Fun with family

Abel is leaving in a couple of days, and we are trying to get as much sightseeing done as we can. I had a long list of places I wanted to take him, but I asked Abel to choose a couple out of the list, so we could plan accordingly with the time we have.

First stop today was Jelly Belly Factory. Although my kids had been there before, they still loved trying new and old flavors. Best of all, they enjoyed being with Abel and Rebekah. As for Abel and Rebekah, they had a good time learning about the Jelly Belly Beans at the tour offered at this factory, but you should have seen them shooting like a lightning bolt toward the store as soon as the tour was over. When I asked the children what they liked the best about the visit at the Jelly Belly Factory, James answered that he enjoyed being with Abel and Rebekah; Jefferson said he liked trying all kinds of Jelly Belly Beans; and Gillian said that she liked learning about the different flavors and then trying them on. She became an expert on recognizing the kind of flavor a particular jelly bean had just by looking at it.
We had some lunch before we left the Jelly Belly Factory, and then headed toward the Oakland Zoo, a cheerful place that welcomes children of all ages, as well as their moms. We started our zoo experience by getting on the Outback train. There were banners everywhere about how great this new exhibit of Australian animals was, and so it wasn't our fault that we all had high expectations. However, after we stayed in line for twenty minutes, we finally got to see this great new exhibit. To say that we were a bit disappointed is underrated. Let's just say that we felt exactly what Gillian said about it later, bored. The ride was just ten minutes long, and the only Australian animals they had were a few emus and wallaroos. The truth of the matter is that it was really fun seeing these animals up close in their natural habitat and not closed up in some cage. I have never seen wallaroos in real life and it was rather fun to see them hop around as the train passed by. But to say that it was a great exhibit, I think it was a bit exaggerated. The only thing I can come up with is that the Zoo care takers were a bit exited to have some outback animals in their zoo, even though there were only two kinds.

Charlton really liked looking at the emu birds. I learned that these birds, although they have capable wings, they don't use them. They don't need too. They could run anytime at 40 miles/hour.

After the train ride, we headed toward Rebekah's favorite animals, the giraffes. The giraffes were in an entertaining mood. A lot of them were very close to us, eating, chewing, standing, sitting, and our favorite, sticking their long tongues out at us. Two of them were even showing their courting moves to all of us.


Among all the animals we usually see when we go to the Zoo, today I captured some shots of a hummingbird fluttering his wings on his way to getting some nectar, a whole family of mere cats just putting a show for all of us, and a mischievous look on a crocodile's face.

The children played around at the children's zoo, while Rebekah and I attempted to relax for a moment or two. I know the children will truly miss their uncle, Abel, who played with them all sorts of games.

On the way back, I decided to take Abel and Rebekah to the Oakland Temple. I've been meaning to take Abe there for quite some time, and I decided I couldn't let him leave without feeling the peace and beauty that the temple grounds offer. The children and I always go up at the temple terrace and enjoy the view of Oakland and San Francisco from up there, as well as the myriads of gorgeous plants that surround the grounds.

We had a busy day sightseeing, but I think we all enjoyed being with each other more than anything.

Jelly Belly Factory

Wednesday is our designated field trip day (not that we need one). Gillian finishes school early, so I try to take the children to see something fun and educational. Today, we decided to go to the Jelly Belly Factory and take one of their free tours. We picked up Emily, Gillian's friend, and headed toward the factory. It took us around 25 minutes, and the trip there was pretty. I know you are tired of hearing how beautiful California is in spring, so I won't say how beautiful California is in spring. When we got there we waited on line for the next available tour. Meanwhile, the children were able to taste some of the jelly beans at the tasting station. I was so proud of the children. They asked to go and taste some only twice. They were very polite. I saw some children who went to ask more than ten times and each time they would have their hands full.
Our tour started shortly and we were able to watch the jelly beans in all the four stages of their creation. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside, but I promise it was a sight to see all the many colors of the jelly beans. There are around 50 flavors, and I asked the children what was their favorite. Gillian liked mango, Jefferson liked green apple, and James liked juicy pear
(coincidentally Gillian loves mango fruit, Jefferson eats only apples, and James devours two to three pears a day). Here is some information I got out of Jelly Belly Factory's official site:

The Journey

Back in 1976, a Los Angeles candy distributor had an idea for a jelly bean made with natural flavorings. So he called up the candymakers at Jelly Belly (formerly known as Herman Goelitz Candy Co.) who had a reputation for making the very best candies. Creating "true-to-life" flavors was, well, a natural evolution. The candymakers cooked up a recipe for a new kind of jelly bean -- intensely flavored throughout, with natural ingredients for flavoring whenever possible. In 1976 the first eight Jelly Belly flavors were born: Very Cherry, Lemon, Cream Soda, Tangerine, Green Apple, Root Beer, Grape and Licorice. Funny enough they are still some of the most popular flavors made.
A furor arose when people tasted Jelly Belly beans for the first time. Wow, what flavor! Soon Jelly Belly became the favorite candy of Ronald Reagan, who eventually made the beans a staple in the Oval Office and on Air Force One after he was elected president. President Reagan's passion for jelly beans inspired Blueberry flavor, which was cooked up so he could serve red, white, and blue beans at his inaugural parties. Diplomats and world leaders clamored to have Jelly Belly beans. And guess what? Jelly Belly was also the first jelly bean in outer space. Free floating, weightless Jelly Belly beans were sent on the space shuttle Challenger in 1983 as a presidential surprise for the astronauts. Coincidentally, it was the same mission that boasted another bit of history -- the first American female astronaut, Sally Ride. Today, Jelly Belly is the world's #1 gourmet jelly bean, the bean of choice for all those with the most discerning taste, and made in 50 amazing and tasty flavors.

The tour was very educational and the children, Gillian especially, liked learning about how the jelly beans were made. Their favorite part was when they learned that there were some jelly belly beans that were called flops because they were either too big or too small, and as such not suitable for carrying their name. The children decided they were going to purchase the Jelly Belly Flops. Seeing them being made and learning how much sugar went in them, kind of took my desire to eat them away. The Jelly Belly Beans are some of my favorite candy. However, I had promised the children I would buy some for them and their dad, so we went to the store after the tour and purchased some. The Jelly Belly Flops were a hit.

Mom, the best entertainer in town

Tonight, when I went to say good night to the children, Gillian was playing with the leap frog touch pad books. I don't know if you know what these books are. My friend, Katherine, gave those to us for Jefferson some time ago. They come accompanied by books and cartridges for each book. Anyways, these are for James' age, but Gillian and Jefferson love to listen and play with them as well. One of the books talks about classical music, starting with different kinds of instruments and voices, and then speaking about specific composers. When I entered the room, Jefferson and James had joined Gillian in her bed and all of them were listening to the different characters of Mozart' Magic Flute. I started to imitate all of the different voices making faces in the process. The children started laughing. Then, they moved on to Tschaikovsky and his Nutcracker ballet. They would point the pointer to each dancer and I would dance it to the best of my abilities. I would do the shy Chinese dancer, the fast Russian dancer (Jefferson's favorite), the pretty flower dancer, the Spanish flamingo dancer (Gillian's favorite), and the exotic Arabian dancer (James' favorite). After they had enough of all of the dances, they started playing with me. They would point to one dancer for few seconds and then move the pointer to another. This went on for a little while. They kept laughing at their mom who one second would be the demure Chinese dancer and in another she would try to be the fast Russian dancer. James kept laughing and laughing as I would do the Arabian dancer moving my hips and arms. Elijah was not able to enjoy my entertainment; he was trying to take care of our taxes. By the time I was done entertaining my children, I was done for, totally our of breath. Just because I don't want you to visualize me dancing the Arabian dance, here is a professional ballet dancer for you: