My Classroom

Group Area and students desks

Classroom library and students desks


Computers and teacher's table

Celebrating Mom Harty's Birthday

Celebrating of Mom Harty's birthday and wedding anniversary.
First celebration without Dad Harty

Took Mom Harty for a day in San Diego

Enjoyed Beautiful San Diego!

Painting our Home

Eating at P.F. Chang's with Carlos one evening

Carlos painting our home


House painted! Great job Carls:-)!!!!!!!!

2009 MSACA Fall Festival

Gordon and I in front of the Grades K-2 Booth. The room mothers did a great job!

Lots of food!

Our principal

Mrs. Shetler

In jail a few times

A Day at Lake Arrowhead

Ada came to visit us at the end of July and we went to Lake Arrowhead for the day.

We took the boat ride around the lake. Very informative if you want to know the history of the lake.

Houses surrounding the lake

View of the lake. Our first time visiting this lake.

Fourth of July Weekend

Paul and Lani came to visit us the Fourth of July weekend



Enjoyed the Temecula Fourth of July fireworks

We visited the San Diego Zoo

Our Summer 2009 Vegetable Garden

My Students and I

Done by Elena Gipson Fotographer

March Field air Museum

To celebrate Gordon's birthday we went to a place he has been wanting to go for a long time, the March Field Air Museum. Gordon is a pilot and likes airplanes..... so he was in heaven here!

Captive, reading the history of the activities of each airplane before they were bought here.
Airplanes here have play and important role in history.

This is the B-17 that flew in Europe with England dropping
bombs over Germany

B-25 Mitchell. Same type of airplane in the Doolittle raid on Japan.
They flew the plane off an aircraft carrier to bomb Japan a few months after Pearl Harbor.

Early fuel air tanker

SR-71. Fastest thing in the sky -- or used to be.

This is the largest airplane. Longest serving aircraft the US still uses -- B-52

Gordon looking inside

Atomic bombs were carried inside here before dropped

Gordon did ride in one of this kind when he was in aviation school at PUC

A Day at Balboa Park - Ethnic Food, Garden and the Zoo

We visited Balboa Park about three weeks ago and had the greatest day! There was an Ethnic Food Fair, cultural music and cultural dances that day. They had a stage in the middle of all the food booths area with a full schedule of entrenchment one after the other all day long.

Our favorite was guitar music

There were also all kinds of dances

There was an Ethnic Food Fair.
Hundreds of countries had their own booth selling their typical food.
We ate at the house of Lebanon.

Enjoying the flowers at one of the Balboa Park gardens

The flowers were just beautiful!

We also enjoyed a complete organ concert. This organ is huge and is outdoors. Pretty neat:-)
After the concert, they lead us in a short tour of the inside of the organ. Impressive!

Us enjoying the organ concert. They have umbrellas to protect us from the sun while enjoying the organ music.

We also visited the zoo. The zoo is also in Balboa Park.
The zoo is very big, so we were only able to visit one section before it closed and 5pm.
Following are just a few pictures of the zoo animals.

The elephants were great. It was feeding time so they were busy eating.

Lot's a fur for a camel. This is because this camels are from South America.
I did not know that there were camels native of South America

This camel was walking around staring at me.

I never been in such a close approximation to zebras. They were so close that I was able to appreciate how beautiful they are.

The hipos were swimming so close that people felt like reaching out and try to touch them.

They have great birds exhibit in this cages that are so big that people are in the cages with the birds. This bird was giving us a show.

A Visit from My Parents

My parents came to visit us for a few days. We were so happy to have them in our house.
My mother cooked delicious meals for us and we had a great time eating them.

Gordon and my parents eating at our back yard.

My father got sick while visiting us. He suddenly had a Gout Attack. He had two of this attacks before so he knew the symptoms. His feet swelled, got purple and they hurt him very bad. It happened very fast. His feet got very bad in just a couple hours. He was in so much pain. We had to call his doctor back in Sacramento in the middle of the night and were able to get him on a medication to help with the gout attack and the pain. We had to help him walk every time he needed to walk. But he was in good spirit and enjoying the visit. He is a good patient:-) He did not want to miss anything. He participated in everything.

My sweet parents and I.

They were not able to come to church with us like we planned because it was hard and painful for him to walk. He was trying to not do much walking and rest his feet because he wanted to be able to walk better the next day for the reunion with his sister Marta in San Diego. (His sister Marta, her husband Beto and Janet one of their daughters had come to San Diego from Miami for a business trip for just a few days. The plan was to meet with them for a day). So they stayed home resting while Gordon and I went to church. We borrowed a wheelchair from our church for my father to use. The wheelchair helped him so much.

Dad eating some of Gordon's homemade popcorn.

