Faulkner Farms

Beacon Hill took a field trip to Faulkner Farms in Santa Paula, a sleepy farming town we fell in love with a few weeks ago. Local grocers, a town center, roadside vegetable stands, canopied streets meandering like rivers around homes made of river rock.
It was a genuine farm, less commercialized than ones closer to home that incorporate amusement park into their scheme (Knotts Berry Farm as a predescessor).
The guide actually had the kids pick and wash vegetables, which were taken home and turned into a salad for the next day's potluck.

The requisite haystack maze
and mountain

Amos loves Jack

Linda, Michael, Aiden, Gabr

Carolyn would love to take a master gardener class there someday. The miles from our suburb into surrounding valleys lead to ranches and farms from a bygone era which reminds you what people saw in this area. Most people my generation can recall orange groves, dairy farms (I miss the drive-in dairies of my youth):
where we would pull in and out for our milk, eggs, last minute stuff. The "checker" would automatically load our backseat and away we'd go.

Incidentally, I also miss the drive through coffee stands and ATMS of the Pacific Northwest.

Last Game

It was a nice way to spend an hour late Friday afternoons, watching the YellowJackets practice, then play their last game of the season - a tie.

Each game ends with a cheer for the opponent:while the season ended with a pizza lunch and spinning soccer trophies:

Coach Mike gave a nice personal touch to the trophy handouts.

At this stage, it's all about being positive. I got the sense parents were trying to avoid repeating bad childhood memories about team sports, thus the heavy emphasis on making this non-competitive, fun. Other areas seem more ramped up - increased expectations for academic outcomes in even kindergarten now - so this felt like nostalgiac reprieve, retaining a bit more of childhood; incidentally, that's what drives much of homeschooling.

Michael and buddy Jeremiah.

Bay Area

I took the whole family to the Bay Area, where I was at a conference and
King Tut was at the de Young Museum - the exhibit, to be precise, NOT King Tut, in contrast to the famed tour 30 years ago. Still mindblowing, complementing Michael's Playmobil pyramin and the Ancient Egypt rubric at school.
The cable car stopped right in front of our hotel on Powell; we rode to Fisherman's Wharf and back, wandering to the recommended R & G Lounge in Chinatown for dinner. A car with Chinese Consulate plates pulled in, so we thought this must be OK dining. Jack went for the egg rolls, ignoring the 1 per person rule that the rest of us seemed to quietly accept.
There was a nearby office plastered with the following signs and blown-up photos regarding the 1894-95 Sino-Japanese War.

We had just had a fantastic discussion in class about comparative traditions of war memory - Japan's versus the USA's, Germany's - so the topic was fresh. As you may know, complexities surrounding Japanese colonialism have never been resolved in East Asia, thus the ongoing controversy with school textbook omissions, politicians' speech gaffes, etc.

+++

Re: cable cars and San Francisco (although I just had a memory flash to Hitchcock's Vertigo, filmed in SF and using memory in a big way; remember the staring at the crosssection of a sequoia image?):
Anyway, we remembered learning that a Swiss engineer had originally built the system. Thank you.
I love the old-fashioned coffee shop/grill joints you find in downtowns. We looked up Sears for a most yummy breakfast of Swedish dollar coin size pancakes. Jack plays with the jams.
The Weinstein Gallery had impressive Chagalls and Miros. Michael honed in on a pyramid!

Then on to Bart to visit the Lancasters in Lafayette. A visit with them revolves around grilling and walking.And lots of conversation.

The great vegetable garden of years past has narrowed to this broccoli plant (due to dog).

Jeffrey made balloon art

and Michael discovered the neighborhood cat. He has always had a fond love for felines. He sleeps with his stuffed toy cat, Simba.

The godchildren.

Halloween 2009

Reepicheep and King Peter

Michael's Narnia party did double duty as Halloween costumes. Unless you've read CS Lewis' Narnia, Jack's mouse costume will have been lost on you; we seemed to spend all evening explaining Jack's fantasy rodent ID to everyone on the street.

This year's festivities seemed scaled back, even for North Ranch, which was fine by us. I missed last year's magical expression of Michael as he, for the first time, witnessed teams of children in costume out at night: "There are children everywhere," he nearly gasped.

For Michael, the meaning was in the journey, as they say - his candy trophies nearly forgotten. Jack, on the other hand, has been plowing through his bag; I found it next to his pillow. Is he a chocoholic?

Our new church, with its refreshing non-sanitized approach to life, had no alternative celebration: no mentioning of a harvest or Reformation party. Their children, it was assumed, would also be out on the streets.

Narnia

Michael's Narnia party was a community effort, rallying mom, dad, and many close friends - Thank you all!

My energy was spent producing a cake worthy of the occasion -

(summer/winter)

taking me to this fantastic cake store - Kake Kreations - on Sherman Way, tucked along with many interesting stores in the Valley, where I found expert advice, as well as chocolate river rock.

The figurines aren't edible, although that's real Turkish Delight in the sleigh.

BTW, I stumbled onto a French bakery with everyone speaking Francois, old-fashioned hardware stores staffed by grandpa types, Southeast Asian noodle shops, Italian pasticceria, & Mexican taquerias - all hidden away in otherwise non-descript avenues like Ventura Blvd. The rents in the Conejo Valley where I live are too pricey, attracting only major retailers for the most part.

The throne seating was very popular.

Elle and Joanne were Mrs Beaver and Susan
Arielle was the youngest member of Narnia

Jack was Reepicheep, the mouse, who took a tumble early on, but recovered.

Master of Ceremonies: Katherine in a brilliant, homemade costume.

Michael and Amos in the victory parade

The jousting event was a huge success,

as children took aim at a White Witch box

and creature.

We are out there having fun
in the warm California sun.

Getty field trip

Carolyn chaperoned a Beacon Hill trip to the Getty Museum. A sister institution - the Getty Villa (Malibu) - houses the antiquity collection (I toured in high school).

The kids played in the "family room,"

entered a painting,

or explored the extensive grounds.

JP Getty never saw the fruition of his dreams, but his foundation has a LOT of dough - enough, apparently, to destabilize the art market, so they purposely limit their annual purchases. We had great plans to celebrate our anniversary at the California cuisine restaurant overlooking the city, but the traffic reports were discouraging, so we bailed.
Not a 19th century museum with its imposing wings and grand structure, the Getty is a campus with several buildings; ie sprawls. A blinding, gleaming (sunblock & sunglasses are essentials) white structure without - it seemed to me - that much art ever on display, has become an LA, cultural landmark (we don't have many) with subterranean parking joined by a tram that links the hilltop complex - Michael's first choo-choo. He'd crane his neck from the backseat, eyeing the hills for a sign of the tram.