Cupid's Fun Archery Shoot

Written by Carly

Today we went to a home-school archery day - tons of fun! You get to shoot balloons, hearts, and other things that are stuck on the targets. Here are some pictures of us shooting! Janet Dykman, the instructor (626-242-8870), is a 3x Olympian who works with homeschoolers Wednesday mornings at El Dorado Park. They do a fun shoot about once every couple of months.

Bouncing to the Moon

Post written by Carly

Today Micayla, my friend Annie, and I all took pictures of ourselves -striking poses while jumping on the trampoline. Here are some of the best ones. See if you can spot the one from High School Musical (*laugh out loud!).
Here are Nate & Allie jumping on the trampoline the other day when it was raining cats and dogs. Look at the air they got!

One of these days we are going to try out this: Trampoline Math

America's Teaching Zoo

Written by Micayla We went to the Teaching Zoo today, it was a very long drive but it was a lot of fun! http://moorparkcollege.edu/current_students/teaching_zoo/index.shtml

My favorite animals were: the Sugar Gliders (these are very cute little marsupials from Austrailia), the giant Galapogos Tortoise, and some of the rare birds.

Allie and I liked the Sugar Gliders (see the one on our tour guide Erin's shoulder?) so much that we both want one for our birthdays! We have lots of research to do now!

You Have to Read This Book!

Post written by Carly

I am an official book reviewer for Stone Soup magazine, here is a book review that I wrote for this excellent book Savvy by Ingrid Law.

Savvy takes the reader on a mesmerizing, magical tale, told in Mississippi Beaumont’s (but everyone calls her “Mibs” for short) perspective. In this story, Mibs impatiently awaits her 13th birthday, when she will receive her “savvy”. A savvy is a gift; her older brothers have savvies such as creating electricity, and causing hurricanes whenever his anger gets the better of him. Mrs. Beaumont has a savvy for making everything perfect, and Mr. Beaumont, well, he married into the family with no savvy. Mississppi’s Grandpa has the power to move mountains, whereas Grandma collects radio waves in jars. –This may sound funny and quirky to you, but trust me, it is amazing what the Beaumonts can do, and what takes Mibs on a life changing adventure on a pink-bible-selling-bus, with the preacher’s children, her brothers, and a timid bus driver.

I literally gobbled up this book in 3 days, because it was so fantasy-filled and it kept making me want to read more. I think that it’s extremely interesting, how the Beaumonts are different, with their individual savvies. If I could have any savvy possible, then I would pick one where I could be able to fly! -I know that this is a common talent to want, but I think it would be an amazing thing to do. I envy the animals that can glide through the air; and look down at the earth below. I think that if I already have a savvy as a regular human being, then that would probably be my ability to tidy things up. I love to clean, and organize, and in the end, the organized shelf, or room, will look brand new! A tidy space leaves me with a happy feeling inside.

Mibs, I grew to love and care for. I felt as if I knew her, and her friends and family, when I finished the book. She’s very daring, but loving, and I felt sympathy for her, towards the end of the book. The whole story line, characters, and details that Ingrid Law expressed are wonderful. I always feel excited whenever I find out about a great book—and Savvy is definitely one of them. I HIGHLY recommend this book to both boys and girls, so, what are you waiting for? With it's dazzling cover (and I have to admit, I did judge the book by it's cover at first!), and zany, fun, story inside, plus a Newbery award to top it off, Savvy is just the book for you.

You can go to http://www.ingridlaw.com/ for more information. (the author left a comment here, yay!:)

*Savvy happens to be the "featured book of the month" at our favorite bookstore this month, too! http://www.onceuponastorybooks.com

Journey to the Past

We "Journeyed to the Past" again; this time at the Huntington Beach Library. Jacque Takuka Nunez, a tribal descendant of the Acjachemen Nation, and her family took us on a journey via storytelling, song, and dance to a time when her people prospered in Orange County. We learned about their daily life, what they ate, what they wore, what games they played, and how they interacted with nature - http://www.journeystothepast.com (here's the link if you'd like to see her show sometime:)Micayla and a few other kids from the audience participated on stage where they were taught how to play an Indian stick game. When the journey ended the kids took a close up look at the fantastic scenary. Then we headed to our favorite sandwich/smoothie shop in H.B. - Jan's Health Bar -http://www.stockteam.com/jans.html - Yum!

