Usborne books!!!

Here's the thing. I love Usborne books. I really love them.

Since I spent so much money on them last year - and because I use them as our text books for school - I decided to become a consultant for them. So here I go, a home based business.

So if you want some Usborne books, here's the link to my website.

http://b4661.myubam.com/

And if you want to know more, you can just email me.

I do love their books. They helped me teach my kids all kinds of stuff last year, and I'm looking forward to them again this year. They also have all kinds of activity books. Which are amazing! And sticker books.

Anyways, I'm excited about the new venture in my life. I really am. This should be a lot of fun!!!

Our trip to Solvang.

Solvang is this little town about 40 minutes north of Santa Barbara. It's claim to fame is that it is a Danish replica - and it does a pretty good job. Most of downtown is built to resemble classic Danish architecture. And there are a bunch of shops that sell European pastries, Danish food, and European artwork.

We started our day eating at a pancake house. The kids had pancakes and waffles. Jon and I had Danish sausage and eggs. We loved the sausage. The eggs not so much. And Abby ate my hash browns. So I was hungry by the time we left the pancake house. 

So we went walking. We first went to the Christmas store. I think Jon was hoping that the store would be closed. Nope. It was open!!! And I love the ornaments there. We are totally shopping there a few times a year. I can't spend all my money at once, so we will go a few times a year and stock up on ornaments. Our kids are older, we can get nicer ornaments now. 

We also hit up a bakery. Which was great for me. They had some gluten free items, so I could eat. The best part was they also had chocolate cookies, so the kids didn't try to steal my food this time around. I love the European bakeries. Jon did too. I even stopped on our way out of town so we could bring a bunch of things home. Jon has been eating eclairs every day (I got him 3). He's gone through them all now, and found me a recipe for them online. I wonder if he wants me to make them?

After the bakery, the stores were open. So we went into a bunch of them. We got new hats. We got salt and pepper shakers - because our old ones didn't make the move. We bought trinkets for people we love (my sister and mom) - and Abby and Nicholas insisted that we get a spoon to add to my mom's collection of spoons. 

We also went through a bunch of shops where we didn't get anything. If I am ever going to get a new clock for our house, I know where I'm getting it. There was a glass blower that made the most amazing clocks. I really wanted one. At which point I checked the prices and decided I didn't really need one that day.

Nicholas got a captain's hat. I got a big southern hat for the beach. I'm super excited about it. Nicholas didn't take his hat off for the rest of the day.

We left downtown and headed outside of town to a castle playground. We had so much fun, I forgot to take pictures. But we played around for a little bit, and then went to a miniature horse farm and saw the horses. We just got to stand around the fence and look at the horses. But it was a fun break before we headed back to downtown for lunch.

We left after lunch (which we ate at about 1p). It was a long day for the kids since we mostly walked. I had on my pedometer, and we went about 4 miles of walking that day. Some of it I did carrying Abby. Nicholas walked the whole thing by himself. Aided by some sugar from the rock candy his father bough him.

When we moved to Santa Barbara, we made a family promise - that we would get out and explore more as a family. So far we've been keeping that promise. On Saturdays we head out on an adventure. Sometimes it's just to a new restaurant and exploring a new part of town - or the beach - or, like this time, to a new area to explore. I'm really loving the family aspect of life down here. 

Abby goes to ballet camp!

This year was Abby's first time to get to go to camp. Santa Barbara Parks and Rec had a princess ballet camp that I sent her to.

Do you think she enjoyed herself? She did for the first two days. After that it was only because she was dancing on a stage on Friday that she went to "practice camp" on Wednesday and Thursday. Maybe it was because the camp is during the time that we normally have downtime and reading time. Maybe it was because she never wanted to eat lunch before her camp. She just wanted to take a bunch of snacks and eat them there. And maybe it was because she had her grandmother here and wanted to spend more time with her than at camp. But regardless, she ended up being so happy with camp after camp. It was just the getting to camp that was a problem sometimes.

  

For her this was a big deal. She went to camp with other kids. She had to interact with other kids. She had to wear her leotards. She had to have her hair up. She had to follow the rules and deal with all the noises inherent when you have 8 little girls dancing to various princess songs. She had to deal with the teacher telling stories she might not have liked (they learned and listened to a different classical ballet each day).

Abby also had to deal with her anxiety. I sent her with her chew necklaces (those teething necklaces), that are her go to thing to chew on when she gets nervous. She didn't use them. According to her teacher, when she got overwhelmed, she just went to the side of the room and danced by herself. That's a good coping mechanism. I'm good with her learning that. It was a really big deal for her to go to camp for 5 days in a row. And get on stage and do all the dances. She did amazing.

Maybe the best part of the production was the Popsicle afterwards. After every dance they asked their teacher if it was time for frozen treats yet. It was pretty cute. As were the pauses in the productions so the kids could drink water. Or put on lipstick that they ran to their moms to get. Or watching them all peek from behind the curtain to wave at us before the production. 

