Park Day Drama

You are probably thinking about battles between Moms when I say Park Day Drama, but not this time! And it wasn't between kids either. There was drama between the homeschooled boys and the leader of the day care that was at the park today.

The kids were all taking turns going down the slide and then stopping at the bottom and piling up. The leader woman (I'm assuming) thought this was dangerous and it was just a matter of time before someone got hurt. I would have thought the same, but maybe just warned them about the danger and to be careful. But then I'm dealing with my own kids. This woman told them to stop immediately. Our boys (not just mine) were angry. They were all having fun. There was no kid not wanting to play that game. They asked why. She said because I said to. Jake asked what authority she had since it was not her park or slide. She threatened to call his parents. He stomped off angry. I noticed that he was stomping off with Tom trailing behind with his hands in his pockets. I thought maybe they were fighting with another kid so I went over to see if I could help. The other homeschooled boys showed up just before I got there and were congratulating him on standing up to that woman. They all told the story. I have to admit I was proud. I told them to play on another slide. They were right, but what is the use of fighting about something like a slide. Tom was mad at that and I understand. This is their world. What else do they have to worry about?

It was hot and we left after a while. Tom was so proud of Jake. He said "I don't believe I could ever summon the courage to do what he did." and "It's the principle of the thing, Mom!" Jake gets so upset when he has to confront people. He didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Oh! And this is the same woman that came over and invited all the kids to come have a free lunch whenever they want because they "get more money from the USDA for each kid they feed, the more the better". I thought those programs were for underpriviledged? I'm still fuming about that crap.

A Solar Oven!

Of, course! Why would you NOT make a solar oven when you live in the desert?! I've been thinking about this project for awhile (like a few days) and this morning it was already 85 at 8:30am, so I just HAD to do it. I told the boys about it and they were keen on the idea. Jake liked it because cookies may come out of it. And Tom was interested because I said he could use a knife. Knives and matches, the boys is obsessed. I checked the web for some basic instructions. I know I had seen something you make out of a box and foil. Here are the directions I used http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/surv/solarbox.htm

So far so good. I gathered the items needed from the garage. I need a piece of clear plastic and found it in the wrapping paper container. I knew there was a reason I was keeping that piece of Easter cellophane! Tom helped me put it together. It took everything in me not to say "Careful with the knife!" a million times, or take the tape out of his hands and do it myself. I tend to get a little excited about building things. Jake wasn't interested in helping with the build. He was playing Halo.

It is out in the front yard now warming in the 100 degree heat. We put the oven thermometer in it to see how hot it gets. We don't want to waste precious cookie dough on an oven that never heats! I ran into a couple problems. You have to have the lid propped open to receive the sun, but it blew all the way open in the wind. I taped a couple spoons to the lid but that only created a sail and knocked the whole box over. I retaped it now and put it against the picnic table. Maybe that will work. As I write this, it is almost 200 degrees inside.

So it has been sitting out there for hours and has only reached 225. I don't think that is hot enough for cookies. Looks likes it's rice krispie treat time. You could bake a potato in it though....

Jake is Mad

Jake wants more Legos. There are extra special Star Wars ones at Walmart and he cannot afford them yet. He has decided to do some extra chores for twenty-five cents each and he is still mad because it will take "forever". I told him that I completely understand because I NEED a new computer but can't afford it right now.

I know you are wondering..

What have those Huelle's been up to?! Well, it was another busy camping weekend!
On Friday there was a Homeschool Teen Beach Party at Balboa and Nikki really wanted to go. And then Saturday she had a date with her mother. So we decided to take the RV and camp down there for the weekend. Sounds simple enough doesn't it? But I seriously need to learn to plan better.

We headed down on Friday afternoon and had a great time at the beach. It is so nice having the RV there! The boys were able to go for a swim (and freeze), shower off, and put on warm clothes. We roasted marshmallows with the homeschool group and made some new friends. Nikki was off with a bunch of her new friends and swapped email addresses. It was about 10pm when we left and the street up to the 55 freeway (which is usually quite crowded) was closed down to one lane for construction and we were stuck at the same light for almost an hour! We finally detoured around it and made it up to my Mom's neighborhood, but the Walmart there doesn't let you camp. Snobby Walmart in Lake Forest!! No problem, we think, we will just go to the campground nearby. We wound our way through the oak trees to O'neil park. And it was closed at 10pm! Man! Now what?! We drove to the nearest gas station thinking we would get gas and ask about a place to stay (if there was even a human there). There was an Albertson's with no signs and a couple trucks already there, so we just stopped. We just couldn't drive any more. We didn't sleep well because both of us are terrified of the cops. I know, it seems silly but we have reasons. The kids had been asleep in their beds since we left the beach so they weren't any trouble. Jake woke up early in the morning scared because he didn't know where he was.

Saturday morning, we drove over to my Mom's and got kicked out of one parking lot before we found a place to leave the camper while we had breakfast with my Mom. That was fun. Happy Birthday Mom! We brought her present and she made us an awesome breakfast. Then we headed to Oneil park, only to find the campground full. Man what a weekend! We called Caspers and they had room for us. We set up camp there and went for a walk and played at the playground. That is a nice campground! Dan drove Nikki up to Huntington Beach so that she could go to a show with her mother. They dropped the boys and I off in Capistrano so that we could have dinner and mess around until Dan came back. Everything was closing when we arrived!! Man! We had dinner at Ruby's and then walked and walked and walked. Jake was about to drop when Dan called and said he was five minutes away. Nikki's mother brought her back to the campground later that night, but the boys and I were out like lights!

