Dinosaurs, Art and Broken Trolleys in Balboa Park

Balboa Park is one place I love to visit whenever I am in San Diego. The buildings sport fabulous architecture, there are gorgeous plants and trees everywhere, and enough museums, art galleries, shops and open spaces for picnics and playing that we could probably spend a couple of days there.
I never have a couple of days to spare though, but we did just spend a lovely afternoon there while visiting family on our learning adventure in Southern California.
While it took my father a painfully long time to get away from the laptop and cell phone and into the car so we could actually go, my children did get to witness first hand where their mother inherited her genetic pattern of chronic lateness from.
Finally, we arrived, and started off exploring a village full of artists with sculptors, wood carvers, jewelers, painters, photographers and textile artists. Some were working on site. Others just had their work for sale, but it was like a cool little museum in itself.

Unfortunately, the botanical building was closed the day we were there. It houses a wonderful collection of orchids that always makes me wish I didn't kill expensive plants in the way that I do. We did enjoy the lily ponds, and the Timken Art Museum. The lovely display of Russian iconic art on display perfectly fit into our recent learning spree about Russia. We'd just finished reading the fifth book in The 39 Clues series, in which the characters adventurous clue hunting takes them all over Russia, and had been gobbling up Russian culture and history for a few weeks prior to our trip. It's wonderful when opportunities that seem so perfect for what we've been doing just drop into life like that. Unbelievably, the Timken is also free. It's small, but does have a wonderful collection that includes Rembrandt.

Next, we took the free trolley ride through the park. Our driver was one of those friendly type who gives a little talking tour of the sites and events as you go around, even helping a slightly confused elderly passenger find her car. As soon as we were pulling into our final stop, we heard a loud an frightening "thunk" sound. The metallic crunch made me a little nervous that our trolley had run over a wheelchair or a stroller or something, and the poor driver looked a little nervous too. We all hopped out and saw that we had experienced another technical malfunction (and wondered if this was going to be a pattern on our public rides after our Disneyland trip.) Thankfully, we hadn't squished or even bumped into anyone. It looked to me like the trolley had lost a wheel, but my husband said that actually something or other with a ball bearing or a wheel bearing or something like that had broken. (Mechanic speak usually sounds like wuuh wuuuh wuuh waaah - sort of like the teachers on Charlie Brown to me, but I think our Boy Child caught something out of it.) In any case, we weren't going to be driving any further on the trolley that day, but we were already at our stop anyway, so the timing was actually not bad.

The afternoon was winding down, and so was our time to catch any more museums before they closed for the day, so we hurried over to the Natural History Museum. It's another that belongs to the science museum association, so we got free admission with our membership cards rather than the $10 to $14 door price. They had an amazing exhibit on dinosaurs going. We only had about an hour before they closed and kicked us out, but could have easily spent a couple hours exploring this great exhibit of fossils, replicas, and interactive displays. It was a very worthwhile stop indeed, and we learned a ton.

When we returned to visit relatives later that evening, I got a few more inquiries on whether or not we were doing any homeschooling on our trip. Of course, we're homeschooling all the time- the world is our classroom, but I know, this is a hard concept for most people to grasp. Schools can take field trips and have fun learning occasionally, we just tend to do the fun stuff an awful lot. Nevertheless, it seems to be working. The kids came home jazzed about dinosaurs, not because I had planned it, or it was on the standards, but because we came across a really cool display of them, and they got to explore it.
 It was another great day of life learning in action.

Does anyone have any other San Diego or Balboa Park must see places / things? I'd love to hear about them, since I know we'll be be back again.

Flower Fields

Carlsbad, California is a formerly quaint little beach town in northern San Diego, which unfortunately has exploded in the last few years and is now home to probably 7 Starbucks and countless houses that all look exactly the same. But, I still love Carlsbad because it is also still the home of some wonderfully beautiful scenery, and some really cool people- including some of my favorite relatives- plus, the town just has a good feel to it. There are glorious beaches, some cute old beach homes that haven't yet been mowed down to put up condos, and a surprising amount of farmland that hasn't been cemented in yet either.
The most famous farm is the flower fields. If you drive by during the right time in spring, you'll be wowed by over 50 acres of fabulous blooms all lined up in rainbow stripes.


It really is quite a glorious site- one I haven't seen in years, and my kids didn't really remember ever seeing since our last few visits have been at other times of the year. This year, we lucked out and our visit timed perfectly into sunshine and blooms, and I'm thinking they'll remember it. The main crop at the flower fields is ranunculus, but the gardens also include miniature roses, sweet pea and anemone. Years ago, you could just take a stroll through the rows anytime, but like everything else, that has changed too, and now it is a big tourist attraction with wagon ride and educational tours that costs in the range $10 a pop to get in.


Despite my nostalgia about the days when the flower fields were free to roam, I'm glad that they've found a way to keep their farm going by successfully combining agriculture and tourism. They're also bringing something a whole lot prettier to the world than another soy field or a cattle lot.

We weren't feeling up for a tour, but did stop to admire the views from a walkway on the hillside street above. I suppose I could have gotten all educational about it and created a unit study on the flowers grown there, their history, the horticultural hot points, imports and exports etc, but none of that really appealed to me at the time. I just wanted to appreciate the beauty of the flowers with my kids. So we did.

