Our trip to Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens in Claremont came at the invitation of my friend Debi at GoExploreNature.com – although she doesn’t admit to being seen with us in her post about it.  We met up in the Claremont Village (Yale Street and surroundings) for a bite to eat and then headed off to the gardens to explore.  I thought this place would be little and it would take a couple hours.  Boy, was I wrong!  It’s massive (over 80 acres) and in three hours we only covered the first half, and not fully.

Leave lots of time to explore this “wonderland” because it truly is a beautiful place to wander.

SO many flowers were blooming on our trip at the end of April. The colors were incredible.  There were fields of these Purple Irises:

Check out these coral bells!

The bugs were such a great scavenger hunt for the kids.  In fact, Debi’s son made up a scavenger hunt with check boxes based on the map.  Tooooo cute.  My daughter and him led the search.

You’ll see real butterflies, dragonflies, turtles, and birds.  Couldn’t believe I caught this little guy on my camera!

Finally, there are shaded paths with oaks and solitude.

You must go visit!

Checklist:

• Official Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens website
• Visit the Claremont Village website to plan a visit to the charming downtown area
• Claremont McKenna College also has a guide to restaurants, cafes, and bakeries
• Read Debi’s post on our trip (her youngest is younger than mine)
• Could get really hot during the summer — bring water
• Definitely bring a stroller for kiddos who get tired feet
• There are bathrooms spread out all along the property
• It only took us about 45 minutes to get there (a perfect day trip)
• We took the 57 to the 10 to get there (Indian Hill Blvd.) – directions and map
• David Rogers’ Big Bugs are only there through July 15th (don’t miss them)

Do you know why I love Mother’s Day and holidays and vacations? Because I give myself permission to play.  What if you gave yourself permission to play EVERY day?

Natural Graffiti

• Write “nature notes” to yourself or your loved ones with shells, rocks, sticks. Write in the sand, in the snow, in the mud.
• Stack rocks to see how they balance.
• Build sand castles.

Noticing

• Notice colors, patterns, and dew drops in nature – feel like the world is bigger than you

Find Your Place

• Mine is the beach. With kids or without – I relax. I find peace. I slow down.
• I see the reflections and it reminds me to reflect.

Start today and make it every day — whether it’s 30 seconds or an hour or the whole day. Let your mind wander and let yourself surrender to moments of play.

Did you go for a walk in the rain last weekend?  We did.

And we’ve also been playing A LOT more since the time change. I love it!  Paper Coterie runs a March photo scavenger  called #takingtimeforplay on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.  I’m loving all the play it’s inspired — even for us — who play anyways. Plus, it’s just encouraging to see lots of people out playing all across the globe. Check out some of our playful shots from this month:

So don’t forget to get out there — no matter the weather.

Rattlesnakes evoke fear when you head out on the trail or into the wilderness. Right now, I’m thinking of a number of family members and friends who won’t even want to read this post, because they are already so freaked out by snakes.  I’m not petrified, but I am cautious. Rattlesnakes are a member of our wild community — and rather than fearing them we can just make sure we give them plenty of respect and DISTANCE.

Tip #1

We lived in Colorado when the kids were very young. In the rugged park across from our house there were regular rattlesnake sightings and evidence of mountain lions. It’s not like mountain lions here where you’d rarely see or hear of them.  We’d be walking along and come across deer parts regularly. The strategy they taught in Colorado was to have 2 adults walk ahead of and behind the children like a book end.  We looked bigger that way to the mountain lions – and it helped to have an observant adult up front to watch for hazards on the trail.  The same strategy works well for our nature hikes around here – and for spotting snakes.

Tip #2

Just like when I talk to the lifeguards when we go to the beach, I talk to the rangers when I come to a new natural area.  They know where there have been wildlife sightings that day and spots to avoid.  Don’t be shy about this.  I usually say something like: “Anything we should know about?”  Even places we’re familiar with can have different wildlife encounters or terrain based on the season.  Plus, it’s fun chatting it up with the experts!

Tip #3

Read local hiking experts, like Cindy at caopenspace.org.  She has an excellent safety page.  And Traci at WalkSimply.com ran into a red diamondback rattlesnake and caught some video from FAR away.  Read Traci’s rattlesnake post.  Be prepared and have a plan for what you are going to do.

Tip #4

As spring turns into summer, I’d recommend giving playgrounds known for rattlesnakes an adult preview before setting the kids free.

Tip #5

Don’t let your fears keep you inside.  Ron Swaisgood and his wife, Janice, run a large Children and Nature Network inspired nature club in San Diego. Ron just wrote a great blog post (Risk and Reward in Nature: Can a Family Nature Club help you tip the balance in favor of nature?) He wrote from the perspective of a man who is used to taking lots of risks, but how the father in him isn’t so willing.  How can you overcome your fears?

