The Official Pau Family Web Site

Because Tim and Elizabeth’s annual passes for Disneyland expire in mid-April, we’ve been going to Disneyland more often. “We have to get our money’s worth” is the motto. Because we purchased the rest of the family’s passes later, they can go through the end of May. So Tim and Lizzie are sad as the end draws near.

March 21st, 2013

On Thursday, March 21st, 2013, Tim was able to get off from work a couple of hours early. Because Sarah and Joanna weren’t home yet (Joanna wanted to see her math instructor so she could get her “A” on her recent misgraded exam turned into an “A+”), an “early group” headed out. Tim, Jeri, Justin, Victoria, Elizabeth, and Josiah to the park a little after 5 PM and headed to the Golden Horseshoe to see a live show, Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. (Tim took a detour and got Fast Passes for Star Tours.)

The show was great. The guys are all named “Billy”; they play bluegrass music and are quite funny and entertaining. After the show, the six Paus headed to California Adventure. In California Adventure, they saw the rest of the family (Nicole, Jason, Sarah, Joanna, and Jeffrey) in line for the California Screamin’ (a roller coaster). Tim, Justin, and Josiah headed to Toy Story Midway Mania while Jeri, Victoria, and Elizabeth went to Cars Land.

Soarin’ Over California

After the “early group” regathered in Cars Land, they decided to that they had to time to do California Screamin’. Finishing the roller coaster, they had to dash to Soarin’ Over California (because they had Fast Passes that would soon expire). The ride makes you feel like you are actually soaring over California. You are lifted up in your seats and you feel like you are flying over various sites of California like the Golden Gate Bridge, Yosemite, Big Sur, San Diego, etc.

The first time that Josiah (when he was six years old) did Soarin’ Over California last year, he sat next to Tim. Early in the ride, Josiah incredulously asked several times “Are we really flying?” Tim told him, “No, we’re not really flying.” Towards the end of the ride, Josiah stated a few times “We’re not really flying” as if to assure himself.

Star Tours

After Soarin’ Over California, they had to leave California Adventure and back into Disneyland in order to use their Fast Passes for Star Tours. Star Tours is a 3-D motion ride based on Star Wars characters. Apparently Disneyland has about 50 different stories. Each ride has about 30 riders. One person is selected as the “Rebel Spy” who becomes part of the story line. Josiah was chosen as the rebel spy (again).

Turns out that the story was one that Tim had seen (and enjoyed) before. It featured going into hyperspeed several times, going underwater, and being violently attacked by an underwater creature. It concluded with the nose of another space ship breaking through our windshield. Fun, fun, fun!

Fireworks

As they walked out of Star Tours, the evening fireworks show had begun. Although they missed the first part of it, they stopped on Main Street to take in the incredible fireworks show. The show (as always) was synchronized with music from Disney movies. Although most of the fireworks are launched from behind the Castle, some were shot off from our left and right.

After the fireworks (now it’s around 9 PM), this group headed back into California Adventure. Via text messages, they knew that the other group (Nicole, Jason, Sarah, Joanna, and Jeffrey) was at Grizzly River Run. So they were able to meet up. The ones who got soaked (Nicole, Jason, Sarah, and Joanna) decided to head back home. They were freezing…by now, the temps were in the 60s.

More Midway Mania and Cars Land

To finish out the evening, Tim, Justin, Victoria, and Jeffrey head to Midway Mania. Because of the World of Color show, the wait was only 20 minutes. After finishing, they got back in an even-shorter line (seven minute wait). Now it is a little before 10 PM (that is when they close the line). So they were able to do it AGAIN!

Jeri, Lizzie, and Josiah headed back to Cars Land. Here are a couple of photos taken by the Disney photographer.

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!

Everyone (except Tim and Jason who had to work) went to California Adventure on Friday (Jan. 18, 2013). The weather was hot…sunny with temperatures reaching the low 80s. They got to the park early and did a number of rides including California Screamin’ (roller coaster), Mickey’s Fun Wheel (ferris wheel with swinging gondolas), Goofy’s Sky School (a different type of roller coaster), Hollywood Tower of Terror (a few did this one), and Toy Story’s Midway Mania (3-D shooting game).

Jeri took Josiah to Disneyland. Josiah loves the Peter Pan story and likes the ride, Peter Pan’s Flight. He got a chance to meet Tinker Bell as well.

They finished their time with the new Radiator Springs Racer in California Adventure before heading home (via Taco Bell) around 2 PM.

Tim (who took vacation on Tuesday and Wednesday), Jeri, Victoria, Jeffrey, Elizabeth, and Josiah all went to California Adventure on Wednesday this week. After a few weeks of cool weather (highs never getting out of the 60s), we had a really nice day. It was sunny and around 75 F.

This year Grandma Stogdill came to spend Christmas with us. As always, we very much enjoyed spending time together with her.

