The Getty Center

Today was Heather's AP Art History field trip to The Getty Center. This is the larger of the museums and it houses a more varied collection. It's up on a hill, and we rode a tram up to the top. The grounds were spectacular, and the art work was so interesting. We had a great time! Last school field trip for me and my girl. What a cutie she is, and how blessed we were to spend this time together.

Random Happenings in March

 3•15 Jenna's first club team picture. She declared that she will keep all her team pictures until she goes to the Olympics

 3•18 Walking field trip to Tacos El Rancho with AP English. They needed chaperones so OF COURSE I grabbed on to that opportunity! Field trips are fun!

 3•19 Bring your own container and fill up at 7-11 Boo-yah! Thanks to the Holbrooks for letting us in on the secret and providing the containers.

 3•28 Jenna's room is completely furnished now, and she decided to move her bed so she could have a  nightstand. Looks so cute!

The LeBaron's lost their dog sitter at the last minute and asked if Boca could come for Spring Break. Of course we said yes! The weather was beautiful and the pups were so awesome together. We love Boca! (Check out the majestic pic of Sariah...she's so pretty!)

Tanaka Farms Field Trip

Tuesday was Jenna's field trip to Tanaka Farms in Irvine.  I didn't know it was so close, and what a great experience!  We got to have a tractor tour which was like a hayride without the hay.  We stopped at several fields and tasted what was growing there.  The farmhands would gather bunches and rinse them and hand them out as we sat in the carts.  And since the whole farm is organic, we could eat everything freshly picked.  Jenna tasted cilantro, spinach, carrots, sugar snap peas, bok choy, and green onions (I skipped the cilantro and onions although I have to say they smelled delicious).  Our last stop was the strawberry field where the kids could pick and eat as much as they wanted.  Delicious!  Each student received a basket of strawberries when we got back from the tour.  I shopped in the stand and loaded up on salsa ingredients, fresh jam, and both jalapeño corn bread and pumpkin bread.  What a treat!  We ate lunch on hay bales in the shade before returning home.  We're totally planning on going back for the pumpkin patch tours!

Field Trip--CA Science Center

Jenna's 5th Grade class went on a field trip to the California Museum of Science.  The busses departed at 7:30 a.m., so it was an early morning for us.  Jenna worried that she wouldn't have a friend to sit with on the bus, but she was brave and asked some friends if she could sit with them.  They were good sports and sat three-to-a-seat on the way over.  On the way back, Jenna found another friend to sit with, so her day went pretty well.  She said the science center was boring, but because she took a camera, she was able to talk about the different things she saw.  The coolest was the space shuttle Endeavour.  We heard later that one of the docents commented that she wished she had had a camera to take a picture of our group entering the space shuttle room.  Ours was the first group of the day so it was quiet.  Some great music was playing, and the kids faces were full of awe as they stared at the huge shuttle.  Kind of a reverent experience I guess.  They ate lunch and Jenna's friends had fun with the camera.  The grounds were beautiful also, and I love that Jenna admired them enough to photograph them.  This was a huge trip for her, and one of the first that I have not gone on with her.  She did really well and was pretty positive about the experience.

Mission San Juan Capistrano

Jenna's 4th Grade class went to the San Juan Capistrano Mission Tuesday.  We have lived here forever and have not visited the mission.  It was a pretty cool place.  Heather didn't have a great experience there due to her docent not really having much of a personality, but Jenna's docent was fabulous.  My friend, Michelle, and I chaperoned our group, and we got a really good look at many parts of the mission.  I always love the gardens (even the cactus had flowers!) and my favorite is the chapel.  This mission has a ghost story too! In December of 1812, the original church (see last photos) was destroyed by an earthquake.  When the earthquake happened, the padre and several of the partitioners left through the front doors while the last half of the chapel left through the back.  Unfortunately, the bell tower fell over that part of the church killing 42 people.  One was a young girl who had been sent by her parents in a white dress to crawl on her hands and knees up the isle, holding a candle to ask forgiveness from God for meeting up with a boy alone.  The girl's body was found under the rubble with her outstretched hand still grasping the candle.  There were three different times thus far that the current care taker has come before dawn to open the mission grounds and has seen a figure in a white dress holding a candle and sitting in the window of the original church staring out over the rubble.  Spooky!   After the mission, we had lunch at the beautiful park.  The kids had a lot of fun, and Jenna and I got to hang out with our best buds which was super fun!

 Floating under the lily pads are hugh Coy!

 Jenna and Sarah at the doorway of the original church.  The pulpit is under the part of the church still standing at the opposite end.  Big church!!!

 Jenna and Sarah standing under the window at the front of the church remains where the ghost has been seen.

Moiola Field Trip

All students at Moiola went on a field trip today to the El Capitan theater in Hollywood to see the new movie, Chimpanzee.  The field trip was a last hurrah and treat for our school as a whole giving the kids something fun (and educational) to do together before the school closes forever.

The El Capitan is beautiful, and the movie was spectacular.  I got to sit next to Jenna on the bus and in the theater, and Jenna was surrounded by her fun friends.  The movie was accompanied by popcorn, apple slices and juice, and after the movie, a wild life organization did a short presentation showing the kids some live animals from the region where the movie was filmed.  The animals were projected on the giant screen so all could get a good view.  It was cool to see how the movie screen area was really a stage, too, and I told Jenna how the theater was used for both types of entertainment.  We really had a good time at this beautiful venue.