Month: February 2013

The OCC Music Department presented “Opera Magnifica!,” directed by Susan Ali, on Saturday, February 23rd, at 8:00 p.m. in the Robert B. Moore Theatre. Students performed arias and ensemble numbers from operatic hits from many lands and many eras.

Sarah and Joanna sang “Dew Fairies’ Song” from Humperdink’s opera Hansel and Gretel. They were also performed in four other numbers including “Try it, Try it, Try it” and “Will the Shoe Fit?” from The True Story of Cinderella.

Afterwards Sarah and Joanna and about a dozen other cast members went to a Red Robin restaurant. They sang for the staff and received three free (enormous) slices of Mud Pie.

On Thursday, February 7th, 2013, we took a school field trip to the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA. The library/museum/gardens offer free admission on the first Thursday of each month. Jeri reserved tickets for us. Jeri, Tim, Victoria, Jeffrey, Elizabeth, and Josiah all went.

Although it was winter and many of the flowers weren’t blooming, the outdoor gardens were beautiful and very relaxing.

Japanese Gardens

The Japanese Garden area was probably our favorite. Here’s Josiah watching the koi. Apparently they thought that we were going to feed them. They gathered around us.

Here’s one of many bonsai.

A Japanese house was part of the gardens. Although we couldn’t go into it, we could view inside of it because some of the exterior walls were removed from the design.

Victoria, Elizabeth, and Jeffrey

Jeffrey and Victoria near the Japanese Gardens

Flowers

Many gorgeous flowers were blooming. However all of the roses had been pruned. Here’s a flower that had fallen into the brook.

The rock garden was very different from what we are used to seeing. Here we are relaxing for a few minutes.

Chinese Gardens

There were many interesting rocks at the Chinese Garden.

Art Collection

Probably the most famous painting in the large art collection is the Blue Boy. Although the room was dimly lit and we weren’t allowed to use flash photography, we were able to take a picture by having a long exposure.

Around 1:30 PM, we decided to head home. I needed to get back to work (I was working from home that day). Plus we needed to pickup Sarah and Joanna from Orange Coast College. As we began our trip home, the van surged slightly a couple of times. Then when we were on the I-5 freeway, the van lost power.

Adventure on the Freeway

So now we are in the far left lane traveling about two or three miles per hour. Tim eyes an exit less than 100 yards away. However without any power, there is no way that we can cross multiple lanes of traffic. So Tim stops the van and traffic backs up behind us.

Tim has us pray for help and safety. Jeri gets on the phone with roadside assistance. Tim works to find the emergency blinkers. Within a few minutes, a CHP (California Highway Patrol) officer pulls up behind us. Someone else must have called 911.

The officer gives us instructions, breaks traffic, and pushes us off of the freeway. Now that we are safely off. Jeri finishes coordinating with roadside assistance to get a tow truck. Tim walks down to the Denny’s restaurant just down the street in search of a quiet place to make a phone call. He calls Enterprise Rent-a-Car in order to get a car that would get the rest of the family home.

Sarah and Joanna called the Sebo family to get a ride home from college. Mrs. Sebo asked if there was anything else they could do to help. So Jeri asked if she could pick us up and take us home. Tim then cancels the Enterprise reservation.

Getting Home

Tim rides with the tow truck driver back to the repair shop close to our house.

Because we hadn’t had lunch, the rest of the group grabbed some food at Denny’s while waiting for the Sebo’s to pick them up.

Many thanks to the Sebos for helping us out!