Fun North Carolina Animal Encounters for Homeschool Families

August 14, 2026August 14, 2026 Deby Ciui (Chewy)Leave a comment

We are two weeks into homeschooling this year and have officially had our first field trip. I’ve lived here for so many years and somehow am only now hearing about so many cool things to visit and experience. This week we visited the Greensboro Science Center, a museum, aquarium, and zoo, all in one. Aside from the heat it was quite an enjoyable experience. Some of the zoo animals were understandable hiding/sleeping due to the temperatures but we still got to see otters playing, the adorable red pandas snuggling up together, and many many more. I have been to North Carolina Zoo several times but in terms of ease, I do believe I enjoyed this place even more. As much as we love the big NC Zoo we do tend to get overwhelmed and exhausted whenever we visit. The Greensboro Science Center let us take our time and enjoy ourselves at our own leisure. Of course, now that I know what to expect, I think I’ll wait to return during the spring/fall when it is much cooler.

Every year I am excited to plan out field trips with the girls. It is one thing I always loved when I was younger and wished that I could have more of but they seemed to no longer exist after elementary school. So, since I am the teacher now, I get to plan as many field trips I want. For now though, I’ll admit that majority of our field trips often involve animals of some kind whether they’re wild animals or domesticated. This year promises to be no different as I already have a list of places I’m looking forward to exploring with the girls.

The Carolina Tiger Rescue
- This is somewhere I have visited on multiple occasions but have not taken the girls to yet. I am excited to see their faces when we are so close to the big cats. I personally always enjoyed the tiger rescue and learned something new each visit.
Carolina Raptor Center
- I have lived in NC for almost 20 years and somehow only just discovered that this place existed! This is also on my list of field trips this year but will take some planning due to distance.
Aloha Safari Park
- Another place I only recently discovered and am looking forward to visiting.

The list goes on, between local museums that we have visited before and the usual zoo/aquariums that we always love. I don’t know who looks forward to our field trips more, me or the kids.

Travel

Hawaiian Vacation

September 30, 2023 Deby Ciui (Chewy)Leave a comment

This past month my husband and I had our first kids-free vacation since before the kids were born. We decided to go to Oahu (Waikiki/Honolulu area) and had such and amazing time, if it wasn’t for missing the girls I wouldn’t have wanted to leave. Our time there was so great and we made some fantastic memories. But we also had some lessons learned.

Rental Cars – Lesson Learned

If you are staying in the Waikiki area, then I would not recommend renting a car for your entire trip. For starters we we found out at the hotel that we would need to pay a $50/day parking fee (my fault I should have checked this before booking the rental). Then in the area around our hotel there were city buses with easy to follow and find bus routes that we ended up taking advantage of, if you paid cash you’d have to pay $3 to ride or you could get a day pass for $9, would recommend getting the day pass. Aside from the public transportation there was shuttling offered from the hotel along with many of the tours and in the end we only ended up using our rental car to get to and from the airport (which wasn’t actually needed as the hotel had an airport shuttle) and then for the one day we made a day trip to North shore and drove around the island. My recommendation is to only rent a car for the day you’re planning to use it. Definitely a lesson learned moment.

Where to stay?

If you like the city with beaches and night-life then the Waikiki area is for you. There are an abundance of family-friendly resorts not to mention the beaches. We stayed at the Park Shore and would highly recommend it. There are many different food options with ranging prices and tons of shopping if that is for you. It is only 20 minutes from the airport (watch out during rush hour) and most of the hotels have a shuttle service to and from the hotel. There are also many different activities offered, from snorkeling and surf lessons to parasailing and in the winter months there are also whale watching tours. Not to mention the zoo is within walking distance, it was actually across the street from our hotel. I loved watching the flamingos from my balcony.

Now, as much as we loved our stay in Waikiki. My husband and I are not really into the whole city crowds. On our trip to the North Shore we realized that was more up to our speed. North shore is not a resort area like Waikiki, in fact there is a limited resort/hotel options in the area. But the rural setting was stunning and we really enjoyed our drive along the pineapple fields and the scenic mountains. There was plenty of hiking around and we had so much fun snorkeling at Kuilima Cove and even got to see a sea turtle. The waves were calm and easy to maneuver (this changes during the winter months). My husband even commented about how next time we should stay in the North Shore.

Good Eats!

If you look up places you must eat you will likely see all of these options listed. First off is the Malasada’s from Leonard’s Bakery. These fresh made warm Malasada’s are a delicious Portuguese Fried Doughnut and were so good. You can get the plain ones which remind me of the Romanian pancove that I grew up with. Or my favorite were the filled ones, especially the macadamia cream filled. We also tried the coconut one which was equally delicious.

In the Waikiki area I would also recommend stopping by the Barefoot Beach cafe. Its a small little cafe right on the beach with outdoor seating. The food was fantastic and their pineapple smoothie was so good! Vintage Island Coffee also had one of the best breakfasts and their coffee was delicious, I really need to find a copycat MacNut Latte recipe.

In the north shore you will find Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck. I head a few people recommend I stop there and they were NOT wrong. Their garlic shrimp was amazing. In the area is also the Dole Plantation, if for nothing else you should go there to get their Dole pineapple soft serve or the soft serve float. Anyone who knows me knows I am not a fruits person but I have to say that I had so much pineapple or pineapple flavored things on this trip, get them!

Life · Travel

Moms-Only Trip

November 1, 2022November 1, 2022 Deby Ciui (Chewy)Leave a comment

Take time off. The world will not fall apart without you.
Malebo Sephodi

This past weekend was our planned girls(moms)-only trip with 2 out of my 3 sisters and my sister in law. It was a trip we had begun planning back in April of this year, a trip that my mom wanted to take back when she was alive but we now fulfilled in memory of her. This trip was the first time that I had ever left my girls alone with Josh for the night. That’s 4 years of me not having a break from them, despite knowing that it was needed. To be honest I was reluctant to even consider taking this trip, I felt guilty and nervous even though I knew my husband is perfectly capable of taking care of them, I mean they are just as much his kids as they are mine. But I was struggling with this sense of guilt, I felt excited for going on a vacation and guilty for being excited.

To be perfectly honest the trip was fantastic. I got to bond with my sisters, two of which live out of state and I essentially only get to see on special occasions. I learned things I never knew before and I recharged on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level. It was a vacation filled with walks on the beach, prayer, girl-talk and chick flicks. It was only one of the first times I feel I actually came back from a vacation relaxed and recharged instead of more exhausted than when I left.

One of the things that really stuck with me was my sister who said that she took similar trips like this or even just a day or few hours away from her kids when they were younger for the specific reason of letting her recharge.

I take these trips to become a better mother.

It wasn’t until I came home that I realized the accuracy of that statement. Toddlers are tough, they’re tough to raise and tough to handle and when your patience is already running on threads that are barely holding on, it is very easy to forget that they are in fact toddlers. It is easy to catch yourself beginning to expect a 4 year old to have the understanding of someone two or three times their age instead of taking the time to explain something and teach them what they are trying to learn. This vacation has been a big eye-opening reminder of that and I hope that I can continue going forward with that reminder to become a better mother and teach for my girls. I am relaxed and recharged and ready to go.