Come Christmas morning, we were still wrapping a few presents so we didn’t open presents until early afternoon…and, of course, we had to take our annual Christmas photo before we begin unwrapping. Click on the photo below to see it full size.

Back in 2006 when we lived in San Jose, we purchased via Craigslist a beautiful oak entertainment center. Our current TV didn’t come close to filling the opening designated for it. Then we spotted a Craigslist moving sale that listed a nice TV for $50. So Justin and I drove and picked it up…it just fit in our Audi sedan.

That TV served us well until 2011 when it finally died. Watching Craigslist, we found someone selling their stuff. Because she didn’t like her landlord, she was determined to get rid of all of her stuff so that her landlord. So for $25 she sold us her TV along with other items.

In the year 2012 as flat screen TVs kept coming down in price, I start wondering if we should spend the money to buy one. We don’t have cable or satellite TV nor do we watch much television. However I thought that a better TV would enhance our Friday-night movie nights. But I just didn’t get a peace about proceeding.

Then came New Year’s Day 2013, Jeri and some of the girls leave to go to Kohl’s to do some clothes shopping. Just a few minutes after leaving, Joanna calls home to say that there is a flat screen TV sitting on the curb just down the street from our house.

Figuring that there is nothing to lose, Justin and I walk down to the house. I knock on the door. Someone comes to the door but doesn’t open it. The man asks through the door, “What do you want?”

So I ask about the TV. He says that the TV doesn’t turn on; the power supply just clicks. When asked, he gives me permission to take it and adds “It might be a simple fix.”

Justin and I carry it home. I immediately go to my computer, open a browser to Google.com, and type in “samsung tv doesn’t turn on power supply clicks.” I soon discover that because of a class-action lawsuit that Samsung opened an 800-number hotline where owners can call to get the TV repaired for free.

The next day, I call the number and schedule an appointment for the next day. Sure enough a guy shows up, replaces a few capacitors, and gets the TV working.

So the Lord provided us a free 46″ TV. The vertical resolution is only 720 instead of 1080…but, heh, we’re not complaining!

What a beautiful example of God providing.

Tim was able to take a personal day off from work to celebrate Jeri’s birthday (a day late). Nicole, Victoria, Elizabeth, and Josiah joined us. However after a few hours, Nicole wasn’t feeling well so she and Victoria went home.

We enjoyed the new Radiator Springs Racer in California Adventure’s Cars Land. We made it through the park gates a few minutes before the official opening time of 9:00 AM. Tim immediately got in the (already-long) line to get FastPass tickets to the Radiator Springs Racer ride.

The weather was very nice…clear skies with a high around 72 F. The park wasn’t crowded. A few of the popular rides had wait times over 30 minutes. But for those, we used FastPasses. Most of our wait times were five to 10 minutes; a few were as long as 20 minutes. So we got to do a lot of stuff.

We saw a few shows with the last one, the Candlelight Christmas Processional, being absolutely FANTASTIC! The quality of the production (stage, scenery, sound, lighting, etc.) was first-class Disney. We enjoyed in immensely.

Afterwards, we did Astroblasters. Our family nicknamed it BLAB for Buzz Lightyear AstroBlasters). A person in a wheelchair got on the ride shortly after we did; this enabled us to rack up some serious points while the ride was paused. Here are our results. Elizabeth was the winner (but only by a little).

At the end of September 2012, Tim and Jason went to Sequoia National Park for an “adventure.” Tim wrote about the trip on his blog.

 

 

On Saturday (Oct. 13, 2012), six of us went to the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, California (near San Diego) to see the 2012 air show. Jeri, Justin, Nicole, Jeffrey, Josiah, and myself (Tim) made the 80-mile trip.

Although I knew that the drive would take a while, I was amazed at the volume of traffic on I-5 both southbound (our direction) and northbound. We left our house at 10:20 AM and after a quick stop to pick up a couple of bagels, we were on the Interstate by 10:30 AM. The drive was stop-and-go most of the way.

Around 1 PM, we arrived at Miramar. However it took us another half an hour to make it into the base and to a parking spot. Then we had to walk about 20 minutes from the parking area to the show.

Here we are watching, the AV-8B Harrier perform its vertical take-off and landing demonstration.

Of course, the Blue Angels were fantastic! Except for Josiah (who wasn’t born at the time), we had seen the Blue Angels before at the Quad City Air Show back when we lived in Rock Island, Illinois. They never cease to amaze. I was most impressed when the six Blue Angels started from six different directions and they all crossed at the same time in front of us!

The afternoon show ended around 4 PM. Then we looked at the various ground displays. Here’s Josiah with a Marine Captain who has flown the Cobra helicopter in battles in Afghanistan.

We stayed for the evening show. The best part was F/A-18 afterburner passes. We left before the fireworks show. The drive back home was fast; we made it from the air show parking lot to our house in less than 90 minutes.