LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY

Today we went to one of my favorite "can't miss" places when visiting the folks: LMU.

My kids, my dad and me!

Would you be able to take this professor seriously?
He explains with absolute glee how a beam of electrons are fired at a specimen within the vacuum chamber of the scanning electron microscope (sem), and how wonderful discoveries are made...a fruit fly with 3 eyes and the fracture pattern of aluminum alloys. The mischief in his eyes tells me that I do not want to know all of what he's imaged with this thing!

Brice takes a look at microchip via a common light microscope. Do you know how small microchips are? Dad took the same microchip and magnified it 700 times to reveal the LMU chapel tower etched in a corner.



Lily and Mabrie took more interest in twirling in wheeled chairs on the smooth lab floor than in any science that may be happening.

California...DISNEYLAND!

Welcome to Disneyland!

Saturday (7/19) we ventured into the Magic Kingdom. The skies were overcast when we arrived shortly after 8:00 am, and we looked forward to a day of fun in the not-too-hot park.

Some of our gang (of 11) traveling through Thunder Mountain

Catherine.

Stephanie.

Mitchell and Wyatt cruisin' the roads of Autopia. Steve and Catherine took Mabrie for a ride aboard Dumbo in Fantasyland.
High school buddies can become life-long buddies, I have learned from Steve and Clark.

Is this what our lawmakers had in mind when they passed the “hands free” driving law?

(Check out the girl in the upper left corner…she’s actually talking on her cell phone!)
Brice and Mandy are such a fun couple with which to travel and play!

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THE CUTEST KIDS!

This is Lily and she makes a most beautiful Snow White!





















Mabrie entered Disneyland as Cinderella and turned many heads!


These little girls are so precious!

















Wyatt was invited to join the Jedi-training workshop at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland.

After completing the training course, Wyatt took on Darth Vader!

The Force was very strong with Wyatt, it was.

Wyatt and Mitchell duel with their newly-constructed light sabers.

(Can you see Space Mountain in the back? Oooo….scary ride.) Wyatt managed to catch a ride not in the brochure!

The buddies were back together for another summertime adventure.

Catherine and her daddy.Stephanie and her daddy.
Stephanie, Mitchell and Wyatt ride the flying elephant.
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Eventually "Snow White" felt the impact of a long, warm day

after the morning clouds burned off. Snow White or Sleeping Beauty?
In all honesty, it was Steve, Clark and I who were the first to poop out. We headed home from the park first with sore feet, sunburned noses, and aching bodies. Brice, Mandy and the rest stayed to take on California Adventure, catch the Electrical Parade and watch the fireworks.

What a totally fun day!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Last week we went on the road again with our friends, the Richards. Last year our two families ventured out from Washington to New Mexico to drop off Mitchell at the College of Santa Fe. We had a great adventure! (See August, 2007 entries.)
We decided to venture out together again this summer, heading straight down I-5 to Los Angeles, California.
Imagine: two cars leaving Longview, WA, at 10 pm loaded down with 3 small fries, 2 teens, a college kid and 4 adults with ambitions to drive straight through to L.A. (We don't need no stinkin' hotels. We don't need no stinkin' restaurants. We've got gas, groceries and Starbucks!!)
In the Maldo-car Steve was the number one driver, and he was happy to make it to Eugene, OR (about 3 hours). He had worked all day so we weren't hard on him for giving up the wheel so quickly. I had slammed down a Starbucks with an extra shot, a diet Pepsi (or three), and a No-Doze so I was ready to take the next leg of the drive. I disappointed myself when I gave in just north of the OR/CA border. Mitchell took over then, getting us through the fires of Northern California (the odor was intense) and into the sunshine of Thursday. Whenever we stopped to buy gas and use the "clean" restrooms, we applied plenty of hand sanitizer and snatched a snack from the food supply. By 4 pm Thursday we hit the north end of Los Angeles and after an hour of traffic through LA, arrived at my dad and mom's! Yippee!! Not bad time!
Note: for the drive home we plan to spend the night at a hotel in Northern CA. We're not completely nuts!

CHEER CAMP

Three Rivers Christian School

goes to camp!

Last week I got to travel with Catherine and our school's cheerleading squad to the beautiful University of Puget Sound (UPS) in Tacoma, Washington. The girls were there for Cheer Camp which started by 8:00 each morning and wrapped up around 8:00 at night. In those 12 hours each day, the cheerleaders learned so much! As I watch the video I took, it's so cool to see the confidence grow in the girls' faces and body language. On the second day of camp, the girls were supposed to do what's called an "elevator." A couple of the girls serve as bases, one girl is a spotter (safety person), and one girl is the top girl. We have this little thing named Lauren who doesn't like heights but whose body size makes her ideal for a top girl. She is such a trooper!! Early video captures terror in her eyes while video on the final day shows a super-confident flyer! Lauren learned her role, the other girls learned theirs, they practiced together a lot, communicated and learned to trust one another in some pretty cool stunts. Our student body is going to be amazed when they see these girls hit the court!

Another cool thing about Cheer Camp is that our group had devotions each night. At the end of each day we debriefed regarding the day's activities, I lead the girls through what I called The Ten Commandments of Teamwork, and we prayed together. It was so neat. Of the 16 cheer squads at camp, we were the only Christian school and it was important to the girls to let their light shine through every activity. And the way they prayed for one another, wow! I hope we get to do more of that when we go back to school.

CHESS NUTS

Nerdy, I know, but that's me!
Although school is out until August 27, my brain keeps functioning and I try to occupy myself with little activities. Yahoo! crossword puzzles and online chatting are both fun, but I've discovered there is life away from the computer. I've been trying my hand at cleaning closets and washing window blinds and find that I need to pace myself. I've also bought a book to read (it's a chapter book!), but I haven't started it yet.
While still surfing online, searching for ways I might mount a few fans to my classroom walls, I ran across some interesting-looking chess sets. I got Stephanie involved and we stood at Lowe's Home Improvement store for almost three hours scheming and examining nuts and bolts. Stephanie came up with the final design for these chessmen, and together we assembled them at home. Nuts and bolts and super glue.

THE BRASS TEAM

THE SILVER TEAM

If anyone's interested, I made up a supply list and basic assembly sequence.

Click diagram to enlarge.

The Completed Project

After completing the pieces, Stephanie and I made a board on which to play. A little sanding, a lot of measuring and a little painting got the job done.

Next week Catherine and I go to Cheer Camp for four days. A far cry from chess and another great opportunity to hang with one of my girls.