We did end up having a very philosophical talk about politics and economics though. Seeing all the farm workers prompted a discussion about immigration, legal and otherwise, and low paying agricultural jobs that not many people really want, but are really important that keeping things like farms going. This led to talking about consumerism, cheap labor and political backlash looking at several sides of the issues. I love the organic way learning just happens, and it was especially poetic that it happened on  farm- and a great looking farm at that.

GRR.... California Adventure

I mentioned in an earlier post on our most recent vacation / learning adventure) that we are not exactly gated community kind of people. Well, we are also not exactly Disney people either. I'll admit that their princess style story lines have gotten slightly better over the years with less of the weak "Oh, please save the day so we can live happily ever after" type female characters, but still, my kids aren't exactly growing up watching all their movies and dreaming about being a princess.
We aren't big theme park people either, as large crowds and long lines tend to annoy me, especially since I've had kids. I had been to Disneyland a number of times in my pre-child life while going to college in Southern California, and it always amused me how many wanky, cranky, tired children were throwing fits at "the Happiest Place on Earth" while their frustrated parents who had just spent a fortune drug them by the arm to go on yet another ride hissing "We're having fun here whether you like or not, so stop your crying right this minute and get in that darn giant teacup!"

But, I don't want my natural cynicism of things to mean that my children never get to experience these foundations of American culture, so I took them to the original Disneyland once a few years ago. We had a whole lot of fun that day, although none of us wanted to take on the multi-day, multi-park, breakfast with the characters Disney vacation marathon that costs as much as college tuition and some people feel is what the Disneyland experience is all about. One day, one park was about all I could do.

This year though, I thought Disney did an incredible thing  with the "Give a Day, Get a Day" program. Volunteers could give a day of service to an approved charity, and in exchange, get a voucher for a 1 day pass at a Disney theme park. It's a great situation where everyone involved wins- Disney gets a tax write off, a million people get to spend a day in a park that would normally cost them about $75 a pop, and the charities get a whole lot of volunteer help that they probably wouldn't have otherwise. I think three months into the promotion, they had already given out a million tickets .
Well, this was a great opportunity for our family. I'm a big fan of both giving back to the community, and free fun. So, we signed up, spent a morning giving away food at our local homeless mission and got a chance to experience Disneyland again. The food give away was an experience in itself which deserves it own post, and I'll have to write about it later.

For our theme park, this time we wanted to try out the California Adventure Park next door to the original Disneyland. My kids are totally into roller coasters, so we checked out the website to find the best rides and attractions ahead of time. There was no way to avoid being at the park for one of the "High School Musical" parades, but we always enjoy new things to make fun of, so that was fine.  Unfortunately, a few things that looked fun online were closed when we got there, but we all agreed that "California Screamin" was one of, if not the best roller coaster we've been on. It was smooth (as opposed to the ones that jerk your neck and spine in rough ways and opposing directions) and had lots of crazy spins, turns and loops. It was super fun, especially the rapid take off. Our other favorite was the water raft ride "Grizzly River Rapids" (also known as GRR, which ended up being quite appropriate later that day) Since it was fairly hot, getting wet was a blessing we happily appreciated. By the end of the day though, our appreciation of refreshing wetness waned, but I'll get to that later.

Every ride had an important safety sign to let people know that unbuckling your seat belt and trying to jump out of something traveling at high speeds and going upside down was a bad idea. No reading necessary for this important message. They also had a friendly recording playing that had a super sales guy voice and reminded in multiple languages "Parents, please watch your children."

My homeschooling mom mode kicked in at some point, and we had to check out the educational opportunities like the 5 minute Mission Tortilla Factory experience where you could learn about the history of tortillas and corn and watch them being made. We got a tasty tortilla hot off the press at the end. We probably should have stopped by there before buying $50 worth of miniature taco salads for lunch, but oh well.

We also did the sourdough bread bakery, and sampled some of the the most delicious, warm, chewy sourdough bread I've ever encountered. Our delight was spoiled though when my husband noticed the sample server was fondling the door handle (which is I'm sure one of top 10 germiest surfaces in the world) with his gloved hand, and reaching back into the bag to give unsuspecting people samples. I made the children spit / throw their samples out, and they were starting to sadly protest, until I pointed out that the server was now running his gloved fingers through his hair and then dialing his cell phone. At that point, we were all both disappointed and disgusted. We were really enjoying our bread up until that point, and then it not only ruined my sample, but also made me think about all the other food I had eaten that had been prepared by strangers that day. How could he not know that the gloves were supposed to be keeping the samples sanitary, and that by fondling every germ covered surface in reach he was defeating the whole purpose of the gloves?!?

Earlier that morning, I had laughed and said that the handy hand washing tips provided in every bathroom were one of the stupidest things I ever saw, because what idiot knows how to read, but not how to wash their hands. Well, Mr. Grubby Fingers and his bread samples helped me realize that maybe they need to add something on these signs about the fact that your hands, or hygienic gloves for that matter, are no longer clean once you start touching filthy things. Maybe picture directions would help too. So, on top of our little factory and baking lessons, we also got hygiene, food safety and common respect lessons as well. We truly are learning all the time.

