LA County Fair!

On September 30th, we went to the fair. Wow, we had fun!! And as home schoolers, we got in free with the school groups. (Even free parking!) First, we met Courtney, Mya, Wynn and Paige and we hung out in Heritage Square where there were people spinning yarn, weaving, knitting and felting. We also saw handmade quilts, broom-making, and soap-making. We made ragdolls there!

The fair had a special program where you could get 3 free ride vouchers for every 2 book reports written (limited to 6.) So for the past month, the girls had all worked hard writing book reports to get free ride vouchers. My girls each wrote 6 book reports and got 9 ride vouchers. They were all so excited to ride some rides!!

The first one we did was the Sky Ride. It was so fun to ride over the whole fair! Then, the girls rode LOTS of rides until Mya, Wynn and Paige had to go.

After they left, we met up with our friends AnnMarie, Asher and Clover. We looked at lots of farm animals in the big barn with them. The girls milked goats again this year!

Soon, Daddy came to meet us!! We made rope, watched a blacksmith demonstration and then went and rode more rides!! When I figured it out, it turned out we got over $100 worth of free rides. It was a long day! But it was sooo much fun! We love going to the LA county fair! Can't wait until next year!

More September

September 27- We got an awesome kids Yoga DVD and my girls LOVE it! I loved how cute they looked doing this pose together! :)
September 26- Alex made us a delicious Korean dinner-- bulgoki. Yum! We also had the Korean sister missionaries over. September 23- We did this cool crystal growing kit! It grew really fast! In a matter of a few hours!
September 21- We went on a field trip with Sky Mountain Charter School to the Arboretum. We joined our friends Mya, Wynn and Paige and all the girls had an absolute blast!!!
September 20- We made an apple pie from scratch with the apples we picked at Los Rio Ranchos.
Sept 17- We celebrated Constitution Day!! We read scriptures about it, read an awesome book about the history of it called "A More Perfect Union," by Betsy Maestro, we wrote out the preamble, and then looked at this awesome replica that I bought. We then watched all the schoolhouse rock videos on the government. We LOVE the constitution! That night, we got to celebrate Kippy's birthday with a DELICIOUS dinner at her house!! Happy Birthday, my wonderful friend!!

El Pueblo de Los Angeles Tour, Dia de Independencia and our new exchange student

On the 16th of September we went to El Pueblo de Los Angeles, aka Olvera street. We LOVE to go there, and go there often, but today we went for an official tour which we have never done before. This was part of the local history and geography that we are working on. I was AMAZED at the history of LA that I only knew a little bit about. We toured the Avila adobe house, which is right on Olvera Street and is the first house built in LA. (Built in 1818!) We also toured LA's first firehouse, saw "The Pico House," ( LA's first grand hotel) and learned about the Leo Politi mural-- "The Blessing of the Animals." All of these are in the plaza right next to Olvera Street. We also learned about the 11 families that traveled from Mexico to settle the Los Angeles area in 1781 under the rule of Juan Carlos III.

We picked September 16th to come because it is Mexico's day of Independence from Spain. On this day in 1810 Father Hidalgo led the indigenous peasants of Mexico in a revolt against Spain. It took 11 years, and a few wars, but Mexico finally won their independence in 1821. The blue and yellow mural is a depiction of the revolt, by Eduardo Carillo. It was fun to be at Olvera Street for the celebrating! I love Mexico's history and culture which I proudly claim as my own.

By the way, an exchange student came to live with us on Sept. 14th. She is all the way from Korea. Her name is Bokyung, but her nickname is Alex. She came with us to Olvera Street. She is awesome, we love her!

Union Station

This year, we are studying local history and geography. So on Sept 14th, we went with some friends to Union Station for a guided tour. It was really fun. We got to hear the whole history of the station and even got to go to some places that are not open to the public such as the old ticket counters and the now-closed restaurant. The architecture of Union Station is soooooo beautiful. I LOVE the art deco style and the tile work is some of the best that you can find!

A Beach Day

The whole summer went by and I realized that we never went to the beach together as a family. My girls had gone with my sisters, but Craig and I didn't go! So I decided that we needed to go. On September 11, we left a sunny Alhambra and all went out to Hermosa Beach. We picked up Grandma Ginny too. It was totally cold and overcast!! I stayed in my jacket the whole time. But my girls swam, Daddy buried them, and they made a big sandcastle. The girls had a great time. Afterwards, we went back home to Grandma's for some hot chocolate!

Los Rio Ranchos Apple Farm

On September 8th, we had the MOST beautiful day at this wonderful farm/orchard in Yucaipa! It was homeschool day and we went with our good friends Almitra, Wynn, Mya and Paige. We did so many fun things!! We got to write our names with a quill, we got to grind coffee by pounding it in a bag, we got to saw wood, and we hung apple slices for drying. My girls FAVORITE was hand washing and hanging the clothes! We also got to make corn husk dollies! Then we got to wash apples, help press them in a cider press, and then taste the cider and it was DELICIOUS!! Olivia tried out some archery too. This place was so fun and so beautiful! We then got to pick raspberries, blackberries and apples. The highlight for my girls though, had to be finding these gorgeous black kittens! They played with them as long as they could. We had such a sweet time!! And we brought home some cider and some apple pie to Daddy when we got home. What a wonderful day!

Butterfly Pavilion on Labor Day

We LOVE to go to the Butterfly Pavilion at the Natural History Museum. We finally went this year on Labor Day which was its last day! We're so glad we made it!

When we first got there, a butterfly (a "Morning Cloak") landed on Bella. It was so cute! Then, Olivia wanted one to land on her! We hung out in there for quite a while waiting and hoping one would land on Olivia too. In the meantime, one landed on me! And then one land on Ceci too, but too briefly for a picture. FINALLY, after some stress, another Morning Cloak landed on Olivia. And he ended up staying on her for a good little while. SHE WAS SO HAPPY!! And we were too. Believe me, you don't want an unhappy Olivia! Then, one landed on Daddy too. It was really fun. We learned from one of the guides there that butterflies are very territorial and that if they land on you, it's because they want you to leave!! :) I hated to leave the Pavilion and all the beautiful butterflies!! By the way, we finally got a new camera!! We gave up on finding the old one. So I had a great time taking these pictures with our new camera. It was a beautiful day! :)