Fieldtrip Heaven

When it rains, it pours. . . .

Field Trip One
School group trip to Long Beach Aquarium. We did a class about predators. I though it was a little weak. Jaden liked it though. The aquarium was really nice, though. (Especially nice at group rate admission--only $6!! That is about 1/4 of the regular adult price. All you need is advanced reservations and 10 people. Sadie and I have that just by ourselves)
Highlights included the sea otters, seals, and petting the rays. I enjoyed the jellies. We met Dad and Leslie at Cocoa's afterwords for dinner.

Field Trip Two
The next day Sadie and I went to the Huntingon Gardens. We have had the tickets reserved for free day for over a month. So we went, even though we were a bit tired from the aquarium. We were going to observe the orginal Gutenberg bible and other first additions as related to our "history of print" topic in September. It just took us this long to get tickets.

Something very special about this fieldtrip--Jeremy just happened to be covering a Neonatal transport shift-- which entails him sitting alone in the ambulance in a parking lot somewhere random until he is called to go transport a baby, doctor, and nurses from Huntington Memorial to another hospital and back. Being that the Huntington gardens is within a few minutes of the hospital, he was able to meet up with us and spend some time before he had to take a call. He is wearing his uniform in these photos. This is a pretty big deal for us to have dad along for the trip. These things just can't be planned. It all fell together perfectly!!

Fieldtrip Three
Thank you to Crystal and Karyn for taking my kids on the Survival Hike. It was a guided hike with a survival expert. I stayed home to do some packing. The kids played with fire, learned about edible plants, etc, and generally had a good time. India is convinced that she will never eat plants in nature. She said she couldn't tell the difference between the edibles and dangerously poisonious varieties.
This trip perfectly supports the Swiss Family Robinson component I am suppose to be doing right now. Unfortunatly, I have been doing the minimum three "R"s the last couple of weeks while getting ready for the move. I'm hoping to catch up on reading the next few weeks.

Halloween, Part 2

About six months ago, I turned around to see Jaden posed exactly like this. Unlike the other kids who changed their minds up until the last minute, he held his ground for months. We made the tie and name tag. His tag says "Men in Black", but the official title he has given this costume is "an Agent".

Siena is a perfect Snow White in MY costume from 1986. It fit her perfectly. Thanks for making me keep it, Mom!

Yep, Brennan is a total character. He INSISTED that the socks had to be tucked into the pants, he HAD to wear the jacket and not the awesome vest. I would like to tell you that this is an unusual pose. It's not. Jaden and he are playing some kind of sword fighting pretty much all day long--complete with sound effects, dramatic poses, and clever quips.

Happy Halloween!

Church Family Halloween 2009

This bit of fluff on Isabella is a recycle from Siena, Circa 2002. I altered for size, added some new trim, and redid the tulle skirt. I was really pleased and she loved it. I am enjoying the pink and lavender. It will only be a few years before she will want to be an 80's Zombie (see India below). I have to admit, she pulled it off. I kept doing double takes and thinking it was Jenni Church as a teenager (less the sparkle blood, of course). However, India wouldn't trust me to make her bangs any higher. Ironically, the acid wash, skinny-ankled jeans came directly from India's normal wardrobe. Now that is scary!