Shield's Date Farm

Last week I took the kids to Shield's date farm. All the dates have been picked for the season, but I bought them a date shake to share.

You cannot walk around the date palm groves but they have recently added a Life of Jesus walk. I had read about it and decided I didn't want to pay $5 apiece for it. Cheap as I am, it seems we should be able to walk around the farm for free! But the kids saw the walkway and wanted to go and then I found out that kids were free and so away we went. I must say it was money well spent. The girls want to go back. It is a very visual way to learn about his life. And the owner doesn't care if the kids touch or climb on the statues - good for my kinesthetic learner!

Jesus is Born

There was a paragraph that I read aloud at each station. It was written in simple enough language for the girls to understand. The walk was really beautiful, clean and nicely landscaped. You could not see the next station from the one you were out so it was very exciting to guess which came next!

Jesus Preaches in the Temple

Jesus is Baptized

Jesus is Tempted in the Desert

Jesus Chooses his Disciples

Let the Children Come to Me

Jesus Heals the Sick

The Woman at the Well

Palm Sunday

The Last Supper

The Garden at Gethsemane

The Crucifixion

The Empty Tomb

The Resurrection

We wondered what these fruits were hanging from the palm trees. Were they small dates? Were they berries? It turns out they are the fruit of the California fan palm, the only palm native to California. We actually found this out at a trip we took today which I will blog about later.

This walk has been one of the highlights of the trip for them and we almost didn't do it! Check off religion, history, and nature study for our homeschool afternoon.

Weekend Events

On Saturday we went to a wedding. My friend Karen's daughter, Lisa, was married in Pasadena. Her mother and I went to high school together. Lisa got married in the same church and had her reception at the same venue that Karen did 33 years ago. I was a bridesmaid at that wedding and all the bridesmaids from that wedding were at this wedding too!

There was a bagpipe procession from the church to the reception. It was fun and very different and a lot of cars honked as they drove by.

Dan and I stayed at a hotel in Pasadena for the night while Dar and Sean watched the girls at their house. It was fun to see people I haven't seen in many many years at the wedding.

The next morning we celebrated Beth's baby shower. It was held at a nice little restaurant in Los Angeles.

We played a few games and had a delicious brunch.

Becky was in town too!

Beth's dress and mine look like they are in a fight! Hers has been worn to every event in the last three months versus my dress that I wore three times in the last three weeks to different events!

Beth was able to have her strawberry shortcake bar! Such a cute little baby bump.

Becky provided the favors.

It was great to see everyone at the shower!

Two great parties made for a great weekend.

Fun in the Sun

We are still here! And enjoying every minute of the sunshine. We have been using the pool every day.

And going to the park on most days.

The yard here has lots of citrus trees and I have my own personal orange picker!

We originally were just coming out for the weekend to attend two very special events. I will post about them next!

Happy New Year 2015

Hello from California! We got in on Sunday and on Monday Dan went golfing with Sean for his birthday (which was Sunday). While he was gone, I took the girls in the spa and to the park which is just two blocks away. We will be doing this pretty much every day so I'm sure to get some pictures eventually.

The next morning the four of us spent a good deal of time in the spa and getting ready for guests. It started to get cold by the afternoon just as Dar and Sean arrived. We barbecued some chicken and had salads for dinner. Dar and I played games while the guys watched some sort of sports.

The next day we took the kids to the park again. Denise and Dave arrived in the afternoon for New Years Eve. We found out that Michael was laying tile in Palm Springs so we invited Dani and Michael over too. We had lots of snacks, watched football, and played games. We repeat stuff around here a lot! We barbecued steaks and Denise made us all stay up till midnight. We don't usually do that anymore...ever. The girls stayed up until 8:15 which was really late for them!

The next morning all three of us sisters emerged with leopard pattern scarves on. So we had to take a pic.

Does that mean we are all stylish or we are all old? You can probably figure that one out for yourself!

Happy New Year!