Time Flies...

Wow! Before we knew it, our month with Karen and Michelle was over. We had so many fun times, learning lots of new things - I have to say that Winona and I really got to know LA better these past four weeks - and for that (and much more) we thank Karen and Michelle!

After three days of more serious English work (after California Adventure), we celebrated Karen and Michelle's final day with us with a trip to Laguna Beach - the most stunning beach around. With Inland Empire temperatures into the 100s, going to the beach was a refreshing break for all of us. The views of North Laguna Beach from the promenade above are just breathtaking. Various shades of blue, green, and turquoise glitter under the sun. Sea birds and other wildlife sit serenely on the craggy rocks jutting up from the brilliant water. At this time of year, your eye begins to crave scenes like this one. Before descending to the sand, we all stopped a moment to drink in the view.

Taken at the end of the day - Karen, on the promenade, appropriately shielded from the sun.

Just as we were arriving, a family was vacating a spot under a rock shelf. We scrambled to claim it, and pressed ourselves into the slowly diminishing sliver of shade.

Of course, the girls only needed the shade long enough to have our picnic, since their main agenda of the day was to body surf in the ocean - ride the waves!

As expected, the drive home from the beach on a Friday afternoon was long :) But the girls all passed out from exhaustion after so much playing at the beach. We got home by 6 or so, which left just enough time to back Cookie Brownies (a mix that Karen, Michelle, and Winona found at the store) and finish helping Karen and Michelle pack.

And after a spectacularly beautiful day at the beach, we were treated to an equally gorgeous sunset at home. Bold splashes of pink, orange, and magenta bloomed onto the early evening sky. Of course, the beauty of the sky was difficult to capture in a photo - but capturing the loveliness of these three girls was easy.

We love you, Karen & Michelle! Thank you for such a fun month of English and more!!!!

Play Hard, Work Hard

Monday finally arrived - the day everyone had been eagerly anticipating - Disneyland, at long last! We were lucky enough to have 6 friends together that day - Cameron, Candace, and Sophia joined Michelle, Karen, and Winona for a full day of California Adventure! I enjoyed visiting with Cameron, a polite and well-spoken 17 year old, on the trip to Anaheim. Drop-off happened at 11, and by 9:45 p.m., everyone was squashed - super duper tired - exhausted - finished. Michelle barely had the energy to drag herself in the door and down the hall and to her room. When I peeked in two minutes later she had burrowed a tunnel into her blanket and fallen fast asleep - all I could see were strands of hair sneaking out from underneath the blanket.

The next day, after a bit of extra sleep in the morning, we got right to work  - doing vocabulary and reading comprehension in the morning, and blogs in the afternoon. Of course, all work and no play is too dull, so we took a nice break down the street at Noodle World. I got pad see ew with tofu and mango with sticky rice, Winona got chow mein, and Michelle and Karen got udon. We had a fun lunch together.

Later in the evening, Michelle and Karen prepared a traditional dish with Napa cabbage - it was quite tasty. Tonight we are going to make some more things that they have told me about - including a cold appetizer with tofu and soy sauce - and that's all! - no other ingredients! Nothing!

Winona went to a friend's last night, so Karen, Michelle, and I had a chance to talk for a long time after dinner. Every day we get to know each other a little bit more - telling stories about the past and setting goals for the future - especially English-related goals that will help them achieve the main objective, which is to attend a good college in the US. We took a walk around 10 p.m., appreciating the cool temperature and the clear sky with lots of stars - even so close to LA. I have had so much fun with Karen and Michelle during this home stay!

Visiting the Getty Museum - Take 2

There is a saying in English that goes - "If at first you don't succeed, try try again." On Friday we  made a second attempt to visit the Getty Museum in just a three day span. Luckily, an earlier start from Claremont ensured that there was plenty of parking available for us.

A tram takes visitors from the parking structure up to the museum and gardens. The views on the way up are dramatic and include the breathtaking Pacific Ocean. Arriving at the top is like stepping into another world - gorgeous white buildings make a stunning contrast against the deep blue sky. Gardens, interspersed among the colossal structures, give visual relief to visitors. It is invigorating to spend the day around such powerful works - sculptures, paintings, sketches, architectural feats, and landscape designs. We were happy to have our friend Candace join our museum trip.

Michelle and Karen appreciating the stunning architecture of the Getty Museum buildings

The girls in front of stone sculpture

Taking in the complexity of the maze-like hedge in the sunken garden

We saw a special exhibit featuring the work of James Ensor, some of which was quite bizarre. We also some greats like Monet (haystacks), Renoir, Van Gogh, and Seurat. There were several lovely silver gelatin prints by Ansel Adams - some of scenes of the American West.

I don't recall ever having seen this type of plant/blossom.

Is it a leaf or a blossom? Love the color!

Our return trip took nearly two hours in the Friday rush hour traffic, and right after dropping Candace off, the van ran out of gas at the top of Mills. Thankfully, we were able to coast all the way down the road - even getting a green light at Baseline - and stop in front of Chaparral School, less than a block away from home! What luck :) Zach borrowed a gas can from Helen, put a bit of fuel in the van, and we were back in business. The girls worked and met with me about their blogs before Nancy came to pick them up around 8 p.m.

Of course, the house was quiet and lonely without Karen and Michelle.....

You may think this is a repeat photo - it's not. Prince found his way back to Karen's bed while the sheets were being laundered. 

We were excited to surprise Karen on her 15th birthday. When she walked in, Winona and I blew horns and yelled, "Surprise!" Poor Karen - I hope we didn't startle her too much.

Today is Karen's 15th birthday! We had a petite celebration with gifts, games, and small cakes.

Happy Birthday, Karen!!!

English Studies Include Shakespeare in the Sunken Amphitheater

The past two days have been full of learning and adventure. Yesterday, after ceramics, all the girls, including Candace, got themselves a snack then went to see Planet of the Apes across the street from the Packing House, at the Laemmle Theatre. Karen and Michelle spent the rest of the afternoon writing and working on English. After dinner and more English classes, we played an exciting game of Sorry!, as well as a few hands of Heart Attack (plus 2, minus 2) and Vegetable. We love these new card games that Karen and Michelle have shared with us!

Today was the last day of art class. I could tell that Karen and Michelle both had a great time working with the clay and spending time in the Studio. They both took pictures with Mrs. Heidi before leaving.

After lunch and some English classes, we took a break to do errands at Target. Karen and Michelle wanted to buy rash guards, and I had several items of my list. In the end, we found almost everything we needed.

The girls did more studying until we went out for an early dinner to one of our favorite sushi restaurants - Tokyo Kitchen. Unfortunately, Karen and Michelle became full very quickly and could only try a few of the many delicious rolls prepared by Chef Soupy.

Michelle and Karen ordered a rainbow roll; they also tried the spicy tuna and the special cucumber

We had to have an early dinner because our evening plans included a trip to the theatre to see Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, one of my all-time favorite comedies by the Bard of Bawdy. This production was especially unique as it was held in a sunken amphitheater on the campus of Pomona College.

You can see the backs of Karen, Winona, and Michelle just to the right

We had some spectacular views walking back to the car, in the dark, from Pomona to Harvey Mudd. Claremont McKenna's campus is incredibly beautiful, with a variety of fountains everywhere you look. We found this particular water piece particularly breathtaking:

This reading room is surrounded by a "moat" of water (no more than an inch or two) atop black granite; the effect is that of a floating room. Above - the lights of the room are reflected in the water of the surrounding moat.

Rockin' in Hollywood & Touring UCLA

After another fun day of ceramics, Karen, Michelle, Winona, and I packed up the car and made the long drive to the Getty Center - Museum and Gardens. Everything went well until we arrived, only to discover that there was no available parking in either of the two Getty lots - thus, no way to visit. A quick reference to the map showed we were just a couple miles from UCLA, one of the schools Karen is interested in. Imagine my delight when I found we had chosen a parking structure adjacent to the sculpture garden and museums. The weather was cool and breezy - perfect for exploring one section of the enormous UCLA campus.

Karen & Michelle inside Richard Serra's "T.E. UCLA"

Can you see someone spying on us from behind the sculpture?

Karen felt right at home on the UCLA campus - I could tell that she was imagining herself there in a few years. We all appreciated the architecture of the buildings near the sculpture garden and school of business.

Since UCLA is only a few miles from Hollywood, I decided we should try and use our tickets for the Rockin' Hollywood Tour. Little did I know we were on Hollywood Blvd on the same night as Pixar's premier for the movie Planes. It was a ZOO down there - tons of people - looky-loos trying to get a glimpse of a movie star or two. What better way to kill 30 minutes before our tour than with some frozen yogurt alongside some of Hollywood's most famous stars.

See the star on the sidewalk???

Thankfully, the tour spends very little to no time on the actual street of Hollywood. Instead, it takes its guests through some of the more noteworthy and notorious neighborhoods, like Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills, with a slow cruise down Rodeo Drive. Of course, since our tour was "Rockin'" we enjoyed LOUD music off and on throughout the ride. One of the stops was off of the famous Mulholland Drive, for a misty view of the iconic Hollywood sign.

The Hollywood sign really is behind them, I promise :)

The LA skyline behind these two beautiful girls.

Our tour lasted nearly two hours, and we arrived back at the Rockin' beginning around 8 p.m. It took another 45 minutes to get from the parking garage to the 101 South, which was 5 miles away. We made it home just before 10 p.m., and had a good dinner of soup and fruit before turning in for the night. It was a full day - not exactly what we had originally planned - but a wonderful time all the same.

GAGA - Games, Art, Gardens, Artichokes

We were all happy to see Michelle and Karen on Sunday evening after their weekend with Nancy. While Zach and I were preparing the girls' room - making beds, etc., Prince curled up at the foot of Karen's bed and went right to sleep.

Prince is thinking, "I can't wait until Karen gets back..."

Winona's friend Julia P. was here when Karen and Michelle arrived. We barely gave them any time to put their things away before we had them playing games in the living room. The team of Winona, Michelle, and Julia P. beat team Rita, Karen, and Zach in a fun round of Pictionary (the traditional black box). Then we had two hilarious rounds of Apples to Apples. Even though it was late, Michelle, Karen, and I all met to discuss their blogs.

This morning, Karen, Michelle, and Winona went to Studio Claremont to do ceramics. This week the theme is animals, and each student was given the challenge to make a 3-animal stack with the clay. Each day the students will work on different projects using clay.

The artists - apres-class

As it was an uncharacteristically cool and overcast day for the middle of July - Bastille Day, in fact - we took advantage by visiting the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, which features exclusively California native plants and trees. Zach and I have been bringing Nicholas and Winona to these gardens since before they could walk. In fact, Winona took some of her very first steps in the gardens in the spring of 2003.

A Fruit Loops and water break by the oasis palms

The gardens are featuring a special exhibit - the Butterfly Pavilion - which is truly awesome. Hundreds of butterflies flitting around and chilling out inside a large outdoor room (screened).

The girls are learning about the life cycles of the different butterflies and moths

 These were some of my favorites - wish I could have gotten a picture of the California dogface...

The underside of an enormous pinecone

After the gardens, we went to Subway for lunch. Karen and Michelle ordered their own sandwich - tuna. I discovered that Karen loves ketchup :)

We took a short rest in the afternoon before having more English classes. Karen and Michelle are both doing great on their blogs. I can tell how much their writing has improved in such a short amount of time.

We had a very Mediterranean dinner of steamed artichokes and fresh tomato salad (with all the tomatoes and basil straight from our garden!), along with garlic spread from the Claremont farmers market. The girls had never eaten artichokes this way - steamed and dipped in either butter or lemon juice. Karen described them as "delicious." 

Here, Zach is showing Karen and Michelle how to get to the heart of the artichoke - the most tender and delicious part!

Had to get a picture of the brilliant tomatoes (this is the first year I've had success!)

See? Karen looks happy!

We wrapped up our fun day by learning two new games from Michelle and Karen. The first was a variation on Heat Attack - called Plus One, Minus One, and the second was called Vegetables, where each person chooses a name in a certain category - and players have to remember these names (quickly!) during the course of the game. We also played several rounds of Taboo, which was super funny.

Great job today, Karen and Michelle!

Circuits, Lucky Elephant, and Raging Waters - Part 2

Karen, Michelle, and Winona capped off their computer science week with building circuits in the morning and have robot races in the afternoon. After class, we made another trip to Target to buy a humidifier - poor Michelle got her second nosebleed in one week! We are hoping that the more humid air in her room will help her dry nasal passages. Of course, no errands on a hot day would be complete without a trip to Razzle Dazzle - I had the Hawaiian tart... For dinner, we took everyone to our favorite Thai restaurant - The Lucky Elephant.

pomfret with special sauce (Zach also ordered the pra lard prik...)

as always, a delicious and aesthetically appealing experience at Lucky Elephant

After dinner, we had to squeeze in time for games, even though it was getting late! We taught Karen and Michelle how to play one of our Island favorites - Pig. Then, while Karen was showering, we taught Michelle and Winona how to play Spades. I'm confident that Karen and Michelle slept well on Thursday night!

Friday, we returned to Raging Waters for another day of long lines and water slides. Winona's friend Lucia came with us, which was fun. I think we have learned that Fridays are crowded, no matter what (not just on holidays, like 4th of July). If we go back while Karen and Michelle are here, we'll have to try a day earlier in the week - Monday or Tuesday. Michelle and I agreed that we like the beach better than Raging Waters, so we're having a beach trip next week - For Sure!