Anyway, despite the fondling bread boy, one thing I have to say about Disney is that they really emphasize the service with a smile attitude with their employees. I didn't see anyone who worked for the park scowling- from the Princesses in the parade to the guy driving the shuttle bus to the parking lot, those people all had the friendly act down. That is a refreshing change from the attitudes you get with a lot of service people who don't rely on tips. All of those smiling faces were contagious, and really helped the mood when shuttles were late, and other annoyances happened.

We ended our Disneyland Day with what was kind of a big annoyance, but it was hard to get too mad with all those toothy grinned employees saying they were sorry for any inconvenience. We had less than an hour before the park closed, and really wanted to squeeze in a couple more rides, but we got stuck behind this musical Bug's Life parade full of singing, dancing, back flipping people with the most insanely over caffeinated huge smiles of all for about 20 minutes. It was a little scary for toddlers and me too. Just when we thought we could cross, one of the security people told us we had to wait. She had the Disney smile too, but she also had a look in her eye like "Don't even think about it lady." I thought she'd probably jump me if I tried running across between floats, and since seeing your parent be tackled to the ground by a smiling security guard at Disneyland may just cause emotional scarring, I waited it out.
When we were finally released to get past our mandatory entertainment, we ran like linebackers through the crowd to the Grizzly Rapids. There was hardly a line and we thought we were in luck. Despite the lack of line, the boarding seemed to take forever. When we got in and started floating, my son commented that he thought we were moving awfully slow. I thought it was just his perception because he knew we were running out of time, but soon we bumped into a stopped raft. A few minutes later, another raft bumped up behind us, and then another. We were right before a big drop- the thrill of the ride, and wondered why the employee wasn't opening the lever to let our rafts go.

Well, then she announced the "unexpected technical difficulty" and asked that we remain seated and buckled while they drained the ride so we we could be evacuated! We were wet, in the shade, and one of the kids really needed to use the restroom. We were good sports and waited- of course we had no choice on waiting, but we did choose the good sport part. My poor kid had to hold on for at least 20 minutes with the sound of water sloshing down drains the entire time, but thankfully made it. The interesting part was that we got to see the "Cast Members Only" behind the scenes view during our emergency exit.

We went under the man made mountain, and saw all the not so pretty gears and rusty parts and things that make the rides run. By the time we got out of there, the park was closed, so we were out of luck on taking one more spin on the roller coaster. My Boy Child was sure that the rusty parts were responsible for the breakdown, but apparently, there had been a power failure, and several other rides, including our beloved roller coaster, had stopped too. Surely it would have been more alarming to be stuck on a ride 100 feet in the air, and it probably would have ruined my admiration for the ride and given me new phobias, so it was probably best we got stuck where we did.

We laughed about our Disney dreams being dashed, made sad pathetic faces, and thought maybe they would give the kids a balloon or a sucker or at least a sticker for our troubles. They gave us big smiles and apologies, and pointed to the exit.
Regardless, we had a great time on this leg of our California Adventure.

Aquarium of the Pacific

Last year, my son wrote this lovely poem called "Ocean"

Old as the Earth
Clear blue Water
Every day you're different
And so many fish
Never stopping.

It was a runner up in the California Coastal Commission  art and science contest, and he was awarded four free tickets to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California. He was one proud little boy, with one happy big sister. My Girl Child  has had a long standing love of the ocean and it's creatures, so she was probably as excited as he was. She currently hopes to become a marine biologist someday, and of course we want to nurture that enthusiasm, so we get her to the ocean as often as possible (not to mention that the ocean washes away all sorts of life stresses, and in general, makes all of us all around happier people.)

We decided to incorporate a trip to this aquarium on our Southern California Family Learning Adventure. Unfortunately, when arranging and rearranging dates to incorporate visits with as many family members as possible, we didn't realize we would be going to the aquarium on Childrens' Day, which meant there were about 12 million people there.

I normally prefer to visit places like this mid week, preferably on days they are not hosting large numbers of classroom field trips so we can actually enjoy and learn without all the loudness and chaos. We did enjoy ourselves, and we did learn quite a few things, but we couldn't spend as much time at each exhibit or explore as much as we would have liked. The most crowded exhibit was interestingly enough on "Overpopulation of the Human World." We had to bail mid display on several portions when other visitors with Tubercular sounding coughs started hacking nearby. I have a thing about not inhaling air with potentially diseased droplets- I'm just funny that way.

Anyway, the shark tanks were a very cool feature. They had over a hundred sharks you could pet, along with several beautiful rays (who had their stingers removed- they assured me it was a quick and easy process, but the rays weren't offering any comment.) Most of these touch tanks were outside so I didn't feel quite as distressed about the air sharing in the crowds. The rays had wonderfully smooth skin, very different than the sharks, and were for the most part very friendly creatures, as though they enjoyed the attention. Many of the sharks stayed on the darker side of the tanks and slept, but we did get to pet quite a few who swam by. Two little sharks kept swimming by my son and they would roll over on their backs putting their bellies up like a dog when he pet them.


