Summer Outings..

.. a whole weeks worth of them :)

Summer is my favorite time of year, not because my children don't bicker constantly, they do - but because its time for me to play teacher.

I love exposing my kids to new people, places and things.

So I've come up with a loose schedule for the summer where the the kids and I alternate who gets to pick the outing.

Here is what we did this week :)

Chuck E Cheese - ok, so I hate this place and really it has no redeeming qualities.

Token bank

But the kids chose it so what am I going to do??  I spent $30. on tokens and set them free.  The tokens lasted about an hour,

Las Vegas for kids

then we traded them in for about $2.98 worth of crappy toys.   On the positive side, we've done Chuck E. so no need to go back the rest of the summe - yes!!

Prizes we redeemed about 1000 tickets for

After Chuck E. Cheese we all needed some fresh air and where better to find some fresh air than the summit of Turtle Rock?

I chose Turtle Rock because I love hiking and it was free!  Something to consider with a large family like mine.

Heading up to the never ending staircase

This hike can be quick or pretty long, its up to you.  We headed up the face of the hill, the kids love scrambling over the rocks.

The kids and I heading up

Once we got to the top all of Orange County was at our feet, talk about some great views.  We hiked down the ridge a while then looped back.  There is a nice playground at the foot of the hill, so the kids played a bit and then we headed home.

SoCal at our feet

Next up was the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach.  The kids were free and it was $12 each for Nadim and I to get in.

The kids were not excited to see the museum until we pulled into the parking lot and they saw the sculpture outside.  Yes, that is indeed a very large un-nuetered male dog peeing on the side of the building.  The boys of course LOVED it.

"Bad Dog" sculpture outside the building

The Museum was Nadim's idea and he did a great job of making the art inside interesting and relevant to the kids.

My favorite art installation

The OCMA has a great collection and the museum is small enough that you can see everything without the kids going nuts.

Very, very detailed painting

The kids favorite's were the pieces that were performance art based.  The best one was entitled "Open Doors", be sure to check that one out if you take your kids.

Modern tapestries

Finally we visited Sherman Gardens and Library in Corona Del Mar, Son 2 wanted to see some animals - he is my scientist.

The kids were free and my admission was only $3. The Gardens don't open until 10:30 but we showed up at 10am and wandered in.  They were nice enough not to kick us out :)

Heading inside

The gardens are beautiful.  They don't seem to get many children visitors as all the staff were oohing and aahing over the kids.

Heron sculpture

The whole site is about 2 acres and there is a lot to see crammed into the fairly small space.  Take your time and pay attention to all the small details.

Koi pond

The kids loved the koi and the turtles best.  The staff told us that there are also 5 tree frogs by the koi, but we didn't see them.

Turtle pond

We headed into the library last.  In the car on the way over I had discussed what a Resource Library is with the kids and we guessed what kind off books might be in there.

Resource Library

No we didn't find any Sponge Bob or Fancy Nancy books, we did find some phone books from 1910-1940, Sunset magazines from 1911 and other old, old books.  There was even a journal from one of the Father's who came up and founded some of the California missions.

Looking up "posterior"

Son 1 found this dictionary and thought is was hilarious to look up "posterior", you know another word for butt, and leave the dictionary open to the page.

Definition of posterior

The kids liked Chuck E Cheese best (no surprise there) but running a close second was the Sherman Gardens and Library.  Who knew??

Keep me posted if you try any of these outings (well, I don't really care about Chuck E Cheese :) and let me know how it went.

Have a great week!

Well, we got trouble..

**Well we got trouble**
**Right here in Rivercity**
**Right here!**
**With a capital T**
**That rhymes with R**

Er, ok so T doesn't actually rhyme with R, but our trouble starts with a capital R and that stands for Raccoon!

I road my bike to drop off this morning and when I turned the corner onto our street I saw a big ole bushy tailed raccoon sauntering across the front of our garage.

I dumped my bike and chased the raccoon into our courtyard.

up he goes

look at that bushy tail!

