Graham's art class

Somehow or rather, I ended up leading Graham's art class last week.  Ha!  It was a Leaf Art project, based on the characters from Jungle Book.  That's what the kids had finished reading recently.  They sure read a lot of books!  And the teacher reads to them every day for at least 45 minutes, if I'm not mistaken.  We never had that during my time in school!

This is the snake "Kaa" that Charlie made during our experimenting weekend.  Too cute:

This is the one I made:

My tiger "Shere Khan" looked more like a mouse.  Lol!!!

I guess I should have known when I first started placing the leaves:

Looks like our whiteboard is coming in handy!  I'm happy that my Mowgli actually looks like a boy:

On the day of instruction, I had 3 rotations of 20 minutes each - with a 5 minutes break in between.  It was funny having to listen to myself repeat the same thing over and over again within such a short period of time.  After my Leaf Art experiments over the weekend, I figured this version of Kaa would be easiest for the 5th Graders to follow along: 

I thought my final leaf version of Kaa looked pretty decent.  Ha ha!

Here was my setup for the day.  Phew, the other parts of the back patio is so messy!

Graham decided to do his art class outside on the back patio with me.  It's "inside-out" shirt today!

At the end of the lessons, Graham said I did "okay".  Ha! Little stinker.  A couple moms said I did a good job so I guess it went pretty well.  I mean I even wore my school apron to look the part! :-D

Our minivan broke down!

We were out and about a couple of weekends ago when our minivan broke down!  There was no real warning as to the van having an issue.  We had picked up a couple antique hanging lights from a lady in Long Beach (yes, which I really had to have :-P) and then we decided to drive to Long Beach Airport as there is a place near there to grab lunch.  Well, we obviously never made it to the place for lunch!

Here are my lights... still figuring out where to hang them :-P

Bobby and the boys ended up walking across the street to pick up sandwiches for lunch:

I suppose we should we thankful we were just on the surface street when everything went out.  At first, the radio went out and then the car started beeping at us - sort of that same emergency beep that you hear over the TV or radio.  There were then messages about the airbags being disabled and some other electronics in the van disabled as well.  We ended up pulling the minivan into a parking lot and parked in a handicap parking spot.  We were hoping to be able to restart the car and obviously it didn't:

One of the employees from the tire shop came by to look at our car but we eventually did have to get it towed.  Even the car keys/fob was stuck in the ignition!  And thankfully the tow-truck guy mentioned something about putting the car into neutral manually.  We didn't know that was possible without having the car on, so definitely learned something new there!

Thankfully there were 3 men hanging around waiting for their tires to get replaced. So they helped out with pushing the car out of the parking spot, while I was in the car trying to steer the minivan.  Having to steer the car with no power steering definitely brought back memories of my parent's old car while growing up in Malaysia!

Oops... we forgot to take the carseats out of the minivan!  Since the tow-truck could only seat 2 people, the boys and I stayed behind and I told Bobby that we would just hire a car to drive us home.  Not without the carseat, so we are stuck until Bobby comes and get us in his hired car!

Thankfully Graham brought a toy to play with:

And this is probably the only time I will allow "Bottle Tossing".  It really does drive me nuts!

And what a coincidence that I actually caught Graham making the perfect toss!!! :-)

Meanwhile... Bobby has arrived at the VW dealership.  Thankfully it was only about 2-3 miles away from where we were stranded.  The people at VW actually had the tow-truck take it to the back by the carwash.  I guess they were embarrassed and didn't want anyone seeing a VW vehicle on tow:

Thankfully we didn't have to wait to long for Bobby to get us.  I think it was probably an hour or so later, we are finally in the rented car.  The whole plan for the day was to get lunch and then drive over the new bridge in Long Beach.  Here it is - the Gerald Desmond Replacement Bridge:

I was curious why it was called a replacement, but here it is in the next photo... the original Gerald Desmond Bridge.  Look how much lower it is compared to the new bridge!

The old bridge was opened in 1968 and honored Desmond, who was a prominent figure in Long Beach.  He was the City Attorney, among other positions that he had held throughout his short life of 48 years old.

Here's another look from the back of the car.  Don't know why but I just love bridges and love taking photos of them:

I didn't realized how long this project had been going on.  It was first conceived a month after 9/11.  So after 19 long years, this new bridge is now able to let six-stacked shipping container ships to go by and also serves as a vital route for commuters between downtown LA and Long Beach.

For some reason I thought they had gotten rid of this green bridge here - the Vincent Thomas bridge.  I don't like driving by this one so much.  It is so high and steep!

Well, that's it for our brief history lesson!  Hopefully we won't get so lost while driving in this area.  It has always been so messy with all the construction.  We haven't been to the Aquarium for a long time though, so there hasn't been any new "scenic route" episodes while trying to get to the Aquarium or get home.

The minivan was checked in that Saturday (10/10) and wouldn't get diagnosed until the following Monday.  It was suppose to take a whole week to install the new alternator and new battery but thankfully it got done early!  So Bobby went to pick it up last week on Thursday.  Although we really didn't need the car for anything.  There are a couple of supermarkets within walking distance and also plenty of stores - so having this house so close to businesses is a blessing! It is also good exercise for Bobby :-D

It did seem nice not having a car in the driveway, so in a way we could pretend for a few days how it would actually feel like to have a car parked in the garage.  Ha ha!  Hopefully no more big expenses after this since we also just paid for our new AC installation!

Random happenings

Just a few random photos during the past couple of weeks.  Some of them I had forgotten to post, like this one.  This big unit was from Charlie's room - now in the garage.  I'm glad I managed to find a spot for it in the garage!

Charlie has been working on the big box that the telescope arrived in.  He said it's his "Magic School Bus".  Man, we really need a bigger house!  He's already taken up pretty much the entire living room:

Bobby trying to either "supervise" or just pointing to random things in the garage :-P

I found one of Charlie's old crafts. Ha ha, too cute:

Charlie found one of Mommy's old purchases - a water container that comes with 4 stackable cups.  Perfect for 4 of us :-D

Graham decided to put a caterpillar on his flower.  Look at what it has eaten up!  Definitely a very hungry caterpillar!!!

My bean plant seems to be doing okay so far.  Just some weird "scribbling" on a leaf.  I hope that caterpillar doesn't end up on this plant as I can't find it anywhere now:

Pajama day at school!  I don't know why but Charlie at one point really wanted to wear his beanie.  And he has Mr. Broccoli too:

Graham has added his violin to the side of his working space.  The school has restarted the Strings class.  I'm glad they did - I was listening in a few times and it seems like Graham is already one of the teacher's favorite student. Way to go, Graham!

Our neighbor's daughter came home with a trumpet a few days ago.  I heard it once in the front yard as she was trying it out, but so far nothing else... yet!

I spotted a cat in the front yard last week.  Ahhhh... I want to just laze under a tree on a warm day.  Maybe I should go take a nap on the hammock later :-)

We have turtles! Okay, not real ones.  It's for our downspout:

The hind legs of the biggest one is sort of hanging in the air, but seems to be working so far.  Although technically we haven't had any rain, but the occasional drips from the morning dew:

Bobby asked if I really needed those turtles, and I said "Yes!".  The answer is always "Yes!".  I hope he has figured that out by now.  So, yes on the turtles because the flimsy plastic downspout keeps getting knock around.  And now with trying to wrap the jasmine plant around the spout, it is with utmost importance, that the spout doesn't move.  There, I rest my case :-P

Here's what the front living space looked like last week.  It's like we are moving all over again!

I did have to clear everything up because the mini-split AC units are being installed as I type.   Yay!!! Except the heatwave ends tomorrow. LOL!!!

3 years later after moving away from Abu Dhabi and I am still finding items with Arabic writings.  Ha ha!

And not mentioning how many years ago after graduating college, but still finding the key to the Player's Facility at Karsten Golf Course at Arizona State University!

Unfortunately, Karsten Golf Course has shut down.  I'm so super sad about that but it is what it is.  Supposedly the golf course is part of an 330-acre ASU athletic facilities district, which will be built up. Both the men and women's golf team has moved to another golf course not far from the college.  And from what I've heard - Papago Golf Course has a spectacular practice area! Still a shame to tear down a Pete Dye designed golf course though :-(  

As for Papago, I used to play on that golf course a lot when I was working in Phoenix.  I would get up and be on the golf course before 6am, play 9 holes with a friend, and then quick shower and off to work! Those were the day...

