Cash vs Credit

The gas stations here are now offering a cheaper price per gallon if you pay cash. The prices are still going down, but I expect to see this trend stop. Hurricane Gustav will be destroying the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico just like Katrina did. After this happens, I'm sure we'll see a spike in gas prices.

Monterey Bay

What should we do on our last weekend before another school year begins? Instead of getting a different request from everyone, we all agreed on going to the beach.
Our first stop was the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Grandma and Grandpa Zinn met us there and we enjoyed spending a couple of hours looking at the various sea life.

James' and Kirsten's favorite part was looking at the Sunfish. Justin and Steven and I liked the jellyfish exhibit. David loved the million-gallon Outer Bay exhibit. Here you can see the giant bluefin tuna, the sunfish, sharks, stingrays, and the California baracuda. Kirsten thought the stingray's mouth was funny looking.
After the aquarium, we parted ways with Grandma and Grandpa. By this time it was three o'clock and the fog was lingering off the coast. We hurried to the beach, knowing our sunshine wouldn't last much longer. The water was amazingly mild! A lot warmer than the previous time we came to Monterey (a month ago).

David surprised the kids with a skim board. The boys had a blast trying it out. Kirsten had no desire to try the board.
Justin spent most of his time trying to bodysurf in the same wet suit that David wore when he was Justin's age.

We had a great time! It was sad to see the day end, but our stomachs and the fog told us it was time to go home.

Temptation

This bush with pretty pastel flowers can be found growing on the front side of our property. At first sight, it can be described as an attractive privacy shrub with beautiful flowers. But to those who know it by name, aren't fooled by it's beauty. This is an Oleander plant. It is very poisonous to both humans and animals alike. It does not matter if the plant is dried, wilting, or fresh. The results to human or animal will be the same. Even the sap of this plant can cause skin allergies.

Why am I writing about this plant? Well, something Kirsten said today made me think about it. This morning, as I was getting ready to go grocery shopping, I asked if anyone wanted to go with me. Kirsten started to say yes, but after a little thought said, "If I go, I'll be tempted to buy some candy and I'm trying to save my money. So, no. I don't want to go." This was the first time I have ever seen Kirsten exhibit so much self control! Especially when candy was involved!

While unloading the groceries from the car, I noticed the flowers on the Oleander plant and thought of Kirsten's comment on resisting temptation. There are so many "things" in this world that appear to be good. We are all working hard to reach our goal (eternal life), but other "things" entice us along the way. The Oleander plant reminds me of Satan. On first appearance, Satan makes things appear good and beautiful. But, upon closer examination and study, the "thing" that before was so enticing, proved to be dangerous.
Being seven is a wonderful age. For now, Kirsten's biggest temptation is candy. As I look into her eyes and see her innocence, I wish I could freeze time. I wish I could protect her, and all my children from the "fiery darts of the adversary". Being a parent has really taught me to understand my Father in heaven a bit more. I know that He feels the same way about us. But, He has given us free agency. This is a hard concept for me to implement in my family. I have a hard time stepping aside and letting my children use their free agency to make decisions and learn on their own. I have a feeling that this will be an ongoing struggle, but I am working on it.

Golfland

On Wednesday, we went to Golfland for our ward activity. The kids had been looking forward to this activity for weeks. The owner of Golfland is LDS, so we were able to get a great family deal. We had unlimited passes for the water slides and miniature golf, and game tokens all for thirty dollars (for the entire family). The ward provided dinner (KFC) and the members brought side dishes and dessert.

The kids LOVED the water slides! Since this was Kirsten's first time, James and Steven held her hand on the walk up to the slide reassuring her that she would have fun. When Kirsten finally came out of the tube and into the pool of water, she had the biggest smile on her face.

Miniature golf was fun also. A few of our golf balls found their way in the water traps and one ball (David's) ended up on the other side of the fence! Steven, James, and David even had some "holes in one".

Justin spent the entire activity as far away from his family as possible (which is why I don't have any pictures of him). He's going through an "I'm embarrassed to be seen with my family" phase. We gave him his space and Justin had a great time hanging out with his friends. They spent the majority of the evening on the water slides.
Overall, it was a wonderful evening. Hanging out with our ward family in a casual setting helped us get to know more people. What a great kick-off to the new school year!

What a Weekend!

What a fun-filled weekend we had! It all started with a primary activity. There were slip-n-slides, sprinklers, wading pools, and fun water games set up on the grassy lawn at the church. The kids loved it! Then Steven had a class party at his primary teacher's house. They spent two hours eating pizza, junk food, and root beer floats and playing games. When I picked Steven up, he felt sick to his stomach, but had a great time.

On Saturday, Justin spent the entire day at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk with his friends from Zion's Camp. His cabin counselor had promised the boys a trip to the boardwalk if they were good. And he kept his promise. Justin had a great time playing on the beach and riding the roller coasters. He came home looking like a lobster, but he had a smile on his face.

While Justin was at the beach, James' primary teachers took his class to Malibu. The boys drove Go Karts and played lots of games there. Even though James wasn't tall enough to drive a go kart by himself, he had a great time.

Saturday evening, we took James, Steven, and Kirsten to an Olympic party sponsored by their gymnastics class.

There was lots of food, demonstrations, activity booths, and face painting as everyone cheered on Team USA.

Sunday evening we had two extra people join us for dinner. Melissa and Christen. When we lived in Gilroy, CA, I grew to love these two girls while serving in Young Womens as their Mia Maid leader. Now these two sisters have grown into beautiful women. It was so much fun to "catch-up" with their lives. I am so proud of them! They have made great choices and are wonderful examples to me.

Gas

Before the 4th of July, gas prices were nearing five dollars a gallon! Recently, the prices have been dropping dramatically! We had to fill-up over the weekend and I was shocked to see the price under four dollars! I was thinking of posting a picture of the gas prices here once a week. It will be fun to see the changes. And hopefully the changes continue in a downward direction.

Taco Lebra

By popular demand, I've posted a picture of our new San Jose house. The house was originally a one story, but the previous owners added on over the garage and right side of the house. We have named the house "Taco Lebra" because of the Taco Bell-style tiled roof. Taco Lebra has 6 bedrooms (3 down and 3 upstairs) and 4 full bathrooms (2 down and 2 upstairs). We use one of the extra bedrooms as an office and the other for school/game room. The school room has built-in shelves covering 2 walls, floor to ceiling. The master bedroom is tiny! In fact it is the smallest room in the house, but in the future we plan on taking a wall down, thus making it bigger. Overall, it is a great house. We all love it!

Space Derby

Yesterday, Steven participated in his Pack's space derby. In a space derby, scouts fly balsa wood rockets driven by rubber band powered propellers along fishing line. Steven chose to paint his rocket green (no surprise there) with the words "San Jose" written on the side.


Unlike pinewood derbys, many things can go wrong in a space derby. Many of the boy's rockets broke or weren't working properly. Including Steven's. His would stop midway through the race. David finally figured out what was wrong, but by then the race was over and the boys were just racing for fun. Steven received a certificate that said, "Persistant repairs-it paid off!" Steven said he had a great time, so that's all the matters.

Lego-Bots

James has loved playing with Legos since he was five. When he was younger, James would build what the Lego in the box was intended to be. But now, his imagination soars. Recently, James has been working on robots. They each have a specific job to make life easier. I only wish they really did work. Then I would have a spotless house! That will have to be James' next project.

Video/Cam-Bot .....................Chef-Bot

TV-Bot ....................Sweeper-Bot

Vaccuum-Bot............. Duster-Bot

First-aid-Bot ...............Trash-Bot

Wall-e .................Dump Truck-Bot

Pool Cleaner-Bot ...............Security-Bot

Dragger-Bot

Perception

Did everyone read the article about the little girl who sang at the Olympic opening ceremony? The show's musical director Chen said that she was miming and was only put on stage because the real singer was not considered attractive enough. Pigtailed Lin Miaoke was selected to appear because of her cute appearance and had not sung a note. The girl whose voice was actually heard was seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, who has a chubby face and uneven teeth.

"The reason why little Yang was not chosen to appear was because we wanted to project the right image, we were thinking about what was best for the nation. The reason was for the national interest. The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings, and expression," Chen said in an interview.

It's so said that we live in a society that values appearances more than a person's talent and inner beauty. Check out this YouTube video. It is the evolution of beauty and photoshop from Dove. I promise you'll like it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvGWYIwdoVg

Camera Craze

The day after we arrived in California for the big move, my camera stopped working. It had been with me for 4 years recording precious moments in my life. I was upset at the loss of my friend. My mourning period is over now and I have moved on. Over the weekend, I bought a new camera. It is a Panasonic Lumix, the same brand as my other camera. While at David's parent's house for Sunday dinner, I tried out my camera. Here are some of the pictures I took.

Grandma and Grandpa Zinn with the kids.

I love the seriousness in Justin's face.

Justin, James, Steven, and Kirsten holding Spot

Zoo'pendous Time

Yesterday morning, James, Steven, Kirsten, and I (Justin is at Zion's camp)hopped in the car and drove to the San Francisco Zoo to take advantage of the free day. The
first Wednesday of every month the attractions in Golden Gate Park are free. Although, when we got to the zoo entrance, I was disappointed to learn that starting in September only SF residents will be able to get in free. Bummer!
We had so much fun at the zoo! For me, it's nostalgic. Memories of my childhood flood my mind and I can't believe that I'm now a mom taking my children to the same zoo I grew up loving. The weather was overcast at 59 degrees and the smell surrounding outside and inside the zoo was that of eucalyptus trees, just the same as when I was young.

Kirsten's favorite part was the children's petting zoo. She didn't want to leave all of the goats and sheep. Steven liked the pig exhibit. He wants to own pigs when he's grown up.

James' favorite was the Cassowary. The cassowary, what? I didn't even know what he was talking about
when he insisted on seeing the cassowary after finding it on the zoo map. I had to see this. James was so excited when we found the cassowary. He's read about them and seen them on TV, but has never seen one in person. I have to admit that a cassowary is a beautiful bird! Strange looking...but beautiful! My favorite part was seeing the animals through the eyes of my children. Kirsten said it best when she said, "This feels like a dream."
We left the zoo at 1:30pm giving us enough time to enjoy the beach before needing to leave to beat rush hour. I took the kids to Fort Funston, another childhood favorite place of mine. We took the Sand Ladder Trail and hiked down to the beach. The view was spectacular!

We searched up and down the beach for sand dollars, but only found broken ones. We did find a huge jellyfish the size of a basketball! The kids spent the remaining time playing "chase " with the waves and exploring the sand dunes.

When we made it back up to the parking lot, we ended our time watching hang gliders take off and glide over the ocean. I could have stayed there all day. We were all exhausted by the time we got home, but it was a good feeling.

A New Cure for Germs

This is a cute letter that Steven wrote to his brother James, who was sick at the time. Here is what it says in case you can't see the words well enough in the picture:

Dear, James
I know you have germs, that's why I gave you this dragon so it can chomp the germs.
to James from Steven

What the Nose Knows

"When nothing else subsists from the past, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, the smell and taste of things remain poised a long time, like souls bearing resiliently, on tiny and almost impalpable drops of their essence, the immense edifice of memory" -Marcel Proust

I've been using the same liquid fabric softener for almost 2 years now. Last week, I was at the store to buy some more. I looked at all of the different scents and took the lid off to smell each one. I decided to be "adventurous" and ended up buying a different scent than I normally used.

We have some what of a tradition in our family. Whenever I wash the kid's blankets, I give it to them right after pulling it out of the dryer. Their little bodies wrapped up in that warm, clean blanket is like a bit of heaven for them. Well, on Friday (my laundry day), I gave Steven his blanket fresh out of the dryer, washed in the new scented fabric softener. He wrapped the blanket around him and brought it to his face, inhaling the new scent. Steven looked at me and said, "This smells like Grandma and Grandpa Weller's house when they lived in California. I love this smell!" I walked over to him and smelled the blanket. Steven was right! It smelled exactly like the house I grew up in. I was surprised that Steven remembered what the Pacifica house smelled like. The last time he was there was when he was four years old.

It's amazing how smells can take us to a place where we wished we could have remained and others we could not wait to leave. The smell of the water from a warm hose mixed with a faint smell of rainwater. The smell of cologne and the boy I dated. The smell of big beaches and seafood markets and damp fog that reminds me of growing up in Pacifica. Or the smell of Hamburger Helper making me gag because I became sick after eating it. In this case, Steven was taken back to a place he loved.

Just For Fun

Thank goodness for the DVR. I simply record my favorite shows and then enjoy watching them when the children are in bed (in peace and quiet). "The Rachel Ray Show" is one of my favorites. The other day, she and Gretta talked about re-using beauty products. Gretta had a lot of good tips. Check it out for yourself: http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show/segments/view/rollover-beauty-products-reinvent-your-favorites/