Pathfinders' 5-mile hike

9-20-08: As part of their Hiking Honor they are working on, the Pathfinders took a 5-mile hike today up in the hills above Hulda Crooks park, in Loma Linda. Temps were nice today, thankfully! Kudos to the Adventurers and younger siblings who made the hike! Led by Director/Master Guide Mike Sabangan, we ended with a nice vespers in the park. What a nice way to end the Sabbath!

(Pause the slide show to read the captions. You can also click on the picture and it'll take you to my Picassa photo album where you can see a much larger picture.)

Summer becomes Surfer Chic!

9-14-08: Summer has officially become a California girl! She is now a surfer chick! We were invited to the beach house of the Schlenk's--the kids are on the same swim team with Summer. It's practically the end of summer and it was our first time to go to the beach! It was our first time to try out our boogie boards we bought during the fall last year, and Summer got to try out surfing!

Thanks to the Schlenk family for being great hosts and teachers! We had a great time there.

Summer catching a wave on her boogie board...
She's wearing goggles because the salt water stings her eyes! And the wetsuit because the Pacific is COLD!!!
Marina and Summer pose with her surf board.
Dan and Ronly sit with Keri, watching the girls play in the water.
Surfer chicks getting ready to catch a wave!
Marina teaches Summer her first surfing lesson. Here she helps get the tether on her ankle.
Heading out into the wild, cold, Pacific Ocean...check the video clip below to see how she did.

The first video clip is Marina teaching Summer how to surf. You'll see her several tries, then her best run; the 2nd clip is of Marina catching a nice ride into shore.

Pathfinder Induction

9-13-08: Today was Pathfinder and Adventurer Induction (dedication) service at church. Pathfinder Director Mike Sabangan led out. Primary 1 also did special music, led by Mephi & pianist Gladden. Later that evening, went to Souplantation with some friends!

Summer (middle), with friends...
You can see cousins Josh (sleeping) and Jake.
Cousin Javan...
Cousin Joelle sings with Primary 1...
Mephi conducts the Primary 1 choir
Carly does a jig in her t-shirt dress!

The Girl Gang posing at Souplantation

While moms away, dads play!

9-3-08: While many of the moms went to a Women of Faith event all day yesterday, the left-behind dads and kids met for lunch and Sabbath activities at the Elias residence after 2nd service. There were a few moms who stayed behind that helped out--yeah!

The dads helping the kids get their food.
Pastor John plays a new version of rock-paper-scissor with Summer while Emily looks on.
The fearless hardworking moms who stayed behind (L-R): Sylvana, Conchita, Keri, and Nanci
Some of the crazy kids!


Working hard in the kitchen....
Look at the sweat on their brows...
Pooped out after a long afternoon in the kitchen!Some dads were pooped out without slaving away....Once the rest of the moms returned, we had a massive sundown worship
Holly helps to lead out in guess-what-song?
Todd (in the background) thinks: "Hmmm, I'm a physician, so I should probably help this poor lady who is trying to strangle herself. Eh, on second thought, I'll see where this goes first. I don't know what insurance coverage she has."
Todd does some wild crazy dance moves while helping Holly lead out in song service.
Pastors Alex and John help leading out.
After most had gone home, we started up a ping pong tournament, which went on till after midnight! The competitors were: Dee (aka Moadeeb, aka the "Table Tennis Terror"), Mike, Corey, John, and Ernie. Round robin format to determine seeding in a single elim. tourney. Here Dee and Mike battle like ping pong gladiators.
Dee is the victor! He defeated the #1 seed (Ernie) to win the coveted "Ping Pong Gladiator" trophy, which I'm sure he'll proudly display in a prominent place in his home.

4 b-days @ PF Changs

9-1-08: Lots of b-days happening, and we celebrated 4 of them at PF Changs tonight: Josh (11 on Aug. 27); Keri (Aug. 27); Todd (Aug. 31); and Kim (Sept. 2). I missed getting a picture of all 4 of them together--what kind of photojournalist am I...I'm slacking!

Look at the winner of our Beach Body contest just a week after we ended and a day after doing a half-marathon--chowing on all that dessert!
One of the b-day celebrants (Kimbo), sneaks into my picture of me flashing my "I love U" hand signals. (No, there are not gang signs!)
All the kids had their own long row of tables while us adults sat at another row next to them. We were pretty loud!
Pastor John and Nanci taught us a Korean twist to Rock-Paper-Scissors (or as Rasheed and I like to call it, "Ra! Pa! Sci!"). It's a cool new way to play!
Our waiter Evan definitely earned his tips tonight with our group! He did a great job.
Must've been some additive in the food that caused the kids to go bonkers afterwards. (Missing are the Makowski girls and the Martell boys.)
I know hurricane Gustov is a long ways off, but look at how the winds are just blowing Dee away!