Hansel & Gretel at the LA Opera

Sunday afternoon we went to see Hansel & Gretel at the LA Opera. Here is Gemma with two of the creatures from the woods.

Prior to the show, there was a scavenger hunt all around the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

And, at intermission, there was gingerbread cookie decorating.

After the show, children got to meet the performers...

...and twirl around the empty lobby.

Mad Science Show at Library

Apple Picking

We spent the day apple-picking in Oak Glen, two hours east.

This is the general store where stood in line to pay for our bags and admission to the orchard. (My husband, who spent his childhood as a migrant farmworker, had no interest in joining us to pay someone to pick produce; this is an act one is paid for, not vice versa.) A small bag was $10, a large bag was $18, and admission to the orchards was $1 per person.

The employees of the farm wear costumes to give tourists the feeling of having stepped back into the 1800s. Latex gloves and a $22 price tag on a gallon of apple cider gives away the fact that one is indeed still in the 21st century.

We visited 3 farms: Riley's Farm, Riley's Apple Farm, and Willowbrook Farm. We were supposed to pick apples at Riley's Apple Farm, but we accidentally parked at Riley's Farm and paid for our bags before we'd realized our mistake. The farms are next to each other, and were originally the same business, so one can see how that might confuse a tourist, right?

Sheep at Riley's Farm

According to a bonnet-donning employee, the farmland was all purchased by Mr. Riley in the late 1800s from Joe Wilshire, for whom Wilshire Peak is named, for the tidy sum of two chickens, $50, and a jug of whiskey.

 These wildflowers line the main road on the walk from Riley's Farm to Riley's Apple Farm.

While my daughter played with her friends in this playhouse, I sat and ate a deluxe caramel apple for lunch. It was topped with ice cream, whipped cream, and chopped nuts, and lived up to its name.

For $3, one can learn to make a corn husk doll.

After Riley's Apple Farm closed at a surprising 2:46 p.m. (surprising because the website says it's open until 4 p.m.), we walked back to Riley's Farm to fill our already-paid-for bags.

The trees were really picked over. I finally found a tree with some apples on it in the "colonial arbor," and had to climb the parking lot fence to get high enough to reach the apples. I then climbed into the tree, facing off against a swarm of bees, and hoping not to get caught by farm employees. I hadn't even considered that I might have competition. A tourist with a fruit picker was reaching his pole up into the tree from the parking lot, aiming for the same fruit I was trying to get, and - with the fruit picker - was knocking loose apples, which were conking me on the head. I wanted to yell down, "This tree is mine! I saw it first!" but I thought that I should use my energy to make sure I didn't fall out of the tree or that bees didn't fly into my t-shirt.

The best part is that my picky eater actually liked the apples enough to eat three of them before we'd made it back to Santa Monica.

Nature Study: Campfire at Temescal Canyon

Mmmm, s'mores.

Tonight we went to Temescal Gateway Park for their Thursday night campfire.

Here's how it works:

• Campfire starts at 7:00 pm, so get there at 6:30 pm to picnic.
• Park on the street for free, or park in the park for $7.
• Bring a picnic dinner and beverages, a blanket, sweaters, graham crackers, and a king-size Hershey's chocolate bar. (Marshmallows & marshmallow-roasting-forks are provided.) (Some people even brought hot dogs for roasting.)
• A naturalist will do a lesson. (Tonight's lesson was on water; this summer, there have been lessons on predators/prey, ground squirrels, etc.)
• Silly campfire songs are sung.
• The marshmallow-roasting forks come out. Everyone lines up and gets a fork and a couple of marshmallows and circles up around the fire. (You can bring your own sticks and marshmallows and skip the line, but the line moves so fast so it's not necessary.)

Campfire lasts about an hour. After, you can go down and listen to the frogs, and look for bats. Don't forget that you can use your phone as a flashlight. ;)

Playing Henry the Heron in the campfire skit about the water cycle

Sing along time

Yum.

Field Trip: Wildlife Learning Center

The Wildlife Learning Center, an animal sanctuary, is in Sylmar, California, about 45 minutes from us.

 

My dear friend Anita gave my daughter this experience as her birthday present. It was a super-secret-surprise-adventure!

 The WLC's office is home to Zeus the screech owl. (Can you see him up there behind the WLC staff member?) Zeus is blind, and he has a condition that makes his eyes look like a starry night sky.

Just outside the office is a sensory table...

Some of the things people can touch: casts of animal tracks, snakeskin, and fox fur.

There is a bobcat, two lynxes, and some servals. A serval is an African cat, and if you google serval, you will find websites selling them as pets! I'm pretty sure that's how these servals ended up at the WLC. Servals live on the savanna and are nocturnal hunters; they can grow up to 26 inches tall (shoulder height) and weigh up to 40 pounds.

 Porcupines have such sweet faces.

Have you ever been this close to a bald eagle?! We got to see the larger one fly from where it was perched at the back of the enclosure, to the branch it is perched on in this picture!

This is a fennec fox, an African animal from the Sahara. Again, if you google fennec fox, you will find sites like this about keeping fennecs as pets. Fortunately, that site does not make owning a fennec sound like a good idea. It explains how they are much more work than a dog, high energy, loud at night, and are never fully litterbox trained. But they sure are cute.

 This alligator (the real one, the one in the cage) was kept as a pet in a bathtub.

 They also have tortoises...

 

 ...and squirrel monkeys.

(My mom did have a squirrel monkey as a pet when she was little. She ordered it from the back of a comic book for $19.95! And she can attest that these are not good pets.)

 This picture speaks for itself.

 How many walking sticks can you find in this picture?

 I love this picture! It's the underside of a red-toed tree frog! Look at those toes!

Here is the top-side of the tree frog.

 This is Irwin the alligator.

 Did you know porcupines could climb a chain link fence?

 That is a sloth, hanging upside down, his favorite position.

The WLC has reptile shows every hour. This is a legless lizard. Did you know that lizards can blink, but snakes can't? Or that lizards have ear holes, but snakes don't? This legless lizard is Lester. A legless lizard can regrow its tail one time. If he loses his tail a second time, he has to live without it.

I highly recommend visiting the WLC! I look forward to returning for an "animal experience."