Our house

California sunset on the way home from La Jolla Beach

Art projects we will be helping the families make- fishing pole and fishing net and soon to be tackle box

Bailey

Bailey and Mac modeling flyers

Megan

Jackie (court with scary, barking dogs at every house)

Bailey Jackie Megan Mac and Amelia enjoying a stroll at La Jolla Beach

Girls at La Jolla Beach

Girls in front of VBS sign at Ascension Lutheran Church

Ascension Lutheran Church Escondido California

Preparing crafts for VBS

Our first full day in California at Moonlight Beach

See, we are thinking of you

Ocean Drive on way to La Jolla

California Girls

Hello to everyone back in Wisconsin. We safely arrived in California late Saturday night after many exciting adventures in the airport. After we all made it through security without any beeps, we waited a short time for our flight to leave. Because of an overbooking in coach class, Mrs. Jammer, Megan, and Jackie sat in first class, while MacCartney and Bailey sat elsewhere. First class was nice with the complementary snacks, drinks, and big seats but our adventure was over 3 hours and 45 minutes later when we arrived in San Diego. Amelia arrived ealier in San Diego after a week at a heart camp in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We have a wonderful host family, with two sisters. They have a pet bird named Kiwi. In our bedroom, we have Taylor Lautner watching us sleep. Bailey, MacCartney, Jackie, and Amelia share a bedroom, while Mrs. Jammer and Megan sleep in a room across the hall. Our host family serves us breakfast every morning and sometimes we eat dinner with them in the evening. To get accustomed to the California weather, we all went to the beach to enjoy the nice sunshine. According to the locals, the only time they had seen sun for the past couple weeks was when we went. The waves were a bit too big and strong to actually swim but everyone waded in to their knees. Bailey and Megan attempted to boogie board, but they didn't go out far enough to catch the full wave because they were just too huge. Jackie got taken out by a wave and got a scraped up knee but that was the worst injury and we hope to keep it that way. Everyone enjoyed walking along the shore with just our feet in the water and our backs in the sun. Last night, once we got home, we ate a delicious meal of corn on the cob, some meat, homemade applesauce, cucumbers, salad, and green beans. We watched the movie 10 Things I hate about you. We ate ice cream sandwiches and peanut butter oreos, also! Are there any Tangy Carolina BBQ chips in WI? This morning we left at 9 to canvas some local neighborhoods. We spent an hour climbing hills, knocking on doors, and explaining what our VBS program is all about (in English and Spanish)! Afterwards, Pastor Flunker took us to Mariachi's Authentic Mexican Restaurant for lunch. We stopped at the Dollar Tree for some sunglasses and the neighborhood grocery store for some much needed sunscreen, too. Around 1:30 we came back to church to prepare the crafts for the week and to discuss the lessons. Our VBS will focus on three ideas: fishing for men, caught in the net, and tools for forgiveness. Later tonight we plan on going to the boardwalk for a nightly stroll and some souvenir shopping; then, back home to rest so we can do it all again (:

Pictures coming tomorrow!
Miss you all!
Jackie, Amelia, Megan, MacCartney, and Bailey

California, Here They Come!

God blessings to the five teens who will be serving in California this week. Prayers are following you out here! Enjoy the week.

Misc.

The Last Day

Here are the pictures from Friday camp and our afternoon trip to Mount Vernon. Chris is struggling to pull open Washington's original tomb. Can't believe the week's over already! It's going to be a short night's sleep and an EARLY morning flight tomorrow.

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

For supper, the Grace crew took us out for a special thank-you dinner. The teens voted for a visit to a fabulous Hibachi grill nearby. We went home tired, happy, and well-fed...

Cool DC Sites

Thursday afternoon we went up the Washington Monument (the GPS picture is from my phone. The blue dot marks our location at the top of the monument. We also saw the original Star Spangled Banner, and visited Ford's Theater, where Lincoln was shot on April 15, 1865. We took a ride on the metro to get out of D.C. (that's the escalator picture).