There are tons of great places in and around Santa Cruz, California. Here are some more wonderful places to take kids on field trips: The Museum of Art and History (MAH) in downtown Santa Cruz. We scheduled a field trip there with a group of kids for the Art Gallery Tour and Printmaking workshop. Our tour guides were wonderful, patient, and very … [Read more...]
Monday Matters- Hopes Closet, Helping Families in our Community
Welcome to Monday Matters! Spread awareness to help important causes and start your week off right by making a difference each Monday, even if that is just to pin, tweet, or share to pass this information on. Since 2007, Hopes Closet of Santa Cruz (HCSC) has provided support to thousands of children and families in our community. "We … [Read more...]
Best Road Trip Books for Kids
If you've ever traveled with kids, you know you need something to entertain them such as the best road trip books you can find. I like to torture my kids with good old fashioned road trips like I had when I was little, as in, no screen time. Sure, my siblings and I fought, wined, and asked, "are we there yet?" till my parents were ready to throw us … [Read more...]
Inside the New Circus Out of This World
This post was sponsored by Feld Entertainment, all opinions are my own. We went to the circus! The lights, loud music, many people, smell of popcorn, yes we were definitely at the circus. But this is the new circus? Was it just as wonderful? Just as awe inspiring? Definitely! Even without elephants. We're so thrilled Ringling Bros and … [Read more...]
Best Family Beaches in Santa Cruz California
Want to have some fun without spending a lot of money? There are plenty of things to do with your family in Santa Cruz, California on a beautiful day, but one of the top destinations in California is our beaches. I list here some of my favorite family friendly beaches in and around Santa Cruz County. Enjoy a family vacation or just a day out with … [Read more...]
Education at a Family Theme Park?
Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park is one of my favorite theme parks in California. It's the perfect size to spend a day and get to see almost everything. It's beautiful with all the trees, flowers, and fascinating circus trees. It's also a great place to learn! Throughout the park are many educational stations where you can learn about bees … [Read more...]
Discount to Gilroy Gardens
Gilroy Gardens is the home of the Circus Trees We enjoy Gilroy Gardens not only for the fun rides, but for the beautiful setting. My husband is disabled, so unable to go on most rides when we visit a theme park with our kids. Zipping around in an electric scooter at most theme parks while waiting for others while they go on ride after ride is not … [Read more...]
Homeschooling Resources and Recommendations
I recently spoke at the first Santa Cruz Un-Conference and thought every homeschooling family could benefit from the resources I shared; homeschooling books of inspiration, learning styles, homeschool methods including unschooling and TJed, math games, reading games, online resources for educational videos, free homeschool curriculum, online … [Read more...]
Homeschool Conference in Santa Cruz Aug 23
The Santa Cruz Homeschool Conference On August 23rd the Discovery Learning Center (DLC) in Santa Cruz, California will host a homeschool conference, or rather, UNconference, especially for area residents. What is an UNconference? "In true homeschool style, we'll be using a special format called an Unconference, in which … [Read more...]
Train to Christmas Town Experience #XmasTown
We just had an amazing evening riding the Train to Christmas Town! I was given tickets in exchange for an honest review. This Train to Christmas Town is in Watsonville, near Santa Cruz, California, but there are other locations. We barely made it there in time, but were greeted with smiles under a large white tent. The … [Read more...]
Portraits of the Family
This is not a sponsored post. I just had to share! If you're looking for a great local photographer for family photos, we found a wonderful one! After chasing my kids around, trying in vain to get some good photos, I finally gave up and called in the pros! Shawnicy Barnthart takes beautiful maternity, baby, children, and family … [Read more...]
On My Soap Box {Blog a Day in May Challenge- Day 22}
Blog Every Day in May Challenge- Day 22 Today's writing prompt is to get on my soap box and rant about something. Well, I'm just not feeling up to it. Sorry folks. I sort of did that on day 20 (My True Views) though. Not sure how that happened! Maybe I shouldn't be writing at one in the morning! I was feeling too happy yesterday; I had … [Read more...]
Archive Favorites {Blog a Day in May Challenge- Day 21}
Blog Every Day in May- Day 21 My Favorite Posts from my Archives: Not my posts that get the most views, no these are my own personal favorites: I'm a Failure, When I'm not Great at Everything from my own meltdown to feeling fabulous, this is a great reminder for me to relax and not be so hard on myself. Plus a laugh when I remember dancing … [Read more...]
Great Field Trips Near Santa Cruz County
I posted about some of my favorite field trips right here in Santa Cruz, but there are plenty more just a short driving distance away that you won't want to miss! Venturing a little further from Santa Cruz, but still close enough for a day or even half day if necessary, a big favorite is, of course: The Monterey Bay Aquarium. You can never … [Read more...]
Homeschool Art Show at the Abbey
photo from here The Abbey Coffee Lounge in Santa Cruz, CA is hosting a county wide homeschooler art show! The art will be up for viewing for the whole month of April after the... Grand Opening this Saturday, April 6, 2013! 4pm- 6pm at The Abbey Coffee Lounge Address: 350 Mission St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 behind … [Read more...]
Favorite Blog Posts of 2012
Happy New Years Eve! Last day to enjoy 2012, so I hope you do enjoy it! Here are some great posts to make your day! My top 10 favorite blog posts of 2012: Waking Up Full of Awesome, something we all need to remember to do! Why You're Never Failing as a Mother, brings me back to reality when I'm trying to do it all and feeling … [Read more...]
Best moments of the year
You know how sometimes time seems to just stop? You're standing in the warmth of the sun watching your kids smile, hearing them laugh, your heart swells with love and pride. You're overwhelmed by the beauty of these little people's souls as well as the awesome world around you. And you know that this moment will never happen again. They'll be … [Read more...]
What am I doing?!
Since weeding some things out of our schedule, to allow for more down time at home, this week has been pretty mellow. We slept in, skipped some field trips, and the kids had time to relax, get bored, play with toys they've forgotten they had. I thought it would be great, that's just what I wanted, right?! We've been doing so many field trips and … [Read more...]
Cookies For Cancer Bake Sale this Sunday!
Team G's Cookies for Kids' Cancer Bake Sale Sunday, September 30, 2012 from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM (PDT) http://teamgbakesale-eorg.eventbrite.com/# September 30th, 201210am to 5pm4 locations in Santa Cruz County1) Surf City Coffee in Aptos2) Fresh Prep Kitchens/Baskin … [Read more...]
All About Dinosaurs
As I've mentioned, we've been learning about dinosaurs the last few weeks. Along with checking out every book and movie we could find at the library, we bought and played Dinosaur Bingo, found fossils at a local State Park, (see my post about fossils), found a book with facts and games for my son's Leap Pad (pre-Ipad type of electronic book), and … [Read more...]
