Earthquake!

Tonight there was a 3.6 quake centered a couple miles away while we were at the soccer field. Nobody felt it.

Then we got home. We were making food. Jo was in the shower and we had a super fun 5.1 which was still epicentered only a couple miles away and was magnified in funness by the fact that we are on the 3rd floor. All the cabinets opened and stuff was flying out in the kitchen.

Thankfully only a couple things broke. We ran out of the kitchen to the bathroom doorway (ky and sy clinging to me- or me to them) hollered to Jo that all was okay it was "just an earthquake" (it was still going!) We watched stuff flying off the bookshelf.

And after it was over, this was Kik & Sy's room with the tipped bookshelf and stuff cleared off the top.

Here is my closet! Don't know how that happened.

The bathroom cabinets were dumped onto the counters

And all the drawers in our house were opened. 

Computer monitors fell but Scott grabbed the TV before it went down. 

Our house smells like curry because that's the one spice jar that broke open. (:

Everyone came out of their houses and was hanging out in the street for a good hour. Friends of people in la habra (the epicenter a couple miles away) report water spraying out of the ground everywhere, firemen and other emergency response people everywhere, and the water coming out if their taps is dirty! Craziness!

Thankfully for us, there was just a little cleanup required. In the garage only one box fell on the car and dumped out, but it could have been far worse. I wonder what's going on a few miles west of here. 

Ky turns 9!

My precious only daughter is 9!

We had the traditional birthday pancakes, then set out for a day of Ky-directed fun.

She chose to roll down hills, climb trees and feed ducks at the local park.

Though I forgot to take a picture when the 4 kids were surrounded by hundreds of birds.

These foods - the purple passion shake and spiral sandwiches were weeks in the making. Ky found the recipe and made her shopping list for making her special birthday lunch! It was while making lunch, Ky said, "Mom, this is the best birthday ever! Thanks for letting us do this!" (:

These sandwiches had yummy tomatoes, basil, and spinach in cream cheese on tortillas. Mmmm...

Getting ready for swimming after lunch!

And after swim, we rounded out the night with dinner at Souplantation (are you gathering that Ky really likes healthy foods?) and then finishing with a movie about the revolutionary war. :)
Super fun birthday day at the Grubb house!

Tijuana Christian Mission

After much waiting, we had the opportunity to travel to the orphanage in Rosarito, Mexico that the church I grew up at built. In fact, I went on several of the initial trips after the property was purchased back in the 90's and helped with constructing the first building.

In the last few years, my dad has traveled down on day trips to help with various maintenance tasks and I have wanted to take the kids. Finally, we were able to go!

We awoke at 4am!!! Met with our friends who would lead us down at 5 and arrived at Hacienda at 8:30 after an uneventful drive listening to half of The Horse and His Boy.

Marlin and Eric who lead us were on a mission to fix a non-running maintenance cart and get set up for some projects for groups coming down I the next few weeks. After spending some time greeting the kids and touring the facility (which now has more than 10 buildings!), Marlin set us to work in the orchard. There are 62 new trees that will grow fresh fruit for the children to enjoy.

Some of the trees required new stakes. Many needed to be reattached to their stakes and all of them needed weeding. We had fun gardening. A few of the kids joined us as we worked.

Orchard directly behind us, school in the background on the hill. 

Jo & Kik played tag with the boys who weren't working on building. (The older boys who live there are helping build a block wall, slowly replacing the chain link fence that currently surrounds the property.)

When we arrived, the youngers were at school a stones throw from the property. They would return at noon and the olders would then head over. 

We were able to walk over and see the new school facility that opened this year. Prior to this the children were schooled in a house, one-room schoolhouse style. The teachers drive in from great distances and there is no other school in the area. This new school is an upgrade from the house with 4 classrooms and sometimes 4 teachers.

After lunch, the elementary kids came home and we hung out with them.

We got a little soccer game going on their soccer field - that was fun for all.

Then it was time to head home.

Goodbyes were said with hopes of returning soon. 

We spent just under an hour waiting to cross the border. This ended up being a great lesson in bargaining that I never intended only because when I saw soccer jerseys I just wanted to know how much they were, but also knowing I only had $23 cash in my possession. The original cost the man told me was $33 for 1! At that point, I knew I didn't have enough for 4 jerseys and said so, so he could move on. Yet in the end, he agreed to taking my $23 for all 4 jerseys! Crazy bargaining!
 