He, of course thought that this was very cool, and that he had a magic touch with sharks. Apparently, some people do not have a magic touch with the sharks, or know how to touch them nicely at all. The aquarium had these informative signs all over the place, to help people who might think it's a good idea to grab or scratch a shark, or to stick their fingers in its' mouth realize that in fact, those are not good ideas at all, but a good way to get bitten.

In the walk-through-aviary, they had these more direct signs that told people outright that the lorikeets do bite. I liked them so much, I'm thinking about making one just like it for my gate. I found it ironic though that they were selling nectar for $3 outside the entrance to the aviary so that people could feed these biting birds. One poor little girl was holding her cup of nectar out and had it stolen by a cranky little bird that was all hopped up on sugar. I thought her father was going to try to get it back, but when the bird thief gave him a threatening look and hissed with it's nut cracking beak, he opted to cut his losses. Many of the birds looked like they had come down from their sugar high- all overfed and lazy, hanging around slack beaked on branches. I could just imagine those birds on a couch with a soda in one hand and a remote in the other.
I think the Overpopulation exhibit was the one I learned the most in- I didn't realize how quickly our world has grown, especially in the last 50 years, and Southern California is certainly a place where you can feel the results of that growth. If it had been less crowded, perhaps we could have stayed and learned even more. But despite the overpopulation, between the beauty of the jelly fish exhibits and the excitement of petting sharks, we had a good day, learned a few things, and added to our appreciation of the wonders of the sea.

Tar Pits

Right in the midst of downtown L.A., with big high rise buildings all around on a very busy street, is an incredible piece of the very, very distant past. Since the 1970's, scientists have been pulling pieces of history from a bunch of goo in the ground at the La Brea Tar Pits, and the things they've dug up are pretty impressive.

This stop on our Southern California Learning Adventure (also known as family vacation) is one I would definitely recommend.


The tar pits themselves are actually a rather stinky lake with a few statues of the sorts of animals that got stuck there, and some pretty landscaping, but the George C. Page museum on site is where all the results of decades of scientist and volunteer labor are on display. It houses an amazing number of specimens that were pulled up from the site over the years, and they're still digging every summer. This spot has probably been on of the richest sources of prehistoric animal fossils in the world.
 

There is an entire wall of dire wolf skulls, several complete mastadon skeletons, giant sloths, giant bison, American lions, and lots and lots of saber tooth cats. It's just crazy to imagine that all those creatures were once walking on what are now the streets of L.A. My kids loved seeing not only the skeletons, but the models and paintings of what scientists think it might have looked like then in the very spot we were standing.

There are no dinosaurs at the La Brea Tar Pits; these prehistoric creatures came well after the dinosaurs were long gone, but many of these species met the same fate of extinction.

We learned that massive entrapment in the tar was probably a relatively uncommon fate, but that every decade or so, the sticky goo would be covered with enough leaves and debris that some poor animal would walk over it, and manage to get stuck. Their cries might attract members of their herd or family (if they were herd animals) and they would also become trapped. The communal cries would attract predators who would also get stuck, followed by scavengers who would join the party. They say the tar didn't suck them under, it just stuck them there until something came along and got them, or they either dehydrated or starved. Pretty depressing for the poor animals involved, but fascinating at the same time because the bones were so well preserved in all that tar, it gives a lot of information about those animals, and their lives.

Many of the saber tooth cats had broken and infected saber teeth in their lives, and many of the dire wolves had broken bones that had healed, they speculate from fights.

The humongous time line along one wall gives an good visual image of how small our time is in the scheme of things. Tar still bubbles up in random places along the paths outside the museum, and there are scientists that you can see working on cleaning and sorting the findings on the inside. According to the informative movie, the tar is not toxic to human skin, but it doesn't smell or look like something that would exactly be good for you.While I think volunteering in a lot of museums would be fun as well as educational, cleaning tarry old fragile things is probably not something my clan would be that good at.

Still, it was a great learning experience, and gives us a whole new perspective on the history of Los Angeles.

There are a bunch of other interesting looking museums along the same street- an architecture one, a huge art one, an automobile one- a family could spend a lot of time there, but we only had a few hours, so we limited ourselves to the museum at the tar pits. It also happens to be an affiliate in the ASTC association of science museums- another plug for membership with your local science museum- with the benefits of getting into museums all over, it more than pays for itself, and really enhances travels and learning on the road. In fact, we all agreed that this science stop alone was worth the membership for us.

I'd love to hear about amazing museums other people know of in their areas, as we're really enjoying this learning on the road. We hope to do as much as possible whenever we have the chance, and are always looking for destinations to add to our wish list of places to go.

Gated Leisure

We are just not gated community people. We're not exactly rule breaking rebels without a cause, but as relaxed semi- unschoolers we try not to have a lot of pointless rules. We live in the country, with some space between ourselves and our neighbors, and plenty of privacy to do what we want, but we do have friends and family who like the suburban subdivision lifestyle- CC&Rs and all, it suits them just fine. My very sweet aunt offered us the use of her home in a very suburban subdivision while we were heading to southern California, and it was a great chance for our family to learn about rules. My aunt was out of town herself, so unfortunately we didn't get to see her, nor my uncle, but we were happy to have a place to stay to break up our trip, and relax before we hit the insanity of Los Angeles and Disneyland.