Sunday was fun! We got up early and walked to the other side of the park to go on a guided walk with the ranger. We were the only one's there at first, but then he got a call to wait and went back for more people. He brought back girl scouts! Crap!! They were so loud and crazy that we didn't see any animals at all. The ranger was swamped with questions and squealing girls. The boys were mad because they couldn't ask any questions. We left the group after awhile and went on our own hike. THAT was nice! There were lots of cool plants and we saw some guy in a bi-plane doing loops overhead! When we got back we crashed around camp for awhile and had lunch. The boys and Dan were luring a squirrel to the camp with Fritos! The we heard a little rustling in the bushes and waited to see what came out. It was a toad!! I caught him and we found out it was a boy since we was making noises for us.

Monday, we all took showers and relaxed a bit, while Dan and Nikki tried to work. The boys and I played Monopoly. Tom has informed me that the game is "not only fun, it is educational". We broke camp around noon and headed to Orange for our old Monday park day. We had fun showing our friends our cool RV! We left there around 5pm, had dinner and made for home.



Tuesday, the boys really wanted to go to the skate park with our homeschool group out here. Then I HAD to go to the grocery store and do all the laundry from camping!

Wednesday, we had a birthday party to go to in LAGUNA BEACH! It was a must go type of thing and Dan had a meeting in Tustin the same day, so he went too. Traffic was a beach and we got flack at Walmart by some opinionated cashier for our choice in presents. Got to the park and hour late. Tried to pick up Dad from his meeting but were mislead by our GPS and my cell phone died. But I did get to eat chicken tacos at Ruby's again and see my good friends.

I'm glad to be back in the desert! And I'm not going to Orange County for at least a few weeks! I'm tired and I'm spending the day on my butt! :))

We Went Camping!

Yay for us! I love camping. Friday my dear husband expressed the desire to take the new camper out for a real spin. We loaded up and were on the road by 4pm. We drove down to Ocotillo Wells and enjoyed a night out there. Most people won't be going out that way this time of year, but it was an unusually cool weekend so we did it. We weren't the only ones out there. There were a couple of other campers within view. They had had cool quads and dirt bikes, so we were pretty jealous. As soon as the truck stopped the kids all ran out of the RV and up the sand dunes. The boys were excited to see we were "middle of nowhere" camping. They don't like campgrounds.

In the morning, we pulled up stakes (which is infinitely easier with this new camper) and moved on to Anza Borrego. We were looking for a Visitor Center that was on the map, but never found it! Maybe it has already been erased by the state government. :)) We drove to Julian instead. We got there fairly early, around 9am, so we got a good parking space and went to the Julian Cafe for breakfast. We all ordered WAY too much food since I forgot how big the servings were. Next time I think we will just share two meals! Then I showed Dan where the Eagle Mine was and we went on a tour. The boys and I had been last year with my Mom, but we have so wanted to take Dad and Nikki. It was everything we expected! My favorite was the look the tour guide kept giving my kids with all their questions. Tom wanted to know what happened to the Mercury vapor from when they heated it to get the gold out. And Nikki asked if he had ever heard of a lost miner eating his own beard to stay alive. Hmmm.

We moved on down the road after that and found Oak Grove Campground. We were the only campers there. The camp host came by and welcomed us. He was not a happy camper about the state parks closing idea. He seemed pretty disillusioned with the whole state government. It was kinda sad. We went on a few walks around the campground and had a fire for awhile. We were pretty cold since we came from the desert and didn't realize that is was cold and cloudy where we were going. Note to self: keep some sweatshirts in the camper! I wouldn't recommend this campground, by the way. It was fine to spend the night, but there wasn't much to go see or do, no place to go hiking. It is trapped between the highway and private property.

Sunday morning we decided to head over the San Jacinto mountains and back home. We did a big loop. That was a beautiful drive and we plan on going back and checking out more of the area. We stopped at the Cahuilla Tenwahet Vista and were highly disappointed with the "interpretive signs". They were put up to show you the plants but those plants weren't there anymore. The desert does change!

We got home around noon. Dan was exhausted. Driving the RV is a lot more difficult than pulling the trailer. We love the RV though and we are SO looking forward to going again. We are thinking about taking a long trip very soon. We have the urge to be on the road!!!

The Living Desert

I've been seeing the ads for The Living Desert in Palm Desert since we moved out here and finally got a chance to go. It is much hotter there than here so I doubt we will spend much time there in the summer! Yikes. It was 95 today when we left at 1pm. It is a zoo and botanical garden focusing on the desert. They have a North American and African side. Today we checked out the African side and got a chance to feed the giraffe! The boys were thrilled. Tom asked the keeper all kinds of questions. We got there at 9:30 and spent the time looking at animals and having lunch. Then it started to get way too hot. On the way home we saw Soak City and I thought it may be fun to get to the zoo early and then stop and Soak City for the afternoon. Next time!

Some fun things? Well, the person at the Membership window (of course we got a membership) was really nice and told us all about the things we should keep an eye out for, like feeding the giraffe and the classes throughout the year. We ran over to feed the giraffe and Tom was our leader with the map. He kept bugging me about taking the tram, but I told him to consider it exercise! We learned that a male ostrich is black and sits on the eggs at night because he is harder to see. The female is brown and sits on the eggs during the day with her head down so she looks like a big bush. The cheetah's do not come out much after 10am. I felt "cheeted"! We liked the African village and the things you could climb around on. And lunch was great. Everyone working there was especially nice to us, except the person attending the goats. Jake is very combative with goats for some reason. It happens every where we go. They come up to him and rub on him, he things they are trying to butt him and harasses them back. He also likes to make sure all of them are awake. It is strange. He especially does not like their tails sticking up. I loved all the birds they had, even the buzzards. And they had some kind of crazy stork. OH! And my very favorite, the meerkats. They are so cute.

Next time we will have to meet some friends there. We still have a lot to see and I can't wait to go back.