zoo

Back in July (yes, this is a late post) 25 of us went to the San Francisco Zoo. What fun! Some of the kids had never been there before. Here's several pictures of the small group that I (Patty) was with.

The tigers were a big hit with all of us. There were 3 baby cubs born last March. They were so cute to watch as they all played with the mom. I wanted to of course take one home with me.

The last picture is our group picture.

Circus

Barnum and Bailey's Ringling Brothers Circus came to town a couple of weeks back. We got a call asking if we'd like tickets and we had a free night so we said yes. Little did we know the tickets were for a Penthouse Suite ($95 per ticket). We took 4 girls and had a lot of fun.
Here we are just chillin.

We found out that if we went early we could see some of the animals outside in the parking lot. We saw the elephants (one is 40 years old and weighs almost 12 tons!), horses, and the tigers. Then we were able to go inside and be down on the floor and watch and visit with the performers. We also were able to get their autographs. The problem with the Suite is that it is way up at the top away from the action but it still was cool.

Here is a picture of our neighbors that we took to the circus. (L to R) Maria, Jasmine, Angie, and Inez.

Bicycle Jump

It has been awhile since I have done an update here. Sorry. I will start with a video from our weekend at Hume Lake and the bicycle jump off the end of the pier. Nobody in the video is someone I know but it was fun to watch. I got a great seat near the landing and I was surprised how good of a seat it was. The first guy jumped and I almost got wet! I realized that must have been why nobody was sitting there! But none of the other jumpers got close to getting me wet.
( I added the music).




It was a great weekend to get away and enjoy the mountains. It was the first time that Patty and I have been there in the summer. We have been at many winter camps with the high school group and this was cool. The students are more serious about their walk and we were not there as staff. We were just like another college person.
The speaker was Josh Riebock from Austin Texas. He was new to Hume.
One of the sessions he was sharing from the story of Jesus turning the water to wine at a wedding. During the feast they ran out of wine. Jesus asked the servants to go fill up the jars with water and then draw some out and take it to the master. That is all they were asked to do. Nothing else. Fill the jars and then take what they thought was water to the master. Jesus would do the rest. Too often we try to do too much on our own power. We need to just hear and obey. Nothing else. Sometimes things are real simple what we are asked to do and we can't believe it. There has to be more. Nope. He does the work. We are just the servants. The hands and feet.

What we missed in Tanzania!

When we went on our Tanzanian safari at Mikumi Wildlife Preserve, we looked high and low for lions. A fellow from Florida who used our 10th group ticket was at this same preserve 3 or 4 days before us did see the lions. Here is a picture of the male!

National Night Out

Last night,Tuesday August 5, was National Night Out. It started 25 years ago in Philadelphia as a way to bring neighbors together with the police to talk about ways to combat gangs, violence and drugs. It has now spread nationwide and Target is involved as a partner too. With the help of Gary Johnson (friend that goes to our church) we put on one of the 25 or so local San Jose Night Out's. We invited lots of neighbors and came together to share food and got to know each other. Some of the police department came as well. Below are pictures of us enjoying a ton of food that neighbors brought to share. We also had some people from Hillside which help out at Farm Drive come by and help out.

Gary brought his popcorn maker. It was a big hit!

We had 3 people from the Crime Stoppers organization come by. It is a non-profit group that helps communities and police fight crime. Also 2 of our local beat officers came by. Here is Rudy talking to some of the kids.

The other officer here is talking to some of the older kids. It was great that they could connect with the kids in a very casual atmosphere.

One of the captains of this area stopped by. It was a great evening to get to know everyone!

Giants Game

Patty and I had 4 tickets to a recent San Franscico Giants game. When we got up in the morning Patty wasn't feeling to good. Reuben (on left) and Leroy went with just me. We took the Caltrain from San Jose right up to 1 block from the stadium. Self portrait.

Our view from the upper deck. It was fun to go and be there. Game was boring and the Giants lost again. Neither of them had been to a MLB game before and they had a lot of fun. Leroy is scared of heights so this location took him a little while to get comfortable with. (especially after I stopped pushing him!)

Have you ever heard Patty scream?

Ok, So this was at Gil and Amy's house in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Amy's father, Kim, found a frog in their yard and decided to have a little fun with it.