• One way is to join a family nature club, as Ron suggests.
• Go with nature fanatic friends who may know more than you.
• Make your first outing a guided one with a ranger — and then you may feel more comfortable going back on your own.
• Weigh the risk in your head.  I know it’s easy to psych yourself out.  I can make myself crazy about driving myself in the car to pick up the kids from school!!  I’m petrified of that — especially with everybody texting and using their phones in the car.  I witness that risky behavior EVERY day and have had MANY close calls.  Yet, I’ve only seen a rattlesnake once as it was rapidly slithering away from us.
• Pick outdoor places where you do feel comfortable and there’s less likelihood of snake encounters: the beach or the neighborhood swimming pool.  Is your mind starting to wander to all the hazards of water? See. It’s all a matter of perspective.

As I approach my 4 year mark in the blogging world, I find it useful to ask myself “Why?”  Why do I do this?  And why can’t I stop?

For the Love of Writing
I am a writer. I write. That’s what I do.

In elementary school, I wrote poems in a little book with floral fabric adorning the covers.  I wrote and illustrated a myth entitled: “How the Land of Colored Clouds Came to Be.”  My school librarians encouraged my love for words. I kept writing. I wrote for my high school yearbook. I wrote love letters to my future husband. I wrote essays for college. I wrote editorial letters to the newspaper. I was a pen pal to my grandmother for sharing my life and to my sister while she was abroad in Australia.  I wrote for my MOMS Club newsletter. I co-wrote a romance novel for which we won a Pikes Peak Writer’s Conference award.  I wrote in my own journals. I wrote for myself. I started freelancing. I became a Freelance Writer (capital F, capital W). I wrote newspaper columns and magazine articles. People paid me to write.  Editors gave me assignments.

Then blogs came along and the money stopped. Why pay when publications could get writers for free?  Yet, it didn’t stop me from writing. I still pitched ideas and found audiences who wanted to hear what I had to say, even if the payoffs weren’t measurable in cash.  The ultimate writing freedom came when I realized my desire to share my passion: promoting play.

Promoting Play
Four years ago, there weren’t many playground bloggers or outdoor blogs.  I didn’t know the statistics about kids media consumption. I wasn’t out to be an activist. I just knew my family was finding some pretty cool places to play and I wanted to share them. I wanted to share those experiences of wonder that we can never get back once the kids are older.  When I started my kids were 2 1/2 and 6.  Now they are 6 and 10 years old. We still get out often to play, but our playground trips have transitioned into playing and exploring natural places.  It doesn’t help that my 10 year old is 5’5″!  He hits his head on the little kid equipment now and the adults think a 15 year old is playing alongside the toddlers.  So our play needs have changed — but I still think a 10 year old needs time for outdoor play and creating things.  I know I’m on to something when I get comments from you, my inspiring readers. You get it!

This comment, in particular, got me:

“It was awesome, one of my fave park visits ever but I happened to get there late in the afternoon and got to watch the sunset… no one else ever came (to the actual park part – people were in other areas – the grassy part (with their dogs), the baseball field, the walking paths, and on the basketball court) my daughter and I had a blast. The sand was fluffy due to recent rains with a thin crust layer, almost like walking on snow, it was really neat. The trees were awesome and colorful, birds were chirping. I love the ramp to get down there, and how the park is “at the end of the world” so to speak. The merry go round brought back memories of my own childhood and I got to “share” them with my daughter. She had never been on one and didn’t even know what it was called. She liked it so much she called it a roller coaster. If not for your site I would have never been able to have this moment in our lives that I will always remember.”

Have you had those moments?  I hope so.

My Answer
My answer to the question of “Why?” is twofold:

1. Because of me.
2. Because of you.

I must write. I must explore my world with my family — and sharing it is a joy for me.  Nature gives me peace and being outside does wonders for my outlook on life. It gives me pause. It gives me perspective.

You give me motivation to share. The conversations you started long ago and the comments you keep exchanging make this fun and rewarding.  I always used to say: “If I can just get one mom inspired to take their child out to play, then I’ve done my job as a writer and promoter of play.”

How to join the conversation:

• Follow my Fun Orange County Parks page on Facebook and be generous with your advice, comments and questions
• Subscribe to the monthly newsletter. It comes out roughly once a month and for February it’s going to focus on family hikes.
• If you want to get all technical and bloggy, I am happy to talk your ear off consult with you.

My apologies in advance

• I’m one mom running this big site (with 2 volunteer park reporters).
• If I ever take a day off or a week off, it’s because I need it!
• If I’m ever slow responding to one of your emails, send me a reminder.
• If you find a photo problem or formatting problem, let me know so I can fix it.
• If you find some info that’s inaccurate or out-of-date, let me know so I can fix it.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!