Disney's California Adventure

The next day - we went to Diney's California Adventure. I acutally liked this better than Disneyland the day before. The boys liked it a little less. Oh well. I liked the tributes to the various parts of Califiornia. If you have not been - it is worth seeing. Click the title link for more pictures.

Disneyland

We took a mini-vacation in the early Spring of this year. We were able to get some 2-fer tickets available to Southern CA residents and went to Disneyland. The tickets were 2 day passes (one day at each of Disney's Theme parks for the price of one day. ) It was a pretty good deal - apparently lots of people thought so. Anyway - we drove up to Anaheim in the morning. Traffic leaving San Diego was really bad that day. Once we got out of San Diego - it was not too much of a problem. We had a good day in spite of the crowds. The weather was perfect - clear - just warm enough. We walked all around the park. The boys had a great time. Caleb is not into roller coasters - but he really loved the Autopia. We used the Fast-Pass system to ride the busy rides and it really worked well.

We stayed until we were really tired of walking - and watched the fireworks as we were riding back to our car. Our hotel was only about a block from the park. They were really apologetic that our room did not have a view. (In fact - we could see the Matterhorn from our window!)

The next day - we were back at the park to go to Disney's California Adventure.

La Jolla

This month my photo club went to La Jolla. While most of the club went in the afternoon, Harvey and I went in the morning. It will be interesting to see how the different pictures came out with the different light.

We spent about 3 hours photgraphing on a beautiful morning. There were lots of others out enjoying the sun and the surf.

Click the link above to see the photos that I took that wonderful day

La Jolla in Spanish means "The Jewel". It is the Jewel of America's finest city, San Diego. La Jolla is an exquisite combination of a southern European resort atmosphere and Southern California fun. While La Jolla is known to be one of the most affluent communities in the United States, it has a down to earth feel due to the beautiful natural scenery and the helpfulness of its residents. Moreover, in addition to fine restaurants, beautiful beaches, hotels and art galleries, La Jolla is home to renowned institutions, such as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Stephen Birch Aquarium & Museum.

New Dog: Zoe

Some of you heard that we got a new dog recently. Here is a picture of her. We picked her up from a shelter - she was a 'rescue' dog'. Her breed is Maltese.

We have called her Zoë.

We got her from a shelter - she was matted and stinky and a bag of bones. We took her to the groomers on the way home and now she's soft and cuddly. She's been scarfing down her food and already has a little more fat over those bones. She loves to just sit with one of us on the couch - definitely a lap dog. The vet says she is anywhere between 2 and 7 years old. She only barks and fusses when we go away and leave her in the laundry room, or in her kennel at night. I think she's well-enough trained now to let her sleep upstairs with the boys - then she won't make a peep.

Awana Games: 2007

It's that time again: We went to the 2007 Awana Games on February 10. Our team was again in the afternoon. We arrived about 11:30 - and I think that our first event was at 1:00 where we met in the bright gym for the opening ceremony. We then went over to the very dark gym where it is almost impossible to take pictures. I did what I could - follow the link to see the best that I could do with the light that was there. I don't understand why they don't turn on the additional lighting that is installed. Anyway - it makes for a terrible photo opportunity.

Beyond that - our kids did great. This year - we had a great team that really prepared and worked hard. We were so good that we actually gave some of our team members to another church. We ended up winning the preliminary round, and were invited back to the finals. We made some mistakes - but ended up in 3rd place overall. I am very proud of the way each and every one of the kids did.

Follow the link on the title to see some more shots of the 2007 Awana Games.

Point Loma National Monument

Today my photo club went to Point Loma National Monument to get some shots of the Tide Pools. We did not know it at the time - but the USS Ronald Reagan was pulling out and we were able to see it go past us. Here is some information on the USS Ronald Reagan:
January Hundreds of friends and family members of Sailors assigned to the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group (CSG) watched as the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), embarked staffs and squadrons departed San Diego Jan. 27 on a surge deployment in support of U.S. Navy operations in the Western Pacific.
The Ronald Reagan CSG was deployed under the Navy’s Fleet Response Plan (FRP), which provides the U.S. with the ability to respond to any global commitment with flexible and sustainable forces and the ability to rapidly respond to a range of situations on short notice.

We also spent some time at the Tide Pools. Here are some pictures that I captured while there.

