It went from freezing, to rainy, to super hot!
But I’m loving it! I’ve always been a sun lover. My kids and I have been outside as much as possible. We planted our garden, took swim lessons the last two months at Simpkins Swim Center, which is awesome! My son improved so much! And I got to swim with the baby while my son was in his lessons. (Love the warm water pool!) Then we’d swim an extra half hour after lessons, & then picnic with friends at the end.
We’ve been at the park or beach, or hiking at Nisene Marks State Park or Swan Lake Park (just behind Simpkins there’s a short easy trail, perfect for the kids).
We even went camping twice up at Big Basin State Park.
It’s SO beautiful! I didn’t know this, but they have a museum there with great displays all about the forest plants, trees, soil, animals, insects, everything! My son loved it! I will be taking him back again and again as he grows because he’ll learn something new each time. They also had a history of the park, the loggers, and original campers. My husband especially loved that. They have a handicap accessible, easy walk with markers showing you certain points of interest, trees, the biggest & tallest redwoods, etc. It was wonderful!Update: The museum along with all of the historic buildings and 1,000s of acres were destroyed by fire in 2020. The forest is healing. Please consider donating to the museum project.
We went on a field trip to Pacific Crest Apiaries, in Watsonville.
We went together with a group of homeschool kids. Dana, the owner is amazing and gave us a tour. We learned all about bees, how honey is made, and got to see the process close up! She had displays set up, pamphlets to take home with great info & photos… it was awesome! And such a beautiful place!
We had a picnic in the sunshine & explored the gift shop.
They have wonderful smelling beeswax candles. But our favorite part was tasting the different honey flavors. We bought a jar of Wildflower honey and a handful of different flavored honey sticks. My sons eyes popped out of his head when he saw all the flavors! He loves honey sticks & we never knew they had strawberry, raspberry, or sour cherry flavor! And the honey suckers are to die for!! They didn’t make it home. Yum!
Since then, my son is pretending to be a bee. He’s wearing a yellow pajama top and black sweats. It’s nice to see him in a color other than green!
Update: The Pacific Crest Apiaries transitioned to Bee Love Farm in 2017 and I can’t find any sign that they are still in existence, sadly. I’ve never met anyone like Dana who loved the bees like family, could listen to a hive and know how they were feeling, and even catch a bee and tell you exactly what type of bee it was.
So, we’ve been busy outdoors, trying to find a house for my mom to move back to Santa Cruz (woohoo!), taking care of other kids, etc., I have completely taken a break from business. So nothing new there to report. Now that swim lessons & other activities we’re involved in are ending, I should be able to get some new things made soon. I’ll let you know!
I hope you all had a fun Easter, we did! We saw the Easter Bunny for free at Woodworm Party Store. And I hope you all have a wonderful Mother’s Day! We Mommy’s deserve to be honored and pampered! We work hard! Even when we’re playing!
Memories! This post was originally posted May 2011.
Leave a Reply