coastal vacation highlights and one lowlight

Every year, the Monterey Bay Aquarium hosts several FREE Homeschool days.We had to sign up for the tickets back in the fall (they "sell" out the first day) and our free day was at the end of February. We decided to take 10 days of vacation and tour the coast! We met up with several of our homeschooling buddies in Monterey for the day.

Being silly with tails and flippers.

Having pizza and celebrating a friend's 9th birthday!

One thing I would love to do in my lifetime is learn how to scuba dive. I would love to swim with the fish! They are so beautiful.

We went on a long hike at Point Lobos (near Carmel, CA) and visited the whaling station. I highly recommend this state park! We learned a lot!

Next we traveled to Pismo Beach--about 3 hours from the Carmel/Monterey area. Here is where the "lowlight" comes into the picture. We brought all of our bikes on the trip. While in Carmel, Tim was able to go on two long rides on his road bike--it's beautiful scenery in Carmel. The kids and I hadn't ridden our bikes yet as there wasn't a great spot for the kids and we knew there was kid-friendly riding at Pismo Beach.

Upon arrival in Pismo, Tim found that his road bike was missing. Our very expensive bike rack had malfunctioned. And of course, the only bike that fell off was Tim's. The kids and I have "garage sale" bikes. Tim's bike is the price of a small, cheap car. Since coming home, he's been taking long walks at night for exercise after the kids are in bed. He'll replace his bike at some point I am sure, but it's not really in the budget right now. I have to say, Tim handled the loss really well, I was so proud of him. He didn't get upset at all and even taught the kids a lesson around the bike loss. And for those of you wondering, yes, we called Highway Patrol. It was reported in a lane and CHP immediately went to pick it up. By the time they got there someone had "taken" it and not called Highway Patrol. We also contacted the bike rack company and our insurance. We didn't get anywhere with either.

The picture above is a view from our campground.

Pismo Beach is the only stretch of beach in CA that you can drive on. It was worth the $5 we had to pay to enter. The kids thought this was SO cool!

At night when the days activities were done, we played games, read books and sometimes roasted marshmallows. The girls wanted to learn how to draw a face really well. Tim found some tutorials on YouTube and the girls learned how to draw the eyes, nose and mouth realistically. I love how much educational stuff you can find on the internet.

 We also spent a few days in Santa Cruz. Our highlight was the Henry Conwell State Park. They have an amazing visitor center and a 1-mile loop perfect for kids to explore! We followed the trail markers and read each fact along the way and got to go inside a tree!

We love traveling in our 5th wheel RV. Our dream is to be able to take a year and travel the country. I'd love to homeschool on the road and have our kids education come alive!

We are in the midst of planning our next 2-week trip! We leave in 5 weeks and are going to travel the Oregon coast. There are so many things to see. One of the reasons I love homeschooling is that we can take off and school on the road during the off season--campsites are quiet and we don't have to make reservations--allowing us to stay longer in places we want to further explore. And we LOVE to explore!

Have a great weekend!

"oatmeal" raisin cookies paleo style

These are so yummy! And so good for you. In moderation of course . . . 

Ingredients:

2 c. almond meal (coarse almond flour that I get from Trader Joe's)

0.5 c. flax seed meal

0.5 c. unsweetened, shredded coconut

0.5 c. raw sunflower seeds

0.5 c. raw pumpkin seeds

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

2 eggs

0.5 c. pure maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

0.5 c. coconut oil (melted)

1 c. raisins

*Alternate add-in for chocolate lovers: 2 Tbls. unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients. Mix wet and dry ingredients. Drop tablespoon-sized amounts of cookie batter onto your slip-mat, stoneware or parchment paper. Bake the cookies for 15 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

This recipe (minus the cocoa powder) is take from my new favorite cookbook: Make it Paleo

white christmas

We experienced our first white Christmas as a family and it is one that our kids will never forget! ON Christmas morning, this is the site we woke up to! It was not blizzard like--it was like the snow that gently falls in the movies. Perfection. Total gift from God.

We spent a week at The JH Ranch just the five of us in one of the houses that is empty during the off season. No internet. No phone. No distractions. We had the best time together! Here is our week in pictures:

 

Happy New Year!

story of the world volume 2 lapbook

The following lapbook components are a completion of the wonderful lapbook components that Alia started. Due to circumstances out of her control, she was unable to complete Volume 2. I offered to complete them for her and make them available for free here on my blog.

I've included the pictures of our lapbook. We decided to make a castle to hold all of our SOTW chapter elements. This is two file folders glued back to back. I spray painted the file folders gray--it took four coats as I was trying to cover a purple file folder. I would recommend spraying the regular manilla colored file folder. I think the colored ones have a slight finish on them that made it hard for the paint to adhere. I let my girls each choose a "castle door" image and we printed it on white paper and glued it to our lapbook. The knights are stickers. And the letters came from my trusty pile of scrapbook goodies.

To download The Story of the World Volume 2 components for chapters 1-23, see Alia's blog. I hope you and your children enjoy lapbooking together! Thanks for stopping by!

SOTW Volume 2 Chapters 24-42

Many hours went into this project. If you feel compelled to leave any donation amount, see the "tip jar" on the side bar of my blog. All donations received will go towards the ministry my husband and I have of sending couples to a week long marriage retreat at The JH Ranch. Blessings to you!

Feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what you love about lapbooking! If you have a specific question, feel free to email me at johnstonhouse at gmail dot com.

salsa verde soup

This soup is so yummy! I love anything with salsa or a Mexican flare, and this soup fits the bill!

1 c. cooked and chopped chicken
1 c. chopped carrots
1 can great northern beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can red beans (drained and rinsed)
1 red onion (chopped)
1 Tbls. olive oil
3 cloves garlic
3 Tbls. fresh cilantro or 3 tsp. dried cilantro
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cumin
1 orange
1  14 oz jar of salsa verde (I use Trader Joe's brand)
1  4 oz can diced green chilies
32 oz of chicken broth

Saute in oil the carrots and onion until tender. Take the orange and finely shred 1 tsp. of the peel. Juice the orange and add both to the soup. Add the remainder of the ingredients. Bring soup to a simmer and then turn down to low and let simmer for 2 hours. Enjoy!

happy thanksgiving!

I hope you are enjoying a festive celebration with family or friends! Here is a peak at what we did last year with our dear friends.

This little turkey took me a little time to make, but isn't he cute? Hope you have a great day!

home again

We are home from our amazing vacation! We ended up not going to the Redwoods as it was predicted to rain the entire time. There was so much to explore in Mendocino, that we stayed there two more days. Here are a few more highlights . . .

Hope you are having a good weekend!