We had a really great trip to Tijuana Christian Mission's Rosarito campus. The kids are way motivated to learn Spanish. They want to talk to these kids. We will go back. Hopefully we can fit regular trips into our budget!

St Patrick's Day Party

At the tutoring center we had a Saint Patrick's pot luck.

And we were lucky - because all the food was delicious! All the ladies brought traditional Mexican foods that they serve at home.

So they entrusted me with the important job of bringing tostadas (after each of them verifying several times that i knew what they were!) and a loaf of bread (both which I could buy at the store).

Kik and Gerardo (his brother David is in the background). (They live in the apartment below us and their mom, Blanca, graciously listens to me as I stumble through my Spanish words. She also invited me to the Bible study when I told her I was a Christian.)

Julie, the head of the tutoring center, brought some fun games

And crafts

And cake!

Lucky Day. We are blessed. 

March Birthdays Celebration

When I was a child, we always went to my Grandma's house in March for a big birthday celebration. My mom's birthday was Feb25, and my Grandmas was Mar25. And around those were the birthdays of many of my cousins and my sister and me!

Though my mom & grandma are both with Jesus, I have continued the March birthday tradition by having 2 babies in March and marrying into a family with more March birthdays.

This year, we held our March birthdays celebration at my dads house with a barbecue after Ky's soccer game.

Birthday gift from Singapore

Jo had the privilege of selecting his own birthday gift using a gift card from the grandparents in Singapore. He chose this super fun rechargeable helicopter. 

Tax time

Got our taxes done today. Don't owe too much - hooray! This funny poster was fitting.

Oak Canyon Hike

We spent an enjoyable Sunday afternoon hiking around Oak Canyon.

Our first time here.

A bit of nature amidst the city.

It was hot and Ky didn't like waking along the side of the hill on a narrow trail. We just finished reading Sundar Singh's biography and many times he had to walk along little ledges with huge drop offs below him in the Himalayas when going to tell the people if Tibet about Jesus. This little walk of ours on a trail a little ways up gave ky a tiny taste of the perils Sadhu Singh faced and the fears one may need to overcome when being obedient to Christ.

After our "dangerous journey" we visited the nature center

where a gal let the kids touch frogs and snakes and dragons.

 

Fullerton Arboretum

We took a quick day trip to the Fullerton Arboretum in lieu of a trip to The Huntington today.

Everyone had a great time and we took our identification books along.

Each person had to identify one thing using the books - either a tree, a flower, or a bird.

Ky loved the activity and identified many things, while the boys did 1or 2 each.

Somehow they found these caterpillars that were totally camouflaged on a bush!

It was a beautiful day. 

New homeschool soccer class

Scott is coaching a new homeschool soccer class. It kinda fell in his lap but he is totally blessing these families.

All the kids go along and really help with the class. It is a beginner class with kids 4-9years old. Although older kids could come. It has been a great opportunity for our older 3 to learn some leadership skills as they help their daddy being an example of a skill or working one on one with a younger or peer. So fun to see them blossom in this way.

They play at this HUGE indoor facility, Next Level Sports Complex, with 4 soccer fields and 12 basketball and volleyball courts! 

I need to take photos. I think sy grabbed this one after class. Will post soon. 

Jo turns 12!

To celebrate this year we took a family trip to a local climbing place.
Jo did not know where we were going and was pleasantly surprised and totally excited once we got going.

It was a super fun day.

Here are the boys in a tunnel I was surprised I couldn't do because I was so claustrophobic getting in!

New fears exposed and yet to be conquered. But all the kids loved the tunnels. Even Scott made his way through once. (And got stuck going head first and has to go back a ways to a larger spot to turn himself around so that he'd come to a drop feet first instead of head first! See, my fears are legitimate!)

Anyway.

Jo was blessed and truly loved his day. 

Happy birthday Jo!

Plant Identification

We grabbed these Audubon books at the library and are on a mission to at least identify every plant and tree and bird we see in our apartment complex.

It's been fun so far, but we've skipped ones we couldn't get quickly, so it's going to become more difficult in the days to come. Still, I think it's a great thing to know what's around you and hopefully it will propel them into being interested in identifying more of nature as we encounter it outside our usual bubble.