Best of all was watching Abby and her love for dance shine through. 

She doesn't know it yet, but she's got a ballet video coming for home - two actually - so she can dance at home while we wait for her ballet class to start in September. 

The beach.

We spend a lot of time at the beach. A lot. We are there at least three or four times a week. In the past 7 days we have been to the beach 6 out of 7 days. We tend to go to Goleta City Beach. It's about 5 minutes from our house by car. It has free parking. And it is not a place tourists go. The beaches in Santa Barbara proper are where tourists go. We have been there this summer, and we are going to avoid them for a little while longer. We like uncrowded beaches. Filled with sand and ocean views. Not views of other people. Nicholas likes to build sand balls, then a wall, and then crush the wall with the sand balls. Abby just builds. Neither of my kids are big sand castle builders - which is fine. Both are huge hole diggers. On Saturday we totally went and sat by a family that already had a big hole. My kids just joined in the play there. It was nice to not have to dig our own hole, and simply help with someone else's hole. It gave my kids a bunch of fun and social interaction. Abby is getting better about working with people in new settings. Nicholas just runs up to people and asks if he can play too. Abby hangs back for a bit. We are lucky that no one has had a sun burn yet. It's a real miracle because my red headed daughter is also pasty white. Like florescent. So we use a ton of sunscreen. It's a regular purchase at Costco. Almost as regular as milk. What do I do at the beach? Well, I'm kind of a nerd. I do some ab work, then some yoga, and then I just chill out. Sometimes that means I read a book. Sometimes I do Sudoku. Sometimes I get in the ocean. I only get in if the kids are there. And if Jon is there, we take turns swimming in the ocean. It's really peaceful just taking the boogie board out there and floating past the breakers. We love the beach. I think it's one of the most amazing things about living here. I'm not sure how we would deal if we moved away from the beach at this point. And Nicholas is getting to be quite the boogie boarder. Even Abby is taking it up. It means they practice swimming more in the pool at the condo. Which is a nice side effect.

Santa Barbara Natural History Museum

In case you missed the news - we've moved! From sunny Sacramento (really Rancho Cordova) to sunny Santa Barbara. The difference is that the sun down here isn't so hot. And there's no Target right here. I have to drive to Ventura to hit Target. Oh - and the beach is here. We love the beach.

It also turns out that our Discovery Science Center museum membership from Sacramento is good at the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum. I knew the membership was good at various other museums - it's part of a network of museums around the country. We've been to the San Jose Tech Museum for free because of our membership. I didn't know the Natural History Museum was going to be so fun. They have a butterfly house. It's amazing! A smaller version of Marine World's butterfly house. And it's just big enough for my kids to enjoy it without getting too hot, or being in there too long. I really like it because, hello, butterflies are gorgeous. Although when they are sitting still they look kind of creepy. I prefer them when they are flying.

There are exhibits on rocks and minerals. Nicholas got to see a bunch of minerals and crystals that he likes to read about. We spent more time in that room than almost anywhere else. They also have a kids' play area - right now it is themed with conservation and forest rangers. So there is a play house - with a play kitchen - that pretends it is about good farming practices and conserving water in the kitchen. Really it's a play kitchen. I appreciate the theme, but it's a fun area for the kids to play in. The kids aren't reading all the signs or are concerned about conservation. They just want to play with the boat, the fish, the balance beam, and the kitchen. Not to mention the ping pong ball race course.

 They also have a "backyard" area. Well, it's an amazing area.

There are sticks to build forts with. Lots of sticks. Most of them are made of bamboo. The kids really enjoyed playing with the sticks. Shocking I know. Sticks and kids. Lots of fun.

The backyard also has a little play river. The water runs from the top of the river down to the bottom. Abby wasted no time in removing her shoes and then walking in the river. Nicholas took a bit more time climbing on the rocks around the river before jumping in.

There are wooden boats and lots of small boulders around the river. Kids are encouraged to just play. So my kids built dams, then crashed the wooden boats into them to make the dams crumble. Too bad it didn't work.

So then they rebuilt the dams in another part of the river. Nicholas was excited to watch how building dams makes the river go faster in a different area. He built lots and lots of dams. Then he unbuilt them all so that he could float wooden boats down the river. Abby simply spent a lot of time in the water. And walking around the river. For some reason, she really liked walking up stream.

We tried taking a family picture at the beginning of the hike to the backyard. The hike is called boulder alley. It is a path between lots of boulders - and there are signs encouraging the kids to climb on the boulders. And by hike I mean about a 300 feet path. But it was a lot of fun to walk through and have the kids climb all over the boulders.

We really enjoyed our time here as a family and will be visiting the museum again. And again. After all, they have story time with the butterflies and star gazing. Two things my family really likes.