Family Hike at Placerita Cyn.

My 3rd grader has been learning a lot of history about the city where we live, Santa Clarita.  She has learned about the Indians who lived here and the Oak of the Golden Dream where gold was first discovered and much more.  She even teaches a thing or two to me about our city. She is shocked when I don't know something.  Yes, I should know everything, right?

We went to Placerita Cyn. to do their family hike to reinforce what she had been learning about in school.  The last time we did this hike was last year; but we always walk away learning something new.  Last year, we came after a rain and were able to see tadpoles in the river.  This time, the river was all dried up.  During the hike, the docent talked about different plants, trees and leaves, showed us a replica of an Indian hut and what materials were used to make it.  We learned about the Walker Family and then came to the story of how gold was the first to be discovered here.  The tour lasted about an hour; but we still had some energy to burn.

We decided to go on a little hike.  We set out for the waterfall hike; but found out that is was almost a 5 mile hike one way.  We set our goals a little lower to the shortest hike, which was 2 miles one way to reach the Walker Ranch. 

My youngest found a really nice walking stick for herself and of course my oldest had to find one just as good.  The whole hike was her quest to find a really nice walking stick.  The closest she got was a tall, thin curvy one that just wasn't good enough.  My youngest was nice enough to share her stick on the way back.

Everyone's energy ran out as it was way past lunch time.  I got out voted from trying to reach our destination.  I think we got about 3/4 of the way to the ranch before we turned back. After 4 hours of hiking, everyone was exhausted. 

At least we got in some good exercise!

President's Day

The Ronald Reagan Library held its annual President's Day event which we attended once again.  Activities included president storytelling, presidential bingo, Lincoln log building and crafts.

 

This year the girls were interested in listening to the presidents tell stories.  My Kindergartner had been learning about Lincoln and Washington this week; so this would tie into what she had been learning. 

 

It was a little bit later in the afternoon when we got there; so we had to go into overflow parking at the bottom to catch the shuttle.  This year, we waited only about 2 min. before the next shuttle came.  Previously one year, we had to wait 40 min for the shuttle!  One of the highlights of coming here for the girls is just riding the shuttle to the library.  When we got there, the girls made a penny necklace craft.  Afterwards we went to hear Lincoln's story time.  We caught the last 10 minutes of his life, which was how he died.  Since the girls seemed interested in those 10 minutes, we wanted to hear him from the beginning.  We got some incorrect information and didn't make it for Lincoln; so we planned to see Washington.  

                                      

Meanwhile, we played presidential bingo which was pretty fun.  The bingo caller gave some interesting facts about the different president's that he called out.  The limit was to play 3 games before we would have to wait in line again.  My oldest daughter has a string of luck at winning things, so it was no surprise that she won the 1st game that we played.  She picked her prize, which was a beanie bear of "Ronnie".  She didn't like his name and soon he became Berry Bear. 

 

 

 

 It was almost time for Washington to speak.  We got there about 10 minutes early and caught the end of Roosevelt's story.  Of course we were just in time to find out how he died.  So far, we learned how 2 presidents died and were anxious to hear about the whole life of  Washington.  Well, he was the one who didn't even talk about his life; but his part as a general.  This was not very interesting to us; so we walked out.  The girls then enjoyed building forts with Lincoln logs before leaving. 

 

After the library, we took the girls bowling.  They offered 2 free games of bowling today, since we are a part of the kids bowl free summer program.  My youngest bowled her best game yet today.  She was very excited to get a score in the 80's.

For dinner, we picked up our free pizza from winning the Papa John's Superbowl contest.  Glad to have a night off from cooking dinner :)

Sketches from the National Lampoon

I came across Sketches from the National Lampoon on Goldstar. It was offering a free showing with a $8 service fee attached per ticket.  I bought tickets for hubby and I to go as we thought this would be something a little different than what is was.  As the show started to get some reviews, we quickly found out what we were getting into.  We looked on the bright side and hoped the good reviews were right. Well, they were not.
This L.A. Times writer almost sums up the show...

