Chasing Bluebirds

Springtime

We took a trip to Utah over spring break, I hope to have a full post on that trip with lots of photos. One of my favorites was this one:

we were beat but happy, can you tell? Utah is just so gorgeous and the springtime is a great time to visit because it's not too hot. I did one quickie painting and really enjoyed all the orange and blue combos with sky and rock. It is also the end of our camp fire year, end of the school year with lots of camp fire events going on:
not just cleaning up the wetlands, we are PLANTING now!!

my favorite wetlands event yet. we also had the camp fire grand council fire event that celebrates all the kids who make their "wo he lo" the highest honor in camp fire. 11 this year! wow!

Spring camp out was a hit too, this is a time for families to camp out together at camp shiwaka... not just with their group and leader



i'm pretty nuts for instagram these days!
an art installation at the wetlands
and i started doing cross fit, ouch but so much fun! i am really enjoying the new friends i have made and how much better i feel. more to come on our utah trip! happy springtime everyone!

back to work

I am back to work, feeling the stress of a busy schedule again, ugh! we are finally getting our living room painted, it's more like a major restoration project and costing a small fortune. i am super excited and enjoy the progress. it is a bit of a mess though, kicking my OCD into top gear. since i had to work this weekend the kids went to the desert with their dad and cousins, here's a few shots sent to me: 

looks like everyone is having a great time! i have never been with them, working weekends is such a drag but i am sure i will get a chance someday. here's a photo of our living room in progress:
i love my house, really love it but it has a lot of quirks and nothing is a simple fix. the doors need to be replaced but the door guy says they weren't made correctly in the first place, the dimensions are off that hold the glass. so dilemma, do them right or keep with the design of the entire house? of course we need to to keep them the same but it's hard to tell a professional who knows what he is doing that. in other news:
i took a painting workshop and jumped right in, very fun and very inspiring. i found a local artist (who is also a yoga instructor, good move!) and she very kindly helped me get back in the groove. i am now back and ready to go! i splurged on some new paints from here and dug out all my old supplies. i had been wanting a new plein air easel/setup and splurged on that as well. everything is working as planned and i am so glad i spent a little more. i have had two cheapo plein air easels in the past that were wobbly and fell apart after a few years. at $100 each, really not so cheap when you add it up. i am hoping to get out to the wetlands asap and start on some of the paintings i have dreamed about for years now.

lots of walking around the park lately and happy my youngest is joining me now
i think that fitting into her older sisters running shoes might have something to do with it. :)

april 2012

its like i need to just put the date up there because time is flying by and my blogging is lagging, geez! right now i am: swimming twice a week, riding my bike almost every day down the river to the beach (in crazy wind with these recent storms) and feeling so much better! when i was younger i could do three or four hard workouts in a week and be down a size no problem. well at 44, i guess it takes more than a few workouts to see a real change but at least i have swung that weight gain pendulum swinging in the other direction a bit. so on my bike ride today (the river runs right through the wetlands) i was surprised to see this at the end of the trail

the most beautiful, lovely sign dedicated to the wetlands we have been desperately trying to save!!! on the other side is a sign about the san gabriel river channel describing it's route and characteristics, also very well done. in other news, lizzie has been taking tae kwon do (sometimes 5 days a week she loves it so much) and she just had her first belt testing yesterday. it was really cool and i enjoyed watching the other kids too, especially the tiny kids getting really high level belts. this was exactly what this kid needed!!

(poor olive wants in) unfortunately we had a loss of a family member this week but the flip side was lots of visiting with extended family bringing us all closer and reminding us how important family is, how fast time flies. jump stated me planning an east coast visit to finally see all those cousins on the east coast and scout out my favorite state: north carolina. happy spring everyone!!
hanging out with aunt heather

Love A Sea Turtle

we recently had a sea turtle meeting that was inspired by a nonprofit organization on the east coast (north carolina, yay!) called Love A Sea Turtle. it was started by an 11 year old girl who was so inspired by a visit to a turtle rescue facility, she decided to raise money and awareness to save sea turtles where she lives. luckily for her, sea turtles nest along the east coast so they get to see them lay eggs and can help protect the nests. we made a donation and requested a dvd to use at our meeting which the kids were riveted to. i did a little lecture on sea turtles (happy i found a great book on our own bookshelves!) and we took notes in a little sea turtle book. i had a craft for them (turtle collage) but with all the good question and answers going on, our discussion took up too much time. love when that happens! so we will continue to learn about sea turtles (specifically the green sea turtle we have here in southern california) and work with our sea turtle friends on the east coast too. 