His feet were hurting so much. He could only walk a few step and had to sit down.
We felt very bad for him. But he is a good patient. Very optimistic and positive. He wanted to enjoy every minute of their visit and did not want to miss in anything.

The Mini Reunion

We drove to San Diego to take my father to meet with his sister Marta. She and her husband tio Beto live in Miami Florida. One of their daughters Janet had to come to San Diego in a business trip and brought them with her. They have not seen each other in over 5 years and now they were face to face. They were so excited! We met at the lobby of their hotel. They looked so much forward to spending this day together. It was a mini reunion of one day full of joy!

Brother and sister did not know what to do with each other. They were hugging, holding hands, talking and kissing each other. There were a lot other chairs in the hotel lobby, but they just wanted to sit on the same chair together very close to each other. This went on for a good half hour. It was so beautiful to watch:-)

Gordon and tio Beto connected right away and had long conversations.
Tio Beto speaks English fluently.

We went up to their hotel room on the 28th floor to be in a more private place to visit with each other. From their hotel room they had a great view of the San Diego harbor.

Tio Beto and Dad sitting by the window of their hotel room.

Tia Marta and Dad (beautiful brother and sister)

They were so glad to see and be with each other. Lots of catching up to do:-)

Taking My Parents and Tios for a Walk at Balboa Park

Since my tio Beto and tia Marta had already been to the coastal San Diego's sight seeing areas when they visited five years ago. We decided to take them to Balboa Park. We also needed a one stop place that was wheelchair accessible. Balboa Park was perfect because it is mostly flat and full of sideways and ramps. This was the weekend of the Earth Day Fair at Balboa Park and it was full of people. There were hundreds of booths, outdoor shows, entertainment, and outdoor music..... It was also an unusual hot day for San Diego.

Dad, tio Beto and tia Marta.
Tio Beto pushed my dad in his wheelchair everywhere we went.

We stopped at a shaded area and did a lot of people watching and great conversation.
It was very joyful to hang out with the family.

My mom. The first Zulita:-)

Enjoying the Botanic Garden at Balboa Park.
We sat her for a good hour enjoying the garden and great conversation. Bother and sister had a lot catching up to do.

Dad, mom, tia Marta, tio Beto and Gordon

Dad trying to listen to one of my tia Marta's great stories as tio Beto pushes him and we walk around Balboa Park.

Tio Beto, dad, tia Marta, mom and I (Gordon took the picture)
Enjoying some drinks and great conversation at one of the eating places at Balboa Park.
We sat here at this patio for some good two hours. There was a great breeze at this patio, perfect for a hot day. It was so much fun!!! Tia Marta is sure a great storyteller! I can listen to her all day:-)

Helping dad walk to the car

Mi prima Janet did not go to Balboa Park with us because she was here in a Business trip and was busy all day. But we met her in the evening and we walked one of the streets of the San Diego Gas Lamp Distric and ate at a Mexican restaurant.

My parents and tio Beto and tia Marta at the Mexican restaurant.

All of us after eating. My parents, Tio Beto, tia Marta, Janet, Gordon and I.
Thank you for the Mexican food querida Janet:-)

After enjoying the beautiful sunset of the San Diego harbor from the hotel room window where they were staying. It was time to say, Adios:-(

Dad thanking tio Beto for pushing him in the wheelchair all day.
Tio Beto is by nature such a noble soul:-)



Back at my house a different day.
My dad and I the morning they were going back to Sacramento.
Here is when he is about to enjoy the fresh fruit/vegetable smoothie I prepared for him.

Spring Break - Death Valley, California

We visited Death Valley National Park this Spring Break. I was expecting very hot dry weather, flat area with lots of kinds of cactus, lizards, bugs and other animals everywhere. But it was a great surprised that Death Valley was nothing like that. It had a great variety of different kinds of terrains, spectacular views from above and on ground level. A very unique place! Following is just a few pictures of most of the places we enjoyed at Death Valley.


Us at Dante's Point
We started our visit of Death Valley National Park by driving up to Dante's Point. It is a place with hiking trail on the high mountains with the amazing view of Death Valley below. The spectacular view is best during the morning hours. It was very windy up there that day and the view of the valley was not very clear but it was still a spectacular view.

Us at Zabriski Point.
Beautiful view of this light color rocky hills!
It was very windy the day we visited Zabriski Point.

a shot of Gordon at Ubeheb Crater.
A volcanic explosion left this crater.

Our first hike was at the Mosaic Canyon.
This hike was very narrow and among rocks full of marble.

But then it opened up nice and wide!

Our second hike was the Golden Canyon.
At this canyon, late afternoon sunlight paints deep golden tones on the canyon walls.

Zulita at a view point of Artist Drive, Death Valley.
This is a beautiful drive among view of hills of at least 6 different color rock.
Oxidation has produced a rainbow of colors in the eroded clay deposits of ancient lakebed sediments. The colors are more intense during the late afternoon. Artist Palette, about
halfway along the drive, is a particularly unusual mosaic of red, yellow, orange, green, violet and black hues. I've never seen anything like this.

