Corvallis, Oregon, and "Life is Good!"

Hello from beautiful Corvallis! We're up here visiting friends and on our way up to lovely Vancouver, Washington tomorrow for the Life is Good Unschooling Conference. We're pretty excited, this is our 6th year and we've loved every year of it and it's a huge part of our unschooling journey. We connect and re-connect with like-minded folks from all over the country, sometimes world! Hope you're enjoying the heat down in S. California and staying cool either by a dip in a local pool or cooling off down at the beach. Take some pictures and share with us this Friday for Friday's, "Soar & Explore!". Just email it to me at mandaroo63 at yahoo dot com by Thursday night 8pm, or post on our Facebook page, here.

Have a great week and.....

Keep Soaring and Landing Safely,

In Beautiful, Sunny

San Diego!

Your Soaring Mama,

Mandy

(a late) Soaring on a Sunday

From 2012-04-21

Sorry for the lateness, but I'm sure you'll forgive me, especially if you're a mama. I enjoyed my Mother's Day with the family. We had my mom and dad over and bbq'd some carne asada and pollo, and steamed some peppers, yellow squash, and zucchini on the grill. And, a tasty cheesecake, afterwards.  So yummy. I hope you enjoyed your Mother's Day with loved ones.


 I'll be traveling up to Portland, Corvallis (OR) and Vancouver, Wa. these next two weeks to visit friends and to go to the Life is Good Unschooling Conference, that we've been going to for the last 6 years. If you're an unschooler and haven't been to a conference, you really must check one out. They have them all over the country. We've been to LIG and also Good Vibrations, which this year has changed to Wide Sky Days and is in Del Mar, CA (San Diego). It's coming up in September. I'll post some links on the sidebar to some more unschooling conferences happening this year. There's even some in the UK and other countries now.


So, here's some stuff coming up for this weekend.




Saturday May 19th, 11am-4pm. NUA Sparrow School Spring Festival – A natural, family-friendly outdoor festival to celebrate Spring! Natural crafts and games, photo booth, stilt walking, hair-wrapping, henna art, face painting, cake walk, live music, delicious food, local vendors, and more! Free admission and parking, nominal ticket fee for activities. Featuring Hullabaloo at 1:30 pm! Saturday, May 19th 11am–4pm in the City Heights area at 5280 Orange Avenue, San Diego , CA 92115 619-417-5393


May 19th-September 9th.. A new exhibit at the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park; "Hats & Headdresses". This exhibition features hats and headdresses from cultures and countries around the world. Simple, straw peasant hats from Southeast Asia will be displayed alongside colorful South American felted hats and beaded African headgear.


Sunday, May 20th, 10am-4pm. Children's Book Festival in La Mesa. 2 stages with Illustrators, authors and publishers. There will be professional storytellers and lots of great vendors all focused on kids and families.


Friday, May 18th - Sunday, May 20th, 10am-4pm. 30th Anniversary of the Japanese Friendship Garden, celebrating with flower arrangements by students from the Ichiyo School of Ikebana.


Thursday, May 17th, 5pm-8pm. 3rd Annual Taste of Cardiff, at Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Fine local eats and live music. Purchase tickets online on the website.


I'll be posting more when I can on the Facebook page, so be sure to follow us there!
  


Have a great week and,

Keep Soaring and Landing Safely,

In Beautiful, Sunny

San Diego!

Your Soaring Mama,

Mandy

Happy Mother's Day

Image source: The French Factice

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Your Soaring Mama, 

Mandy

Friday's Soar & Explore

From Gymnastics and Parkour at United Gym on 5/7/12

From Gymnastics and Parkour at United Gym on 5/7/12

Coach Dan at our Parkour Class at San Diego United Sports Center is literally soaring through the air this week! More about our Parkour classes can be found here on my personal blog, Second to the right. Where have you "soared" to this week? Please share with us here on Soaring over San Diego!

Keep Soaring and Exploring! 

Your Soaring Mama, 

Mandy

Friday's Soar and Explore

From SDFS May Day at Harry Griffen Park

Happy Friday and "May the 4th be with you!" this lovely Friday day. This photo was taken at Harry Griffin Park in La Mesa. We spend many park days there for various events with our unschooling group, the San Diego Funschoolers.  We've had egg hunts, LARPs and other fun activities there. Most recently a May Day Celebration where the kids were given colorful streamers and flowers to parade around the park in . There's a wonderful amphitheater there (seen in the background of this photo) and some lovely trails with wildflowers in bloom. There's a huge flat grass area to run around and play on as well as a nice playground area. 

From SDFS May Day at Harry Griffen Park

Where have you "Soared and Explored" to in San Diego this week? Share here in the comments with a link, or send me a .jpg file and tell me a little about it and I'll post it in next week's post. 

In the meantime, continue to Soar & Explore and May the 4th be with you.....we're off for some light saber fun, we are. 

Keep Soaring and Exploring! 

Your Soaring Mama, 

Mandy

Soaring on a Sunday

From Cabrillo Nat'l Monument and Old Town with friends

A Beautiful May is almost upon us and with all the April Showers, it's sure to be filled with lovely flowers and blossoms and bees!  Lots of fun activities to choose from, from May Day/Spring Celebrations to cultural  experiences as we observe and celebrate Cindo de Mayo!


