scenes from the weekend

   

We had a fun weekend, out and about.  On Saturday, my mom and I took the kids to Solvang.  It's a little Danish village here in Southern California--it's so cute and so fun to visit.  We stopped first at Ostrich Land and fed the ostriches and emus.  Those birds are so strong and intimidating--especially the ostriches.  I yelped a little bit when I was feeding them!  They all came at the bowl and started pecking so powerfully!  It was really something else.  We loved this little side trip and definitely want to go back.

After Ostrich Land we went into the town of Solvang and had lunch at The Red Viking and then walked around a little bit and stopped at Birkholm's for cookies.  There are so many bakeries in Solvang.  We love the little tub of butter cookies we brought home, but naturally I want to try and compare them all.  We wrapped up the day at Sunny Fields Park.  The boys say it is their favorite park ever.

On Sunday Ken had a meet and I took the boys to Santa Barbara.  We often go to the Natural History Museum.  We are regular members.  On this day, the Butterflies Alive exhibit had just opened.  So many butterflies this year, and they were so lively!  We loved it.  We also brought our own picnic and ate in the museum back yard.  And then we walked all around the museum permanent exhibits like we always do.  The boys and I have a little game we play where we each say what animal we would be in each exhibit.  We play that every time--it's classic for us.

Thoughts on our picnic:  I loved doing it this way.  Usually we buy lunch out on these outings but on this day I wanted to simplify things and save money.  In the past I've complicated the picnics by packing too many heavy containers and ice blocks.  But this time I packed everything very lightly and compactly in sandwich bags and slung it all over my shoulder in a canvas bag.  Done and done.! We ate early, so no ice blocks necessary.  We bought drinks in the vending machines at the museum.  So easy!  Now I'm curious about packing more picnics and how I can keep them simple (and lightweight) but maybe add a teeny bit more variety than our regular sandwiches.