The place was in a gated community with "Leisure" in the name, but I sense that the majority of folks living there are a lot more into their rules than leisure. Who knows, maybe all the rules help them to relax, but they tend to make me feel like I'm about to get into trouble any minute.

There was a guard at the entrance to ask 50 questions, which must be answered correctly in order to open the gates to the village. Once in, the lawns are all manicured and perfect. I only saw 2 or 3 people on the streets; none were under 60 years old, and none of them smiled. My kids did the big friendly waves anyway, because that's how they are. We saw a few gray haired heads peeking out windows at us, but no children anywhere, which led me to think this may be a seniors community. 

My band of hillbilly hoodlums immediately wanted to run across those lovely green lawns and do cartwheels, but I had the distinct feeling that such a display of unruliness and joy would be frowned upon. In fact, I think children themselves may not have been approved of, and mine especially with all their unencumbered laughing out loud might just ruin the calm order that was there. It was a good chance to learn about different subcultures and talk about following rules in the place you are, even if they aren't the rules at home.
We were very thankful to have the lovely condo to relax and stay in, but I knew that my kids' leisure was of a different pace, and they are easier to live with if they can let loose. So, I took them to the closest beach to get a little of that healthy kid energy out and have some fun. 

They threw rocks....

They climbed cliffs................

We had a lovely picnic............

And I read and worked on perfecting my lounge act. It was wonderfully relaxing and free of rules.

After we had our fill of beach, we found a neighborhood of charming old homes that was gate free, with nice paved sidewalks in which we could roller skate without worry.........

Husband is a sailor, and must always stop at harbors. So before heading back to our Leisure Spot, he wanted to walk amongst the boats dreaming. We skated along happily...........

Until we came upon this........

The rules seem to be everywhere, and somehow, we seem to be breaking (or at least stretching) them on a fairly regular basis.

I later learned that my aunt and uncle are the token Latinos in the gated community, and so perhaps the neighbors were watching us more closely because of the curiosity. This made me giggle because my aunt is a wonderfully zany woman who lives life to the fullest, and is not at all quiet with her love and happiness. My cousin told me that on her last visit to her mother, they rescued a perfectly good lamp and chair from the curbside trash in the Leisurely community. This display of crazy Colombians dumpster diving probably gave the neighbors plenty to talk about for weeks.

The nice thing about a community such as this is that it is amazingly quiet at night, which cannot be said about many other neighborhoods in a city of the same size. There was no blasting music, loud talkers or cars driving by late around there. We slept deliciously, and left feeling well rested and ready for hitting the bigger and louder cities that were next on our trip.

Oakland

Years ago, I used to think that the city of Oakland was a big, scary, high crime mecca and all around dangerous place. I'm not sure exactly why I thought that- maybe due to the fact that I had a window shattered out of my car and my jacket stolen while I was attending a concert there once, and the cold, foggy ride home left an imprint on me.
In any case, I really had no idea that Oakland has a rather adorable side with historic houses full of wonderful architectural details. It also has trails, parks and way more hillside forests than I would have imagined were that close to the city.  

My family and I spent a lovely night and day there on our latest installment in hands on learning adventures via road trip. We visited a cousin that I haven't seen in years, and his wife that I had never met. My cousin was as funny as I remember, his wife was fabulous, and we all stayed up late laughing at silly stories. In the morning, we took a walk around their cute little neighborhood pocket, which was full of homes and yards with character- perfect for my girl who has been studying both architecture and gardening.

In preparation for the trip, I wanted to remind my kids of a few dangers of big cities. They're rural dwellers, but they're fairly well traveled. Still, as a mom, I do the reminder thing semi often. I think they took me a little too seriously though, as when we got off the freeway late at night on a dark street with graffiti, one of them said, "Shhh, be quiet, and don't look at anyone. They could have a gun!" I told them there were probably more guns in our hillbilly neighborhood at home, and that most people in the world (including the city) are mostly good. City people just aren't used to the friendly "Hi there!" from smiling strangers that we tend to throw out, and that's why they look at us oddly, and that of course, wherever there are more people, there are more opportunities for criminals, so naturally, you have to be more careful. I think (and hope) that they get the difference between being safe and being fearful- you can enjoy life safely, but it's hard to enjoy anything fearfully. The kids were surprised by how quickly neighborhoods went from not so good to very good (in looks anyway) and were glad we stopped in a good one (as was I.)

As life learners, we go to museums just about everywhere we go, so while in Oakland, we visited the Chabot Space and Science Museum. It's one of the many museums that we can get into FREE with our membership to our local science museum, and it was definitely worth the stop. There was all sorts of space travel and astronaut paraphernalia including some groovy astronaut outfits.




