Normally one or more musicians will play a musical instrument starting about 10 minutes before the Sunday morning service. Most often it is the piano.
This past Sunday, all five girls (Nicole, Sarah, Joanna, Victoria, and Lizzie) along with Jason and Jeffrey sang three hymns for preludes. From left to right, they are Joanna, Sarah, Victoria, Nicole, Jason, Lizzie, and Jeffrey.
Here they sing “Are You Washed in the Blood?”
Here they sing “And Can It Be” followed by “How Firm a Foundation.”
On Friday, September 14, 2018, Tim, Jeri, Lizzie, and Josiah visited the LA County Fair as part of the fair’s school program. We saw a few shows, ate some food, and tried to stay cool on a very hot day.
In the past, Tim has been able to drive to and from the LA County Fair without any problems. It’s about 40 miles away from Fountain Valley. This time the front, right tire of our car hit something really hard while driving in the carpool lane. It was so hard that Tim thought for sure that we popped the tire. So we navigated off the next exit and inspected the tire. Since all of the tires looked fine, we continue driving. However because (unknowingly) Tim missed getting out of the carpool lane in order to change freeways, we started heading the wrong way. Eventually we get to the fair a bit later than expected.
We arrive at the fair and park. By now we’re starving so our first goal is to find food. Last year at the fair, we really enjoyed eating (both lunch and supper) at a vegan food truck. We were hoping (expecting) to find it again but, alas, we were extremely disappointed. Only after touring the fairgrounds in sunny, 90+ F degree weather did we realize that we needed to find food elsewhere.
One manufacturer of cauliflower-crust pizza was giving away free samples. We were so hungry that we gobbled them right up! The good news is that they were delicious! The bad news is that the samples were extremely small.
Note the size of the “slice.”
We decided to get one personal-size, cheese pizza and a basket of fries for lunch. The pizza and fries were each $12. So we ended up spending $6 a person for each of us to get one slice of pizza and a good amount of fries. We didn’t complain since we knew that fair food is always pricey.
Lizzie the Princess.
Josiah the Knight.
Josiah loves sword fighting. Here he battles Tim.
Josiah received training in how to be a valiant knight.
The two knight put on a fight as well as a class for the kids. Here’s Josiah afterwards.
We saw the Peking Acrobats again this year. Each year they change up their routines. The guy on the right just scooted through the tube, feet first, while bent over at the waist.
The lady in the middle first balances a small tray on a rod on the bridge of her nose. Then they add four cups. Then they add another tray. They repeat this twice more until finally they add one last glass on top. But that’s not all. Now she climbs up onto a rocking platform and then walks up two ladders attached to each side (seen in the video at the bottom).
We saw an outdoor acrobat show where girls performed rope routines as well as swung from a trapeze. The guy did some magic tricks including one where we had six members of the audience each pick a number from 1 to 50. After writing all of the numbers down on a large sheet of paper. He pulls out a “Pick Six” lottery ticket that he purchased earlier. He has a member of the audience come up and read the date and the price of the ticket. Then he reads the six numbers…which, of course, exactly match the six numbers chosen by the audience!
Tim and Josiah saw the “Flea” Circus. The guy was pretty funny.
After the sun went down, we enjoyed not being in the burning sun.
For supper, we considered getting some veggie dogs. But instead, we decided to drive back and eat at a Thai restaurant near our house. The food was delicious (as expected)!
Here’s a digest of the day.
On Wednesday, Tim took the day off from work to go to the Home School Day at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Unfortunately Lizzie was sick so she didn’t go. Jeri, Tim, and Josiah joined up with two other families from church. Because Jeri had to work in the afternoon, Tim and Jeri left after a few hours. But Josiah was able to stay longer and hang out with one of the other families from church.
We started by watching the sea otter show. They were interesting and cute as well. Here’s a picture while watching.
Here Josiah is pointing out a Giant Japanese Spider Crab. They are large with long legs!
