A Learning Lifestyle

Many schools in our area started back to school last week. We didn't actually start back but we did do a great deal of learning. As mentioned in my previous post we traveled to California last week. Not only did we attend a wedding, we also threw some site-seeing and education in there! There are so many wonderful things to do in the area. Thanks to Carole Marsh and her mystery book the kids had definite ideas as to what they wanted to see. This was such a great and fun way to prepare the kids for our trip. I read it aloud to them and they couldn't get enough. We even read some while waiting for Steve to get the rental car. Travel is such a memorable way to teach our kids. They often talk about the different things we see and learn bout on various trips we have taken.




We started out with a trip down to the redwoods. These aren't the biggest of the redwoods, those are further north in California. These were definitely impressive though.






Later that day we headed to the Boardwalk and Pier in Santa Cruz. We learned about Sea Lions. It was wonderful to see these amazing creatures. We watched them "play" for a long time and actually went back the next day to watch them some more.









After that it was time for the boardwalk. No learning here, just fun!










Well, I guess we learned that chocolate covered bananas with sprinkles are great (or at least Zach really liked it)


And then the kids put their feet in the Pacific Ocean and learned that it was VERY cold.



The kids also loved hanging out with their cousins on the pier. As you can see from the pictures we all learned that when you are in northern California you should always carry a sweatshirt!



And they learned, or i should say we are always learning how to get along with each other.


Later in the week we saw a much anticipated landmark...Lombard Street.



We stopped in and saw a beautiful garden in the middle of the bustling city of San Francisco.









We learned about Alcatraz and that sailing on the Bay is frigid but a lot of fun.







We learned that Zachary will do anything for a laugh...wait, we knew that already!



We learned that Molly takes awesome pictures, oh yea, we knew that already too.




Zach and Paul take great pics too!






We learned about the Golden Gate Bridge and got to sail under it.




We learned all about Ghiradelli Chocolate!




And all about Ice cream with Ghiradelli chocolate---YUMMMM!






We learned about street vendors.



And then we took a tour of an old cargo sailing ship, the Balclutha.








We had a great time and it really was very educational.

The trip home was a completely different educational experience about maneuvering through multiple airports, and subways with 3 very tired kids and 10 bags as well as a stroller and 2 exhausted parents. But that's a story for a completely different post. Suffice it to say we are so glad to be home and so incredibly blessed to have had such a wonderful trip. We often talk about how God has spoiled us in so many ways!