"Many [skits] involve awkward confessions — crank calls to a talk radio host ; letters to an advice columnist; various ways to tell a friend you’ve had an affair with his wife; a gay teen outing himself to his creepily wholesome family; and a literal (and increasingly profane) church confessional by versatile comic heavyweight David Haverty, who channels some of John Belushi’s earthiness, particularly in a Marlon Brando “Streetcar Named Desire” bit."

The middle aged single guys who sat in the front row busting a gut sure enjoyed the show. 
As for me, I think I need to go back to church now.

Valentine's Day inspired by Katie Holmes

I came across an article on Yahoo on how Katie Holmes celebrates Valentine's Day.  I actually clicked on it cuz curiosity got the best of me.  Surprisingly enough I got inspired by something she does.  She makes red pancakes for breakfast and I thought that would be fun to do for my girls as a surprise since they love pancakes.  A couple days before Valentine's Day, I was mentally reminding myself to make the red batter the night before, so it will be ready to go in the morning.  Right after I got the girls to school on Valentine's Day, I remembered I was going to make them red pancakes and was disappointed that I forgot. I didn't even remember to make the batter the night before. Oh well, I guess I'll try to remember next year by doing something more than a mental note

The girls were excited to have their parties at school.  They got their sugar rush of ice cream sundaes, cupcakes and passed out Valentines.

 Our tradition changed just a little this year as far as our Valentine's Day dinner.  Every year, it is the girls request to have Scooby Doo mac and cheese.  Last year, I couldn't find it; so we settled with Madagascar.  This year was also Madagascar; but it became a side dish.  Because we just found out that hubby got into a hard to get into program for work, we decided to splurge a little and get the take out special from Rattlers BBQ.  We did our traditional picnic in the living room, eating delicious tri-tip, the best mashed potatoes, salad, garlic rolls and a side of Madagascar mac and cheese.  After dinner, we downloaded a Charlie Brown Valentine's show from YouTube to watch on TV while eating a heart shaped chocolate chip cookie cake from Albertsons.  Yum!

This is what my 8 year old gave me for Valentine's Day.
Gotta love getting left over Halloween chocolates and card made from a cereal box :)

 

 

Heart Pillow

Beverly's Crafts had an in store Valentine's Day party to create crafts of little boxes, a heart pillow and a card.  The girl's eyes always light up at the refreshment table that is filled with all kids of goodies such as cupcakes, cookies, chips and drinks.  They picked out their Valentine's cupcakes and went to crafting. 

The heart pillow they made was a simple and inexpensive decoration using 2 squares of burlap, a red felt heart, and a little stuffing.  Sew the heart of first with red thread, then sew 3 sides of the burlap with black thread, stuff it, and sew up the other side.

My 8 year old enjoyed this because it was a somewhat quick sewing project with a little help from hubby.  I helped my 5 year old learn some sewing basics of pushing the needle up and down.  I had to try hard to not do the whole thing myself as we were running out of time and patience. 
Here is what my 8 year old made.

Cultural Paintings

 My 8 year old took a free art class at our local library. 

They showed off all the student's work at an art reception today.
Here's what she made.

 

Eskimo Art: Students learned the lore and symbols from the eskimo people.

Japanese Fish Rubbings: Student's created colorful fish prints on rice paper.

Chinese Zodiac: Studen'ts worked with brilliant oil pastels to make drawings of one of the twelve animals of moon calendar.  This drawing is of the rat.

Mexican Amate Paper Painting: Student's used the techniques for painting on amate paper and created traditional designs.

Free Pancakes at IHOP - Feb. 5th

Flip for Free Pancakes!

February 5, 2013

On February 5, 2013, guests from around the country will once again celebrate National Pancake Day at IHOP and enjoy a free short stack of Buttermilk pancakes*. In return for the free pancakes, guests will be asked to consider leaving a donation for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals© ** or other designated local charities.