mish mash

a few bags made for the preschool teachers

and a bag made for a future camp fire girl (lizzies group starts soon)



a little something from the thrift store (my dad of course)

breakfast at a favorite hang out

love this hammock, it was just taken up to the cabin but i think we need another here at the beach!

lots of tomatoes coming in, couldnt find the juliets this year so i planted some strange ones: pineapple, plum and two different kinds of roma



hanging at the skate park, liz was fascinated by it. i see a skateboard in her future, she is such an interesting kid. you never know what your kid will be attracted to, just gotta go with the flow i guess. since i have been facebook obsessed, i thought a little update was in order, i think we are pretty caught up now. happy weekend!

rock climbing

at camp shiwaka, there is a neat ropes course and "rock climbing" course that we recently had a tour of. WOW! what fun the girls had and right here in the city! just another reason i love camp fire so much!

if you are local, check it out. we will be doing a group ropes course challenge next year, which relies on TEAMWORK to get your whole team to the top, fantastic!

camp gvl

childrens forest, arrowbear


real true blue german made (from the artisan tour at green valley lake)

up at keller peake, a fire look out tower



marathon of movies:

this and this... plus some baking thanks to this book... a busy work week ahead and then time off to gut out the garage and plan the wetlands rummage sale. anyone in the area, let me know if you want to donate your stuff. thanks!!

duck patrol x 2

spreading the message "bread is for kids not ducks"!!

spring camp out

three years and still going strong, the spring camp out is one of my favorite events. we can have tents and families are all welcome... it is casual and a real treat in this urban cement jungle we live in.

we always end spring camp out with a pancake breakfast, good stuff!



my new group for lizzie will start up soon, so expect a lot more camp fire coming your way (hope its not too much!) i have been buried in saving the wetlands, planning an upcoming wetlands benefit garage sale and linking up with some other local wetlands groups. i wish i could do this kind of thing full time, so rewarding and actually quite addicting. a real thrill to find new interested people and plan events to get the community involved. maybe a future career? we'll see! oh we just had a pretty big earthquake while i was writing this, big enough to get us all running for tables. i actually thought a bear was tramping over our roof, strange but what can you do? we live in so cal after all!

colorado lagoon

the colorado lagoon is an area i wouldn't be caught dead in as a kid, it was the most uncool place in our neighborhood. well now, years later, i see it for what it truly is, a lovely brackish wetlands that has a group of people dedicated to restore it. 

we had a yummy mothers day lunch along the shores and saw newly planted flowers and a meticulously clean beach








i think i am partial to the word "lagoon" it has such a mermaidy sound to it, so peter panish... this is a beautiful place and worth saving.

wetlands workshop

today i attended a workshop to teach teachers or anyone working with kids, how to teach lessons about the environment. it was held at madrona marsh so there was an emphasis on the wetlands (my favorite!!) but also included land plants and animals. the best part was that the lesson plans were so well organized. i can use them right now in my camp fire group, without any adaptation at all. perfect!!

we did activities both inside and out




i met a most fabulous person as well, someone who used to be run programs at el dorado nature center and will hopefully help me coordinate some kind of educational program for los cerritos wetlands. i also spoke again with the director of madrona marsh and i am certain we will work together in the future. what luck to have sent an email to just the right person (madrona marsh director) at just the right time (a week before this amazing workshop) and finally, to meet the instructor who "overheard" me say something about los cerritos wetlands causing her to rush in the room to meet me. just so damn lucky!!

so even though i would have loved to just chill at home today, i am glad i got up early to attend this workshop. it was fun and i am so excited to do some of these lessons asap!

a happy mothers day to all the moms out there!!