Husbands' favorite exhibit was the Russian space capsule- they also had a model of the capsule that sent the first dog into space- the poor thing never
made it home though, and the quarters didn't look all that cozy. I wonder if she was medicated as I would think that sailing away from earth at high speeds in a tiny plastic and metal box had to be a pretty stressful experience for a dog that had no idea what in the heck was going on.
Anyway...Boy Childs' favorite part was the "Beyond Blastoff" exhibit where he got to try out astronauts weight lifting and exercise equipment. .Girl Child liked all the hands on exhibits and the movie "Tales of the Mayan Skies." I myself was a little sleepy and had to fight napping in the dark theater with the lovely background music and soothing narrators voice.
We were all amazed by the space toilets and recycled water systems which are quite the fancy setup. I never realized that in space they have to recycle every drop of water, including sweat and urine. I can understand that hauling quantities of water would be unrealistic, but still I have trouble with the idea that this processed and recycled water is "cleaner than tap water in many cities." Reason #12,472 why I am probably not a good candidate for space travel- I have an aversion to drinking processed body fluids

Outside, we were treated to three huge telescopes- like big enough to require their own buildings with roll away rooftops, and clear enough skies to see Jupiter during the day. They have free star watching parties on Friday and Saturday evenings, but unfortunately, we wouldn't be able to catch one on this trip.
We would've liked to also explore the surrounding forested park area around the hilltop museum, but we had to hit the road, so that's on the list for next time. We bought some planet sticker and game books for the car ride, and got going.
So, now that I know there are plenty of reasons to stop on that side of the bay, I guess I won't always just race over the Bay Bridge and head into San Francisco. I'm very much looking forward to going back to Oakland again when I have more time to explore what a fun city it is. The kids are too- especially now that they know they don't have to avoid all speech or eye contact while we're there.

Nipple Nazi? Really?

I've just finished an intensive Lactation Educator training, that took up a huge chunk of my last week (hence the lack of writing) and gave my brain an overload of information. It was a great thing to see nearly 70 other women and one lone male from at least 4 different counties there to get current education to help moms and babies get off to a good start (although there were a few who clearly were forced into the training by their employers, but that attitude was uncommon by far.)

The training was full of new information, some things I never would have thought of, and some things I already knew in my heart, but now I have the science to back up. Some of the medical aspects such as diseases and abnormal conditions were rather scary. Although, if the idea of breasts being referred to as "pendulous" was shocking to me, I imagine it disturbed the token male even more so.

The component on working together as professionals brought out a few things that never cease to surprise me. For example, there seem to be people who choose to go into the field of caring for birthing women and their babies, who don't really seem to like birth (which can be loud, messy and unruly) or babies (who tend to be needy and cry a lot.) Perhaps they go into it for the money, but I am equally surprised and saddened when some of these people seem to resent other people in adjacent jobs who actually do like helping the moms and babies. They have a whole list of derogatory names for breastfeeding advocates. I know we've been called "the boob ladies" by random men at community events, but when healthcare professionals call names, it kind of puts a different spin on it.

A nurse at a hospital (that is more known for it's NICU than it's baby friendly practices) said she was very shocked when she made her first referral to the Lactation Consultant for a patient who was having a hard time getting her baby to latch on. Some of the other nurses began to groan "Oh no, not the Nipple Nazi." Seriously? Helping a woman prevent sore nipples, and a baby get nutrition is similar to mass murder? Really?

Apparently, they felt that the woman who was specifically trained to help in this situation was a Nazi because she was "always trying to get people to breastfeed when it really wasn't a big deal to just supplement." The fact that the "Nazi" had thousands of hours of training specifically in this area of expertise, that the supplement in many cases creates additional problems, and that their own job protocol included helping breastfeeding mothers actually succeed did not seem to be a part of the equation. I know it can be hard to learn to do things differently than we have in the past, but it is after all a part of life, and in this case, being current in the field of medicine is their job. I could understand the bad rap if the consultant was gruff or rude or aggressive with the mothers, but that doesn't appear to be the case. I don't think it was the consultants' demeanor, just the fact that she was messing with the good old way of doing things.

Now I've met a quite a few people in the lactation business, and most have them have been pretty loving and kind people- the kind of people I'd want supporting me if I had a new baby and was having a hard time. I've never met one who was rigid, or mean, or in any way trying to make mothers feel guilty if they chose to give up. They usually seem like people who actually just want to help.

That's not to say that the mothers who give up don't feel guilty- they often do, but not because the lactation consultant made them. Mother guilt is pretty strong in our culture, and we all feel bad when we are unable or unwilling to accomplish something that we know would have been good for our babies.

I realize that working at a breastfeeding support center, some people automatically consider my coworkers and I members of the Breastfeeding Police. I don't know whether to laugh or cry about that. I am a woman with a less than quiet manner, and an expressive personality in most of my life, so I have to tone down my natural self in my work. I do try to be professional, but more importantly, I hope I am able to be kind to my clients more than anything. Having a baby is not always easy, and the mamas deserve some TLC. My co-workers happen to be some of the sweetest women around though. Someone once described my supervisor who had helped her try to breastfeed her baby with Down Syndrome by saying "I wish I could take that woman home with me and have her be my children's grandma." I'm thinking that doesn't sound like Nazi material...