On the western side of Point Loma lies the rocky intertidal zone, a window into the ocean ecosystem that lies along of San Diego's coast. During periods of low tide, pools form along this shore in rocky depressions. In them you may see flowery anemones, elusive octopi, spongy deadman's fingers, and a myriad of other creatures.

The Grand Canyon

On our trip back to San Diego, we stopped in Flagstaff, AZ. Instead of heading straingt home like we usually do, we decided to stop by the Grand Canyon since it was only an hour or so away. We got up early, and drove the 1.5 hours to the South Rim. I was pretty impressed by the size of the place. Here are a few pictures that I took that day.

Sunshine after the Blizzard

After spending 50 hours inside (except for the occasional snow clearing exercise) we were able to get outside again. Here are some of the pictures that I took when the sun came out. We are still stuck - cannot go South into New Mexico - but that should change some time today. We are enjoying the sunshine and the warm weather. The roads in town are passable - the freeways were dry - and the city streets were slushy during the day and icy at night - but the plows have been working non-stop. My sister and her family need to go East from here - and are delayed by at least one day. Bummer for them. My brother-in-law has a court appearance that will not be met!
This is a picture that taken today that I took yesterday in the midst of the blizzard. Same (approx) location. Note the blue sky and the drifts.
Pike's Peak with lots of blue sky.

Christmas in Colorado: Snowed In

We drove from San Diego to Colorado Springs for the Christmas break. 2 days after we got here - one of the bigger blizzards hit the area. We are stuck inside - at least we have plenty of food and have lots to do. We sent the kids out 2 times a day to shovel the walk and the driveway. Not that we need it done - it is still snowing - but it gets rid of some of the pent-up energy that they have from being inside all day. Here are some pictures that I took of the storm and some of the fun we had while cleaning up:
Here is Caleb shoveling snow. At this point - it is still snowing and blowing. He did a great job moving a lot of the heavy snow off of the driveway.
Yep - here is our CA car - it has never been in snow like this!

Here is Jesse after clearing a section of the driveway. You can see from the photo that it is still snowing!

Here is a picture from the top of my parent's street. Normally - the view from here would be a fantastic view of Pike's Peak. Here - you can see the snow drifts. The city plow had been by a few minutes before - but the wind was blowing pretty hard. This was taken about 7:30 in the morning, so there were not many cars on the road. I was able to walk down the middle of the road since most of the sidewalks had not (yet) been shoveled.

Balboa Park

Bummer - I was going to submit some of these pictures to my photo club - but I never got around to it. Anyway - these were to be some shots that I took of a Christmas theme. I think that I was in Balboa park too early.

T and T Hike up Cowles Mtn

We went with the T and T (Truth and Training) boys on the 3rd annual hike up Cowles Mountain December 16. The day started out fairly wet and cold. We were on the trail at 6:00 with about 17 hikers. After about 15 minutes, the rain stopped and we just had heavy overcast skies.

In case you were wondering - no - we were not able to see the sunrise.

Lake Murry from the top of Cowles Mountain.

Cowles Mountain (pronounced "kohls") got its name from George A. Cowles, one of San Diego's early prominent ranching pioneers. George Cowles settled in the El Cajon valley in 1877, having first visited San Diego in 1873, then selecting this area over others he had considered in the relatively new state of California.

Italy: Day 20 - Home

Up early: Jenn drove us to the Napoli airport. It was still dark when she dropped us off. We got in line - and it moved very slowly. We were wondering if we were going to miss our flight. Interesting - Napoli has about 12 flights that leave within 10 minutes of each other. Most of the people boarding need to stand in the same line. Well - we finally made it to the counter and they processed us without asking why we were so late to our flight (as one might expect if one were flying domestically in the US). We still had time to get through security and stand in line for our flight. We flew through Milan, then Atlanta without any problems. I was expecting to have a difficult connection through Atlanta (I have had problems making connections after an international flight here before). To my great surprise - there were only a few flights arriving Atlanta when we were there. Needless to say - we were pretty wiped when we finally made it home. Here is a picture of some of the things that we brought back:

It was good to be home - but we had a wonderful time - time with friends that we will never forget!

Italy: Day 19 - Time with Friends

I went to the market in Jenn's small town. What an experience. It appears that you can buy most everything for your house + a lot of clothes at the weekly market. I enjoyed our time there.
Peter and I worked out on base. My goal was to run every day during vacation. After my experience in Florence - I reconsidered - also - it was vacation. I did not get out of bed early enough to go most mornings!

Packed and prepared to leave early in the morning.

