Temecula Pumpkin Patch and Maze

Gordon wanted to go to the pumpkin patch/maze, so Matt, Heidi and I went with him.

Heidi and I

This boy looks so relax in the corn. I felt like jumping in, but only children could go in.

In the maze there were stations. At each station there was a question to answer and depending of our answer we go left or right. At first it was easy and we were able to find the correct path almost all the time. Here is Matt by station #3. I think this is just after we had finished answering the question for this station and we were ready to turn left.

Then it got a little challenging and we got lost a number of times. It got hot in the corn maze. I think it took us almost two hours to get though the maze.

Education Day

Last Sabbath was Education Day at the Murrieta SDA Church. Our school did the Church service.
Above is a picture of 11 of my 16 first and second grade students reciting Genesis 1:1-24 from memory. I am so proud of them!!!! We are studying the story of creation in our Bible class this quarter.

Our school choir doing some great musical praise gongs.

Matt and Heidi are Back

After six weeks in Florida, Matt and Heidi are back in Southern California. They stayed with us something like two weeks before they left and a couple of days after they came back. Now they are back at their place in Fallbrook.

We went for a short walk to Oceanside Sabbath afternoon. They came from the Florida Atlantic coast and now here they are back to the Pacific Coast. Wonder which coast do they prefer?

There were people fishing there. This man caught this fish as we were walking the pier.

Welcome back guys!

Mission Inn

We like visiting historical sites. So we visited the Mission Inn, in Riverside Sabbath afternoon . It is a place worth visiting.



The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa occupies an entire city block in the heart of downtown Riverside, but this was not always so. The Inn began as the Glenwood a two floor 12 rooms adove boarding house,build in 1876 by Christopher Columbus Miller.

By the turn of the century, Riverside was already a major tourist attraction for wealthy easterners and Europeans escaping to warm winter climates and seeking investment opportunities in the burgeoning and profitable citrus industry. What the city lacked though, was a major tourist hotel. After several failed schemes to secure financing for his grander version of a hotel, in 1902 Miller built a four story U-shaped hotel enclosing a large central courtyard. Over the next thirty years Miller added three more wings to the structure. The Cloister Wing, built in 1910, added more guest rooms, but there was an increased emphasis on public spaces, including the large Music Room, an art and gift shop, and the St. Cecilia Chapel. The famous Cloister Walk, also called the Catacombs, with its niches, chambers, and art objects became a major attraction. The Catacombs are now closed to the public.

The Spanish Wing came next in 1913-1914, designed by Myron Hunt. The Spanish Patio, reminiscent of Spanish castle courtyards, offered guests an outdoor dining experience. Frank Miller's growing collection of art and artifacts prompted the inclusion of the large Spanish Art Gallery to exhibit parts of the collection. Two floors of additional guest rooms, including the Author's Row suites and Miller's own private suite, were added in the late 1920's.

The International Rotunda Wing, completed in 1931, filled out the original city block. The Rotunda features an open-air, five-story spiral staircase, another art gallery (the Galleria), the Famous Fliers' Wall (a monument to pioneers in aviation), the St. Francis Chapel, and the Court of the Orient. The chapel was designed specifically to accommodate a massive Eighteenth Century gold-leafed cedar altar from Mexico and seven equally impressive Louis C. Tiffany stained glass windows (an eighth was installed in the Galleria). The Court of the Orient reflected Miller's lifetime interest in far eastern cultures, especially Japan

Red Books

We went to see the Pacific Union College production Red Books: Our Search for Ellen White about three weeks ago at the Tierra Santa Church in San Diego. Then this past weekend we went to see the play again. It was their final presentation at La Sierra University this last Sabbath afternoon. It was refreshing to see it for the second time.

Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls are at the San Diego Natural History Museum. We went to see them. It is amazing to see such ancient authentic exhibition!

The Dead Sea Scrolls (Bible books of Isaiah, Leviticus, Psalms, Deuteronomy, Job and others), dating from 240 BCE-68 CE, are one of the greatest archaelogical finds of all time. They were discovered beginning in 1947 in 11 caves along the shores of the Dead Sea in Israel.

The exhibit begins with Part I which is a presentation of the excavation of Qumran, an ancient settlement near the caves where the scrolls where found. They have original archeological tools, artifacts, and photographs. Then Part II continues in the basement of the museum where you enter through a replica of a cave near Qumran where the scrolls were found and here is where you actually see the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Here is Allan drinking his water just before we enter the museum

Surrounding outside the museum

Allan and Gordon exploring exhibits on the other parts of the museum before we entered the area of the museum where the Dead Sea Scroll are.
Have not pictures of the Dead Sea Scrolls since no one is allowed to take pictures in that area.

Allan took this picture of Gordon and I just before we left. Great exhibit! Highly recomended.

Anas at the San Diego Zoo

Following are a few pictures of our friend Anas from India visting the San Diego Zoo

Anas enjoying the Polar Bears excibit

Taking Anas to the Los Angeles Area

Anas is a friend we met when we went to India about five years ago. He was here in a work assignment in the San Francisco Bay Area. He came to visit us a long weekend. He has never been to Southern California. So we decided to take him sight seeing to a few paces of the Los Angeles area. Following are some of the pictures of the places we took him.

The Chinese Theater

Notice the Hollywood sign at the far distance behind us. Annas took this picture with our camera. Gordon took a picture of Anas here with his camera so we don't have that picture

We took a drive through Beverley Hills

Found a Huge tree there. This is me by the trunk of the tree

Gordon under the tree

Far view of the tree.

we took Annas to see the beaches of Los Angeles Area

Gordon and I

Annas and I

I could stay here forever!

Enjoying the sunset at a beautiful California coastal view

Getting My Classroom Ready

After two weeks of meetings and work. My Classroom was finally ready!
Here is the front of the classroom. Below the white boards is the area where the centers that the students will be using are. To the right are the computers and in the middle you can see the desk for my 10 second graders. Where the rug is, you can see some of the calendar and Word Wall bulleting board. This is our meeting area.
It is a small classroom so it took a lot of thinking to organized it to utilize the space the best. Gordon helped me think of different ways to arrange it until we had the best plan. Gordon and Matt helped me move the heavy things around one night. Thanks guys!

Heidi organized the library by color coding and numbering the books. BIG JOB. I was so thankfull!

Here is the back view of the classroom. You can see the library area to the right. A bulletin board ready to display kids work. Below the bulletin board is the supplies area (pencil, pencil sharpener, rulers etc...) Below the bulletin board is also the listening center. To the left is the teacher's area. Here is were the students come to meet with teacher for reading groups and other lessons. In the middle you can see my 6 first graders desks.

To the left you can see some of the meeting area. We meet here several times during the day. The students seat on the floor as a group and we gather to do group activities like Prayer Time, Bible Class, Singing Time, Calendar Time, Word Wall Time, Story Time, etc....

We have had some great two weeks of school already. I LOVE MY JOB!

Lunch with The Casiano Family

The sabbath of August 25 we visited the Loma Linda church. After church we went to the Casiano's family for lunch. The Casianos are old friends from Sacramento and I have not seen them in a long time. Casiano is from Puerto Rico and his, wife Jely is from Peru. The food was great. The beans were specially seasoned -- so delicious. We ate a lot.

There was lots of food. You can take as much as you wanted. I had tree servings, specially of the beans and the tostones. There was enough food for the grandparents the children and all the adults. It was a great gathering!

Enjoying the food and great conversation at the table

Nori and her husband

Was so good to see Nori and Jely again. Thank you Casiano for inviting us to your home, for the great lunch. We had a great time catching up and visiting with the whole family.