Nature in the Big City of La Mesa!

Ian came in from taking Darby out to tell me there was a snake in our drive way. Being that I actually had a few snakes in my childhood (Gladdess the faithful gardener snake may you rest in peace) I was stoked! I never expected snakes to be roaming our apartment premises. So we ran out there with our camera. We stood in amazement as the snake laid there basking in the sun. It continued to lay there. Then it laid there a little bit longer. I leaned to Ian and said, "I never remember my snakes having their mouth open for that long." So my brave husband nudged it with his shoe only to find no resistance. The roaming king snake decided he had roamed enough and passed away in our drive way. We said a few words about roaming a goodlife and then Ian put it in a bag and put it to rest. We called our manager to let her know and she was so thankful. Apparently our dear friend had been seen around and she was worried because she couldn't anyone to take it away. I guess that is the circle of life here in the big city.

Alpine's Best Kept Secret

Last weekend my friend Lisa and I took her kids and my niece to The Fairy Festival in Alpine. Lisa was the one that had heard about it and being that my niece loves fairies, it seemed liked a fun idea. We dressed the girls in their fairy outfits and headed to Summers Past Farms in Flinn Springs. If you are a native San Diegan and don't have a clue where I am talking about, it's okay, neither did I. Another way of saying it is get on 8 east and then take the Harbinson Canyon exit, follow the Old 80 Hwy, and pay attention to the addresses on the left hand side.

I have to admit, I had no idea what to expect. I had visions of my neice and Lisa's kids being the only ones there. Boy, was I wrong. Soon hundreds of little fairies with their parents came walking in. Cars were lined up along Hwy 80. It was quite the frenzy.

We starting by walking around and looking at the fairy gardens. Kids and adults have the opportunity to submit their own fairy garden that they created to be judged.



Then, they gather all of the kids and formed a parade in which the Fairy Godmother lead the kids through the gardens. The Fairly Godmother then gathers the kids onto the grassy area and tells them a story. After that, since we didn't buy tickets to the garden tea party, we decided to leave. I was really surprised by how many families came. This is an annual event so next year we may get the tickets to the tea party.

Overall, it was a fun experience. Summer's Past Farms have monthly activities there showcasing the beautiful gardens they have. If you are interested check out their website here http://www.summerspastfarms.com/fairygardens.htm

We ended our day eating our packed lunches at the Lake Murray. It was a fun day.

Dinosaurs!

On the way home from an amazing staff retreat in Palm Springs today (which I will blog more about later) we decided to stop at the Cabazon Dinosaurs. Ian had never been so we took the Cabazon Exit and declared it time for an adventure.


Much to my surprise, there have been a lot of upgrades since my last visit ten years ago. First of all, there is a museum now with robotic dinosaurs. There is a huge covered sand area where you (kids and adults) can dig to try and find a piece of quartz. Bring the quartz to the gift shop and get a prize.

There is also a place to mine for precious stones where Ian found a sharks tooth and I found a little ruby.



It was seriously so much fun. There was also an addition of about ten other dinosaurs you could follow a trail and see.

The other thing we noticed were signs explaining creation with references from the Creation Institute and reasons on why it is important to believe in God. We went back into the gift store and asked the women inside about them. It turns out the dinosaurs are now owned by a Christian couple that lives in Orange County and the people working inside attend their church, Calvary Chapel in the OC. Who knew those dinasaurs were apart of a ministry!!

Anyways, you can check out their website at http://www.cabazondinosaurs.com. For us it was worth the stop!

'Living Robertson'

Watched a short clip of a new show 'Living Lohan' last night and realized that will not be a show that I will be getting addicted too. It is basically about a mom looking for ways to promote her teenage daughter while scrutinizing websites and magazines complaining about bad press and the poperazy. Just not something that intrigues me.

Though today I experienced a bit of the 'ole poperazy myself. I took Darby out to do her business this morning. As I was walking to the grassy area I noticed out of the corner of my eye, three men running behind the bushes. When I turned to look at them, they were standing tall which their camera phones pointing straight at me. I kept walking cautiously realizing that I left my cell phone in the apartment. Then I hear their laughs and giggles. At that moment looked down to make sure I didn't forget any appropriate clothing articles when I hear the word "gigante." The sudden attention and cameras had nothing to do with me (at least I hope) and everything to do with 'Darby the Giant.'

I guess I have more in common with Dina (mom of the Lohan's) than I thought. I may have to add to my daily routine searching the internet and reading trash-talk magazines to make sure no one is misrepresenting my little girl.

think...play...create

The children's museum in downtown San Diego just reopened. My 6 year old niece and I went down there a few weeks ago and it was incredible.



First of all you can't beat the price. $10 is the admission price with the only down fall being that it does not include parking. If you decide not to pay $10 for their parking or arrive late and it is full, the next closest 'deal' is Horton Plaza. That was the path we took, but the walk back after a few hours at the museum is tough on a six year old's little legs.

When we arrived arrived to the front patio I knew it was going to be great. There was an old Volkswagen Bug with a dozen children surrounding it with globs of paint in their hands just smearing it all over. Walking throughout the museum spurs on creativity. Every exhibit allows kids to create something. There is a clay area where the kids get to take home whatever they form. There is an area where they can make a shadow puppet using just paper and popsicle sticks. This is an empty room that has projectors showing action underwater scenes onto the walls.

My personal favorite was the 10 minutes in the 'pillow room.' There was a room that was lined from the floor to the ceiling with mattresses and tire pillows for the kids to crawl in or throw. It was fantastically chaotic.



If you know a young kid or want to check it out yourself, it it definitely worth in my book. I wouldn't take more than child in at a time just because you may be tempted to express yourself as well.

For more info about the museum check out their website at http://www.thinkplaycreate.org/

a picture is worth a thousand words...

Ian: What a nice picture you are drawing.
Caitlyn: Do you know why I am drawing a picture?
Ian: Why?
Caitlyn: To give you time to think of somewhere fun to take me.

Cheese Puffs vs. Cupcakes

The last few weeks we have had our 6 year old niece stay with us on Friday Nights. It has been fun because we bring her to church and she really enjoys the children's program. Tonight, in effort to get her to finish her dinner and detour her from asking for snack foods, I told her I would give her five cheese puffs if she was good at church tonight. It worked! She ate the rest of her dinner.

Nothing was mentioned about those cheese puffs on the way to church so I thought I might be off the hook for later. While I was working a student ministries table, Ian went to pick her up and had this closing conversation with the children's pastor:

Children's Pastor: Earlier tonight you said you really liked something?
Caitlyn (yelling of course): CHEEEESE PUUUFFS!
Children's Pastor: More than cupcakes?
Caitlyn: CHEEESE PUFFS ARE BETTER THAN CUPCAKES!!

So we came home, gave the kid 6 cheese puffs, watched "Yo Gabba Gabba" and called it a night!