Italy: Day 19 - Maintenance Day

We are nearing the end of our vacation and are reaching that point in all vacations that you just want to be restful. Today - I fixed Peter and Jennifer's printer so that they can now actually print from their new Macintosh computer. I worked on all of the bikes that they had in the garage - I think I pumped up 10 tires. Rain today - I snapped a few pictures from the upstairs windows:
Construction in Italy is very different than we have here. While they were not working on this house in the rain - they worked many of the other days that were there - including Sundays. Construction starts with the 3 floors and the roof. They then build interior walls. There is no wood used in the construction process at all.
This house has the roof and the exterior and interior walls in place. This job site was not active while we were there.

Italy: Day 18 - Montecassino

Today was our last 'tour'. We met Aldo at base and took about an hour ride north. The Montecassino Monastery was founded by St. Benedict about 529 A.D. on the remnants of a pre-existing Roman fortification of the Municipum Casinum. The heathen cult was still practiced on this mountain site in the temple of Apollo and in a nearby holy grove to which a sacrifice area was adjoining. Montecassino became famous for the prodigious life and the Sepulcher of its founder. Through the ages, the abbey was looked upon as a place of holiness, culture and art for which it became renowned on a world-wide level. Around 577, the monastery was destroyed by the Longobards of Zotone, Duke of Beneventum, but early in the eighth century Pope Gregory II commissioned the Brescian Petronace to rebuild the monastery. In 883, the Saracens invaded and sacked the Monastery and burnt it down, causing the death of Bertarius its saint Abbot, Founder of medieval Cassino. The surviving monks first fled to Teano and later to Capua. Monastic life was only fully resumed towards the middle of the tenth century, thanks to Abbot Aligerno. The third destruction, caused by an earthquake, occurred in 1349. Nothing but a few walls remained of Abbot Desiderius' splendid building. Many new additions and embellishments were made during reconstruction so that the Abbey acquired the greatness and the imposing appearance it conserved until February 15, 1944, during the final stage of world war II when Montecassino happened to be on the firing line. This place of prayer and study which had become in these exceptional circumstances a peaceful shelter for hundreds of defenceless civilians, in only three hours was reduced to a heap of debris under which many of the refugees met their death. Reconstruction and decoration works took more than a decade and were exclusively financed by the Italian State. Here are some pictures that I captured during our visit there:
Picture of the abbey after we just got off the Autostrada.
Beautiful, peaceful grounds. You could stay all day here just to enjoy the peace and quiet here.
The grounds inside are beautiful.

Italy: Day 17 - Naples

We went into Naples today. Jenn has this great system where she drops the kids off at school and then heads down to the NATO base (free parking), walks across the street and jumps on the train to go into downtown Naples. It was great. She has done it several times, and really knows the system. We went up to this great museum with a great view of the city and a nice book store. We did not buy any books - they were all in Italian. We did enjoy the fairly clear day and the nice weather.

This is a view of Naples. It is amazing how crowded and close in everything is there.

Jesse enjoying the view.

Note the elevated freeways.

Italy: Day 16 - Awana in Italy

We needed a slow day after our travel day to Naples the day before. In the late afternoon, I took the kids (3 Woodson kids and 1 Short kid) to Awana. I helped out in the T&T (Truth and Training for 3rd - 6th grades) listening to verses (in English) and helping with the games.
After Awana - the adults went out to a fairly nice restaurant. It was wonderful food - but - more expensive than I was expecting. I think that we all had a good time today.
Strangely - as I look over my pictures - I found that I did not take any today. I should have captured some of the Awana games as they play different ones than we do here in San Diego.

Italy: Day 15 - Back to Naples

Today was the day we had to move out of or Tuscan villa and go back to Naples with our friends Peter and Jennifer.
We checked out and John and Liz drove us to the bus stop so that we could get to the train station. I had studied the map and the information in the villa about riding the bus. I assumed that there would be a bus/transit center where they could drop us off and we could get on the bus to the train station. No - it was just a regular bus stop! Well - when we were getting out of the Fiat - the bus shows up. The driver (obviously) did not want us to drag out our goodbyes to our friends. (Our friends were heading back to Roma in the Fiat - to take off the next day to their home country - we would not be seeing them for another year or so).
We hopped on the bus - and of course - you were supposed to have purchased tickets before you got on! I did not know this. The driver managed to say how much it was to the train station. Fortunately - I had enough cash and handed it over the wall to him. He was not too pleased that he had to do this - but - at least he did! It was amazing how fast the bus drove down the streets! We had been on some of the streets in days past - but we did not drive nearly that fast!
The train station was big - and we had to walk a ways to find the main entrance. We bought tickets at one of the automated ticket machines (it was rather expensive to buy tickets). We stood around waiting for our train to come up on the boards. After waiting around for about 45 minutes - I decided to go to the help/information desk. After waiting in line for about 10 minutes - I showed him the tickets I had bought and told him that I wanted to go to the Aversa station - he said that "That train does not leave from here!" I asked him what I should do. He then proceeded to write out a schedule on a piece of paper and hand it to me. I walked away very confused. I looked at what he had given me and found that it was an itinerary. We needed to get on a train (right now) and ride one stop, then change trains.
We found the platform that he indicated on his note, got on, got off and found that the next train into the station was bound for Aversa. We got on - but of course - did not have seats. We ended up sitting 3 in one compartment, and 1 in the other. I was able to find room for the bags above. The train ride was about 4 hours, and only 3 stops! It was nice - there was lots to look at as we went along. Lots of tunnels.
We arrived in Aversa around 2:00 in the afternoon. Peter came with the Suburban after we called him from Aversa.
Not many pictures this day.

Italy: Day 14 - Firenze

Today we went to the Firenze Duomo. We all piled into the Fiat and drove around the downtown section looking for a parking lot. We finally found one - yep - it was very expensive. At least we did not have to walk very far which was good for the little kids. We went first to the Firenze Duomo. On our way in - we lost Joe - the oldest Hess child. He did not see us duck inside the building. It was a fairly crowded square - and he must have been looking the other way when we all moved inside. Well - it took us a while to determine that we were actually missing one of the 6 kids. We looked all around inside the cathedral, then started looking outside. We found him in short order - he was still in the square outside. He had done the right thing - stayed where he was - so that we could locate him. Gotta hand it to him - he was brave for the 15-20 minutes that he was outside alone! After checking out the inside, we decided to climb to the top of the Duomo. Liz did not want to go and stayed with the youngest child. It took a good 30 minutes of walking UP to reach the top. When we got to the top - the view was very impressive! I took many pictures from the top. I don't think that Jesse really liked it - but I think he has fond memories of it now. Here are some pictures of the cathedral:

This is a picture of the bell tower attached to the Cathedral. In the next picture, I show that we are taller than the tower. Same tower as the picture above - but now we are on the top of the dome, looking down. It took a while to hike up. At times - the very narrow passageway was 2-ways. We were trying to go up while others were trying to go down. The kids did really well - I think they liked the adventure of it all.
Here is another shot looking down from the top of the dome. We are not at the very top - but - if you look at the shadow - we are where the dome meets.

After spending some time at the Duomo - we grabbed some lunch and walked about 4 blocks to the Accademia to see David. It was a most unassuming building. We were just walking along a street and came upon a sign that said that the line starts here. Fortunately, we did not have to wait long (10 minutes) like we had to wait for the Uffizi. They were pretty strict about no photos inside - so I don't have any pictures of David. All of the boys were very impressed of the statue. I think that they all took turns sketching David.
All in all - this was a great day. We did some shopping at the open air markets where we all bought some Christmas Presents.

Italy: Day 13 - Villa near Florence

Today was pretty much a 'stay at home' day. Jo and Liz took the car and went into Firenze to do some Christmas shopping. They were gone for the better part of the morning and half of the afternoon. John and I were home with the 6 kids. I took several of the older kids for a hike where we saw some crews harvesting olives in the fields. It was interesting to watch - they spread out some tarps on the ground under the tree, prune the tree and manually strip the olives and leaves onto the tarp. When they are done, they bundle up the tarp into bags. I was amazed at the amount of time and labor that must be. No wonder good olive oil costs so much in the store! I did not take too many pictures today - but here are some more pictures from around our villa:
Here is a picture that I took while we were on our hike. No - it was not a long hike - and it was a fairly warm day. The scenery was wonderful - no surprize there - we were in Tuscany. Caleb thought that he knew of a trail that took the back way to our villa. We could not find it easily.

After our hike, all of the boys were in our part of the villa. Our TV picked up local Italian stations, and the satellite picked up only German stations. In this picture the boys are all watching Sponge Bob Square Pants in German. It was interesting to see the kids all watching intently - but not knowing the words. (Do you really need to understand the words to enjoy Sponge Bob?)