Hi! Me again! Sorry I haven't updated for a long time, but here I am again! So, in February we went to Homeschoolers Science camp at Mt. Hermon. (Actually, it was homescooling FAMILIE'S science camp at Mt. Hermon, but same thing.) Anyway, We stayed at Mt. Hermon for a week. (Me, my sister, my two brothers, and my mom.) It was so fun! We went hiking, creek walking, and we made baskets and candles, and we went on a night hike, and a lotta other cool stuff.

     On the night hike, we hiked around the forest, doing all kinds of activities to test our senses, such as; doing an alone hike for 100-200 ft in the dark, guessing crayons color in the dark, and my favorite, LIFE-SAVERS! That's right, we were given a Winto-Green Life-Saver to chew on in the dark, we got partners and looked into each other mouths while we were chewing. and believe it or not, we saw sparks in each others mouths! Amazing, no? And folks, feel free to try this at home, all you nedd is;

• A partner or a mirror
• A pack of Winto-Green Life-Savers, (It only works with Winto-Green so don't use another flavor,) 
• A dark area

     Now you and your partner, (or mirror) face each other in the dark area, and start chewing the Life-Saver with your mouth WIDE open! That's all there is to it! Leave me your comments about your experiences with this test!

        At camp, w also got to do daily activities, such as go to the fieldhouse. The fieldhouse has a basket ball court, a volley ball court, an airhockey table, 3 ping-pong tables, 5 foos-ball tables, and a Gockey. (mini hockey.) Also, you could go to the pool, hike in the forest, or drive around Mt. Hermon. It was such a fun trip!!!!!

     Hi! This is my first blog entry. (Usually my mom writes it.) I'm 12, and I want to tell you about our fieldtrip to the Oakland Zoo.

     A few weeks ago, we went to the Oakland Zoo. When we arrived, us kids were blown away. ( We couldn't see any animals, but we were blown away to see a mini coaster in the ride area.) As we walked into the zoo, our eyes were drawn to the flamingos. Seeing the voice-box, a key, (so we could litsen,) was an immeadiate want. So it was off to the gift-shop.

     Once we had left the "ever-wonderful" gift-shop, we began to browse the zoo. Here's a shorts list of some of the animals we saw:

1. Tigers
2. Lions
3. Sun Bears (Oh my!)  
4. Giraffes
5. Elephantes
6. Zebras
7. Alligators

And many more. In the childrens zoo, a lot of animals had "play grounds" i.e. Rabbits= burrow slide

Otters= log play place

Bugs= Giant Bugs and spiderweb

ect, ect. There was also a petteing zoo with lots of goats. (The sign said goats an d sheep, but we didn't see any.)

     At the end of the day we took a train ride around the park, then packed into the car. It was a long and tiring , (but fun!) day. 

Today we went to one of our favorite spots for a nature walk. We visited the Hakone Gardens at the foot of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The gardens are truly spectacular and change so much from season to season that it's always a treat to see how they look. This time the cherry trees were just starting to bud and a few had begun to blossom. There is a large koi pond filled with huge fish in amazing colors as well as big healthy slider turtles sunning themselves on rocks. We even saw a large turtle giving a lift to a very young turtle on her back (we of course imagined it was a mama turtle...). There were gorgeous cascading waterfalls and a myriad of terraced trails to explore. Three WWI era teahouses are tucked in various locations throughout the gardens.

The kids brought their sketch books and had a ball sketching waterfalls and the views from the higher paths. They also loved the bamboo garden which features a huge variety of exotic bamboos. We also discovered the most amazing smelling flowers on a shrub. We hunted someone down who knew what it was and learned that it's called Winter Daphne. The fragrance is heavenly! We are going to look into ordering one for our yard!

We are getting back into the groove post-holidays and have some fun things to look forward to in the next couple of months. DS (10) and DD (12) will be starting a Spanish enrichment class through their ISP that will last through February. Both are looking forward to it very much. Next week, we will be meeting our new park group that hangs out once a week. This will be a great opportunity for new friendships, networking and idea exchanging.

In Febraury, we will be attending a week-long science camp for homeschoolers. Each family has their own cabin and does their own cooking, but the days are filled with workshops, guided hikes, and other activities. We are really looking forward to spending a week in the mountains and love the fact that there will even be activities for DS(2) and DD(5).

In February we will be traveling to Southern California to visit the last two California missions that we have not seen down south (two years ago, when DD was a 4th grader we saw all but two to the south and three in Northern CA - we will be crossing those off this year). We will also be using our membership to LACMA to see the La Brea Tar Pits and the other current exhibits (last summer we used it to see the remarkable King Tut exhibit, as DD studies ancient civilizations this year in 6th grade). Of course, it would be rude to not drop in on Mickey, so we will be doing Disneyland and California Adventure as well. There are also several smaller fieldtrips we will be taking in the next weeks as well and will report on them as we go.

 Lastly, we have a family member who has worked closely with the people at the state capital (and seen the governors, present and former, several times) who will be helping us set up a special tour of the capital in the coming months. We are really looking forward to that treat! That's it for now. We'll keep you posted!