Working with the general public, most of us realize it takes all kinds of people to make up the world. We try to support people wherever they are at, knowing that most people are genuinely trying to do the best they can for their babies. I've met some women who try so hard, doing all the right things, and it just never seems to work. My heart breaks for them, and I always make sure they know what awesome mamas they are. I've also met women who give up on the first sign of trouble or inconvenience, and a few who just don't seem to care. Sometimes it's not easy when someone tells you they prefer formula because their baby rarely poops when they drink it, but I still don't try to make them feel bad for constipating a baby on purpose. I try to give them info on bonding while bottle feeding because in the end, I'm not there to judge anyone, but I am there to be an advocate for the baby.

Discussions were had over fear of making mothers feel guilty. Although no one would feel bad telling a pregnant woman that smoking could harm her baby, and encouraging her to quit, for some reason telling a mother the truth about formula and breast milk, and trying to help her breastfeed is off limits for some. I'd think in both cases the approach would be what mattered.

Everyone knows that we're supposed to eat lots of fruits and vegetables and exercise regularly, but most of us don't do that either. I don't think we have the overwhelming guilt about it though. Why? Maybe because there is something so personal about our babies, and our mothering. We love these little people, usually more than we love ourselves, and we so want to do a good job, that it's really hard to hear messages about things we didn't do. Even when the bearer of the message is kind, they still represent something, and in some cases, I think it is regret.

Most people are not going to respond well to a guilt trip, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve factual information to make an educated choice for their family and professional support when they need it. I wonder how many moms have received bad information that led to problems or made them worse, and grieve over the fact that they feel ripped off? I've met a lot, and that makes me angry, not at the moms, but at the fact that the bad advice is so prevalent, at the culture that makes it hard, and at the formula companies for their sneaky and deceptive marketing.

I've been vocal in my criticism of formula marketing in the same way that I'm critical of tobacco marketing. That doesn't mean I'm judging all smokers or formula feeders- I have friends and family who have been smokers, and I know wonderful mothers who have formula fed.

Perhaps the name callers have met some overly enthusiastic breastfeeding advocates? I guess I have trouble picturing a military policing attitude being the norm in the field, but I'm sure there are exceptions.

In any case, I think it's a reminder for everyone who deals with now moms to make sure we treat every one of them with respect, no matter her choices. I am thankful to be able to say that I think the ladies I work do. They are about the farthest thing from Nazi's I can imagine. I agree with the woman who wanted to take home my supervisor- these are the women that I would be glad to have be the aunties and grandmas to my own kids.

The $5 Haircut

Here's a life lesson of the day to take note of: You might want to be wary of $5 student haircuts. Now, this may seem obvious to some people, but I am a woman of thrifty nature, and with the economy such as it is, and all the financial gloom and doom in the media, I've been on the lookout for ways to be thriftier than usual. One of my ideas of places to save was on haircuts. I've never been comfortable cutting my sons hair as I have a deep fear of accidentally creating a bowl cut or a mullet. My daughter's hair used to be easy to cut in the past when it was all one length, but recently, she decided that she wants stylish layers. I was feeling the urge to add a few layers to give some life to my own hair as well, and not about to attempt that on my own. But, between the three of us, I'd be looking at spending $50 to $100 at least.

Then, we remembered seeing an ad for the beauty school featuring trained students under professional supervision who could cut our hair for only $5 each. We decided to give it a try- I mean, the girls giving haircuts at the mall for $20 each with no professional supervision were probably just in that beauty school a few months earlier. At least the ones still in school have a teacher overseeing the whole thing. Yes, this seemed perfectly logical at the time. When we called and found out they could schedule all three of us that very afternoon, we jumped.

On arriving at the front desk of the beauty school, we began having second thoughts. Two happy, very nice, young ladies hurried up to offer their hair cutting services. One had rainbow colored hair in a sort of biggish style. The colors were all very pretty, but perhaps one or two at a time rather than five colors at once, or at least spacing the orange and purple so they were not right next to each other might have been more my taste. The other gal had a very short boy style with a thin, long braided tail that I am guessing was another students project in hair extensions. At first glance, neither was what we would have imagined the person holding scissors to our heads and deciding the fate of our hairdos to look like, but I always encourage my kids to have an open mind. So, I sent my kids to go with them, and I waited for the next stylist. When she walked up a minute later, I was relieved that she had a cute hairstyle- one that I might choose for myself. I was very happy to see that, but it didn't occur to me at  the time that someone else had cut her hair. Just because a person has a cute hair cut does not necessarily mean they can give you one.

So, we were seated, and the cutting began. My kids looked nervous at first, and I tried to give them reassuring smiles. During the entire time of our haircuts, another student sat in an empty chair in front of the mirror next to us looking bored and creating on her own head what may be one of the tallest hairstyles I have ever seen. Rat, spray, tease, spray- her creation kept growing. I'm not sure if she would be able to sit up straight in a car without her hair having to bend, but she didn't look concerned. She followed it up with Cleopatra eyeliner, and Geisha lipstick. I had to give my kids the big eye "don't stare!" look, because they were slack jawed in amazement at the use of such quantities of hairspray. Actually, my son had to ask what it was that she kept spraying on her head, as the poor child is being raised by a grooming slacker who rarely bothers with products.

Anyway, the rainbow haired girl working on my daughter was confident, and began snipping away. In no time she was standing next to me with a cute new style. In fact, she got the best haircut of any of us by far.

