This year’s Vacation Bible School!
BREAKAWAY TO THE BIG CITY
My job was to make and serve treats for all the volunteers
Me and ‘E’!
‘R’ getting his shirts signed by ‘Quickstar”
The boys, with their buddy and tent partner, ‘C’
Breakaway 2012
Jul 16th, 2012 by leigharev2
Luis Palau Festival 2012
Jul 16th, 2012 by leigharev2
For those of you who are not familiar with the name, Luis Palau is one of the world’s most active evangelists. Many of our are churches (including our own), teamed up with the Palau Association to bring a festival to Sacramento. Our family was so excited for this incredible event!
It was the hottest weekend of the year, with temperatures topping at 108. We decided to go anyway and just stay as long as we could. We slathered ourselves with 50 block, and loaded our bags with ice water, hats and sunglasses.
The first event we watched was the extreme sports. Sitting in the bleachers was brutal, but the event was terrific! We watched bicyclists, skateboarders, and BMX motorbikes. There was a beautiful testimony half way through.
After spending a little over an hour on metal bleachers in direct sun, and having used up all our water, we needed to find a cool place. DH and I seriously talked about leaving, but ‘A’ and ‘R’ were committed to staying until the very end because Toby Mac was the finale.
So, we found the shade of some trees and DH tracked down some giant lemonades. We sat under the tree for about an hour and a half, listening to the music of Marisa. We could hear her, but we could not see her, we were too far from the stage. We then walked around to see the booths and pick up dinner. While eating, we heard Phil Wickham play.
We ran into our friends, the Landons, and they joined us with the rest of the crowd to hear Thousand Foot Krutch play and Luis Palau speak. It had started to cool down a bit and became tolerable. The gospel is so simple and for those who God has prepared their hearts to hear it, hear it. Luis Palau is amazing in sharing the gospel to the masses.
Jesus Christ wants to have a personal relationship with you. He wants to revolutionize your life and give you hope. He wants to give you a fresh start.
Read this message. Typically, in a church setting, heads are bowed, and a prayer is said inviting Jesus in to your heart. You then raise your hand if you accepted Jesus and the pastor sees who raised their hand, but no one else does.
Here, Luis Palau had everyone raise their hands with heads up and eyes open. He then had them text ‘saved’ and the new believers of Jesus would receive a book. It was awesome to witness hundreds of hands raised at one time. I wanted to go and hug each and every one!
Our view of Luis Palau
We treated the boys to a Toby Mac T-shirt. They were thrilled. Toby Mac is ‘R’s favorite singer. He is second for ‘A’, with Owl City taking that lead “)
Our good friend, Eric, was a part of the festival planning. He and Crystal joined us to hear Luis Palau and Toby Mac.
The Landon clan!
After Luis Palau, they had to set the stage for Toby Mac. There was about a 45 minute break. ‘A’, ‘R’, and ‘J’ were so excited to see Toby Mac. They kept inching themselves closer to the stage. They also had no attention span for anything other than what was going on the stage.
Our friend, Anton, joined us as well. Lovely sunset. 🙂
The anticipation is mounting!
This was the closest we were able to get to the stage…
‘A’ sang so loud and hard, he lost his voice for a few days!
‘E’ Visits!
Jun 30th, 2012 by leigharev2
We have friends who are pastors. They are in the process of interviewing for a position out of his area. Needing to be away for a couple of days for the interview, they dispersed their four kids to four different homes, and we got ‘E’!!
‘E’ and ‘R’ with their ant condo…
The boys, making Father’s Day cards for their dads…
Playing at Miner’s Ravine…
‘A’ loves to find heart rocks for me. This one was too big to take home, so we took a picture for the memory…
John’s Pizza…oh, yeah!
Journey to the Sanctuary
Jun 30th, 2012 by leigharev2
Our homeschool group had the opportunity to visit a traveling production that shows the life size reproduction of Israel’s tabernacle, called Sanctuary Journey. Everything built is to scale.
Our docent led us under a tent that has some photos of different replicas and explained what we would be seeing…
Then, he led us to the tabernacle setting…
This is a demonstrating of how sacrifices were made. A little stuffed sheep was our offering…
The first part of the interior, where the candles were always lit, fresh bread was always placed, and incense always burned.
The innermost chamber, ‘The Holy of Holies’. This is the ‘ark of the covenant’. Inside is stored, the Ten Commandments, a jar of manna, and Aaron’s staff.
New Puppets
Jun 30th, 2012 by leigharev2
After watching the documentary, “Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey”, the boys picked up a couple of puppets to play with. Please meet ‘Bananas’ and ‘Cheesy’…
Fun with Uncle Paul and Shannon
Jun 30th, 2012 by leigharev2
While we were at the retreat, Paul and Shannon watched the kids. Paul is very talented in the kitchen and treated the boys to some unique culinary delights. He speaks their language…
Nachos
French Toast
A banana, blueberry, coconut, cherrio pancake
Boo Yeah!
A Wonderful Retreat
Jun 30th, 2012 by leigharev2
My honey and I decided to attend our church’s marriage retreat. It did not hurt that is was located in Napa Valley.
