Part Five- Zoo, Kendo and the end...

We visited the Zoo! I'm glad we didn't have any fatalities after all the kids were stuck in this giant spider web.


Lilly pads!

Otters! I liked the tank because it had see through walls so we could see them when they swim under the water and play.


Giant Fruit Bats! My favorite!


Goats are not as scary as dogs. She was very brave.


What are you looking at? I could stay here all day and visit with these guys. They are always doing something interesting and new.


Swinging high! Very entertaining.



Then it started to RAIN!

Take cover! It was coming down in buckets! We didn't get to see the rest of the animals.

Some kids could care less about being wet. Others just wanted to go home.

I love the Giraffes!


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Kendo


Deadly game not for the soft headed.


It is also very loud.

The boys liked seeing all their old kendo friends in Oakland. They had a few good workouts during the trip.

When they put on all of their armor the baby was scared of his dad. He hugged me so tight. Then he figured out it was someone he knew he still wasn't so sure about the scary mask.

Can you tell who this is?



Off to Fresno to visit ! This was the best part of the trip. The kids played all day with cousins. They played outside on the swings, they jumped in the cold pool and froze. We ate yummy nutritious food and had a paper shredding party. We helped put up a fence and played with cousins some more... The oldest cousin went to the prom and we all saw grandma style her beautiful hair. The oldest boy cousin had a birthday! We went to church and listened to it in Spanish. Fun Fun.



But sadly Mike took the camera to Nevada for his class so this is the only picture I got, grandma waving good bye.



The baby was running a temperature the whole way home. He slept and just sat there very hot and drugged. Sometimes he would want to eat but usually he was just a little lump in his car seat.


Leaving CA and entering Nevada...


Very tired children. We didn't stop as many times on the way home...just drove and drove till 5am. HOME AT LAST!


Spring arrived while we were gone and every tiny part of the yard had tall grass and dandelions ! You can hardly see the strawberry patch. We have lots of work ahead of us.

Part Four - Oakland Califorina Temple

Our Forever Family


It's great to be eight!




Birds of prey.


Beautiful fountain and palm trees on the temple grounds. This was the temple where I was married and has always been my temple since I was a little girl. I love it here at the temple.


We went in the visitor center and saw a few new paintings of the Book of Mormon by an artist I can't remember his name. They were really cool. If you get a chance go check them out!

Part Three-Beach Day

To sum it up: it was cold, the sand was black, the little boy LOVED the sand, the boys skim-boarded, everyone was happy, the dogs were happy too, and it was the perfect day with grandparents and cousins at Ocean Beach!

Part Two

In CA we went to Oakland first to visit our old stomping grounds and see cousins.
We visited Sulpher Creek a nature place. Here are the three cousins that were inseparable.

The birds of prey were fun to have stare downs with.


Girl #2 had a Birthday! She was so excited to celebrate it in CA.


Grandma and Grandpa came out to visit in the Bay Area too!


The criss-cross of freeways and the bridges all brought back so many memories

The Bay

The Tolls

Bay Bridge



Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco

Part One: CA Trip

We started out on a beautiful morning very early to drive to CA. We stopped 4 times before it was noon! This is going to be a long drive!


The first stop we came too the eight year old needed to use the potty but couldn't find any shoes. She had forgotten all of her shoes! Luckily there was a box with her Birthday presents wrapped up and one of the presents was flip flops. She opened it and wore these the rest of the trip. (good thinking mom)


It had snowed a few days before we left. As we progressed closer to CA we shed the layers of clothing because it was so hot. This coat was worn the last time at the salt flats.


Everything was a first for the baby. We said this many times during the trip. This was a first for the salt flats for him.


Look at those mountains!


Elko Park, traditional playground stop.


He was pretty happy for most of the ride there. He really liked looking out the window. I wish he was just a bit higher.


Stretching at Donner Pass.

We saw lots of dogs at the rest stops. This was going to be a dog gone trip of doggy adventures. The first one was when little girl #3 said she liked dogs. Then one ran in front of her as the owner tried to catch him while trying to hold the other one. Mike helped her catch it and then the little girl #3 said she didn't like dogs anymore. She always spotted them first at each rest stop and kept her distance.

