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.