Here's a few of the many great activities in San Diego to choose from. Share any events and celebrations you know of in your area of San Diego with us in the comments or on our Facebook page.




Saturday, May 5th. World Labyrinth Day. Walk as One at 1pm at the Alta Vista Gardens Labyrinth.


May Day Celebrations:


Saturday, May 5th, 11am-4pm. May Faire at the Waldorf School of San Diego. Celebrate Spring and enjoy traditional Renaissance festivities including Maypole Dance (1130 am), puppet shows, live music, face painting, petting zoo, delicious food, jugglers, crafts and games for all ages. Free.


Sunday, May 6th, 8am-5pm. Carlsbad Spring Village Street Faire. More than 100,000 people will take in the beauty of our seaside city while browsing through unique booths, indulging in delectable eats and enjoying family entertainment when the largest one-day street faire in the nation returns next month.


Saturday, May 5th, 10am. Salvation Army Spring Fling Festival. Join us for a fun-filled family day as we celebrate our 3rd annual Spring Fling Craft Bazaar. We'll have dozens of local crafters, live entertainment, a kids' carnival and our Silent Auction.




Cinco de May Celebrations:


Friday, May 4th, 5pm-10pm, Saturday, May 5th, 11am-10pm, Sunday, May 6th, 11am-5pm. Cinco de Mayo Fiesta in Old Town San Diego. FREE. Festivities and entertainment for the whole family. Flamenco ballet, salsa dancing, re-inactment of the 1862 Battle of Puebla, Latin Music, Mariachis, rope tricks, equestrians, and more!


Saturday, May 5th, 11am-4pm. Vista Cinco de Mayo Celebration and Salsa Contest in downtown Vista. Salsa making contest, live bands, children's events, food booths, salsa dancing, Little Miss Cinco de Mayo contest, Steam engine display, Lowrider show, crafts, folkloric dancers and mariachis.


Saturday, May 5th, 12pm-5pm. San Ysidro 5th de Mayo Festival. Telemundo, More-FM, El Latino, San Diego Factory Outlet and Over the Border invite you to this Saturday's 5th de Mayo Celebration. The event will take place at the San Diego Factory Outlets in San Ysidro from 12 noon to 5 pm., featuring artists: DAVIDE, Juliana Joy, Genero Humano, EMAUE, a Mariachi, and much, much more... There will be a look alike contest of the most popular novela around the world "Betty La Fea."




Sunday, May 6th, 1-4pm. Cinco de Mayo in Solana Beach at La Colonia Park. All Solana Beach residents are invited to attend with family and neighbors for this free community fiesta! Activities include a live mariachi band, ballet folklorico dancers, artistic creation station, Mexican food, game booths, fun jump, pinatas, crafts and more!


May 8th, Festival Cinco de May in Chula Vista. The 14th Annual Festival Cinco de Mayo will take place Sunday, May 8 (Mothers' Day!). Features of this flagship Third Avenue event include live entertainment on three stages, authentic food from Mexico and around the world, local crafters and contests.


Saturday, May 5th, 11am-3pm. City of Temecula Cinco de Mayo Festival at the Temecula Duck Pond. This free community event will feature music by Trio Los Azulado Mariachis, the Susie Hansen Latin Band, and traditional dance by Ballet Folklorico. There will be festive crafts, face painting, and games. Food will be available for purchase.
  


Have a great week and,

Keep Soaring and Landing Safely,

In Beautiful, Sunny

San Diego!

Your Soaring Mama,

Mandy

Friday's Soar & Explore

From Cabrillo Nat'l Monument and Old Town with friends

From Cabrillo Nat'l Monument and Old Town with friends

It's Friday, where have you "soared & explored" to this week? We went down to Cabrillo National Monument down in Point Loma where we were able to get in the park free this week due to National Park Week. It lasts through this weekend until 4/29. But, feel free to go anytime, it's only $5 per vehicle to enter the park. While there you can visit the Visitor Center where you can learn all about the history of the Lighthouse, of Cabrillo, the historic military building there. Then, you can trek up to the Lighthouse and actually climb up inside it (almost, but not all the way, to the top). There's a wonderful look out area, where during early part of the year you may be lucky enough to see the migrating whales. We went down to the tidepools area, and while it was high tide, it is still a lovely place for family photo opportunities and play in the sand and explore the rocks. We saw a pair of seals cruising through, the kids got really excited to see them. Also, many heron and other wildlife in the area.

From Cabrillo Nat'l Monument and Old Town with friends

We also made it to Old Town, San Diego where we visited the State Historic Park. It was fun and informative to to see and learn about the history of San Diego through touring these old adobe homes, businesses and city buildings. We went in San Diego's first Courthouse, saw the jailhouse, the schoolhouse, a restaurant, and the Seeley Stables. Also while there there were quilting demonstrations and blacksmithing. There's lots of great little shops, an old fashioned candy shop, a moccasin store, cigar shop, and lots of pottery available for purchase. The gardens on the grounds were very lovely this time of year, lots of beautiful flowers in bloom.

From Cabrillo Nat'l Monument and Old Town with friends

Let us know where you "soared and explore" to this week. Feel free to link in the comments or post on our Facebook wall.

Keep Soaring and Exploring! 

Your Soaring Mama, 

Mandy