here's my little guys and another link to Love A Sea Turtle. so happy to find ways to link our local wetlands to an organization all the way on the east coast via a migrating sea turtle! so cool!

los cerritos wetlands évent x 2

i wanted to include something we did at the last los cerritos wetlands event that was totally unexpected! we made and tossed seed bombs! now if you have read my blog in the past you know i am crazy for seed bombs! we have made them at camp and made them at a meeting last year (spreading them all over our local parks full of california poppy seeds) there was something so satisfying in making and throwing all in one go, the kids loved it!

perfect weather and just enough hands on to keep the kids happy. looking forward to doing this more often!

los cerritos wetlands

another awesome event! a special camp fire wetlands walk and restoration

taylor giving us the ground rules and telling us what to expect on our walk
for any of my faithful readers who have heard me lecture on the necessity of saving the wetlands (rants maybe?) we are finally seeing some real work being done to do just that. last week i attended the second of six community meetings designed to get the public involved in the restoration. it was run by eric and taylor, just like a lecture you would expect to hear in a college biology or ecology class (love!!) i will include the link here so you can check it all out. what i love is how formal and REAL this all is, people actually make a living doing research on this stuff and spend their days counting birds, testing water samples, watching the tides, collecting seeds and on and on... (career change maybe??)
the los cerritos wetlands has a few areas that are pristine but much of it is heavily degraded... still the animals and plants exist here. can you imagine how a fully restored wetlands will look?
so here is lizzie along the river channel looking for sea turtles, yes sea turtles here in long beach! they are attracted to the unusually warm water coming out of these electric plants (they use the cold water to cool their "engines" and pump warm water into the channel. this is the bike path i have used to get to the beach my entire life and its been only recently known that turtles are here. these are juvenile green sea turtles, and they are stopping here on their way up and down the coast. we would normally never see them so this is a real treat. the biologists say this is a way for them to avoid predators and they eat the algae produced by all the warm water
last week i had a sea turtle meeting (we have hooked up with the love a sea turtle group from north carolina, more on that later) and those kids really knew the answers to the questions taylor and eric asked them (felt good they remembered!!) so if you are local, plan on coming out to one of the wetland events. this is really happening folks and if we want to save it all, we need everyones help! i still have a few more things to share about todays event... coming soon!

Acoustic Tidal Artwalk

i have posted about this event in the past, this is our second time hosting a craft table and it went off without a hitch again. i wanted to get rid of some of my leftovers from camp fire meetings, my garage is packed to the rafters with so much "stuff" so i repeated things i have done before. 

clothespin people/creatures was a really big hit (with the adults too)
friendship bracelets (didn't have a good photo of that table but it's the crowded one you see here)
and last.... the poo poo pops! i saw this here and thought i would try it. basically a take off of the seed bomb idea.
clay dirt (from my own backyard of crappy clay) + worm castings (the "poo") and water mixed with seeds (we used the natives we have collected for years: poppies and sundflowers)
mixed up and then put into paper cups with a popsicle stick
once dry, just pop it into the ground. this was a big hit but i was very surprised that not ONE kid wanted to mix the dirt/seeds by hand!! i didn't bring a spoon but after i realized no one would touch the dirt i found a stick to stir it up. i had planned for dirty hands so had buckets of fresh water to rinse and baby wipes for extra clean up. strange, huh?
some artwork on along the water. basically this is a showcase for local artists and musicians (there is a stage set up) and art is hung on huge posts along the waters edge. it's a magical event with the sun setting behind the artwork, music playing, kids running around and the fresh air coming off the ocean. the lagoon is a section of wetlands that is in the midst of being restored and the same people who have saved it are helping with los cerritos wetlands. everyone working together to save what little wetlands remains here

the bottlecap chain was my favorite i think
feather earrings and extensions are all the rage here right now

someday i hope i can have a booth of my own paintings... we'll see!

