A recap of our week

Saturday - found me up at 4:30 to make sure everything was ready for the morning. Jeff & Billy up at 5:30 and out the door to the Fresno Mission Fest held at North West Church (The Bembe Worship Project played) I let Ricky sleep. I worked on next school years curriculum choices etc...Getting ready for next school year while finish the last leg of this school year isn't fun, but I need to be ready for the conventions. I also want a summer vacation, the jitters are starting to set in.
-Billy came home and slept, however the rest of us had a birthday party to attend for Bowen Cunnings
-Jeff & I fell asleep
-The boys had CCBC practice & J&I went on a date

Sunday -Was church and a day of rest..isn't sabbath beautiful.

Monday -New glasses ordered for Ricky (from Costco...thank you Julie for the tip) I don't really know how he gets them so scratched and bent. After all, we do buy with that in mind. I guess they just don't make with him in mind.
-Drama, the boys are really improving.
-Costume sizing with Granny
-Bembe & Aikido practice.
-I got everyone & everything packed for this weekends trip & finished my curriculum outline for next school year.

Tuesday -Chitudo

Wednesday-Absolutely nothing!!!!!

Thursday-Today...Chitudo

Woodward Park

One of the redeeming aspects of Fresno is this lovely spot. We really enjoy Woodward Park. Last month B,R & I packed up school and a picnic lunch to spend the day there. We brought the camera & field guide book in the hopes of seeing as many creatures in the bird sanctuary as possible. As spring has been hinting to leave us we made a point to get down there before the heat took over. B&R took advantage of the exercise course flexing their man-skills at every stop. We walked all over the place, part of the Lewis S. Easton trail & part of the horse trails. We spent quit a long time just meandering through the trails and along the San Joaquin River watching rabbits, squirrels, birds and turtles. A favorite spot was the Lewis S. Easton overlook, we found a shady spot to rest, pull out the binoculars and see what we saw. Of course nothing can stay that tranquil with these guys for very long. This day was full of joking. Ricky entertained us by skipping, flapping his arms all the way up a hillside to one of the little-kid play grounds. Blasting out "look mama no hands" etc.. as he climbed the play structures. Yep, he's a ham.
Earlier this month the BEST youth group had a BFO, BBQ, yard game playing event held at Woodward. They ate, played, visited and ate some more. These things never end when they are expected to, and that's okay. The sky was exceptionally blue during the day and that evening as we came to collect our children we were able to actually enjoy the stars over a Fresno sky....no really. Woodward park has a fountain in the middle of a pond that they light up at night, that was really nice as well.
We do have one more gathering to be held at this park, I pray it doesn't get too incredibly hot before that day arrives.