The Autry National Museum

We went to the Autry National Museum -http://autrynationalcenter.org/. My favorite part was mining for gold and learning about the California Gold Rush and how people came from all over the world to mine for gold here in Califonia! It was fun and really interesting! There was a place where people could dress up as cowboys and ride on a fake horse. Nate did it and said: Ride um cowboy! But it came out "Rumbo cowsboy"!

After you go see the Autry Museum, then if you want to see a real gold mine and mine for real gold (even though you don't get to keep the gold you find), go to Julian and there is a place that is called Eagle and High Peak Mine http://www.julianca.com/attractions/index2.htm. You can mine for real gold and go on a tour of the Gold mine! We have gone there before and it is lots of fun! But if you have claustrophobia then please do not step a foot into the Gold mine because my friend went with us and her mom had to go back out after the end of the tunnel disappeared. I recommend staying out if you have claustrophobia because when we did the gold mine tour we were in the mine for about an hour! So we had fun at the Autry National Museum and fun at the gold mines in Julian!

Posted by Mugs (a.k.a. Micayla)

Pie Please!

Pie is a favorite around here. Over the holidays Micayla made few Key Lime Pies. They were pretty darn good if I do say so myself. She typed up the recipe here for you (from a cookbook called Pie by Ken Haedrich):

GRAHAM CRACKER CRUMB CRUST:
1 3/4 cups of graham cracker crust ( I put the graham crackers in a small zip lock bag and whack it with a spoon)
2 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Big pinch of salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly butter your choice of pie pan and set aside.
2. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.
Mix briefly with your fingers. Add the butter and incorporate well, mixing first with a fork, then with your hands, rubbing thoroughly to form evenly dampened crumbs.
3. Spread the crumbs evenly and loosely in the pan, pressing them into the bottom and up the side. Refrigerate for 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Place on the center oven rack and back for 7 minutes let it cool on a wire rack before filling.

KEYLIME PIE FILLING:
3 large egg yolks, at room temperature
Grated zest of 2 limes
one 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk (t.j.'s has organic kind)
2/3 Cup of lime juice (preferably Key Lime - t.j.'s often has bags of these:)

Topping:
1 cup cold heavy or whipping cream

In a medium-size bowl, beat the egg yolks and lime zest together with an electric mixer on high speed until somewhat fluffy and well aerated, about 5 minutes. (set the timer; that's a lot of beating, and you might be tempted to cut it short.)
Gradually add the condensed milk and continue to beat until the last of the condensed milk has been added and the mixture is rather thick and fluffy (about 4 mins.). Slowly add the lime juice mixing on low speed until evenly blended. Pour the filling into the chilled pie shell.
Place in oven on center rack and bake just until the filling appears set - about 10 minutes.
Transfer pie to wire rack and let cool completely. Then refrigerate until very cold - at least 2 hours.
When you are ready to serve the pie - beat the cream with the mixer until it holds soft peaks. Add a little confectioners' sugar if you want.

If you'd like a yummy piece of key lime pie, but you're not inspired to make it, try Finbar's

http://www.finbars.com

More recently Allie made a Peanut Butter Pie from Recipes from the Heart by Tonya Beaudet (from "The Spot" http://www.worldfamousspot.com in Hermosa Beach).

Crumb Crust

2 Cups flour (whole wheat if possible)

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 Cup soy (or grapeseed oil)

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 Cup honey

1/2 Cup finely chopped walnuts

Combine dry ingredients, then gradually add oil and honey and mix well. Press mixture into well oiled pie pan.

Peanut Butter Pie Filling

1/4 Cup Water

3/4 Cup Honey

2 tsp. vanilla

1 pkg. (16 oz.) tofu, rinsed and drained

3/4 Cup Peanut Butter (preferrably chunky)

Place all ingredients in a blender in the order listed. Blend well stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides - blend until smooth. Poor into unbaked crumb crust and bake for 25mins. @ 350'. Allow to cool and refrigerate before serving. Yum!