Ardenwood

One of Bonni's final activity requests, before they leave for France next week, was to check out Ardenwood Farm.
Observing the fowl, pigs, sheep, goats and cow. Ella was a bit cautious around the animals, but Anne had no problem touching them and getting as close as she could.

Ardenwood is a real working farm in Freemont with a blacksmith, well to pump,and a Belgium Draft workhorse drawn train.

Did you know a Belgium Draft weights 2200 pounds (the same as a Toyota Corolla), and just one can pull upwards of 90,000 pounds? Oh, and the Budweiser Clydesdale's are special bread for their height in Missouri and Southern California ... a whole team can't pull the fraction of just one Belgium Draft. If you had been on our train ride, you too would know these and other interesting work horse facts.
Watching the Blacksmith at work, I re-learned a gospel principle. Often times trials are related to the "refiners fire" and the intense heat steel and other metals are put through before they are made into useful instruments by the "master" smith.

What I didn't realize was how many times the smith has to heat, then pound, heat, then pound the metal. For some reason I had this notion that the "refiners fire" was an event rather than a lengthy, tedious, repeated process. I suppose that is because the only other time I've actually watched a Blacksmith was in Nauvoo and they were making Prairie Rings (rings out of nails - it only needs to be heated once and then bent into shape). Point is, like a rod of steel that has to be heated, pounded, heated, pounded, heated, pounded (you get the idea) we too go through a repeated (perhaps endless?) process of refinement.

Back to the farm. It was great. I highly recommend it. Thanks for the request Bonni Bohn. We love you and will miss you more than you know!

ABC School Graduation

The thrilled graduate and proud supporters, present the graduating class of ABC School, May 2009 ... .

We completed what we set out to do ... made it through the alphabet and it took an entire school year!

Ella receiving her graduation medal and reading her graduation book.

Like any good graduation, it's all about the after party! Thanks Ambyr for a great year and gathering.

Speaking of graduating, I am officially done with the semester and only have 3 more classes left. This was my first semester teaching and I just submitted grades - sort of a cool experience. I've been floored at the complaints and emails I've received from students throughout the semester - they forget when things are due, forget to turn in papers, forget to come to class, etc. A student emailed after grades were posted to complain about the grade they earned;

"I was writing you because I had a question about my final grade for the semester. I noticed when looking at my grades for the semester that you gave me a C+ in the class however, Im quite confused as to how I got a C+ in the class especially since the c+ has brought down my GPA drastically. I'm confused about to grade because after reviewing my grades for the semester I did not present to you C+ material. I got an A and B on Industry report 1 & 2 and the presentation I got an A. The Final exam was not reported on here but I know I got 100 percent. And the extra credit assignment I completed and got a B as well. My particpation grade I do not see how that could hinder my final grade to a C+ simply because I have not missed an abundance of classes. Lastly, I know I missed 2 quizzes however with the extra credit I only missed one quiz. So, I wasnt expecting to get an A in the class but I definetly was not expecting to get a C+. If the C+ was what I am supposed to get in the class please let me know if there is by any chance anything that I can do perhaps one more industry report because I did notice you had a second industry report 3 on ilearn. I will complete it and turn it into to you. However, I do not like bad grades especially when I'm confused at to why it is so low. "

Wow- enough said right? If you can't proof read an email, a C+ shouldn't be that big of a surprise. I suppose it would be appropriate to explain that there were 1,000 points total a student could earn during the semester (plus an extra credit assignment) ... and each quiz counted for 100 points. This is basic math, even if you got 100% on everything, missing 2 quizzes means you can't get more than 800 total points (a B-, barely).

I think every student should teach a class at some point - and vice versa - you learn a lot being on the other side of the desk.

Disneyland - Good News, Bad News, Good News!

Good News: The Magic Kingdom certainly lived up to every expectation.

We started out the day (also Benj's 31st Birthday) with a Character Breakfast at "Goofy's Kitchen" ... definitely worth it for the little ones!

I was surprised how much Ella and Anne responded to, and liked the characters - especially since they weren't familiar with them or their stories.

Then it was off to the park. Disney is a first class act - clean, fun and magical!

Ella's first ride was on Dumbo and it was a raging success.

She wanted to do it "again" and "again."

We were amazed at the number of rides we were able to do - the lines were not bad and the weather was great all day.

And of course, the best part was being with family ... who needs rides when you can chase around "Uncle Benji"?
We had a blast in the Neverland Pool - complete with a little water slide that Ella got to go down, and the whole pool is only 4 feet deep - until this little possum ruined the fun. We tried hanging out in the mermaid hot-tub lagoons, but it was just too hot.

The bad news: my favorite ride (excluding Splash Mountain) and the ride I was most excited for Ella to go on is Peter Pan and was closed for renovation. Bummer.

Which brings me back to the good news ... we need to go back to the Happiest Place on Earth and ride Peter Pan!

Happy Memorial Day

I realized this morning that I never had Anne's 9 month pictures taken...

so (almost two months late) I decided to make my own "picture people studio."

My sweet cousin, Ingrid, sent Anne this cute dress and headband. The only problem is Anne has so much hair on top that headbands give her a rather unique "flop do."

But she pulls it off well.

The great thing about taking the curtains off the window, rather than heading to the mall, for our photo shoot is we were able to break and re-group as needed.

Ella was anxious to get involved,

and very helpful with Anne.
Between shots we made time to do the important things like feed Madeline, take a few pictures of Madeline, and give Baby a check-up.
After that, Ella posed to her heart's content!

Of course the rest of the day was great fun too.

And yes, that is a view of the SF Bay from the pool - great location right?!