The Search for Miss Direction: California Dreamin'

Monday, February 3, 2014

California Dreamin'

Welcome to our week celebrating The Golden State! Gee what we in the Wolverine State wouldn't give for a little bit of their sunny surf 'filled shores right now! I've had quite the time with my California research as it is BIG that I've found it hard to narrow down what to teach the kiddos about, what to make food wise and even what kind of a project to do! Plus with the Olympics kicking off on Friday, we're going to try our best to get in as much as possible about the land that has "Eureka!" as it's motto.

And if you're looking for the facts, here's the place to get them. While we put up our California wall tonight we discussed everything from The California Poppy to the magical Redwood. We learned a little bit about a California Valley Quail and just what kind of bear is on the State Flag. We also touched on the Golden Gate Bridge, Disneyland, the San Andres Fault line and of course, the great Gold Rush, just to name a few. Phew, I'm California exhausted already! Like me, I think the kiddos are a little overwhelmed with just how many different aspects of California there are.

I have California meals planned pretty much every night this week as I wanted to cover everything from San Francisco to Baja if possible. With culinary items as diverse as the population it was really hard for me to narrow it down. But tonight we had San Francisco Pork Chops that I couldn't help but pair with a side of Rice-A-Roni :) (which actually did originate in California!) I also made some Apricot Walnut Bars as walnuts especially are an important crop to the California economy.

Geesh, I feel like I loaded up this post with any more links it'd take hours just to read it. Maybe then you can be as overwhelmed with California as I am ;-)

In other super big news, Noah got an award at school today! He was given an award for his good work during their Writing Workshop. This is one PROUD Mama!

California Fun Fact of the Day: Inyo National Forest is home to the bristle cone pine, the oldest living species. Some of the gnarled trees are thought to be over 4,600 years old