DH had a Worship commitment Friday night, so I went to Napa with friends Friday day. We attended the culinary tour, then they dropped me off at the hotel. I had a mani/pedi at the spa, ordered room service, and watched a bunch of TLC shows (we don’t have cable, so this was a treat :)) DH (‘Dear Hubby’) joined late Friday evening and we enjoyed an incredible day listening to speakers.
Saturday evening, I took DH back to the Oxbow Market and we walked the culinary tour route. While walking along the riverfront, we had a celebrity spotting and saw chef Morimoto sitting at a table outside his Napa restaurant. The foodie fan in me was all googly-eyed, but I restrained from asking for an autograph or making silly waving-pointing gestures.
Some friends of our recommended staying at the Avia Hotel in downtown Napa. Even though we already were staying at the Marriott for the retreat, we decided to go into the lobby and check it out. I love boutique hotels and this one definitely fit the bill.
As we were strolling by the restaurant the hostess suggested we check out their second floor deck. We found a row of chair swings, each in its own private setting. It was delightful. DH and I sat gently swinging until we decided to track down dinner.
We went back to the Oxbow Market and had dinner at a place that makes wood-fired pizza. Ca’Momi. We shared a soup and planned on eating one pizza, but ended up ordering a second one, it was that good…
After another great morning of speakers, the retreat ended at noon. They provided us with a box lunch to take for the drive home or to go somewhere for a picnic. I decided to take DH to Sonoma since he has not been. We also decided to try to stick to the back roads as much as possible. We had the roof off the Jeep and it made for an amazing day.
The most northern and last built of the California missions is in Sonoma. DH and I toured it and the soldier’s barracks next to it.
The sanctuary…
Sonoma is a very charming town, with shops, boutique hotels, and restaurants surrounding a town square/park. They had a big community BBQ going on with live music. We planted ourselves under a tree and enjoyed the music and our box lunches.
We decided to try to drive home using back roads the whole way. So glad we did! What an incredible drive!!
Roof down. Music loud. Driving slow…
Lake Berryessa…
Driving near Lake Berryessa, we passed a store/eatery/bar called ‘Turtle Rock’. It’s definitely a local landmark, with a bit of attitude (I had to hard glance one of the servers), but it was a fun discovery. They are ‘famous’ for their egg rolls and make batch after batch that disappear as quickly as they are made. We ordered one to say we did it. Not exactly earth-changing, but a fun novelty.
They apparently have been around forever and have a tradition where people decorate or sign a dollar bill and post it somewhere. They remove the money around every five years. Here is the current decor…
We were able to make it all the way home using back roads (except for one tiny part of on-ramp/off ramp of I-5). I don’t know how long it took, and would definitely take the back roads again. It was a special trip.
Culinary Tour in Napa
Jun 30th, 2012 by leigharev2
A super fun day was had! Two of my good buddies, Crystal and Kristine, joined me for a Gourmet Walks culinary tour of downtown Napa.
First stop was the Oxbow Public Market. This is a fantastic spot that offers a variety of culinary delights. We were slightly late and missed the coffee tasting at Ritual Coffee Roasters. We did make it for the artisan cheese tasting from the Oxbow Cheese Merchant.
Crystal and Kristine
Next stop, a breakfast burrito at C Casa. The owner came out and introduced herself. It was a nice touch.
Next stop was an olive oil tasting at The Olive Press. Who knew there would be so many different kind of olive oils. Not to mention fruit infused olive oils, and all the balsamic vinegars. (Little piece of trivia: When my friend, Heidi, visited from Washington, a few years ago, we stopped by the Jacuzzi winery in Sonoma. This is where The Olive Press makes their olive oil. The Jacuzzi wine family is the same family that invented…wait for it…
A short walk from the market led us to a charcuterie called ‘The Fatted Calf’. We enjoyed a plate of handmade charcuterie. The pate was insanely good.
Next door is the Model Bakery. They have a famous english muffin that is so popular, you can only buy six at a time.
Heading across the river, we stopped at a restaurant called Fish Story. Here, we had a beer tasting, one from a distributor and one they made there. We also had yummy tuna ceviche with yucca(?) chips.
We then walked to a chocolate shop called, Annette’s Chocolates. They were kind to give us a back stage pass and show us how their candy is made. They also gifted us a variety of yummy samples…
Making peanut brittle…
Final stop was to a boutique wine shop for a terrific tasting of area wines. The Vintner’s Collective
The tour was over and we walked back to the Oxbow Market. Kristine introduced us to an amazing ice cream from the Three Twins Ice Cream. They make a lemon cookie ice cream that is off the charts incredible. It’s worth going to Napa just for that!
Excited for Breakaway!
Jun 30th, 2012 by leigharev2
Our church dropped off a little packet that contained tattoos for the upcoming vacation Bible school, Breakaway. This year’s theme is ‘Breakaway to the big City’ and it will have a super hero theme. The boys are so excited!!!
Painting Buddies
May 28th, 2012 by leigharev2
The boys helped painting their bathroom. ‘A’ was especially good at perseverance. Both did a great job!
