The Aquarium of the Pacific

We had a great trip to the aquarium on Saturday! We saw a new exhibit on Los Angeles' watersheds and also a new exhibit on the North and South Pole and the animals there. We saw a seal and sea lion show and some baby arctic foxes. Sky and Brad enjoyed trying on this turtle shell. Lila was intrigued by the mating lorikeets.And this splashy spot is always a favorite. It felt great because it was a really hot day!Brad enjoyed checking out the stuff at the shark table.Sky brought a notebook to take notes and she wrote down many interesting facts throughout the day. Brad ate most of that bag of goldfish.They got to pet rays and moon jellies which is very cool. Plus there are quite a few hands-on tide pools. Sky really enjoyed petting the animals!

Cerritos Library Fountain

It has been very hot out here lately so we took some time to cool off at the Cerritos Library fountainwith our good friends the Denhams the other day. Brad and Lila didn't do too much splashing but everyone else really got into it!

The Desert in August!

Ken loves his job so much. Sometimes he comes home and says that he can't believe he gets paid for what he does. He teaches only 9 hours a week and has an assisstant to help with grading. He spends the rest of his time meeting with students and researching and writing.

On top of all of this, BIOLA brings all faculty and their families out to Indian Well (Palm Springs) every other year or so. They provide childcare (the kids had a blast at a luau, carnival, movie night, etc.) and there is usually an excellent speaker. This year they got philosopher Dallas Willard on the theme of rest. I went to hear one of his talks and it was great. Then I rested by the pool or with friends the rest of the time. Did I mention it was at a Hyatt Grand Champions Resort? We spent a lot of time at the pools. Lila and Sky loved the water slide (I went down with Lila).They had a clown doing face painting at one of the childcare sessions!Originally we thought about going to Joshua Tree National Park but then we changed our minds because it was blazing hot and we weren't sure the kids would really enjoy it. So, we went to the Children's Museum of the Desert with our close friends, the Denhams.

Sky's favorite station was the animal care clinic.

Lila liked the sand table outside.This Volkswagon had a few coats of paint on it! Lila, the archaeologist...I thought the pizza parlor was really cool.Lila and Brad also really enjoyed the grocery store area. Even Ken got in on some of the action...All told, we spent about 3 hours there and had a blast. I'm not sure what the point of these ropes was but Brad and Lila spent a lot of time in there.The desert is weird to me and the windmills don't help. I feel like I'm on a different planet. There is a section where you can see windmills for as far as you can see. Weird.

Pipes and Teeth

Last week we had a water pipe burst under our driveway! Initially we thought it would cost us thousands of dollars, but, with the help of great friends from church, we were able to put in a new pipe for under $1,000. Ken had emailed 5 friends to come and help dig and about 15 guys showed up. With much sweat and hard labor, they bored a new tunnel under our driveway and dug a trench up to the house. They then laid a 110 foot copper pipe up to our house.Today I paid a visit to the dentist for a new crown and a deep gum cleaning, totalling over $1,000. This got me thinking about how frustrating it is to spend money on things that you don't really get to see and enjoy but are so necessary.

Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful for God's provision in our lives! But these unseen money pits are unfortunate. How much more exciting it would be to redo a bathroom or something...

Hello, Hello Kitty

So, on our way home from our camping trip, we bumped into Hello Kitty at a shopping center. Sky LOVES Hello Kitty so she was so thrilled. The store behind her contained loads of Hello Kitty stuff which she had a blast looking at.

American Girl Doll

Sky has been saving up for 4 months for an American girl doll. If you ask me, these dolls are way over-priced but she had her heart set on one. So, using all of her birthday money, she picked out her doll.

We've read most of the American girl doll books but Sky chose a doll that resembles herself over one of the historical dolls. She named her doll Sarah and they have matching nightgowns. The American doll store was quite a place! There is a cafe where you can have lunch or tea with your doll, a bookstore with the American girl books, a salon where your doll can get her hair done, and a portrait studio where you can get your picture taken with your doll. All of this, of course, costs lots of money.

Lila used her birthday money to buy a bitty baby. And Brad, well, he enjoyed the fountain outside where the water was set to music.

Camping in Mammoth

We went tent camping in Mammoth, CA for a week this August. We went with a group of about 170 people from our church. The first 2 days it rained but we had 2 friends with RVs on our campsite so we just hung out with them. Thankfully our tent stayed dry and we didn't have any more rain after that. Honestly, I love camping. My family camped when I was young and I always had a blast. And living in Los Angeles, I sometimes feel starved for nature. So, this was an awesome vacation for me! Below you can see our old blue tent from when Ken and I camped before kids and now our new tent which still seemed small when we were all in it. Oh, and it was sooooo cold at night. We all wore 3 layers, used toe and hand warmers, and it was still so cold. There was still snow on the ground in some areas of Mammoth! The elevation was about 8,000 feet.

The kids had fun experimenting with different mixtures of food, wrapping them in foil and then cooking them in the campfire. One of the guys in our same campsite had this Razor. He took Ken and 2 other guys off-roading with it one morning. A very dirty, happy Ken came back.We hiked to an area called The Devil's Postpile and then on to Rainbow Falls, a total of about 5 miles of hiking! We were so thankful that one of our friends let Lila ride in his double stroller for most of the hike. We all slept well that night!The Devil's Postpile!

This is the group of people from our church who came on this trip. Some stayed in condos, some in hotels or RVs, and a few in tents, like us.

Brad at Rainbow Falls. This was a very difficult 5 mile hike during which Brad declared that he wanted new parents. But he looks proud enough in this picture.

We had to visit the Ben and Jerry's in Mammoth. We enjoyed our ice cream with the Sanborn family.

The sandbox in a cool shopping area called The Village.

Camping is a perfect time to break out the paints! We're already very dirty so why not?

The kids enjoyed driving the pontoon boat around the lake in circles.

The amazing view from a pontoon boat on Lake Mary. Ken did throw in a fishing line, but no luck. Lila threw in one of her dollhouse babies which we will forever be telling her is gone on the bottom of the lake. All in all, this was an awesome vacation with great friends in a beautiful setting.