M only missed one day of school so I told her she could play hooky towards the end of the year. We wanted to pick strawberries at Underwood Farms in Moorpark but couldn’t face the weekend crowds.

If you haven’t been, it’s about an hour from Los Angeles.

Maddie put on Aunt Charlotte's jean jacket to wear to the farm

Patsy embroidered it!

It started out foggy and cool. Going on a weekday is key. Going early is best. The parking lot is almost empty.

When you arrive, you pay the entrance fee and can buy a bunch of tickets. This is the time to get a few tokens for the cars as well as some carrots for the animals.

We had the place mostly to ourselves at first.

No line for the pony ride.

I don't feel good about this but am too lazy/wishy-washy to say no.

M remarked that the ponies looked pretty bored.

Empty bouncy house = best bouncy house

Robot chickens

Mama & baby pig

Sleepy piglets

We also picked LOTS of strawberries but my hands were too full to snap any pix. They are very inexpensive when you pick them yourselves.

After a full day we grabbed a bite at In-N-Out and headed home around 4PM.

Lunch at In-N-Out finished a fun day

This is a fun day. You don’t need a stroller because they have wagons to haul your kids/bags/water bottles & produce around.

TAKE:
- water
- hats
- sunscreen
- sneakers/socks (flip flops will get kind of grody)
- snacks (they have a food bar but it’s not always open)

There are two farms: Somis and Moorpark. Moorpark is the one with all the extras (besides produce picking): bouncy house, animals, petting zoo, pony rides, and in the fall, a corn maze. They also have a produce market on the way out. Somis I believe is much smaller and is primarily for picking produce.

Moorpark Farm Center
3370 Sunset Valley Road
Moorpark, CA

9am-6pm (during daylight savings)
9am-5pm (during standard time)

Open March-Thanksgiving and weekends through Christmas
Closed Thanksgiving Day.

Admission:
$3.00/person M-F
$6.00/person weekends and major holidays
Children under 2 are free.
MAP

A month or so ago we met Lyn in Chinatown (Los Angeles that is) for some dim sum.

Afterwards we descended the steep staircase

to head over to The Bob Baker Marionette Theater to see “The Nutcracker.”

There goes Lyn in the industrial elevator.

We met at the Theater. Founded in 1963 it’s the oldest children’ theater in LA and several years ago was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (Wikipedia). G had taken the girls a year or two ago and last November, after Bob died at age 90, suggested we go in case it shut down for some reason.

There are some chairs lining the outside of the seating area but most of the kids sit on the ground as close to the “stage” as they can.

Here comes the Sugar Plum Fairy!

Lyn got each girl a marionette after the show. Thank you, Lyn!

It was fun to see the old pix of the theater’s film work.

We had yet another fun day with Lyn!

I highly recommend this experience. You can buy tickets online from their website. They are so totally helpful and friendly – when G wasn’t able to show up they offered to refund his ticket money! We didn’t even ask (or take them up on it.)

Bob Baker Marionette Theater
1345 W 1st Street
LA, CA 90026
(213)250-9995
http://www.bobbakermarionettes.com/

A year or two ago I schlepped Maddie over to Westside Pavilion to the art class at Gymboree. The teacher was really good. M wasn’t so good. So we took a break. I didn’t hear great things about the art at Joslyn Park so I waited. We tried Gymboree again. New teacher and what seemed like budget cuts. “Everybody share this gram of glue!” “2 sequins per child.” It was ridiculous. If I have to be INSIDE THE MALL every single Friday afternoon, my child’s project better be spangly & shiny like the 4th of July night sky. So we stopped that after a month. M kept bringing up how much she loved art, and to quell my panic at the thought of going to the mall EVERY SINGLE WEEK, I signed her up for the class run through Santa Monica RecEnroll at Joslyn Park. Even if it’s no good, at least the kids can play outside afterwards.

Expecting the worst we trucked on over there.

We got lucky! SmART Space took over the art program. The teacher, Juliet Curry, is excellent! Organized, friendly and talented, she ALSO is the proud mother to a 2 year old girl (which doesn’t mean she’s a better teacher but it means she probably understands how I feel when my 2 year old exhibits “certain” behaviors in her class.)

I was really impressed by the structure of the class, the materials & Juliet’s skill at working with children between 2 and 4 years old. Since my kids are 2 and 4, I enrolled them both.

Her class schedule is just structured enough for these age groups:
1. Independent book time (art books in a basket on the floor)
2. Circle time to say hello, stretch, introduce everyone & discuss the project
3. Project
4. When/if-you’re-done 2nd project
5. Circle time to hand back projects, get a sticker & say goodbye

Examples of class topics & projects:

1. Introduction to Wassily Kandinsky’s abstract art.

The finished paintings:

2. Printmaking

Maddie’s name was NAAAK or something like that.

3. “Action Painting”::Intro to Abstract Expressionism & Jackson Pollock

4. Halloween Collage

5. Autumn Leaf Rubbing

6. Indian Corn Printmaking & Collage

7. Free Expression (painting by running a Matchbox car through paint!)

After class we eat lunch in the playground.

It was very hot this day.

Normally the playground is pretty full but it was naptime AND I snapped it the second it was empty in case people didn’t want their kids on the internet.

Maddie is so happy with this class. Which is saying a lot since she is a real Mama’s girl who can be pretty moody. Bea? Bea loves using paint, whether she’s supposed to or not.

Next session starts in January. Look for the name “SmART Space” in the name when you are browsing the classes.

Classes are available both in Santa Monica through RecEnroll AND in Culver City. Here is a link to the SmART Space LA site to check out the prices/schedules:

Click here for SmART Space LA class info!

REGISTER TODAY!

City of Santa Monica Community Programs
1527 4th Street, Room 101, Santa Monica, Ca 90401
Registration Phone: 310-458-2239

https://recenroll.smgov.net