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Another story about the Holocaust, which is important so we don't repeat the past. This book wasn't what I expected because the author tried to write it from a little boys perspective yet he didn't quite get it. Sometimes there were very adult perspectives or phrases used.
I haven't seen the movie yet but it will probably be really depressing and scary.

Broken Book

Catching up on Reading

I remember the really good book I read while on vacation. It is called The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. It has been made into a HBO movie. It is a whole series of detective stories that happen in Africa. It has quite a unique twist on them because they aren't your normal England or American Mysteries. It was very entertaining to read and I can't wait to find the next ones in our library.

I also finished these books:

Homestead by Rosina Lippi - It was a bit too immoral for me. There were a few interesting things about living during world war I and II in the Austrian Alps.

Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan - This was a sad story about a little girl that was in an arranged marriage at an early age and within a few days her new husband, also very young died. She is then left homeless after her new family can't afford to support her. Takes place in India I beleive, it does have a happy ending.

I listened too a few classics on CD too:

Little Women by Alcott - theatrical version so it wasn't exactly complete but entertaining.

The Kevin Kirk Chronicles by Patricia Wiles, book #1 and #2 My Mother is a Mortician and Funeral Home Evenings. These are re-reads. Great LDS YA Fiction that makes you laugh. I loved the poor friend that never had his name said correctly. Melonhead, Melonrind, Melonseed...

Forgot I read this one:
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians (Alcatraz, #1)
by Brandon Sanderson

This was a silly and adventurous book about a boy that finds his quirky family after being an orphan all his life. He has powers and they do to so they can defeat the evil librarians trying to take over the world. I will never trust a librarian again, sorry.

Am I Not A Man? The Dred Scott Story by Mark L. Shurtleff

I loved this book! It is a historical fiction. I thought it was well presented and researched. The whole story of Dred (Sam) Scout (Blow) and his childhood all the way to the day he died. PLUS the best part was the interwoven facts of the key players in the abolitionist movement and what led to the civil war! Lincoln, the lawyers and judges and senators all played key parts in the case Dred vs. Stanford. What made them decide for or against slavery? What in their own lives influenced their choices when they had power to change a nation? It is all in this book!

Dred Scott lost his case but because of his endurance through the long legal system he opened the eyes of many to the horrors of slavery and the unjust treatment of human beings. The color of your skin does not decide if you are a citizen of the United States! All men are created equal and Dred Scott is a man, not a horse or a dog but a man created in the image of God just like you and me. He died a free man after his former owners bought his freedom. It was sad to see the justice system at the time of this case completely fall apart when it came to fairness, not only with blacks but also religious groups like the Mormons. It was great to see great men prepared from birth step forth and lead the US to greater heights. It took years and years but it had to start somewhere to chip away the oppression and greed of the Southern plantation owners. I am glad that Dred Scott was brave and didn't give up nor did his friends.

Whole Book

The End of the Beginning ... by AVI

Being the Adventures of a small snail (and an even smaller ant)

This would be a great book to read out loud to 3-4th graders! It was interesting to me so grown ups would enjoy this book too but on a different level.

This story begins where it ends and ends where it begins: in the treetop home of a rather small snail named Avon. He wants to go on an adventure. An ant goes with him. They go at a snail pace which takes a very very long time. Their friendship grows and they are silly. The whole journey is the length of a branch but it does turn into a big adventure.

I love the word play all over this book. The fable could really start some great discussions. I will read it to my kids out loud tomorrow and see what happens. The pictures are simple but great too! There are about 143 pages but I read it in a half of an hour.

My favorite part is: the two snails coming at each other for a big battle!
And when the worm falls asleep and when he wakes up he can't remember which end is his head.

This is a great story of friendship. They leave home to find home! Loved it!

Classification Whole Book

CRY FEST 2010

We had an onion problem so we processed the whole box! 22 giant onions are now frozen, dried, fried and eaten.



I had a good helper. She of course had to wear goggles.




We opened all the windows and turned on the fan.

The kids love onions. Way too much oil for me! But we had some left over from FHE donuts night.



All this and it only filled a zip lock baggy.


We did not put any onions in Mikes B-Day cakes. This one is called a boy and his butter fly.


"Go way key. Don ea miii eerl!"




Big boys don't cry!