We enjoyed Mother’s Day one day early because I had to be out of town on May 9th. I woke up to find two cute, excited girls, a wonderful breakfast and presents. My favorite present was a T-shirt that they drew on for the occasion. Each girl drew on one side and put on things that were special to them. In the evening, we went to a Mother, Daughter dance and I wore that shirt. I received a lot of compliments about it.
After breakfast, we went outside and did one of my favorite things…..worked in the garden. We normally start our garden earlier, but we were a little behind this year. In the past, I used to rototill the garden, but I feel that this is not good for the soil. What I do now is I dig out a trench where I want to plant. I then put in compost from our Dual Drum compost tumbler or from our homemade compost bin. This not only provides nutrients for the roots but needed 
air too because the soil is not compacted. We then put some of the soil that we dug out on top of the compost and plant our seeds or plants. Everything in our garden is from seed except for the tomato plants.
The girls helped me with all of this. They love to put seeds in the ground and watch them grow. We all enjoy eating the vegetables that come out of our garden. I had a wonderful day with my girls. What did you do for Mother’s Day?
Our next stop was Sea World in San Diego, CA. Even though it was windy and a little cold, we had a blast! We saw a few shows, one of which featured sea lions. We learned that seals, sea lions and walruses are called pinnipeds (from Latin pinna, wing or fin, and ped-, foot) or fin-footed mammals.
The next show that we saw featured the great Killer Whale, Shamu! We enjoyed watching the whales leap out of the water and make huge splashes. The people sitting in the splash zone got really wet, especially when the whales used their flippers and tails to splash them!
Throughout the park they have many exhibits. We saw seals, sea lions, walruses, beluga whales, Commerson’s dolphins, manatees, killer whales, polar bears, sharks, flamingos and fresh and salt water aquariums. 
While we were looking at the dolphins we noticed a sign that read “Access to Child Swap Area”. We told the kids that that was the area where parents swap their children when they are misbehaving. 
….Just kidding! (The color of the photo looks blue/green because of the reflection from the dolphin tank)
We saw an earthworm viewing window and a vermicomposting setup. They also had an active and passive composting exhibit. We were very disappointed though because the vermicomposting and composting exhibits were not maintained. I plan to make a phone call to see if they need our help.
Our youngest daughter’s pumpkin field trip was to the Dell’Osso Family Farm in Lathrop, CA. This farm was started in 1920 and is one of the largest pumpkin farms in the United States. There are a lot of fun things for the kids to do. As you first walk in you see a playground with two jumpies. There is also a tire pyramid as high as a one story building. Just beyond that were pumpkins stacked up around a water tower which was about 20 feet into the air!
We went on a hay ride and we got to see the five story snow slide that they are getting ready for use after Halloween. They’ll need to keep adding lots of ice……our winters don’t get that cold for snow.
Our oldest daughter’s class from 
Later, we took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch so that the kids could get their treasured pumpkins. There was a long dirt road in between two corn fields lined with sunflowers and filled with pumpkins. It was a beautiful sight. These gourd-like squashes ranged in size from soccer balls to large globes. Most of the children opted for ones that they could barely carry.
Next, we saw a working bee hive behind glass walls. The Queen bee was marked with a green dot. It was neat to see the inside structure and the hundreds of bees. The docent told us that in the spring time, they have a 
Anyway……back to the point. Throughout a scout’s ‘career’ she earns badges that she can put on her vest or sash. These badges are called petals, try-its, junior badges or IPs depending on the age level of the scout. Criteria has to be accomplished in order to earn each badge. Our daughter’s Brownie leader likes to have each girl demonstrate how to earn a try-it. I think that this is great because it teaches each girl responsibility and leadership traits. 
Our daughter decided to do the “Fishing” try-it so on May 31st her troop went to the Contra Loma reservoir to learn about fishing. After she demonstrated the tackle box, how 
to cast, how to bait a hook and went over safety related issues, it was time to try out our luck at fishing. We, of course, brought our worms along to fish with. We decided to use the 
girls had no problem at all handling the worms. It probably helped that our daughters, also girl scouts, were right there picking up worms and showing them to the girls. Dave explained how the worms turn paper and food scraps into nutrient rich castings. I think that if the girls realized that 
They also got to see baby worms and some cocoons. Each girl, that wanted too, was able to take home a worm. The girls and their parents were also given a tour of our garden. They got to see the other type of composting…composting without worms. They enjoyed seeing all of our vegetables growing too.
