Belated Heart Day

I know it has been a week since Valentine's Day. I'll save you all the woes of why it has taken me a week to post about the big day of love.
For Valentine's Day this year Tucker and I packed a lunch and took a beautiful hike in Malibu. The trail we took is called Solstice Canyon Loop. For those of you familiar with this trail it includes an easy hike with ocean views, old burnt down houses, waterfalls and strange, creepy statues/ruins. Much to my dismay there were no restrooms along the 3.5 mile trail. Why can't trail be more accommodating to woman's needs? Gosh!
After the hike we ventured home in the FJ and started preparing for our in home sushi dinner. For the last 4 year Tuck and I have been buying sashimi, taking it home and making our very own sushi rolls. It is great fun! I highly suggest this activity. Just get sushi rice, seaweed, soy paper, sesame seeds, carrots, cucumber and avocado at the local Whole Foods and sashimi ordered to go from the local sushi joint and you have your very own sushi celebration at home.
Hiking and Sushi aside, it was great to spend the whole day with the person that I heart most in life. It is so fun making everyday full of excitement and love, not just designating it to this one day of the year.

Board Not Bored

We had a grand 'ol time in Big Bear this weekend. Yes, of course we made it home in time for the Super Bowl (we didn't want Tucker to have some form of heart attack from missing it). Tucker had his best boarding session of the season and I felt like a kid again going off jumps. Our brother joined us for the snow retreat and showed Tucker up on the slopes with his superior, experienced moves on the rails.

CUTS HURT KIDS!

WARNING: ANGRY TEACHER POST

I work for Los Angeles Unified School District. The third largest school district in the nation with a slue of financial and educational faults. All the major newspapers and news stations have been covering the stories of health care cuts and mid-year teacher layoffs that the superintendent plans to do to stabilize the financial crisis from years of district over spending. It frightens me that people stand by and watch a big business, such as LAUSD, destroy the people from the bottom. In theory, they got themselves in a bind and the first place they take away from is the children and the schools. LAUSD owns a TV news station which only airs district meetings that costs $64 million a year, they own and run several (15) small local district buildings at 200+ million in yearly costs, and they paid superintendent Brewer $540 thousand to leave before his contract was up (there is much more to list but you'd be reading this all day). To compensate for their overspending the Big Wigs are threatening to make teachers pay $130 a month in HMO health care benefits and do a mid-year layoff of all 2,600 probationary teachers (which includes me) making class sizes increase to 25:1 (now is it 20:1 student-teacher ratio). With special permission from Arnold the 25:1 ratio WILL be carried through LAUSD and most likely the other California schools. The UTLA (United Teachers of Los Angeles) held a rally last Thursday in downtown Los Angeles. Where 10,000 teachers, staff, parents and community members marched from Pershing Square to Arnold's LA office. I am not going to stand by while my job and my students rights to a good education get ripped away. That is why Tucker and I joined those dedicated teachers and parents.

If you would like more information visit the CTA website or the UTLA website.

Who makes air?

"God" shouted the eager boy in the front row.

I think the awesomely cool, hippy Tree People excursion guide was looking for "trees or people" as the answer.
The parents and I laughed hysterically with tears in our eyes as children have such a knack for being randomly cute.

As I watched these 21 brilliant children discover what lies in dirt, trees, and animals in the unknown of the mountains or in the wild wasteful city their eyes lit up with usable knowledge. They explored windy trails, learned how to make mulch, and reasoned the best way to recycle water, plastic and paper products. The Earth provides us with all we need to survive but we don't pay the same favor back. Though God may give us the breath we need to survive, the air is provided by the cohabitants of people and strong trees which both need to live healthy lives.

I encourage all those who live in the LA area to visit the Tree People and for everyone else go to their website and see how you can help the only Earth God gave us.