Summer Update

It's been a while -- since May -- since our last update. So it's about time -- don't you think?

Holly came for Memorial Day weekend. It was a great visit. We mostly hung around the pool, and made a stop at In-n-Out.

In June I led a small group of students to London, Paris, and the Alps. We enjoyed the regular tourist things, saw Wicked!, and I enjoyed the Starbucks.

We bought some kayaks on my birthday, and when we got home the place was full of people for a surprise pool party and BBQ. It was a total -- and happy -- surprise! The next week we went camping at Big Bear Lake with our new kayaks. Carolyn's is red and mine is yellow.

Holly came again for 4th of July and we went back to Big Bear with the Kayaks. We also went to see Wicked! in Hollywood at the Pantages Theater.

Kallie came later in the month, so the kayaks got a work out again.

We took a friend to the Hollywood Bowl for a production of South Pacific. It was great!

This weekend my brother, David, came down from Sacramento, and we went to two NASCAR races in Fontana. We got to see our favorite drivers and cars. We had a great time, even though it was (100 degrees +) HOT.

So that catches us up to a lazy Labor Day. Carolyn starts teaching again this week. My school started last month. Now I already have papers to grade which I successfully avoided all day!

Senior Prom

That's "senior" as in high school seniors. We chaperoned the prom last month, and the pictures just came in. I don't know why they make us pose in these stiff poses. I look fat, but it's just because my jacket was too big, and I'm turned sideways. Oh well, we did take our camera, and took pictures with the kids, but not with each other. The girl in the top right is Tiffany Han. She was Carolyn's student when she (Tiffany) was in the 2nd grade. The girl in the bottom picture is Caitlin Endlsey. She has been one of Rod's students all 4 of her years at Hesperia High School. She was on the first group to go to Europe.

The prom was downtown LA at the Science Center. Everyone had to ride in charter buses. It wasn't really as bad as people feared. Well, the music was. We couldn't get far enough away from it. That's where these two "seniors" were different from the high school type.

It has been windy here, and a bit chilly on the weekends. So we haven't done as much outside as we would like. Of course, we never get enough done inside, either.

I (Rod) will take a small group of students to Europe on June 5, for about 10 days. London, Paris & the Alps. More on that later. Carolyn's school year is over about June 20.

Signs of Spring

Now that Spring is officially here, we can get out and enjoy it. We finally got into the pool, actually on March 17. Max, the real tortoise, came out of hibernation the same weekend. We are enjoying the warm weather.

Hesperia was in the news last weekend because of a wildfire south of town. It was actually far away from the main part of Hesperia, but still within the "city limits" -- which is a big chunk of the desert.

Carolyn is on Spring Break this week, so she's out doing more yard work. You'd think it would be done some day.

Now You See Them . . Now You Don't

We said "good bye" to some trees today. Two big ones near the front of the back yard, on both sides of the house. They were getting too big for the space, and they were getting too messy. They dropped "snow flakes" that sprouted new trees all over the place. So now things look more open.

Springtime & the Rockies

While Mike & Kallie are playing Rocky Mountain High, we're doing yard work. But there are signs of spring to make it worth it. Cooper & Danny came to help today. We also arranged to have two large trees cut down this coming Monday. The guy said that they are Japanese Elm Trees. That would explain why they grew like King Kong. Though they make nice shade, they make a real mess each Spring and Fall. The one by the garage is also in the way of driving the trailer in and out, so having it gone will be a good thing. Slowly but surely we are getting the yard ready

Off To The Races -- NASCAR Style

We did something today that we haven't done before. We went to the NASCAR Nextel Cup race in Fontana. It was cloudy and cold, but we had a good time. We were surprised by the noise and the smell (let's see, am I talking about the cars or the rednecks?). Our favorite driver went out early with a blown engine. If you can't tell who our favorite driver is by looking at the pictures, you don't know NASCAR.

Watching it in person is very different from watching on TV. You can't pause it to go to the bathroom. But you can watch whatever driver you want, and you can see things that you never see on TV. We might try it again someday. You should join us.

You can view more pictures in the NASCAR album, on the webshots link to the left.

College Tour '07

Last week we helped supervise a group of Hesperia High School students on a tour of colleges in Northern California. We went as far north as Chico, with stops at Chico State, UC Davis, Sacramento State, Cal State Stanislaus and Fresno State. We had dinner one night in Old Town Sacramento. The weather was cloudy, cool and rainy, but the kids were wonderful. We had a great time.

Now we're back in school for regular.