Palos Verdes Library District 2020 Children’s Summer Reading Program

18 hours ago • Children's Events, Community Information, Things To Do In Palos Verdes

Palos Verdes Library District 2020 Children’s Summer Reading Program

The Palos Verdes Library District offers reading activities for children as young as 6 months through grade twelve. If you haven’t visited the summer reading program at our local library, then you’re missing some great activities for the kids and adults too. In addition to reading books, members may also try some reading activities that are fun, exciting, informative and funny. Children can track their progress online or use classic paper reading logs. The theme this year, “Imagine Your Story” reminds children and parents that reading opens up the world to us all! Go to https://pvld.beanstack.org/reader365 to keep track of your children’s reading and help them earn cool prizes and online awards while they enjoy reading stories. Registration is open and you can go online now through August 16, 2020.

Kids going into grades Tk-5 will earn achievement iron on patches, similar to boy scout badges but unique to PVLD. Teens grades 6-12 earn Amazon gift cards, so they can purchase more of their favorite books. Research shows that the most reliable predictor of school success is being read to during early childhood. Reading to children from an early age can help close the vocabulary gap and prepare children to enter kindergarten with the skills they need to succeed. Most importantly, sharing books with children promotes a lifelong love of books and reading.

The 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program is available to all families with children between the ages of birth and four years. Registration is still open, and this program is free of charge. For more information, call the library at 310-377-9584 ext. 600. The 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program is a nationwide challenge that encourages parents and caregivers to regularly read aloud to their children. By reading just one book a night, families can reach the 1,000 book goal in three years and provide their children essential early literacy skills.

Summer is a great time for your children to maintain and improve their reading skills and find topics that they love. Plus the Library has more fun ideas for the kids with their “Drive in Movies at Home,” “Mystery Crafts” and ” Virtual Scavenger Hunt.” You can also check out all of the great activities that are offered for adults – cooking ideas, summer book reading and more.

For more information go to pvld.org/pvsummer or call (310) 377-9584 ext. 600.

To read my prior article on Palos Verdes Library District click here.

Photo courtesy of the Palos Verdes Library District

Palos Verdes AYSO 2020 New Fall Soccer Information!

1 week ago • Children's Events, Community Information, Things To Do In Palos Verdes

Palos Verdes AYSO 2020 New Fall Soccer Information!

Palos Verdes AYSO Soccer (Region 10) is changing its registration process a bit. If you have already registered, you are all set. If you haven’t registered yet, when you will register it will be under a “waitlist” with no requirement to pay until a start date has been determined. After the start date has been set, you will receive an email asking you to “finish” registering your child by submitting your payment. This process allows you to sign up your child without actually paying yet and allows you to make your final decision closer to the actual start date. The home page at http://ayso.bluesombrero.com/region10 will show the division and age slots.

When it is determined that play can begin, AYSO ‘s goal is that they will have all protocols in place. The guidelines are being developed by the Department of Health, school districts and city governments at this time. They are hoping that the players will not be required to wear masks during games, but other procedures will be in place such as no handshakes and all spectators must be spaced 6 feet apartment. Even if face masks are not mandatory, a child may still choose to wear one. Stay tuned for their final decision.

Some of the options that are now being considered are:

Starting in early September and ending mid-December with a full season of games and playoffs –

Start in late September or early October and end mid-December with a shortened schedule –

Start in January and ending in February with a shortened schedule.

As you can see there are quite a few optional situations at this time. Hopefully decisions will be made soon, and we can get our children back to some physical activities that they enjoy. As always, if you are interested in volunteering, you will find the required paperwork on the registration site. Since AYSO is a 100% volunteer organization, they are always looking for volunteers to fill coach and referee positions.

To read my last article on AYSO Region 10 Soccer click here.

Photo courtesy of AYSO Region 10

Enjoy Special Dog Walking Hours At the South Coast Botanic Garden!

2 weeks ago • Children's Events, Community Events, Things To Do In Palos Verdes

Enjoy Special Dog Walking Hours At the South Coast Botanic Garden!

Palos Verdes homes owners have a unique opportunity to enjoy a great place to walk your dog while getting a little exercise. By popular demand, South Coast Botanic Garden has brought back special dog walking hours twice a month, on the second and fourth Wednesdays, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. You can walk the Garden’s 87 acres with your four legged friend, plus you can bring the whole family to enjoy the outdoors.

On Wednesdays, August 12th & 26th, 2020, you can make it a fun night for all. All guests are required to wear face coverings while on site, and all dogs must be kept on leashes while on Garden property including the parking lot. This is a transactionless entry, since advanced tickets are required. They have reduced maximum occupancy in order to support physical distancing. There will be water stations for both visitors and “fur babies.”

The price for admission for this special event is $15/adult, $11/senior, $5/child and $4 for your dog. For more information or to purchase admission tickets click here.

The South Coast Botanic Garden is located at 26300 Crenshaw Boulevard, Palos Verdes Peninsula. If you have any questions please call (310) 544-1948.

To read my prior article on the South Coast Botanic Garden click here.

Photo courtesy of the South Coast Botanic Garden

Palos Verdes Hikes & Trails Events August 2020

2 weeks ago • Children's Events, Community Events, Community Information, Trails and Hikes

Palos Verdes Hikes & Trails Events August 2020

Special Events:

Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy is slowly opening up its trails & hikes for all to enjoy. This is exciting to hear since we have been unable to enjoy all of the great outdoor opportunities the Conservancy has to offer.

The Nature Walk for families will take place at Vicente Bluffs Reserve, on Saturday, August 8, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. The nature walk leaders will be giving an overview of the unique nature, wildlife and botanical highlights of the area. Then you set off for a self guided walk from the bluff top at Point Vicente to Oceanfront Estates and observe the endangered El Segundo blue butterfly during its flight season along restored coastal sage scrub habitat. RSVP at www.pvplc.org,Events & Activities. The Reserve stretches around the bluffs of Lower Point Vicente (6 acres), the Pelican Cove property (9 acres), and the habitat areas within the Oceanfront Estates project (69 acres). The area contains rare coastal bluff scrub habitat and unique geological formations including dramatic hexagonal shaped columns of rock formed from black basalt. Trail reconstruction and native plant restoration activities are supported by a California Coastal Conservancy grant with the goal to reduce sedimentation along the state coastline. Monitoring of the Reserve resulted in the discovery of exciting and unexpected colonies of the endangered El Segundo blue butterfly.

The Docent Zoom Orientation will take place on Sunday, August 30, 2020, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon. This is a great opportunity to become a Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy Docent, where you can share your love of nature with the community. The orientation will introduce you to the different opportunities available. These opportunities include volunteering in the Nature Centers and engaging with visitors, helping with native plant sales, supporting the new Nature Club for Families and/or leading Nature Walks. Docents can also sign up to teach local 3rd graders about the natural history of the Peninsula. They will provide all the training, lesson activities, and materials. As a volunteer you can also enjoy enrichment activities as part of the friendly Docent Community. For more information sign up at www.pvplc.volunteerhub.com. For questions about the program please contact the Education Program Manager, Holly Gray, at hgray@pvplc.org.

To read my prior article on Palos Verdes Hikes and Trails, click here.

Photo of the El Segundo blue butterfly courtesy of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy

Palos Verdes Art Center 2020 Online Summer Show!

4 weeks ago • Children's Events, Community Events, Community Information, Things To Do In Palos Verdes

Palos Verdes Art Center 2020 Online Summer Show!

The Palos Verdes Art Center had to change it’s schedule this year like so many other programs. They were not able to finish their Spring Term Classes, and the Summer Classes have been canceled due to the public health concerns. However, they have been able to put together “The Summer Show” which will show submissions from the Palos Verdes Art Center’s eight active artists groups.

The Summer Show will take place from July 20, 2020, through August 22, 2020, and images of all exhibition artwork will be online from their gallery on July 20. The virtual exhibition can be viewed by going to pvartcenter.org.

The Fall Term of classes is scheduled to start on September 14, 2020, and will run through November 20, 2020. When the Art Center is able to open, it will follow strict social distancing and sanitizing guidelines. At this time, they are hoping to re-open soon and look forward to being able to announce a date. The fall registration is not yet open, but soon they will list the classes that are offered and give a full description of each class and time on the website at www.pvartcenter.org. Once the online registration opens, you can go online, or if you prefer to go in person do so at the Palos Verdes Art Center’s Entrance Lobby at 5504 West Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes. For more information call (310) 541-2479.

To read my prior article on the Palos Verdes Art Center click here.

Photo courtesy of the Palos Verdes Art Center

Palos Verdes Beaches Make 2020 Honor Roll List Again!

1 month ago • Children's Events, Community Information, Palos Verdes, Things To Do In Palos Verdes

Palos Verdes Beaches Make 2020 Honor Roll List Again!

