OFF TO ALASKA!

We will traveling tomorrow and touring Alaska once again... we are looking forward to good fellowship with the family, excellent food, great views, and just a time of relaxation. :)

GARDEN PATCH

At the start of summer (~early May) a small patch was planted: zucchini, chilies, tomatoes and even corn. Bumper crop!

Confession time: our gardener planted it for his family on our land - we share the blessings! Thank you Socorro!

Today we enjoyed BBQ (Lamb Chops) + fresh corn + fresh tomatoes... wow!

WORK TOOL

Yeah, yeah!

DELL INSPIRON 9300

Well I was finally able to find enough time to backup my laptop and actually install my new hard drive on my PC... it was an easy hardware install. The software went smooth as well - so I have a brand new install - let me tell you it was badly needed. I can not believe the speed of this baby now!

We will see what happens when I load the application software... :(

Having said that however, just having the space is a great reason to cheer! Yeah!

BURKINA FASO & INDONESIA

My niece is traveling Burkina Faso... she is sharing great insights into the nation. Where is Burkina Faso you say? Well here is a map:

And here is a snap of the beautiful people of Africa:

And in Indonesia - Steffan in action!

Also hearing from people in China, Russia, Bolivia feels very good...someone is doing GOOD work - it humbles you. Thank God for good family.

VISITORS

Summer heat brings out our reptiles... here is one this evening after a very hot day today:

Look at his belly...humm, but his tail is missing...double humm....

iQUEST WEEK 7-13 to 7-17

Dr. Katherine Hayden invited me help teach a one week camp for 7th graders who were starting 8th grade in the Fall. The camp is part of the iQUEST program sponsored by the NSF and CSUSM. Our job was to: "...the kids should get an experience that will make them enthusiastic about science..." We achieved our goal! The kids were absolutely fabulous. The team was awesome - thanks Traves and Kim and our support CS students: Antonio and Elizabeth...you guys rock!

Find more information at iQUEST.

MONDAY - Well we are off and running - the kids are absolutely great! Today's agenda was: Introduction, Moodle, Survey, Observation Crab Lab, Reflection... etc. Working with Traves and Kim was a pleasure - nice chemistry all around.

TUESDAY - it went very well . Physics took its turn to wow the kids with observations, hands-on and thinking through their observations. They took apart a disposable camera - discharged the capacitor (big Wow for the kids) and looked at the lens shapes and functions. Lastly, they measured temperatures in various venues using the new Spark equipment. Busy day...but rewarding.

WEDNESDAY - This day was held primarily outdoors - GPS all over the place. We got some of our cache items moogled! The students had a blast.

THURSDAY - Busy day with the eye virtual and hand's on eye dissection. Oooooo! Plus professional presentations and video conference + robotics!

FRIDAY - Measurements, boat building, and wrap-up... what an experience...we will all miss the kids.

PREP WEEK

Boy - we hit the ground running on Tuesday - teacher meetings at the cafe...followed by Wednesday meeting with Kathy and then Allyson and the admin team - all of it coming together. Met Wednesday with Sonny Portacio and brainstormed the GPS exercise... found our first cache with the new equipment by the Elephant Bar :)

Thursday Traves and I took the way points in school for Sonny's exercise.. in addition to tending to seemingly 100s of emails, money to Africa (no scam by the way) LOL... it is Friday morning trying to catch up. This w/e we will be crabbing with the other teachers... promises to be fun. I am not sure the hourly rate for this project but I think we are working for nickels an hour...

The etrex LEGEND H Garmin unit:

Picture of one of our way point locations:

More to come this w/e...

FLYING HOME

I have to give it to Southwest Airlines - convenient, inexpensive, friendly, and on-time. Behind great organizations are always great leaders...Herb Kelleher - now retired. If you don't know the story of SW here is a highly recommended book: Nuts! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success. They also have a robust blog - catch them at:
http://www.blogsouthwest.com/

Flying home I noticed something interesting... can you notice from the pictures?

Controversial? Maybe...but is it reality? Look around you... and remember the alphabet soup: ELL, ESL, LEP, BICS, CALP, LTELs...

TRAVEL SURPRISES & RHODE ISLAND

Our travel from Virginia to Rhode Island was a tough but rewarding trip. We left at 6:00 PM from the Fredericksburg area to Sterling in Northern Virginia arriving around 8:10PM to see a concert at the Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church. Mi niece Valeria Frege had come up with an international orchestra and was performing there. Her sister Telma joined us later towards the end of the program – she had just flown in from Tampa. It was a wonderful short reunion. We left the place for Providence around 10:00PM – ready for an all night driving…wow that was tough – but we made it without any major incident. Thank you James and Shanese and the prayers that sustained us.

Concert pics:


R. I. pics:

Family

Miriam and the girls

James and Shanese

All the family together was a time of renewal for everyone. Tia Miriam cooked and cooked and cooked....wow. It was such a treat - we are greatful for a wonderful time and a time of renewal. May God reward your gentle love and generosity Jaime and Miriam and the tribe! :) We love you all.

ISTE NECC June 29th - July1 - Washington DC

The conference was an intellectual and emotional treat. My participation was limited to a few key presentations focused on social structures, values of social connectivity, technologies associated with the topic and also available approaches for ELLs and struggling readers – I was interested in the technology and the strategies being developed to reach students. The exhibition hall was an incredible experience.

The zenith for me was the presentation that Dr. Katherine Hayden gave at the Library of Congress on Tuesday evening – I was invited to help. The iQuest & CyberTEAM Projects representing California was a very rewarding experience – wow! From the reception to VIP visits as well as peer state presentations it was like I said a treat.

WASHINGTON DC

We met our son Daniel at the The National Museum of Natural History to see the new Dig it! The Secrets of Soils exhibit. After working in his lab last week - this was very relevant and interesting. I am getting a deeper appreciation of soils and their role in geobiological cycle.

After a business meeting in Maryland my son James joined us for lunch - very nice gathering: friends and family. The restaurant: "El Guapo"

Science and family - doesn't get much better. :)

VIRGINIA

Well within the northern Virginia wilderness surrounded by beautiful country and memorial battle fields there are places of repose. Nested in the country side my son and his family hosted us to a wonderful welcome. Here is my daughter Shanese with her golden retrievers: Sir Lancelot and Romeo!

The view:

The wonders of nature: