Land Cruiser Adventures: Joshua Tree Part 2: Barker Dam, Petroglyphs and Key View

The second part of our day Joshua Tree adventure took us on a short mile and a half hike through Barker Dam. This hike was fun and easy enough for even Louie to manage. 

  Of course there were sitting breaks for the little legs.

 

Before we knew it we were at the dam.

You can see that there almost no water.

 We hiked the loop and so on the second half of it we found petroglyphs!

The last part of the hike was through lots of joshua tree's. These things are so crazy, it feels like you are in the middle of a Dr. Suess book.

After the hike we wanted to visit one more spot called Keys View. We were hoping to catch the sun setting but we just missed it. But the views from the top were still spectacular. You could see the Salton Sea all the way to the Morongo Casino.

As we were taking in the view the moon was raising. As it climbed the sky it started off red and eventually became this bright white light. We were hoping to get some star gazing in but the moon was full and the brightest moon I have ever seen in my whole life.

Joshua Tree is an amazing place, and we only got to see such a small part of it. Maybe, just maybe, a camping trip would be fun. 

Hermanas Unidas Statewide Conference

Over the weekend I had the honor of attending the 14th Annual Hermanas Unidas Statewide Conference at Cal State Long Beach. I attended as an alumni as well as a presenter. There were over 600 hermanas in attendance. This is an amazing sight. Seeing how much this organization has grown literally gave me goosebumps. 

Back in 1999 when myself and Vero, (this beautiful lady sitting next to me in the following picture) founded the UCSB chapter of Hermanas Unidas we were the second chapter. Today there are 19 chapters all over California. 

Vero and I got to participate in the founders Q&A. We each were given a questions by our UCSB's very own Sommer.  They also presented us with beautiful tablet cases with the Quinto Sol Flower logo. 

After the opening the workshops began. My Comadre and HerMamas.com co-editor Irene and I were presenting a 90 minute workshop for the alumni in attendance.

We had worked hard for weeks on our presentation. We loved using the Google Drive Presentation option. It was so easy for each of us to work individually and even together. 

Before our workshop started we said a prayer and dove in. 

All and all it was very well received. My topics were a bit out of our audiences interest so I felt like I struggled to keep my topics relevant. 

But my Comadre Irene! She was amazing! A real natural born public speaker. She was funny, interesting and motivating. 

It was such a great experience and I hope the first of many speaking engagements for HerMamas! 

Land Cruiser Adventures: Joshua Tree Part 1 Berdoo Canyon and Skull Rock

Our little off roading crew headed out on Sunday. After a late and rocky start we made it to Desert Hot Springs / Indio area. We turned off paved road and headed toward Berdoo Canyon Road. We passed by all the people out just shooting rifles for the afternoon. It is crazy, people just set up their targets and shoot into the desert. 

Berdoo Canyon Road is just a very long unpaved, rocky and long road that leads into Joshua Tree. You can see a little of what the trail was like here (NOT my video). As many of you know I am not the best person to off road with. I am just too nervous. There are so many scenarios that run through my head. I am always worried about a car breaking down in the middle of no where with no cell phone reception. (there was no cell reception the entire trail). I am worried about tires popping, flipping over or just being stranded for hours with 2 cranky kids. Off roading makes me very anxious and apparently makes Louie sleepy. 

When we finally made it through the canyon part I caught my first glimpse of an actual joshua tree. I have never been to Joshua Tree and it has been on my "places to see in my lifetime" list. It was more gorgeous than I was even prepared for. 

There is something so gorgeous about the way the landscape is brown, green and this beautiful blue.

As we started on the geological trail we made a stop for sandwiches, drinks, stretching, pictures, reapplying sunscreen,

and some nature journaling. Phi made another masterpiece.

Louie made her own version of a joshua tree....

As we drove closer to the main roads there was so many amazing rock formation to see.

 
And of course tons of these....

The sky. I just can't get over it. 

Uncle Matty the nerd, he loves maps as much as Joey does.

Once we got on the main road we made our way over to "Skull Rock". We parked on the side of the road and explored. Louie wanted to take a picture in the nose so she could be a booger.

The weather was perfection, sunny but not hot. I was amazed at how you could really just climb and explore wherever you wanted. Even my kids couldn't resist climbing these huge rocks.