Palos Verdes home owners are lucky that we have some of the cleanest beaches in California for our families to enjoy. Earlier this year, the beaches were closed because of the Coronavirus and it truly effected our local residents. Recently, we have been able to enjoy our beautiful beaches but they will be closed for this weekend.

Every year the beach water is reported through the Heal the Bay reporting system. Once again Heal the Bay has reported that Palos Verdes beaches and coves are in the current top Honor Roll 2019-2020 list for California. This means that our local waters have received grades of A & A+ during the summer dry part of the year. Because of the wet weather this year, several of our beaches received B reports because of trail outlets, but once again year round wet weather averages went back up. Heal the Bay assigns weekly grades to more than 500 sites along the West Coast for summer dry-weather water quality and to another 65 locations that are on year round monitoring. Heal the Bay is a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to making Southern California coastal waters and watersheds safe, healthy and clean. They use science, education, community action and advocacy to pursue their mission. Exciting news is that now Mexico will be joining in the monitoring with three of their beaches located in Tijuana. They are El Faro, El Vigia & Playa Blanca.

Heal the Bay published their first Beach Report Card in 1990 and covered about 60 locations in Los Angeles County. At that time, beach goers knew little about the health risks of the water around them. Since that time, there has been a great deal more information to help keep pollution and sewage spills off our local beaches.

The Beach Report Card (BRC) is based on the routine monitoring of beaches by local health agencies. They collect water samples checking for bacteria that indicate pollution. The better the grade on the beach means the lower the risk of illness to beach goers.

The Beach Report Card program is funded from grants from different foundations. Volunteer groups such as Nothing But Sand, and Coastal Clean Ups are constantly needed to help ensure this program continues to minimize the pollution of our beaches. This year because of the Coronavirus, many of the local Coastal Volunteer Days have been cancelled. However, at this time, the worldwide volunteer day on September 26, 2020, is still scheduled to take place. We are also hoping that other countries around the world will still be able to participate with us. If you are interested in participating in Heal the Bay’s event click here. Our local organizations such as Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy and Los Serenos de Point Vicente offer residents additional opportunities to help clean our local beaches. Funding is always welcome to help Heal the Bay pay for the monitoring of our beautiful beaches.

To read more about Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card program click here.

To read my prior article on Heal the Bay beach report card click here.

Photo courtesy of Heal the Bay

Palos Verdes Enjoys Outdoor Summer Movie at the Promenade on the Peninsula!

1 month ago • Children's Events, Community Events, Community Information

Palos Verdes Enjoys Outdoor Summer Movie at the Promenade on the Peninsula!

Family Movie Night featuring “La La Land” will be shown on Saturday, June 27, 2020, on the roof of the Promenade on the Peninsula located at 550 Deep Valley Drve, Rolling Hills Estates. The event will be held on the roof top parking lot for an unique outdoor summer experience while social distancing. For this special evening, the gate will open at 7:00 p.m., and the movie starts at 8 p.m. You can enter the Promenade parking lot off Indian Peak Road and go to the top level. Enjoy the old fashioned experience of watching a movie from your car, while waving to your friends across the parking lot. There is an admission charge of $25 per car. The funds will benefit the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, a program that helps local teens launch businesses.

There will be take out food options at the location. You can purchase tickets at the gate or in advance from the Palos Verdes Chamber’s website palosverdeschamber.com/events, or by calling (310) 377-8111.

“La La Land” is set in the 1950’s in Hollywood, filled with music, and dancing. It is always fun to join the other viewers and wear your 1950 style clothing.

Click here to read my last article about outdoor movies.

Palos Verdes 2020 Whale Watching Has Resumed!

2 months ago • Children's Events, Community Events, Community Information, Things To Do In Palos Verdes

Palos Verdes 2020 Whale Watching Has Resumed!

Point Vicente Interpretive Center had to stop its whale counting this year in March because of the corona virus. This famous landmark gives Palos Verdes homes owners a local center where they can go and watch these massive mammals off our coastline. The season officially started on December 1, 2019, with most of the whales traveling south to Baja. To see these magnificent creatures, there are several different local options to choose from. Point Vicente Interpretive Center located at 31501 Palos Verdes Drive South, Rancho Palos Verdes, welcomes visitors to this premier whale watching site for viewing (bring binoculars). Currently the park grounds are open, as well as the restrooms and walking trails. The museum and gift store are closed at this time due to the virus. For more information, call (310)-377-5370.

