First WEEK of School!

Last week was our first week of school!  What a week!  We didn't get a lot of "school" work done, but we still learned a lot and had lots of FUN!  The C Family was down from Utah, so we made the most of our time with them!  They really NEED to move back to Cali!

DAY 1

On Monday, we went to the beach where we met up with friends.  Here, we were called to learn how to be good missionaries while LEARNING ABOUT COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD!  Our theme for the year is "Unto Every Nation".  We will be learning about different countries as we prepare to serve and love the people as future missionaries.  

After reading our "Mission Calls" we broke the kids up into different "districts".  Each district was a different country and got into costume and did an improv cultural dance.  They had no clue or no preparation for this, so I was a little worried how it would turn out.  But, the kids got a huge kick out of this.  It was so funny and entertaining!

Charity was a Nigerian zebra.  Her cute little group were adorable and had a fearless leader, Audrey, who helped them all the way!

Hunter was a Japanese Ninja.  His group had some sweet choreography and took their role as Ninja very seriously!

Tanner was the Chinese and Filipino group, with mustache and all.  His group may not have been the most organized, but sure did have fun and provide lots of entertainment to all!

We also had a Mexican Marachi group...

Cute little Brazilians...

Russian dancers...

Israelis and Indians...

There was also an adorable New Zealand group that I didn't get a picture of. :(

Our fun group for the year!

 After the dances, we played games from each country.  This was a funny game called Talong that they play in the Philippines that I was in charge of.  It involves an eggplant and is kind of ridiculous, but most of the kids had fun with it!

Using a Japanese Kendama...

A Chinese yo-yo.  These were a big hit!

Learning about Russian Babushkas..

Playing soccer like they do in Brazil...

Charity was told this was her first day of preschool and she took all this "schoolwork" very seriously!

 There were a few other games I didn't get pictures of, but all the kids were very engaged and having fun!

We finished our "Fiesta del Mundo"off with a Mexican piñata!  So fun!

The rest of the day was spent enjoying the beach with lots of friends!  It really was a fiesta and a fun way to introduce the theme for the year!

DAY 2

Tuesday we got together with the B and C family and had a little missionary devotional.  We invited the sister missionaries over for dinner and asked them to tell us a bit about their Mission and how they prepared.  They were wonderful!  We are so lucky to have Sister Tep in our ward right now.  She is from Cambodia, converted to our religion from Buddism, and has only been in America for a few months.  She speaks English so well and the kids loved asking her all sorts of questions about Cambodia.  It was a really fun night.  We also had the dads talk about their missions.  The kids got really into what kind of gross foods they ate while in Spain and South Texas.  I think this activity really helped the kids see why it is important to learn about different cultures because you never know where you will be called to serve!

Sister Tep with her Cambodian scriptures.  I can't believe she was reading those 6 weeks ago and can now speak to us in English!

DAY 3

Wednesday we headed over to the Claremont Folk Music Center.  They do a great, FREE field trip.  We heard and saw instruments from all over the world.  We've been here before, and we always learn something new!

Down the street is the Young Chefs Academy.  Tanner used to take weekly classes here with some of his favorite friends.  This was a reunion class!  It was the kids that used to go to the class, plus some younger brothers who were too little back then!  Chef Leslie is a great teacher and all the kids raved about how fun this class was!  

They made Swedish meatballs, Chinese noodles, and Swedish pancakes for dessert.  Yummy!

We will have to come back again this year to try out some recipes from the countries we are learning about!

DAY 4

Thursday was our Huntington Library Day.  We spent a little time in each garden reading a story from that part of the world.  The kids were so good and so interested in the stories.

Chinese Garden

Japanese Garden

This was the koi fish crew.  These younger ones stopped at every pond to look at the fish!

We decided this little patch of shade was Africa...

Rain Forest for Brazil...

It was a really hot day, so after reading our books, we headed to the Children's garden to cool off...

DAY 5

Camping!  This really has nothing to do with school, but fun nonetheless.  We have a tradition of camping with Summit Ward friends.  Sadly, some of these friends are no longer in the Summit Ward, but will always be part of the ward family!  So, it is fun to let kids get dirty and run wild together while the adults catch up around the camp fire.  Our family was extra wimpy this year and did not spend the night.  We had an early Saturday morning, so decided to hang out at the "camp" and then leave at 10pm.  It made for such a pleasant experience, knowing that we had our own beds to go to and no crazy clean up first thing in the morning! 

Nursery at camp…  Thank goodness for Veggie Straws to keep these little ones from wondering too far!

This is probably the hardest picture I have ever taken.  Talk about wrangling up kids!  They are a cute bunch though once you can get them to hold still for a few seconds...

Our first week of school was a success!  We are excited to travel the globe this year!