Create-Celebrate-Explore

San Diego Zoo Koalafornia

2013-05-23T16:16:09-07:00

A couple of days ago we were invited to attend a preview of the new San Diego Zoo Australian Outback exhibit Koalafornia which opens to the public tomorrow (Friday the 24th of May) after the opening ceremony at 9am.

You are going to love this new exhibit. As an Aussie who has visited the koalas, kangaroos and wombats at the Zoo for years, I am so happy to see they have a much larger 3-acre space now.

We were taken on a guided tour of the new exhibit by Zookeeper Rick.

We began our tour learning about the one-of-a-kind totem poles, wandered past the birds, new wombat and wallaby enclosure, past the gift shop and Sydney's hangout (which is a great place to stop for lunch), and then into the Koala Exhibit.

Before I show more photographs, I want to share some facts you may not be aware of:

San Diego Zoo Global has the largest breeding colony of Queensland Koalas outside of Australia.
There are more than 700 different kinds of eucalyptus trees and koalas eat about 40 types.
The Zoo's koalas eat 1 to 1.5 pounds of fresh eucalyptus each day.
A baby koala is born the size of a jelly bean with no fur and eyes not even open.
Researchers at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research are studying koalas in Zoo's and the wild.
The Conrad Prebys Australian Outback is now home to over 20 koalas and many other animals.
Koalas sleep 18-20 hours a day. The best time to see them being active (as with most of the animals at the zoo) is early in the morning.

View the Koala Cam to watch the koalas whenever you like.

The storage tank above collects rainwater from the roof of the Queenslander building.

Did you know that male koalas don't like sharing trees? All of the boys have their very own tree in Koalafornia.

I love the kangaroo paws below. I'm going to plant some of these in our garden soon.

Kids can climb trees and curl up just like a koala on the branches.

The kids participated in a number of fun activities in the Koalafornia Education Center including picking up items using clamps, coloring, fingerprint animals, a koala game, filled pouches with jellybean babies, and had a great learning experience. Matilda the kookaburra even popped out for a visit and put on quite a performance for us.

Don't forget that there are other Australian animals at the zoo that aren't located in the new Australian Outback exhibit. So make sure to visit the kangaroos, wallabies and kookaburras.

I wouldn't be a good Aussie goat farming girl if I didn't take my kids through the petting zoo to visit the goats too. Yes, if you didn't already know, I grew up on a goat farm in Australia.

Yes, they were playing follow-the-leader with the goats to scratch their backs.

While you are visiting the San Diego Zoo, don't forget to stop by and say hello to the baby giraffe. He's adorable.

And swing by the flamingoes too because they've been very busy building nests and you may even spot an egg or two.

You can find more information about opening hours, entrance prices and special events on the San Diego Zoo website.

Disclosure: We were invited to attend a preview of San Diego Zoo's Koalafornia.

Grilled Pesto Shrimp

2013-05-21T08:22:07-07:00

Each night throughout the week I like to make a dish that is a 'favorite' for at least one of the kids. My little man has developed quite a liking for seafood and I already had shrimp on hand so I made him Grilled Pesto Shrimp.

It really can't get any easier to make this dish.

I whipped up a jar of homemade pesto during the day (I used Jennie's pesto recipe, with my homegrown basil) and refrigerated it until I was ready to use it.

I carefully placed all of the shrimp onto wood skewers and then brushed one side with the homemade pesto, placing that side down on my small indoor grill. I then brushed the other side with pesto before turning them. They only needed to be grilled for a few minutes on each side.

I served the shrimp skewers with fresh pineapple and steamed rice.

We have quite a bit of homemade pesto left which will be perfect to use later in the week in a different dish.

This post linked to:

Sole Hope Shoe Cutting Party

2013-05-20T09:42:15-07:00

One of my favorite activities during the Elevate conference was learning about Sole Hope. Nat and Micah shared the video of Sole Hope with us and had set up a cutting party outside for us, where we traced, cut fabric, and learned about how these shoes will help prevent jigger infestations in children's feet as well as provide jobs for women in Uganda who have been trained in sewing the shoes.

I love that these shoes are made from recycled materials and scraps of fabric.

We were provided with scraps, instruction sheets, and permanent markers, and were asked to bring pinking shears or fabric scissors with us to the conference for cutting.

Pinking shears are perfect for fabric that might fray.

Host your own Sole Hope Shoe Cutting Party, you can order party kits from Sole Hope. Please watch the video, it's very moving and you will see just how much these shoes are needed.

Rusty and Rosy: Gardening with Kids

2013-05-18T09:29:23-07:00

If you are looking for simple tips to get the kids out in the garden and growing fruit, vegetables, and flowers, then head over to Rusty and Rosy where I'm sharing some simple tips for gardening with kids.

String Art for my Little Man's Bedroom

2013-05-15T22:21:39-07:00

Last weekend I headed to the Elevate Blog Conference. You may remember that I went last year, and this will not be the first post where I discuss the conference this year.

When I saw this project outside, on a table, overlooking the sand and water I couldn't wait to get started.

There were a few options to choose from, but I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to make a string art map for my little man to hang on his bedroom wall.

To make this we placed a piece of paper with the image printed on it on top of the wood, hammered nails around the outside of the image, then pulled the paper off the nails. Then we wound string around, and around, and around until we were satisfied.

Tip: wind the string clockwise around the nails so that the string is on the outside of the nail when you are just going around the outside.

When I hung the string art on the wall it looked a little lonely all by itself though. I came across a fun card from the conference that said 'believe in yourself' and decided I should pop that in a frame and hang that too. I have wanted to put inspirational words into each of the kids bedrooms, and this is a great starting piece.

The only problem was that I didn't have any frames that were the right color or size. I found one old broken frame in the garage. Unfortunately the frame around the wood was completely broken and the entire back was missing. A little paint, eye screws and twine fixed that problem though.

And a little decorative tape held the card in place nicely.

It was perfect.

He was so happy when he got home from school and saw this.

Of course now there's a little miss who wants new art on her walls too.

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Easy Kid-Friendly Baked Flounder Recipe

2013-05-14T11:10:27-07:00

You have no idea how many times I have tried and failed to add breadcrumbs to fish to make homemade fish sticks or crumbed fish fillets. My kids love fish sticks and crumbed fish fillets, but I've always wanted to make a healther version at home that doesn't contain any added extras that we just don't need.

I finally have a winner, for two out of three kids at least ... I think the third child would love it if he didn't devour the waffle fries on the side of his plate first and then claim to be too full to eat the fish.

Note: I made 10 of these - they were not large flounder fillets so I made one for each of the little ones, two for the rest of us and an extra two just in case the kids wanted more.

Ingredients:

10 flounder fillets
1 1/2 cups Panko bread crumbs
1 cup grated cheese - I used a cheese blend of parmesan, asiago, fontina & mild provolone
4 tbs Earth Balance butter - divided in half with one completely melted and one softened
2 tsp dried thyme
salt & pepper
2 lemons - quartered (for serving)

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F and place the oven rack a little higher than center.

Prepare the flounder fillets into a couple of baking dishes that have been lightly greased. Brush each fillet with the softened butter.

In a separate bowl combine the Panko bread crumbs, grated cheese, thyme, salt, pepper and melted butter.

Sprinkle the combined mixture over each of the flounder fillets and lightly press it down.

Bake in the oven for approximately 15-18 minutes.

Serving suggestion: fresh lemon quarters, waffle fries and caesar salad