You know what many tell me they dislike about traveling? UNPACKING!!!
Why? Because there are muddy shoes to scrub, laundry to wash, food that needs to be taken out of the coolers and put into the fridge, jackets that need to be hung, tooth brushes that need to be taken out of the bathroom bag and put into the correct bathroom, and more.
While I can’t come over and unpack for you or make this problem go away, I can tell you how we unpack and clean everything in only a matter of hours. We do it the same day and it gets done right away.
We don’t wait for a week to pass because most likely we will need to unpack again by then.
Because there is six of us we all have our own jobs.
Elizabeth will open and close the door for those who bring things into the house.
The first thing we do is carry our bag of laundry upstairs and Esther starts doing the first load of laundry. We always bring an empty laundry bag with us.
Usually I stay in the house and start unpacking the cooler and I rewash any of the dishes we brought with us.
Eve will carry the things that Peter, Esther, or my husband bring into the house upstairs. These are things like camera bag, bathroom bag, extra clothes bag, and coats.
Once I unpack coolers or our shoe box, I’ll put the empty cooler or box outside in our backyard and Esther will wash them.
My biggest tip for you is to take everything out of the car right away. Even if it is late. Place everything in the hallway or a place that you walk past often. Why? because if it is out of sight you might put it off for another time.
Quarry Park Adventures
I lived in Rocklin for majority of my childhood and I wish that Quarry Park Adventures was here when I was growing up.
Quarry Park Adventures is one interesting adventure park. The first activity we did was go on the zipline which Eve couldn’t do because she weighed too little but my older kids and I were able to. We then went on the adventure course which has a lot of different paths that you can take. There are three easy paths which all end with a zipline and three harder ones which end with bungee jumping. After that we started to travel on the walls of the quarry. This was where we spent majority of our time at and for us this was the best feature in the park.
What we greatly appreciated about this park is that you can choose where you want to start. Majority of the other adventure parks don’t have this option and everyone starts at the same place.
Located at 5373 Pacific St, Rocklin, CA 95677.
Griffith Quarry
You might be like me who had no idea what a quarry is. According to the dictionary, a quarry is a place, typically large, deep pit, from which stone or other materials are or have been extracted. The Griffith Quarry is a granite quarry that you can hike around. We started at the museum parking lot and walked on the path that took us to a quarry which now looks very similar to a swamp. There were logs in it and plenty of vegetation. During the hike we found plenty of stone from the quarry right off the trail.
Located 7504 Rock Springs Rd, Penryn, CA 95663.
Vina Castellano
We have never been to a stone barrel cave winery before. It is absolutely stunning inside. We loved that they had a sitting area outside next to the vineyards as well. The atmosphere was perfect. Most of the people stayed inside the barrel cave but we enjoyed a more private tasting: outside. We actually don’t enjoy standing next to the tasting counter. If I wasn’t wearing my boots that take forever to put on and off, I’d be waking barefoot between the grapevines.
Located at 4590 Bell Rd, Auburn, CA 95602.
Mountain Mandarin Festival
We have been to many festivals and have been disappointed way too often, Why? Because we think that there will be asparagus at an asparagus festival but there isn’t. If you love mandarins and you want to spend the morning out and about with family then this is a great way to do it. Here they have vendors offering mandarin samples as well as plenty of mandarin juice and mandarin flavored foods.
There’s a really good pretzel truck as well and so many different food venders in one area. Kids can ride on a pony. This festival wasn’t crazy busy. We didn’t really have to wait in any lines. It was pretty easy to talk to all the vendors when we wanted to ask questions.
Mandarin Marmalade without Pectin
I love making things from scratch, especially when it is so easy and tasty.
What you need:
*25 mandarins =3 cups of juice
*1 cup water
*2 cups brown sugar (you could use white sugar. If you do your marmalade will be lighter).
*1 cup mandarin skin
You’ll first want to wash the mandarins. Peel the skins and juice the mandarins. Don’t throw anything out.
Take the mandarin peel and scrape the white part as much as you possibly can. Set the white part aside.
Take the mandarin peels without the white part and cut it into strips.
Take a muslin cloth and add the pulp and the white part of the peel. Make a pouch out of it and tie it.
Into a pot add 1 cup of water, orange juice, and orange peels.
Add the pouch of pulp as well. This will act as your pectin.
Mix well and bring to a boil.
Turn down the heat and let simmer for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes take out the pouch and discard.
Now you can add the sugar. Mix and cook on medium heat for about 1 hour. Keep an eye on it. You will know it is ready when it thickens up a bit. Test it by putting it some on a plate. If it is not runny then it is ready. It will harden up in 24 hours.
Place in mason jar and enjoy.
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Want to learn more about how we travel four months out of the year while homeschooling: email us at homeschoolhomegrown4@gmail.com