Our day continued with a hike and some star gazing. Part 2 coming up soon! 

Week 24: Division, States of Matter, Local Government and Book 2 of Despereaux

 Week 24 had some great highs and some not so great lows. We started the second book in the novel Tales of Desperaux. We were introduced to a new character and we made some predictions about how this character and Desperaux will cross paths. Phi seems to be into the story and really gets disappointed when she has finished her assigned chapters.

For science we started a new chapter all about matter. Trying to explain matter to Phi was hilarious. Watching her try to wrap her head around the concept was pretty funny. We broke it down into the 3 physical states of matter: solid, gas, and liquid. We made a little photo collage of each...

And then we had to write descriptions for each so made this little flip chart....

Phi was disappointed that they had finished the solar system chapter, but I think she will enjoy this chapter as well. I am hoping there is some fun projects coming up!

For social studies Phi learned all about local government and taxes. We discussed the 3 different branches of local government and how taxes are collected and spent.

As we researched our local government and who held office Phi emailed a councilman as well as the Mayor with one question each. The mayor responded and asked if Phi wanted to get together to meet and talk. So a meeting was set for the following afternoon at the library! To prepare Phi jotted down about 6 questions to ask. Phi and the Mayor had a very nice sit down for about 40 minutes! Here is what Phi wrote about the experience...

            On Friday I got to meet Mayor Franklin. She was very nice to me. She answered all my questions. She told me that as the mayor she is very busy. She has to go to a lot of meetings. I got to see her calendar on her phone and it said “Meeting with Sophia at Library”.  I asked her what her office was like and she said that she shares an office with all 5 city council members but she does have an office at home. 

            I asked the mayor what she wanted to be when she was my age. She said that she wanted to be a textbook writer.  She loves reading; she even wrote a story once. I am a girl scout so I asked the mayor if she was a girl scout. She was! She was a Brownie for a little while.

I asked her about laws and what is the most important one, and she said that everybody has to vote for laws and rules. For example right now it is illegal to smoke inside buildings. If the people wanted to change the law they would have to vote.  Mayor Franklin did not run for mayor, instead she ran for city council and the city council members voted her to be mayor.

            My last question was “Do you like being mayor?” and she said “Yes I do!”. Mayor Franklin has a very nice voice and she even gave me her business card so I can email her if I want to! She also gave me a 100 year anniversary pin! 

Meeting the mayor was the high point of our week. Math was our low point. Last week we were working on 3 digit multiplication and this week they dove into division, without a lifejacket in my opinion. I understand that with this homeschooling system there is little time to actually teach new concepts to the kids. I know that as a homeschooling parent we need to teach new ideas like division, but this transition was just way too quick. We literally went from no division to dividing with remainders. As I tried to get Phi up to speed she was so confused. She is just not getting the concept of division. There really should have been at minimum one week worth of work introducing the concept of division, then a week of regular division, THEN division with remainders. This leap really was hard on us. There were A LOT of tears shed and in the end, Phi still doesn't 100% understand it. So we broke down and hired a tutor. We turned to Phi's kindergarten teacher, the same lady who would have been her 3rd grade teacher if we would have kept her in private school. Phi loves this woman, (she is pretty awesome), and I think she will be able to teach math to Phi in a very loving and caring way. Today is her first session with her and I bet it will make a world of difference.

Despite the challenges of Week 24, we made it! One more week and then Phi will be off for Spring Break!

Homeschool Week 23: Even More Cursive, Chapters 9-15, Multiplying 3 digit numbers, Solar System Review and Phi for President!

Week 23 we are still working on cursive writing, only 10 more letters left! We also got through the first section of  Tales of Despereaux. What a dark and sad story so far. We did a few more worksheets and talked about the new characters and how betrayed little Despereaux felt by his family. We were left with a big cliffhanger and we are looking forward to reading more.

This week was heavy on math. And it took its toll. As we worked on 3 digit multiplying I tried to get Phi to talk through each step with me. She was frustrated because she wanted to keep moving forward and was skipping steps. I kept trying to get her to slow down and talk through each step. There were tears and we ended up working on math into the weekend. 

Yesterday, thanks to the time change we had some time to be outside yesterday. As a way for me to make sure that Phi had really got the idea we made a treasure hunt game. First I hid 5 problems in the living room, then 5 in the kitchen and 5 outside. I took the problems straight from her worksheets. Phi really liked this game and she did great on the math. 

