About Me
I love to be outside. From climbing mountains, taking bike rides, or simply just looking for bugs, being outside is essential to my world and family. There is always a question to find an answer to, or a mystery to be solved just outside my back door. I don’t believe that it’s possible to be bored outside.
Over the years I have worked with children in many different capacities. It started in high school as a babysitter. I watched many different children during those years and found that communicating and being with children came very naturally to me and that I really enjoyed it. Soon after high school I moved to Kansas City area to become a live-in nanny. I took the kids to every outdoor park we could find and explored the natural world together every single day. It was the best job I have ever had. Playing with kids all day outside-what could possibly beat that?
After a few years, I found myself at the Monterey Bay Aquarium working with the school children who visited on field trips and seeking out curious kids who wanted to know more about sea life. I was introduced to the world of Interpretation and fell in love with all the different techniques I could use to communicate clearly while trying to teach somebody something that’s important to me. I developed a couple different interpretive children’s programs while there and soon found myself moving back to the Sierra’s, a place I always come back to because of my deep love for the mountain range. I signed on at Tenaya Lodge and was able to continue my creative passion of developing interpretive programs. I hoped that these events and programs would help guests and visitors to the Sierra’s learn to appreciate the natural world around them.
While at Tenaya, I created a new Kid’s Camp program that enabled me to do what I do best, play with kids. The days consisted of short hikes, fishing trips and we made a lot of crafts from the materials we gathered from the forest on our scavenger hunts. Again, I found myself totally in my element.
A little over a year went by and an opportunity to work permanently for the National Park Service presented itself to me. I jumped at it. The benefits and the job security were something I couldn’t pass up. I was very excited to work to help preserve and protect Yosemite National Park. I worked at the South Entrance station as a Visitor Use Assistant and quickly worked my up to supervise the Tuolumne and Wawona Campgrounds. My favorite interactions, still, were those with the children who visited the park.
In the spring of 2014 I had my child, Chloe. After months of searching for a child care provider for her so that I could return to work, it finally dawned on me that I can just create my dream job and also be able to stay home with her. After a season of patching together different daycare options and being completely over scheduled in all aspect of life, I decided to go for it.
So here I am, hoping to find some beautiful little souls who are as excited as I am to take part in this adventure together. I look forward to many days in the garden, planting, teaching and harvesting with the children I am trusted with. I look forward to finding worms and other critters and seeing the children’s delighted faces when their little hands are being tickled by the insect’s movements. To make art out of organic materials we find throughout the day, all the while teaching them the importance of the world and everything in it while probably getting pretty dirty. To show them through day to day interactions with each other, how to relate, share and be kind to each other.