A shot of Gordon and Devil's Golf Course, Death Valley.
This area used to be lakes that evaporated and left layers of salt and gravel deposits on the valley floor. The moisture evaporates leaving the salt to crystallize and be sculpted into sharp ridges spires by rain and wind.

Spring Break - Sand Dunes -Death Valley

We visited the Death Valley Sand Dunes and decided to walk them.

We decided to take our jackets since it had been could and windy the night before and is was a sunny but crisped morning.

The ended up to be a hike not a walk.
They did not seemed that big, but once closed, they were each a hard climb.
But it was a lot of fun!

I think Gordon felt free as a bird. He kept getting ahead of me.

Fun walking this dunes!

Great running this dunes!!!

Kept loosing Gordon in the slopes of the sand dunes..... Where is Gordon?

Zulita working hard trying to hike up the sand tunes.
It is a work out.

They seemed to go on forever!

Feeling tired at this point.
wished we did not bring our jackets because it got warm.
I felt smaller that usual in this place.

Spring Break - Bad Waters, Death Valley

Enjoyed our visit to Bad Waters in Death Valley National Park.
Bad Waters is 282 feet below sea level. Lowest point in North America.
Temperature was in the mid 70s for us that day.
But in the summer it could be supper hot, 130 F.
So if you don't like very hot weather, don't visit this place in the summer.

Here is a shot of some Bad Waters in some areas.

Zulita pointing to See Level up that mountain

Lots of salt here. Amazing salt shapes rocks!

Our shoes

Another view of the Bad Waters Basin. When it rains enough, this gets full of water and becomes a lake.

Fun to walk on this unique surface!

Having fun with our shadows!

Thinking about hiking across this dry salt lake basin to the other side of the valley.
Should we do it, should we not?

Spring Break - Red Rock

Visited the Red Rocks State Park.
It stated out us enjoying the beautiful ride among this red rocks and stopping at view points.
There are great hikes among this rocks but it was getting cold to do them. It was also very windy.

Beautiful scenic drive. See the beautiful red mountains behind our car.

While at the highest viewing points, it started snowing with high winds.
Very cold snow started accumulating on Gordon and I.

This is what we saw at the highest view point

We decided to enjoyed the view from the car

Spring Break - Las Vegas

We stated our Spring Break get away at Las Vegas.
We did not go to any of the shows since they were out of our budget. But we had plenty to do just walking the different hotels of the hotel strip. They are all huge and different. Every single hotel has a different theme, decorations, architecture and features something unique.
Following are just a few of the many pictures of some of the uniqueness hotels.

Pirate boat show at the Treasure Island hotel were we stayed
Visited Paris, Paris

Visited an indoor Venice at another hotel. They even offer Gondola rides at their indoor the hotel canals.

Musical fountains show

One hotel featured a beautiful garden full of flowers and butterflies.
I wanted to stay here forever:-)

Notice the red ladybug made out of flowers

Visited New York, New York!

Visited Egypt

One of the hotels had amazing aquarium. There were fish there from all over the world.
Here is Gordon standing in front of one of the exhibits that had all kids of fish. Notice the shark right above his head.

We visited a training aquarium at one of the hotels

We watched as they work with dolphins to train them to do all kinds of things

We visit animals at another hotel

Beautiful big cats!

It was very entertaining to watch the tigers. We watch the tiger to for a long time.

Enjoyed watching the white tigers play.
Had a great time in Las Vegas!

Ben Carson and Take 6

A group of us traveled to the Cristal Cathedral to hear Ben Carson speak

A view of the Cristal Cathedral just before we got in like for the tickets

The Cristal Cathedral inside during daylight

Inside as it was getting dark

Ben Carson speaking. Very refreshing. He is a great speaker

After Ben Carson, we were delighted by a Take 6 concert.
They sure have the greatest harmony, rhythm, and energy.
They were awesome!

LEGOLAND ans Sealife

Thursday our school went on a field trip to LEGOLAND and Sealife.
First we enjoyed LEGOLAND.

Kids lined up waiting anxious for the time to enter the park.

Had fun working together building LEGO houses

We did fast fun rides!

We did slow rides.
Saw LEGO jungle aninmals

We rode on LEGO cars

Mexican Mariaches singing to us, pirates eating.....all kinds of LEGO structures everywhere!.....

Walking among miniature cities and towns made out of LEGO.
We felt like giants:-)

President Obama Inauguration Day
All made out of LEGO

Las Vegas made out of LEGO

Towns made out of LEGO


After LAGOLAND we went to Sealife that is next door

Under the fish

Observing and touching creatures of sealife

All kinds of beautiful fish