There and Back Again: Part four - Carlsbad Cavern and White Sands

We decided to make the drive home in three days instead of the crazy two that we did on the way to Galveston.

First stop along the way, Carlsbad Cavern, New Mexico.  I remember going here as a child but really can only remember how freaked out I was about going down in the cavern...haha.  Thankfully none of our kids seemed concerned and we were able to see this amazing place.  We enjoyed how cool it was and were in awe of the enormous size of the part of the cavern that we toured.  I'm thinking that the early explorers were out of their minds for climbing down on little wire ladders!
The lighting was tough and the pictures don't do it justice but here are a few pics.

After resting up, we set out for the last day of our journey and the one that would take us to home sweet home.  Before hitting the road, we made a quick trip north to visit White Sands.  The contrast of the cool, white sand to the rugged, blistering desert was fascinating.  We took a sled and let the kids go down the doons, roll  in the sand, and tried desperately to leave it all there.  However careful we were to dust off, I was finding sand in shoes and pockets for a week after the trip.

Here are the pictures of or time at White Sands.

And that completes our journey.  We had fun, but, are content to be home and back to our daily routines.

Exploring Tide Pools

Growing up along the Gulf Coast and then spending several years on the East Coast, I have spent many years falling in love with the beach.  Living the last decade in the deserts of Arizona has been an adjustment to say the least.  I have learned to appreciate the beauty of the desert but there is just something about the crashing of  waves upon the sand and the wide open spaces of the beach that is so peaceful.  Even in the midst of the crazy coastal thunderstorms, there is such beauty and peace in experiencing the awesome power of our Creator.

Because I am forever drawn to the ocean, I want to cultivate a curiosity, amazement, and love for the coast in my children.  So, on a recent family trip to California, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take the family to explore and learn about the unique ecosystem found in the tide pools.  After doing quite a bit of research, I was convinced that Crystal Cove State Park would provide the best experience for our family.  And, boy was I right.  It is about a 30 minute drive from Anaheim, where we were staying, and proved to have fantastic ocean life. There was a toll road that cost $6.50 but we avoided that on the way back:)

Here are some pictures of the ocean view and the path to the beach.

If you are interested in visiting these tide pool, I would suggest parking in the northernmost (#1) parking lot at Crystal Cove State Park.  This parking lot has beach access that is more stroller friendly.  We initially went to the #2 parking lot and our stroller couldn't take the steep steps that led down to the beach.  There are restrooms and showers at each parking lot but nothing at the beach so take everyone by on your way down:)

We went in October and it was still around 80 degrees.  We were really wishing that we had let the kids come in their swimsuits and them shower off and put on clean clothes when we were done.  It would have been a much easier and thorough clean up.  Oh, well.  That will be something to remember for next time.

Here are a few pictures of the ocean life and tide pools that we were able to explore.

We were amazed as a seal swam right up and rested on a rock nearby.  That is not something that we get to see in the desert!

Here is the "stroller friendly" trail down to the beach.  My wonderful hubby brought the babies down to enjoy the ocean.  The other trail had steep steps and we didn't feel like it was doable with a stroller.

 

And this, my folks, is what pure joy looks like.  This was the first time that Seth was old enough to really enjoy the beach and he couldn't remember ever having been there before.  I think the best way to describe how he felt about the beach was "You had me at hello".  Haha.

 

This beach was perfect for our large family.  We are definitely marking this one for future trips:)

Schooling outside the four walls

It's finally here!  Fall.  And with it is cooler (notice the -er) weather and the chance to get out of these four walls and learn.

Today we did just that.  Because we are studying birds this week, we had a super-sleuth, bird, scavenger hunt.  Because I love integrating several different subjects and learning hands-on, we took along magnifying glasses, sketch books, pencils, and tons of stored up energy.

I turned them all loose at the park with the goal of looking for four clues or signs of birds.  They then drew pictures of the four clues in the sketch pad to be placed in their portfolio later.   


Here are a few pictures from the afternoon.

 I am just ecstatic that it is finally cool enough to be entering that season where we turn the world into our classroom:)

Hands-On Learning

This year in school, we are studying "Rome to the Reformation" together as a theme unit study.  I love learning together for many reasons.  But, one of the best things is that we can do projects and experiments together and not have to repeat different projects six times at different levels.  I don't think that I would actually do that and we would loose much of what I believe is so important about education...learning hands-on. 

Here are a few pictures of this past week's projects.

Writing like a Roman:

We made a background and border from cardboard and then pressed clay in the middle.  The kids could then use a stick to write.

Making a cell model:

 Here we used a ziploc bad, yellow jello, and a grape to represent the three main parts of a cell.  Most of the kids ate their cell model for afternoon snack.  A little gross but the kids will remember these parts for years to come:)

Creating mini books of the Bible to learn how books are put together to create The Bible:

To do this, we used one large match box and six or so small match boxes per person.  I emptied all of the matches into bags.  We now have enough matches to last for years to come:)

The kids covered their small match boxes with construction paper to look like miniature books and then slid the mini books into the larger covered match box.  This was a great visual for them to understand the relationship between books of the Bible and the Bible as a whole.

*None of these projects were my original ideas.  They all came from our curriculum:)