Acoustic Tidal Artwalk

This year my camp fire groups hosted tables at the Acoustic Tidal Artwalk at the Colorado Lagoon... I had already organized some crafts from previous meetings so it was pretty easy to put together. I have learned a few tricks over the years to make an attractive kid friendly space and we had many customers stop by. The setting was fantastic, sunsets lovely and I let my kids pretty much run wild both nights. Instead of nagging nonstop, I let them play in the water and when they checked back in I would have them help until they asked to go play again. No one whined or complained, so refreshing. Liz even asked me today what time we were going to the lagoon (she had put her camp fire shirt back on!! ha ha!) It was probably the funnest event I have ever had to organize and participate in. When I didn't have butterflies in my stomach on Friday I got a bit worried that maybe I wasn't prepared or was over confident, but when both nights went off without a hitch I realized, either I know what I am doing or got extremely lucky!!!

 

the sunset friday was gorgeous and as the tide came in, the girls had fun sitting on the lifeguard chair on the "island" the high tide made



the setup was the same both nights, we painted rocks and made friendship bracelets friday, then made mosaics out of beans and seeds on saturday. a highlight for me was turning around and seeing two adults chatting and laughing while making friendship bracelets. they just stopped by and started in... we had a lot of adults paint rocks and make mosaics too.






with only one more big event on my calendar (July 31st Camp Fire 100 year Ceremonial)... then Camp Shiwaka...then planning for next year... boy this summer is flying by! :)

summertime at camp gvl

  we continue to focus on training miss maggie, turns out the cabin is a great place to do this. at home we have cats (who are pretty freaked out about sharing the backyard with a new puppy) so we have to limit the in and out activity which has been a bit confusing. we dont always know is she is asking to go out because she has to "go" or if she wants to chase the cats (or raccoons, possums, skunks etc). here at the cabin the door is always open to the deck and both dogs have relaxed and become part of our natural rhythm.
i was really looking forward to a few days of vacation, even though i had many "projects" to work on. it feels more fun and relaxing at this altitude, makes me sleepy and spacey in a good way.
i volunteered my two camp fire groups to host a craft table at the upcoming "tidal artwalk" at the colorado lagoon, two nights of crafts and games in a gorgeous location. the colorado lagoon is a part of the wetlands we are trying to save, it is just lucky enough to be right in the middle of a wealthy neighborhood so it's restoration has been less of a battle. the same people trying to save los cerritos, have been working on the lagoon restoration and we are all hoping to transfer the momentum for saving the lagoon on to the 400 acres of wetlands just a mile away.
we took a tour of the "childrens forest" up near our cabin between lots of sewing, painting and organizing of crafts. it really is a glorious place and i collected a whole bag of manzanita seeds, hope i can get some to sprout so i can plant them around the cabin.
i have been experimenting with a few photo apps on my iphone (since obviously i rely mostly on my phone as a camera now) i took a few last night while waiting for the fireworks to start and i think the results were interesting. here's one i liked:
i know its dark and weird...here is one of olive i like:
and the girls crafting
i use the "camera bag" app the most but the "hipstamatic" is growing on me! last on my "what am i up to" list is something inspired by this amazing chick who has got me adding even more to my plate. so excited to finally see a green movement starting up at my kids school and i hope to get an edible kitchen garden on the map... i can't get enough of all the books and resources on urban farms. finding some good out of this current economic mess we are in.

A Slam Dunk Weekend

last weekend was awesome. it was much anticipated and somehow everything went down even better than expected which is not always the case. first off: this was the first time in a couple years i was able to get camp fire groups to come together at one time for a wetlands restoration event. this is HUGE to me. we actually had enough response to split the participants between two dates (the next one is may 1st) which i love even more. i heard more than a few leaders say this was "an amazing place" "wow! i never knew this was out here!" and "i can't believe how quiet it is!!" plus many thank yous came my way. it gives me chills to hear those comments and i hope sooooo much that they can inspire other leaders, friends and families to come out and see the wetlands for themselves.

 

the kids learned about the difference between a puddle and a wetlands (do you know? i do now!)
we have had a lot of rain this year so there is much to see where the water remains
this is unrestored wetlands and has working oil rigs and pipes running between. i still see the beauty though, the birds and plants just doing their thing
pulling out non native plants. there are several endangered plants that live here as well as birds and butterflies that live and nest in those plants. these plants, birds, and bugs are specific to the wetlands. with 95 percent of the west coast wetlands developed (99 percent in California), there isn't much hope for their survival.
this is the biggest crowd i have seen here, so nice to see!
and lizzie loves the guys who run the event! :) more later on the TPL punk rock party we hosted after the wetlands event!