Torrey Pines State Beach Park

Just a few miles down the road is this beautiful place that I'd never been to. My friend Mim suggested it for our Monday hike. I was astonished by how beautiful it was and we ended up having a hot and fun adventure.



The kids were all about the binoculars, while we were in the parking lot. But guess who got to hold them the whole time. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of how cute they were pouring over the map. They all wanted to be the map leader, and insisted they knew where we were. It was pretty funny.



There is a really cool nature center at the top of the hill. It is filled with real stuffed- animals you can pet. Charis and Jonas were really into that. They have hawks, mountain lions, rattle snakes, birds, coyotes, etc. And the lady working there was happy to talk with the kids about the animals.



Charis found a secret path that took us through a canopy of brush. It felt very adventuresome. We can't wait to go back when its a bit cooler.

Free Flight

Charis was entranced with these beautiful parrots at Free Flight in Del Mar. It is a lovely aviary full of tropical parrots in their natural habitat, and not behind zoo bars. The friendly ones will let you hold them, and most of them accept food from your hand. There is also a little fish pond where the boys spent most of their time. Im really looking forward to taking Charis back. It was thrilling to see her enjoy something I had no clue she liked. Ahhh, those unschooling moments!

Lagoon love

I love this picture. These kids love each other, and it's great. And, who knew that walking around a lagoon on a hot day could be such fun? We spotted a few local birds, filled our pockets with rocks, noted the receeding water, and mourned the loss of a home for some coastal creatures. We were so hungry afterward that we ate "out" at Mozy Cafe.

Balboa Park

Im going to pretend that I've been bloggin for a while. And not explain that this is actually my first entry. And why I have my own blog when we already have a really cool family website (www.endir.org/hagen). And not explain that I am wanting a place to document my unschooling journey, as well as my new enterprise of raw food eating. So...



We went to Balboa Park with my dad. I love that "park" (The kids were upset it was called that when we never saw a playground). Unfortunately I parked ridiculously far away from where I was meeting my dad, and almost killed my kids with the walk. But we finally made it, and relished our time tremendously. The day was spent enjoying the street violin player, the beautiful flowers and trees, and the weird sculptures. We spent most of our time in the international houses, automotive museum and aerospace museum. The kids really enjoyed sitting in the real airplanes, as well as hearing Papa talk about all the old cars. It was a great day!