I told Bobby to buy some dark chocolate for me and he bought this fancy one.  Both Graham and Charlie were quick to finish this one for me!

This tin has been great though.  I was sort of eyeing the tin the very first time I saw the chocolate. It's perfect for all those Allen wrenches that I am constantly looking for.  I put some magnetic tape behind it and stuck it on the metal filing cabinet in the garage.  Perfecto! :-D

Finally, Charlie during his "Hit!" expression when he sank one of my boats during the Battleship game. He is so SUPER competitive!

So glad it's Friday today.  It's been a loooong week somehow.  I hope the AC installers will get done today so I can sleep in tomorrow!!!

New telescope

The boys (including Bobby!) have been wanting a telescope for the longest time now.  I think it all started when we were staying at a rental property in San Francisco many years ago.  Probably 4 or 5 years ago now?!  We were still living in Abu Dhabi then. Can't believe we have been back in the US for pretty much 3 years now.  It will be 2 years in this house by this Halloween!

I'm not sure if Graham and Charlie are more excited about the big box that the telescope came in... or the actual telescope!

2 big boxes later... we finally find the telescope!

I had picked out a table-top one but Bobby wanted a telescope that looks like a telescope.  Hmm... well, this one looks like one for sure!  Although we've been kicking the tripod a lot as it obviously juts out.  Ha ha!

Checking out some cranes by the harbor:

Looks like Daddy is getting "schooled" by Graham.  Ha ha!

I'm a bit nervous when the boys use the telescope during the day as they are not suppose to aim it towards the sun.  Bobby is looking at the moon one morning:

The boys have been easily pointing the telescope at Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter with a fancy laser pointer/finder thingy that you attach to the telescope.  We are actually able to see the rings around Saturn and also the moons near Jupiter.  Pretty cool!  They have all also been able spot the International Space Station... which I have yet to find in the sky!  I'm not sure if they are just trying to trick me. Hmmm....

Obviously all this time at home have made us buy a lot of stuff!

More organization

As usual, there are lots to organize around this house.  Our friend that had moved recently gave us a couple of dressers.  I can never seem to pass up on storage solutions somehow!  Well, I figured we could give Charlie the bigger/longer dresser as his clothes will get bigger soon enough and he will need more space to put his clothes.

I had to get this little shelving unit out of the way so we could put the one from Charlie's room in the space in the front living room.  Charlie has collected this buckets and will be using them for his music class.  Ha ha!

In the meantime, Graham and Charlie are slowly picking through all the things in the bin and putting them into the "Donate" pile or the "Keep" pile:

I keep forgetting to take the before photo.  We've already moved one shelf out of the way.  This other white one will be moved out too - into the garage:

There!  Much better!  Charlie has also labeled his drawers. I love the one he labeled as "Under Where" :-)

And this one for his "Special Things".  He has his new Doodle portfolio in there and also his shell collection.  So cute!

I can't believe I can actually walk from the front of the garage to the back of the garage without moving anything out of the way!  Can you tell how happy this makes me feel??? LOL!!!

The glass window from Bob's moms' old house is still in one piece!  I haven't figured out where to hang it yet.  Right now I've put it in my she-shed:

Here is the piece of furniture from Charlie's room.  This spot will have to do for it right now:

This is the other black dresser that was given to us:

I've moved it towards the front of the garage.  This wasn't suppose to be dropped off when our friend moved out of their rental but it is really coming in handy!

Look at all the stuff that I can put in the drawers!!!

And I found some leftover fabric that I had used to repair the matting around the trampoline.  I had just enough to cover up the top of the dresser and also protect the one side from the bicycle pedal.  A bit crude with the blue tape but hey, it works!

I think I have finally opened up every box in the garage.  That doesn't mean I have put away everything.  It just means I have seen everything in every box and phew, still so much to unpack and organize!  

Look at this box of kitchen stuff from our old Phoenix house!  Thank goodness the sugar was individually packed.  I can't imagine if there was a trail of ants to deal with in the garage!!!

I'm guessing we don't need anymore new water bottles either.  Ha ha!

The crew is coming in to install the new mini-split AC units this Thursday.  I will need to organize some more to get some furniture out of the way.  It will be especially interesting how I am going to do that in Graham room, as it is already tight to move around in his room.  Wish me luck!!!