Anywhere, everywhere, all the time...

I suppose it is the main reason for being here in America - Ryk's studies - but I do sometimes wonder if he shouldn't take more breaks. He has always been a very diligent student and is able to study for hours and hours on end, in any situation. Just the other day, he took a bath WITH his Hebrew flashcards...oops....and here you can see them on my dressing-table, drying out :)
Luckily the vocabulary words were written with a black Sharpie and were not washed off , but all his extra notes and explanations in red and blue pen, were but a blurrrrr. I tried to dry them with the hairdryer but in the end he had to re-do them all!

Most of the time Ryk is in class or in his study (a small space in the middle of the garage) but sometimes he can be lured out to enjoy the fantastic weather. Even these times will be used to keep up with his reading assignments!

Exploring at Kidspace

In January we went on an outing, with the Master's Kids toddler group, to the Kidspace Museum in Pasadena. It was a very wet rainy day and driving back home on a freeway flowing like a river was quite a challenge. Daniel had such fun with his little friends as they played on the indoor climbing structures - the kidsize ant colony was his favourite - and learning about bugs.coming out the top of the termite hill

ontop of a giant leaf

in the lecture-hall, just before learning about different kinds of creepy crawlies

like this cockroach from Madagascar..
...which they didn't like too much...can you tell?

exploring the contents of an earthquake survival kit which no house should be without
(we better get one then!)

Welcome to our 1st visitor from England

Rick Battenfield, our Pastor from our home church in Eythorne, UK stayed with us during his visit in January. He was our first visitor from England (even though he is American!) and we were priviledged to have his company.

Since it was winter we decided on a BBQ evening meal outside...hehehe..note the short-sleeves!

Rick B and Ryk B
We hope to see him again in July!

Dawn of a new Decade

After Christmas, New Year's eve rolled round quickly and we were off to the Raynor's house for a Games night with our Bible study group. Games "stations" were laid out all over the house, catering to all the age groups. In the end it was the antics of the grown-ups, playing a version of Charades with a timer, that had everyone rolling around laughing!

No Christa...we still don't get it!

It's a triangle...it's a pyramid....it's ???

Vicky , Lynette, Ahlisa

Fuel to keep Matt and Nelly going.

That was the weasel and it went POP!

Midnight at last! Happy 2010!

Up at 5 the next morning and off to Pasadena for the annual Rose Parade. What a fantastic spectacle! We arrived at 6 am to see all the floats up close before the parade began at 8am.

Everything you see on the floats are organic or plantmaterial - flowers, foliage, grasses, bark, beans , soil. It was absolutely astounding to see how creative the designers and floatbuilders were. I hate to say it, but it might even be better than the Chelsea Flower Show's indoor displays.

Running and dancing alongside the many many floats were also groups of dressed-up people, bands and display teams representing anything and everything from countries to Boy Scouts to cultural groups to big companies. The parade ended at the Rose Bowl - a big stadium- where an important football fixture is played every New Year's Day.

Go Churchill!

During the parade this float, which was HUGE, let off fireworks from the rigging.

I kid you not - that Indian chief looked very scary, he really made my skin crawl and count my blessings that it was just pretend. Imagine seeing him in full charge , screaming a war cry...

This is the beautiful old car that the mayor of LA and the parade marshall gets to ride in. This year the marshall was the pilot of the plane that landed on the Hudson River.

These girls on rollerskates all looked like porcelain dolls , so sweet from the front...

...and sunny from behind