The shorter haired girl with my son was more hesitant. He had longish hair, that would have looked great on a surfer with gorgeous natural highlights that people would pay lots for. She didn't seem to want to cut it- in fact she kept asking him "Are you sure you want more cut off?" with a pained look on her face. I thought he was only going to get a trim, but he ended up getting all his lovely highlights chopped, by his own choice though. It was a tad more than slightly crooked, and I kept finding stray hairs that were missed, but he was very happy with his new look. In fact, he was all smiles, and seemed to have loved the attention from the girl, so I certainly didn't want to burst his bubble by mentioning the flaws.

My stylist was by far the most nervous. I got the feeling that I was one of her first non-mannequin haircuts. She was sweet as pie, and was actually doing OK. I tried to keep a nice mellow conversation going- nothing too distracting to the work at hand, but hoping that if she was calm, her hands wouldn't be shaking. The trouble was, she was really slow, and afraid to make any mistakes (which I appreciated.) But, she kept calling the scissor happy instructor over for reassurance (which I didn't so much appreciate.)

The teacher was a highly made up gal- hair, nails, make up, clicky heels- the whole bit. She was extremely confident in her skills- so confident that she seemed to not hear the fact that I didn't really want to lose any length, or really much of anything I said. She was too busy impressing her student with her amazing knowledge of styling. I had been wanting to grow my hair out (after donating about 10" last summer) and I only wanted a few layers, but Miss Snippity Snips kept coming by and just taking a little here, a little there while showing my student how to use all of the fancy different scissors. Every time she did something on one side, we obviously had to do the other. Every time she would walk by, or the student would ask her for advice, I would cringe. I sensed that she felt herself a master artist who was sure she knew better than her silly commissioners, and therefore couldn't be bothered to listen to them. Only it wasn't a clump of clay- it was my hair, and I was already in too deep to walk out.

An hour and a half later, and about three inches shorter,  I told my nice stylist I thought it was just great. It was even on both sides, and it was a cute style in the end, although not at all what I had asked for when I went in. She seemed to sense that I wasn't 100% satisfied, and offered to keep going. I politely declined the offer, and tried to reassure her that she was doing a fine job.

I'm aware that it could have been much worse, and that I'm lucky we got out of there in the condition we did. I'm also aware now of just how risky $5 haircuts can be.

CreekSchooling

I know that some homeschooling families might consider an afternoon at the creek a "break from school work," but for our family, time spent enjoying nature is what our homeschooling lifestyle is all about. Armed with a bag that usually contains at least a book or two to read aloud or alone, sketch books and pencils, maybe the camera or magnifying glass, some kind of hand crafts, and of course some snacks and water, the kids, dogs, goats and I head down the hill for an afternoon of creekschooling.

I have no doubt that the learning that has taken place along the banks of our creek is just as productive and worthwhile as any that would have come in a classroom or at a desk. In fact, it might be more so, because the kids are actually interested and having fun. I never hear them complain "awwww, do we have to go to the creek now?" or try to get out of going. They enjoy seeing the changes and so do I. We always start with a little exploration, finding out what's new in this familiar place. Each season has it's own uniqueness. Over the course of the year, the creek swells and dries up. Green grass turns yellow, then goes to seed and dies off, and then a soft new carpet of green grass pops up again. Wildflowers turn into stickers that poke into our socks and dogs feet. Sprouts grow into seedlings and then little trees, unless of course the goats get them first. Egg sacks become tadpoles, and then croaking frogs.

We explore a little, and then find a spot that has the right mix of sunshine and shade, and some place to sit and hang out for a while. I'll read aloud, and the kids will draw or sew or in some way have their hands busy. Sometimes one kid will want to read on their own, and I'll work on a math concept or writing project or whatever the other kid has going with them.

Of course, creekside bookwork does have it's distractions- namely mischievous goats who try to sneak up and nibble the pages of paper. Several of our own books have bite marks in the corners, but the library does not appreciate this, at all, and it can be quite costly. It's also sad when a drawing someone was working hard on  loses a chunk to the jaws of a pesky goat. Dogs also run through the creek and shake off all over whatever we have out. We can't bring certain things like large board games etc down there, and we can't spread out too far either, since we sometimes have to pack up in a hurry and chase a wayward animal who decides the grass is greener somewhere else.

Still, the benefits are worth it. What kid wouldn't rather spend their day at a creek than in a desk? We are not the schooliest type of homeschoolers, but sometimes we come across a workbook or some other piece of curriculum that is a good match for one of my kids at the moment, and we usually bring it along to the creek with us to work on. Besides the obvious nature observation and journaling, my kids have done math, calligraphy, and recently written messages in Egyptian Hieroglyphics at the creek. They've learned new drawing techniques, written poems and stories, and studied people and places from around the world down there. Environment really does make a difference, and the sound of water trickling over rocks tends to relax the body and mind for whatever lies ahead. That's why stores sell those pretty little indoor desk waterfalls to relax stressed out people, but whenever possible, I'll take the real thing, and so will my kids.
It comes with bugs, mud and annoyances, but CreekSchooling is one of the things I think my kids will remember from their childhood. I know I will.