We began the morning by driving an hour or so to Fairfield, CA for a tour of the Jelly Belly factory.
Our family posing out front
shopping in the gift shop
Everyone was required to wear the Jelly Belly paper hats (or you could choose a hair net!) to tour the factory. No pictures were allowed during the actual tour.
tasting the free samples that they gave at the end of the tour
Uncle Russ and Julie
Olivia tasting her samples
Clay and Me
Millions of jelly beans!You would not believe the strange flavors of jelly beans that the factory creates----rotten egg, pencil shavings, toothpaste...YUK! They had samples of these and other horrible flavors too. Only Russ was brave enough to try rotten egg!
The Belly Flops (imperfect jelly beans) are sold in a separate gift shop. These "mess-ups" are sold for a discounted price. We bought all of our jelly beans to take home in the Belly Flop store!
We ate lunch in the Jelly Belly Cafe where some of our food was served in the shape of jelly beans! (Pizza and hamburgers!)
Next we travelled to Muir Woods. This national park is absolutely beautiful. It is difficult to comprehend how tall trees can grow. God's creation is truly magnificant!
Russ admiring a tree
Sam posing on a tree
Julie is walking in the distance, while I stopped to look up at these tall, tall trees.
group photo (minus Jimmy the photographer!)
crossing the creek--I didn't let Sam do this!
Olivia and Aunt Megan
Sam climbing on the tree roots
Leah in the same spot
Aunt Megan and JulieOur next excursion for the day was Mt. Tamalpais. This mountain offers a trail to the top. All 7 of us trekked up and posed for some beautiful pictures. The scenery from the top of this mountain was breathtaking! Megan's main concern during the hike was that Sam or Leah would fall down the mountain! Everyone arrived both up and down safely!
Sam striking a pose!
Olivia, Clay, Julie, and Sam at the top
All five children at the topNo one fell off!
Our family
Julie and Clay examining the rocks
Leah with her windblown hair
Clay the mountain man
Jimmy and Sam
On the way back downWe ended the day by driving through the little town of Sausalito, and then dining at the Rainforest Cafe in downtown San Francisco.
Another exhausting, but fun-filled day!
The picture of your kids sitting on the mountain with the clouds in the background...oh.my.gosh! Amazing. :D
ReplyDeleteI don't blame you one bit for not passing along the gratitude award...I almost didn't tackle it myself! It was pretty darn time consuming to do all of that linking! :)
I DO have most of my homeschool stuff set in place at this point (at least for Christian)...
Christian 6th grade...
Science- Apologia Astronomy
(Additional science work will be done during a 4H SEEK camp that he will do 1day a week for 12 weeks starting in Dec.)Also, this summer, I have 2-3 different local museum outings planned that relate to space, and 2 different city park events that are focused on space. We are excited! :)
History/Geography/Reading- Sonlight Core 6 World History pt.1
Spelling- Spelling Power
Grammar- Easy Grammar and Daily Grams
Writing- WriteShop 1
Math- Teaching Textbooks 6 or 7 (Haven't pretested yet)
Also, my MIL has a computer Spanish program that she said Christian could use if he wanted to, and he DOES, so we will probably add that in as well.
He will have one day a week at "Homeschool Academy", an enrichment program that we have here.
Caylie (10th grade)...
Science- Apologia Biology with 4H SEEK program added
Math- TT Geometry
Spanish 1- High School CoOp
World View- HS CoOp
American Lit- HS CoOp waiting list...REALLY hoping to get in!
History- Probably Sonlight Core 200, but if she gets into American Lit, I am kind of afraid that it will be too much reading???
We will probably also do Spelling Power, which goes through 12th grade, and Daily Grams.
This is the longest comment EVER! Sorry!
Any input on these choices??? I've done LOTS of research, but I VERY much welcome real life opinions!!!
Beautiful nature pics!
ReplyDeleteWhat fun the Jelly Belly Factory must have been! I'll have to tell the kids about it. They love The World of Coke in Atlanta. I'm sure the Jelly Belly Factory would be a hit, too. I can personally attest that one can get enough Jelly Bellies! I used to work one day a week at a gift shop here in town that sold Jelly Bellies. On the day a new shipment came in, we'd "have" to try all the new flavors. By the end of the day, we were sick of them all! Ha!
My kids love Rain Forest Cafe. It's always a fun place to eat!!
Glad you guys had such a fun trip!!
Wow Roan!! This sounds like such a fun trip!! Thanks so much for sharing these awesome pics with us!! The one of both of the kids on the roots of the trees is my fave!! Just a great photo!! But the view from the top of the mountain would have to be next!!
ReplyDeleteThose trees are amazing!! I'd love to visit out there some day!!
Have a blessed weekend, friend!!
Hugs,
Becky
I grew up in CA and seeing your pictures makes me homesick. I love Muir Woods and miss those rocky beaches! I dream of taking my children out west and showing them my "home". Thanks for sharing your photos.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Kimberly