These three boys are good buddies. They play together a lot after church as well as on “play day” at our house a few times a month. Nerf gun wars are a favorite activity.
The aquarium had numerous “petting” areas where one can touch a shark, manta ray, jellyfish, starfish, sponges, and more!
Of course, there were plenty of places to spend money. Although we didn’t buy anything (except for Josiah’s lunch), Josiah checked out some of the stuff.
Here is a composite video of the day.
Today after church, we took a photo of the students in the Warner Avenue Christian Academy. Josiah and Lizzie are on the far left.
All of the girls sans Lizzie.
Selfie time.
Jeffrey took a picture of a friend taking a picture of Jason taking a picture.
Here’s the photo.
Watch the photo digest.
Tonight Joanna had a voice recital at Orange Coast College along with three other students of Dr. Susan Ali, her teacher. Of course, Joanna did a fabulous job!
Joanna sings Sweeter than Roses by Henry Purcell.
Joanna sings Batti, batti o bel Masetto from Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Here’s a photo when the group took a bow. Josiah led a standing ovation!
Most of the family went to the recital and then Souplantation afterwards. Justin’s leg and back didn’t allow for him to go. Two of Joanna and Sarah’s friends, Katherine and Summer, were able to attend the recital and join us for supper.
The guys at one table.
Here’s another group of four.
Here are Joanna and Sarah joined by Katherine and Summer.
For more entertainment, watch the composite video.
Grandma treated all of us to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Here Josiah and Lizzie are playing a “huge” game of checkers.
Breakfast was delicious! Unfortunately Jonathan had to work and couldn’t join us.
We made homemade vanilla ice cream for the family reunion the next day.
The ice cream was good to the last drop!
That evening we drove out to see Jim and Vicki’s new house (which is nearing completion).
In this picture, Lizzie is helping with the fire that was used to destroy some confidential papers.
On Friday evening, we drove up to Madrid. Just outside of town, we parked our SUV and hiked about half a mile to the High Trestle Trail Bridge.
Here is a selfie with a photo-bomb by Lizzie.
We arrived as the sun was beginning to set. At sundown, the lights come on the bridge.
The dark bands in the two pillars represent bands of coal which were found in the region many years ago.
A photo of the entire pillars.
A passer-by took a group photo for us.
The lights on the bridge look really cool at night.
Watch a composite video of the day.
Grandma Stogdill treated us to a day at the Iowa State Fair. We arrived in the morning on opening day. We always start by getting weighed at the Varied Industries Building.
Here are Grandma Stogdill, Josiah, Nicole, Lizzie, Jeri and Tim after our weigh-in.
Next stop for Grandma, Jeri and Tim was to get a Pecan Cinnamon Roll. We had to wait awhile for them to make a fresh batch. In this picture, you can see the dough rolled up.
The Iowa Egg Council had a social media competition where you upload photos and tag it. Later Lizzie received a notice that she had won.
Here we all are (sans Grandma) in the Agriculture Building. Josiah is in the very front. Then in the next row are Nicole, Lizzie, Jeri, and Tim. In the back are Victoria, Rachel, and Jonathan.
It was a typical hot (but not overly hot) summer day.
Lizzie found a place to use her art skills.
Because we saw how easy it was for this guy to make salsa that we bought one for ourselves. We’ve already used it several times.
Watch a composite video of the day.
Josiah helped Tim take a load of stuff to donate to Salvation Army.
Back in seventh grade (around 1971), Tim wanted to learn how to play the guitar. Here’s what got him started…a course that came with an audio cassette and a book. Remember this was before there were VHS tapes or even YouTube.
After loading up the SUV, we took a group photo and said our goodbyes before leaving for Des Moines.
For our pictures, Tim set up the camera with a 10-second time delay. Here’s a video of our picture taking.
On evening, we drove down close to the Mississippi River to check out the new bridge that is under construction.
In this picture, you can see the existing I-74 bridge in the background as well the cranes working on the new bridge.
This video has humorous ending.
