Happy May Day !

It's just too quick how almost half of the year has flown by ...

We had a relatively quiet week except for these new friends we met :)

(dolphins - R now wants to be a dolphin trainer..)

(feeding the seals -
we learnt the difference between seals and sea lions .. the latter has ears)

(Shamu - a killer whale - the star of 'Free Willy' )

(the beluga whale who lives in the arctic)

(these guys are just tooo adorable...)

And some candy shopping at the Scrapbook Expo !!! happy :)

Taking some classes too tomorrow - terribly excited - and one with Becky Fleck too from Basic Grey !! hahha... hope my 'produce' would be decent enough to post.....

Some shots of girls to close off... have to include them for the benefit of doting family members who come by just to see how these two are getting by ...



see ya soon !! Enjoy what's left of the nice long break !

swine flu..

hey everyone,
thanks for all the concern expressed and messages sent. It is really quite scary listening to the reports given that we are only 20min from the border of Mexico. We are taking care and avoiding all crowded areas, and we have also stopped cooking and consuming pork - just to be on safe side. Thank goodness too the girls don't go to school, and all we do nowadays is hit the fresh open areas like nature parks ... so we are keeping safe. Don't worry ya...

love
L

Lots to tell !!

It was a wonderful past few days !

BBQ
We have been watching the residents here head down to the grill every single night, so we thought we would do the same. Hubby invited his two other friends and wife to BBQ too so it was a lovely cheery affair and we had chicken wings, lamb chops, salmon on the grill and home cooked chicken rice, and settled ourselves on a picnic table overlooking the San Diego Bay.

Really, what could be better ?! Gosh we were eating from 6 - 8 pm, and enjoying the sunset !! And thank goodness too !! Cos' guess what we saw next ???!!!


Dolphins !!!! Right within eyesight ! Not in an aquarium or Sea World but in their natural habitats ! The girls and I leapt from our seats right to the banks of the promenade for a closer view and it must have been just God's grace that i managed to catch this shot of one of the dolphins (there were 2 of them) leaping from the waters ! Ahhhh... breathtaking... a close-up ...

On the home front, we made exciting progress too ! The books i ordered from Amazon finally arrived - Hillyer's "A child's history of the World" and Voskamp's "A child's Geography" are simply amazing, and i'm the one totally fascinated. We lost no time in checking them out and i loved Voskamp's style and wonderful lesson ideas. Here's what the kids did in trying to understand how big Earth was, in relation to where they lived, and concepts of states, countries, and continents ....

R's version
(think she attempted to draw in Disneyland in California too)

C's version
(guess in C's mind, Pooh, Piglet and company all live tog with us !)

Cool huh... i'm pleased... and they are already asking when can they do 'that Earth Book' (that's C speaking) again, and start on the history one... :)

Junior Rangers

We headed to Point Loma today with the intention of a hike. It is a rock face that we peer at daily from our side of the Bay, and the spot where the first European landed in 1564, on the west coast of America, and where Lighthouses were built to guide the ships into San Diego harbour then, still stand. This was the view that greeted us...

And what do you know - it's Junior Ranger Day, and the museum and visitor center was abuzz with activities. The girls had free muffins and then got to get Junior Ranger Badges, a Certificate and their names announced over the loud hailer too !

But all this, only when they completed the activity books with little quizzes about the exhibits.
C had to complete 3 of the activities and R, 5 of them, and they set about their tasks with much enthusiasm....


(R trying to figure out where we stayed through the binocs. The patch of light brown in the background is in fact the airbase where J works...)

(... R trying to get those answers down ...)

C here getting help from Papa.
These two have been really bonding very well.
On weekends they are really like Uhu glue ;P

The girls even had to take a pledge that as Junior Rangers, they would do their best to protect and preserve the park !! It's really been great exposure for them, as before this i don't think they had a clue what Rangers did...

here's R taking her pledge...and C getting her badge !
But of cos' the girls still found time to horse around ... love these shots taken by hubby today..

(C with lighthouse in the background)

Thanks for dropping by ! Have a great week ahead ya, and keep safe ! We are missing you all !

Hugs,
L

New Layouts !

I've been feeling moody the past few days .... guess the initial thrills have passed and the homesickness has taken its toll ... i miss my sisters, my friends and all the girly chats, giggles and sighs that used to surround me .. ;P

oh well, so i declared yesterday a school holiday !!! And just brooded and scrapped !! I had stocked up on some stash over the weekend and had tons of pix just calling to be glued to paper !! What's a gal to do :) !

My new K&Co album that i picked up at Michaels (a huge craft chain store in the US) as it was on SALE !

"Hello San Diego"
Had to document that very first day of our chilly walk
down the promenade, immediately upon our arrival
and the girls totally elated to be with Papa ..

"O sweet Nature - La Jolla"
must be my favourite of the set.
loved how all the elements
(from Scarlet Lime's Apr kit) played out !

"Torrey Pines"
Played along with Inspired Blueprints Sketch #15

"Grow ! Beautiful..."
Wanted to capture Little C's growing independence
and precociousness since arriving here and having to do much on her own.
This gal certainly has some personality - her sweet looks fool us all !!

"Love Blooms in Happy Hearts"
Certainly, when all we've been doing is PLAY !!!

R is sooooo thankful she's not home preparing for exams !! I fear what would happen when we get back :p oh well .... guess there's no price on memories and experience, so i gotta loosen up and not get too uptight on the academics ... remind me ya, if i forget again ...

But we hit the books today and R covered "Length" - they both had "ting xie" (yup little C too), and C was introduced to addition ... so we hopefully made up for yesterday.

They took their blades out for a christening today too after making me lug it all the way from SGP in one entire suitcase.


All in all... a happier day ...
thanks for dropping by y'all !!

First taste of snow !

Already mid-April, but we took a chance on the last weekend of the ski season and managed to catch the last vestiges of snow this past weekend.

Big bear mountain - a 3hr drive away from where we are

Can anything else match these gleeful faces ?!!

Oh yes, maybe the fact that they realised snow isn't really as white and powdery as it looks from afar, and can in fact be so icy it's painful !

We did the alpine slide where you sit on a rubber tyre and slid down the slope. It was soo soooo fun although our bums got all wet and our hats got blown off in the wind ! Well, guess it was the only thing we non-skiers could do in a ski resort. We couldn't even take the ski lift as it was only open to skiers :(

So what else could we do - we went on the pony, and visited the zoo - touristy stuff nothing much to shout about (at least for me...)

(the paw of the grizzly - a resident of the zoo)

(the American Bald Eagle)

(the North American Bison - known commonly as the 'buffalo' - now endangered)

But the highlight is surely the cozy log cabin we booked.


Very tiny but comfortable enough with a pine tree in our backyard that shed pine cones the size of durians, and a braying donkey in our neighbour's house across the road that kept me awake all night !!!


Leaving u with my fav shot of R. Hope your weekend was good !! Thanks for dropping by friends... Now back to the grind and school we go....