For social studies Joey and Phi read about what it means to be a citizens of the United States. They talked about the difference between rights and responsibilities. She had to write a essay about 3 different rights and 3 different responsibilities. I let her type the paper to get some typing practice in. 

As part of the rights and responsibility lesson Phi had to make-believe that she was running for class president and to make a campaign poster. We had so much fun designing the poster. She also added 3 things about herself that would make her a good president.

Phi also wanted to make campaign buttons. She glittered them up and is very excited to pass them out! 

Phi finished a book this week and tested on AR for it! This was her first time reading a book from the "Popularity Pages" series and she loved it. I think she read it in 3 days! We ended our week with reviewing the solar system. We made vocab cards and went over, types of telescopes. I think she will do great on her test today.

Twin Forks

 

I have always been those kind of people who when they find an album that they like, they go beyond just like, straight to obsession and only listen to those 12 songs for a month straight. 

Back in like 2002 I was up late one night watching MTv and an unplugged episode with Dashboard Confessional came on.

From the first strum of the guitar I was hooked. Not only was the lead singer super duper dreamy (ummm hello! dark hair, sleeved tattoos and a guitar!) but the music was speaking to me and everything my life was going through. The Dash, as I loving came to call them, was a soundtrack to my life at this time. 

Last week I was reading in bed and listening to Pandora. One of my favorite stations is my "Something Corporate" station. As you are probably starting to realize early 2000's pop-punk is my jam. An old Dashboard Confessional song came on and I wondered, what ever happened to the lead singer? This lead to a google spiral fall of "Chris Carrabba". 

I found that a few years ago he started a new band called "Twin Forks" 

Chris is still looking gorgeous and after taking a listen to some songs off the new self-titled LP, that literally just dropped a few weeks ago, I can say that he has done it again. Chris Carrabba has me hooked, mesmerized even.

This new band takes a step away from the old emo-vibe of Dashboard Confessional and replaces it was a folksy-americana-rock vibe. It makes me think a little of "Lumineers" and "Old Man Markley". Chris' voice really works with this type of music. Just as well as it did with the love gone wrong angst music he use to sing.

I even love the lyrics. A much more happy and lovey dovey Chris is showcased with this band. Which works perfectly for me since my love lorn angst era is over. It feels like Chris has grown up right along with me. I feel like we have been through some shit together and now here we are happy and still singing.

Here is one of my favorites from the LP. Be prepared to fall in love with Twin Forks..

Land Cruiser Adventures- Tierra Del Sol

Over the weekend our little "Step 6" Crew (minus the newest 2 month old addition) headed back out toward the Salton Sea for another Land Cruiser Adventure. Our destination: Tierra Del Sol. The oldest off roading event in the country with proceeds going towards keeping public land open for recreational use. So now am I not just participating but supporting it.

We got there at lunch time and started the day chowing down on chips and sandwiches. Out of the back of the Cruiser of course. 

Even though at home it was raining cats and dogs, there was no rain near the Salton Sea. Instead there was wind. And as you can imagine, wind + sand = Louie having to wear Joey's sunglasses because she lost her pair in the Cruiser.

As for the binoculars, she insisted Joey MAKE her a pair before we left. So 2 toilet paper rolls, some painters tape, some packing tape and some yarn did the job.

So here is where the action takes place. Registered vehicles (not us!) could drive in here and show off their off roading skills at different obstacles.

After eating we headed over to check out the trucks in action.

As you can see these 2 were in heaven. 

And this guy! Ended up literally sideways in between rocks. As he got deeper in you could hear his truck doors just being crushed and his windshield crack. His truck was eventually pulled out. 

Rock climbing and sticks kept Louie entertained for a little while.

Phi loved watching the trucks.

And then the wind really kicked up and it was awful. This is Joey shielding Louie from the crazy sand storm.

So we packed it in and headed out for some actual off roading or over landing.

The guys claim that these roads were mellow, but anything that involves unpaved roads it too rough for me. I tried to keep the anxiety down by reading. But then I finished the book. After that I was so physically tense I could feel a cramp in my foot starting.

But the views were pretty awesome.

And who can resist these two.