San Jose Museum Tour

We were rolling out the drive way at 5:40 that morning. We arrived in San Jose about 30 minutes before the fist museum on our itinerary opened, they let us in early though. We were at the Winchester Mystery House. This place was beautiful! The gardens smelled lovely and had many unique plantings. The house itself had gorgeous Tiffany glass work all through out. The wood working in this place is phenomenal. This lady was an architectual genius. However the poor thing was also wacko, confused, partially do to a severally broken heart. (new husband and baby daughter died) I'm glad we had the "mystery" of the place revealed to us. Apparently she bought this house right after they died and immediately began construction on the place. She never stopped, the tour guide showed us rooms unfinished upon Mrs. Winchesters death. I don't regret going, but I don't ever need to go to this crazy place again.
Our next stop was definitely the highlight of our day , The Tech Museum of Innovation. which is kinda funny because its the one place the kids were apprehensive about visiting. They believed this place only housed row after row of computer parts. They quickly found out this place was basically a theme park! Being that this was a tech place, everything was tech, even the entrance tickets. To the eye, they just look like a regular paper ticket, but the Tech Ticket, as they are referred to, was our "key" to all the interactive fun. There were so many things to choose from. This place is awesome! To name a few B&R created a roller coaster and then we all took the simulated ride. Ricky had to do his twice though, because the first time around the roller coaster refused to start...the screen just flashed DEADLY FORCE. We all raced toboggans & wheel chairs. We played music by hopping from chair to chair and bouncing up and down. Several machines took pictures in many different venues all of which were placed on our own website. Yes, I mean you can go home and retrieve pictures from the games you played in the museum.
The last tour of the day was the Rosicrucian Museum. This place has an awesome collection of artifacts and a replicated tomb, which was fun to walk through. The mummies showed us just how short Egyptians were. True to life gardens complete with traditional buildings and structures add the the authentic feel making this time period in history come alive. The boys played a round of Senet in the garden. (a giant version). Again, a very neat collection, my favorite being the alabaster bowls or the Rosetta Stone replica. Now its time to leave it in the dust and walk away. It served its goal in educational pursuit.
We love to watch the Food Network show "Diners, Drive ins & Dives" so the day before we left for this trip we looked to see if Guy had reviewed a place in San Jose. He did, Falafel's drive in. We went. When we arrived the place was packed, it was when we left as well. Obviously it is a local favorite. I did try their falafel sandwich with the hot sauce...very good. Jeff had a Gyros sandwich. Billy a fish sandwich and Ricky a corn dog and onion rings. Everyone like their choices. Yes the Mediterranean and American food was good. I hear their banana shakes are heaven, as are their pita chips with humus.
We ended our day at Casa de Fruita's Candy shop, come on now...sometimes chocolate is the only answer.

CHEFA's Sqaure Dance

B&R both went to the CHEFA square dance. I like the themed dance idea. I think it makes participation easier when everyone is dancing the same, wearing the cowboy gear etc.. They can focus on having fun and not worry about all that other stuff. The boys were unsure about attending but ended up having a really good time. They had lots of food and lots of light hearted fun. They danced most of the night. The caller did sneak in a few crazy songs, like the chicken dance. Neither boy had sweaty palm syndrome, a jittery stomach or painful rejections. Neither sat on the side lines watching. Just a good clean positive experience. Billy had no problem asking girls to dance. Ricky had no problem dancing, but he never got a chance to ask a girl to dance. Three of his (female) friends were so nervous about not being asked to dance that they kept going up to him and saying things like, "do you know this dance, okay then come dance with me." He didn't really care. However Billy had his mind set on asking a particular someone to dance. It was a memorable occasion to get together with their friends and I'm glad they had the opportunity.

The Millerton Lake State Park Area

We have visited Millerton lake a few times this month.
The first trip we took was to North Fine Gold. If you are in the park you can only get there by boat, however, there is one more option, that we know of. There is a crazy back country dirt road with an-almost-not-there sign a few miles outside of the park. Yep, we took the road less traveled. The weather was wonderful the day we went. Vibrant wild flowers against fresh green hillsides & a lovely blue sky. The cool creek water & multitude of colored pebbles were a special treat. We had a picnic lunch, climbed boulders, wadded the stream...Ricky swam. We were greeted by a herd of cattle munching away on open farm land & an old timer gold panning. Yes, they still do that in California.
The following weekend we went to South Fine Gold. This time we had to pay, as we did enter the park. We were on a geocaching mission. Jeff as our leader had us march up Pincushion Mountain (no not on a trail) He had the GPS system & that was that. We followed him straight up the side of the untamed mountain. Unfortunately we ran into a steep area heavily saturated in poison oak, with lose boulders to boot. We brought the doggies & since there was no way of explaining to them the need to stay clear of certain greenery we had an issue. I decided to stop at a convenient boulder overlooking the glistening lake water, with the dogs and let the guys go on. Billy was in the lead with Ricky & then Jeff behind because Jeff was scared the kids may lose their footing in this particular area. Billy took a few steps and that's exactly what happened. A fairly good sized boulder went tumbling right down the mountain side and Billy just managed to grab hold of the boulder ahead of him. After a few fearful moments (on J's part) they moved on. I knew they found the cache because I could hear the echoing of Jeff's yelp!!! YAHOOO!!! We then hiked down to the lake where Ricky took a dive & we had our snack.