure enough, we found one slithering around!  A boy who witnessed our commotion caught the Gardner Snake and the girls were each brave enough to pet it!  So we checked snakes off our "Wildlife We Spotted" list.

Next off that list were Tule Elk.  Since the tip of the peninsula is actually a reserve for them, they are very easy to find.  These guys seemed to have just shed their antlers and were budding new ones.  This picture of the girls watching them from the car window shows how close they were!

After playing on the beach (where we got an updated picture for the blog's header), we hiked along the coast to the lighthouse, where most of the migrating Gray Whales are seen.  The girls were so cute, ready with their binoculars, and they were not disappointed!  This month is the height of migration and 27 whales were sighted the day before we were there.  And we saw one too-- probably the best and closest whale we've ever spotted!  For a long time, we watched him make his way around the peninsula, spraying and lumbering his humongous self up out of the water for breaths.  It was awesome.

The last stop at Point Reyes was another little hike to the Elephant Seal beach lookout.  This time of year, it's all the growing pups hanging out on the beach.  We were delighted to watch them wrestle and listen to them make their funny noises. 

What I've described here are things we truly saw and did, but I'll be totally honest and say this day was a lot of driving and walking.  The girls tolerate these things, but don't love them.  Though we were seeing amazing things, we definitely heard our share of complaints.  Dave and I push our kids, though, because we never stop being absolutely blown away that these types of places exist and we're close enough to see them!  We trust that some day, when the girls are climbing mountains on their own or working as animal-loving zookeepers, they'll remember and thank us for these experiences we gave them!

And we did plan our next day of vacation to be much more kid-friendly...