The raccoon climbed up a large bush, onto our side yard wall and ran into our backyard.

running down the side wall

making a quick getaway

Not to be deterred I ran around the other way, through the house and out into the back yard - gotcha!  The raccoon was walking down our back wall looking for his breakfast - yep our loquat tree.

breakfast awaits

but not today :)

The raccoon spotted me and took off the other way into our neighbors yard.  I've been keeping a watchful eye, but no more wildlife sitings.

Last year we had a raccoon strip our garden almost bare, the biggest loss was the entire crop of peaches.

I'm not sure what we are going to do, but boy we've got trouble.

Raindrops..

on roses..

on children walking to school..

on peaches..

on blueberries..

on Nadim's man hole cover collection..

on tomatoes..

on mandarin blossoms..

on the garden..

these are a few of my favorite things,

 enjoy the rain!

We're expecting..

baby hummingbirds!

A couple of weeks ago Son 2 (the future biologist) noticed a hummingbird nest in one to the trees in our backyard.  I'm not really sure how he spotted it to be honest with you.

The nest is about 12 feet up in a very brushy tree.  What can I say the kid has eagle eyes.

We've been patiently waiting for the mother bird to leave the nest, she's been pretty responsible so far.  Once she finally left, Nadim, intrepid man that he is, got a ladder and a mirror to check out what was going on. To our excitement there were 2 eggs in the nest!

 In the couple of weeks since this photo was taken the birds have hatched and one fell to its death.  The other has already left the nest.

I guess there isn't much of a "childhood" when you are a Hummingbird :)

Spring..

.. has sprung!

I love Spring, it is my very favorite time of year.  Fragile blossoms, new leaves uncurling, spectacular!

California Poppies in the front yard, they re-seed every year and the bees love them

Anyhoo, a couple of years ago Nadim and I decided that we wanted an edible landscape.  Why waste precious space on grass?  So we systematically began ripping out the grass and replacing it with things to eat, California natives or herbs. 

Front yard, more poppies and lavender

The kids have enjoyed this process as well.  I planted a blueberry bush (ok, Nadim actually did the planting, I did the directing) on a north facing wall, right by the front door.  I would find the kids outside having a snack, before ever coming inside the house.

Blueberry bush is flowering and fruit is beginning to set

We've found that the best bang for our buck have been fruit trees.  They are the cheapest to buy bare root and give you fruit for years to come.

Nectarine tree is beginning to flower and leaf out

 Most of the fruit trees we have planted are ones that you either can't buy in the store or the flavor of the store bought fruit just can't compare to home grown.  You haven't lived until you've tasted a homegrown peach or nectarine.

Close up of a nectarine blossom

We have 4 fig trees, yes 4, and no we still don't have enough figs to go around.  Figs are Nadim's favorite fruit and are a close second for me.  We have 3 Black Mission fig trees and one white fig.

Black Mission fig in the courtyard, this tree has the best tasting fruit

 Last year we added this almond tree and it is really doing well.  We are looking forward to eating fresh almonds.

All In One Almond tree - 4 varieties of Almonds grafted onto 1 tree

Close up of an Almond Blossom

 Our latest addition to the garden is this Persimmon tree.  We got hooked on Persimmons up at Nadim's Dad's house.  They are awesome!  I could find persimmons at Whole Foods but they cost $3. each, so we put in a tree.  This is a Fuyu variety and is the pumpkin shaped persimmon.

One of the very first trees we planted was this Loquat tree.  You really can't find Loquats in stores because they are too perishable, but they are delicious!  We cut them in half, peel the skin off, take out the seeds and eat - heaven.  This year the loquat tree is loaded with fruit.

Big Jim variety of Loquat Tree

Loquat fruit

We buy all of our fruit trees from Laguna Hills Nursery, they have a booth at the Great Park Farmer's Market and also at the Old Town Orange Farmers Market.  Gary is the owner and he is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge.

I hope I've inspired you to grow some of your own fruit and vegetables.  Even if you have just enough space for a container garden, you have lots of delicious options.

Happy Spring!