If you want to get a closer look at the whales, there are two companies that have whale watching tours for a fee. San Pedro Spirit Cruises is offering their tours on Saturday & Sunday at 1:30 p.m. You can go online to purchase tickets, however, they recommend that you contact them the day before to make sure that there are no weather problems. The cost for the tour is $15, and one child is free with each paid adult. San Pedro Spirit Cruises is located at 77 Berth, San Pedro. For more information and to make future reservations, go to www.spiritmarine.com or call (310) 548-8080.

Harbor Breeze is offering their cruises everyday at 12:00 noon & 3:00 p.m. This is a two hour excursion into the Pacific Ocean to search for whales, dolphins, sea lions, and other marine life including marine birds. The cost for this cruise is $35/prepaid or $45 for walk ups. Children 3-11 are $30. Harbor Breeze is located at 100 Aquarium Way, Dock #2, Long Beach. For more information and reservations go to https://2seewhales.com, or call (562) 432-4900.

At this time the Redondo Beach Whale Watch tours have not begun. They are hoping to open their facility later this month. Reservations will be required for weekend tours. Redondo Beach Whale Watch is located at 140 International Boardwalk, Redondo Beach. For more information, go to www.rbwhales.com or call (310) 372-2111 for reservations.

To read my last article on whale watching click here.

Photo courtesy of Spirit Cruises

Enjoy Free Garden Day At South Coast Botanic Garden Tuesday, June 16, 2020!

2 months ago • Children's Events, Community Events, Things To Do In Palos Verdes

Enjoy Free Garden Day At South Coast Botanic Garden Tuesday, June 16, 2020!

Palos Verdes homes owners have a great opportunity to enjoy one of the few locations that is still open for exercise on the Peninsula. The South Coast Botanic Garden, “The Jewel of the Peninsula,” is located here on the beautiful Palos Verdes Peninsula and has 87-acres of more than 2,500 different species of plants from as far away as Australia, the Mediterranean, and southern Africa. Popular features include a small lake, Mediterranean Garden, AARS Rose Garden, Water-Wise Garden, Garden for the Senses, Cactus Garden, Children’s Garden, Fuchsia Garden, Dahlia Garden, Herb Garden, and Japanese Garden. There is an attractive Wedding Lawn and two Gazebos, Events Meadow, and Frances Young Auditorium available for events.

On Tuesday, June 16, 2020, you can enjoy the Free Garden Day at the SCBG, but must make an advance reservation and follow the covid rules by wearing protective face masks, and follow safe physical distancing.

If you can’t make it for the free day, the normal price for admission to the South Coast Botanic Garden is: adults $15, seniors $11, students with I.D. $11, children 5 to 12 $5, and children 4 and under are free. Currently, you must make advance reservations for the date/time you wish to visit the Gardens. For more information or to purchase admission tickets click here. The South Coast Botanic Garden is located at 26300 Crenshaw Boulevard, Palos Verdes Peninsula. Due to the current situation, it is recommended that you contact the garden early to make your reservation because it does fill up. To make your reservation for June 16,2020, call (310) 544-1948.

To read my prior article on the Cherry Blossom Festival click here.

Photo courtesy of the South Coast Botanic Garden

Palos Verdes Beaches, Parks & Trails Are Now Open!

3 months ago • Children's Events, Community Events, Community Information, Trails and Hikes

Palos Verdes Beaches, Parks & Trails Are Now Open!

Palos Verdes homes owners are happy that the beaches, parks & trails, including the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve are now opening under the guidance from the County of Los Angeles.

Our cities are encouraging residents to participate in recreational outdoor activity in their neighborhoods. When outdoors visiting these areas, please make sure that you are mindful of your social interactions and wear a face covering. All visitors must practice physical distancing by staying 6 feet away from others not in their household. Face coverings are mandatory at beaches when out of the water, and on trailheads, parking areas, and any trails where there are other groups of people nearby. The city staff, park rangers and law enforcement will be monitoring these areas to ensure compliance, and parking restrictions will be enforced. If these rules are not observed by the public, the city may close those areas.

Dog owners will be happy to hear that the Eastview Dog Park and the Rancho Caninos Dog Park are open. The tennis court at Upper Point Vicente Park and the paddle tennis courts at Ladera Linda Park are also open. Both amenities have restrictions to comply with physical distancing and safety.

There are a few trails that will remain closed at this time. They are: Three Sisters Reserve, Filioram Reserve, Vista Del Norte Reserve, and Aqua Amarga Reserve. Remember that playgrounds, basketball courts, baseball & soccer fields, and park buildings will remain closed.

Photo courtesy of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy

Children’s Events

Palos Verdes 2020 Whale Watching Has Resumed!