Author: amyewhitelivecom

One of the biggest projects for the 5th Graders in the Conejo Valley Unified School District is We the People. 

For weeks and weeks the 5th graders learn about our government, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the history of our country.  Then they are divided into groups and have to address certain sections of the Constitution.  Quinn\’s group was tasked with addressing Freedom of Religion and Personal Expression.

Each member of the team has a specific question that they must address and then as a group they are asked follow up questions.  The end result is a simulated congressional hearing in front of prominent community members at a local university.

First, a nice collared shirt and pants.

Here\’s Quinn\’s team ready for the panel.

The two judges.  The man, Kyle Jorrey,  is the editor of our local newspaper.

Here\’s Quinn reading his question and providing his answer.    Kyle Jorrey commented that he appreciated that Quinn used a current event, the measles outbreak, in his answer.  
The entire 5th Grade of Lang Ranch participates and the judges give the school a score.  Of course they were scored Superior once again.

We were lucky enough to have Mae here too.

 Don couldn\’t find one of his shoes.  Sonic might have taken it to cuddle with.

I brought home mom\’s knitting basket and Quinn thought he might teach himself how to knit using You Tube. 

Morning Love.

Brain Power Smoothie.

Cinco de Mayo

Quinn\’s making a peanut butter and banana sandwich which happens to be one of Sonic\’s favorites.

Quinn created a field of pebbles with some of his MadMatter.  It took him a very long time but he said it was very satisfying.

Band performance for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at school.  Here is the Advanced Band.

There was an encore performance with Thomas Fry.  Thomas went to Lang Ranch and now plays in the marching band at University of Miami.  He also tutored Quinn a couple of times.  The kids loved playing with him.

One last Odyssey party for the season.   These kids are so good together.  It\’s fun seeing them just hang out and have fun and sing karaoke.

I knew that this Mother\’s Day was going to be tough.  So rather than waiting for Don to figure something out I booked us an oceanside hotel in Santa Barbara.  Nothing like a little Vitamin Sea to help soothe the pain.

We left Thousand Oaks around 5:30 pm and as we were driving up the coast the sky was just magnificent.   We pulled over a couple of times to capture the sky.

We had an easy breezy drive  up the coast and this was our hotel room view.  Just what the dr ordered. 

We had a quick walk on the beach before dinner. 

Dinner reflections at the hotel.

Beautiful morning views. 

Quinn wanted to boogie board but the water was cold and it was only about 70 degrees out. 

We had the beach to ourselves.  You can see our hotel behind the palm trees. 

Both Quinn and Don got in the water.  Quinn did quite a bit of boogie boarding and had a great time. 

A must do on a trip to the beach. 

These jellyfish were up and down the shore.  I remember seeing them another time when we went to the beach in Ventura for Mother\’s Day several years ago. 

A dead bird also washed up so Q gave it a proper burial. 

One more trip into the ocean. 

Quinn was covered with sand so I told him to walk straight into the bathtub.  He likes to take my words quite literally but this time I didn\’t mind.

The next morning we visited the MOXI museum, had lunch on State Street, and headed home.

It was a tough day but the Santa Barbara breeze seemed to soften the pain.