Potpourri

This week we saw these two cool works of art at the beach.  The first one was at least three-and-a-half feet tall and the second one was at least 4 feet tall. 

I do sweep up a fair amount of sand from our floors.  I don’t mind.  Once we leave our mission, I’ll only be doing that on vacations!

Halloween is coming.  And since we are so close to Mexico, people here are also looking forward to Dia de los Muertos.  It is best known for the playful use of skulls and skeletons, as well as personalized altars that are decorated. It's a joyful way, rather than a somber way, to commemorate those who have passed away.  Many decorations are up.  Some are kind of scary and maybe a little creepy.

Old Town is preparing.  Quite a few of the businesses will have altars and people can go from business to business to check things out.  The Battalion won’t have an altar, but we will have some Family History computers that people can use to look up their ancestors.  Some Sisters will also be telling about 3 people from Battalion days.

Sea World is also decorated up for Halloween.

I think the bat rays kind of look ghostly when they glide up the glass.

While there, we were able to see the baby dolphin that had been born 5 days earlier.  She was swimming around a big tank with her mom.  She didn’t come out of the water, so no pictures.  Sorry.  Fun to see her, though.

We started apartment inspections again.  I think they give us the best apartments. 

While in an Asian store we saw this sign by the chicken legs.

This week there was a Mission President Conference in Del Mar, not very far from us.  One day they were given the option to go to three different places, the Battalion being one.  We had about 12 Mission Presidents and their wives come through, PLUS Elder D. Todd Christofferson and his wife!  It worked out perfectly that they were finished with their tour just at shift change so nearly all of the Sisters were able to have a picture with him.    How cool is that? 

Craig also got to say hello, shake his hand and tell him a little about our courtyard area.  The Mission presidents were so nice.

That same evening a man came into the lobby.  He explained he is here at a business conference and plays the bagpipes.  He likes to play in front of church Historic Sites and Visitors Centers where ever he goes.  He asked permission to play in front of the Battalion.  Of course!  He put on his hat and coat and played a medley of hymns while walking up and down in front of our building.  It was so cool!  I tried to get a video, but the flash doesn’t stay on and it was 8:30 at night.  All of the available Sisters on shift came out to watch.  What a day!

This week you get to meet a senior couple instead of a Sister.  (Don’t worry, more Sisters to come!)  This delightful couple are the Rasmussens from Utah.  They have eight children, the youngest one was a Battalion Sister herself!  They also have 27 grandkids.  Sister Rasmussen was born and raised in San Diego, so this mission was like coming home for her.  But that isn’t the only place she lived.  Her dad was a Mission President and they lived in Lima, Peru during that time. Sister Rasmussen is one of the best cooks you will ever meet.  Elder Rasmussen was an army brat and lived all over.

Their biggest adventure was in 1986 when they sold everything they had except the kids (they had 7 at that point) and one car so he could go to law school.  It all turned out great!  They were called for 12 months, but have extended a few months since they are over the golf tournament that raises funds for schools in this area to bus kids to Old Town where they visit the Battalion and a few other places.  The tournament is just about the time their year is over so they will stay and show the next couple what needs to be done.

King Tut

We knew it would be crowded at the Mormon Battalion Historic Site this week with Utah’s fall break.  We didn’t realize how many big family groups would be coming.  LOTS of family reunions/trips.  Can’t complain.  Not as busy as summer!

King Tut's death mask.

We decided to go to see the King Tut exhibit.  It is all meticulously recreated since King Tut is not allowed to go out of Egypt.  I had never seen it before, just heard about it.  We got to Balboa Park shortly before they opened at 10.  As we were buying our tickets, the lady told us about 300 school kids would be going through at 10 and we might want to wait until 11.  Good plan.  There were still plenty of kids still there at 11, but they were good and it was just fine.  We were given personal listening devices so it was pretty quiet in there.  We saw a couple of films about it and then were able to look at all of the interesting things. 

Small models of the shrines.  There were life size ones, too.

The outside of the largest shrine.

Beautiful carvings on the inside of the largest shrine door.

Largest sarcophagus

Medium sarcophagus

Smallest sarcophagus with the mummy inside.

There were 4 shrines nested in each other.  In the smallest one were 3 sarcophagi nested in each other. Fascinating and beautiful.  Pretty cool.

Where some of King Tut's internal organs were buried.  Not his heart, though.  His heart stayed with him.

King Tut's throne

King Tut was made Pharaoh when he was 8.  This is his throne when he was little.

There were two golden chariots.

A close up of some chariot decor.

Here are some pictures of peaceful and hidden Zoro Park at Balboa Park.

A few weeks ago I went to Old Town to look for Mexican Jumping Beans.  None to be found.  I had been telling the Sisters about them.  As kids, we got them often at Olvera Street in Los Angeles.  One Sister told me a while later that she found them at the Five and Dime, at the cash register, right next to the suckers with worms in them.  (Eeeww)   I went there and bought some Jumping Beans!  I brought them in to the Battalion that night.  Most of the Sisters had never heard of them.  It did freak some of them out to think there is something living in there.  There are really only two things you can do with them.  Hold them in your hand or race them.  We did both.  Some of the Sisters named the particular bean they liked.  Benny and Fernando turned out to be pretty good racers.

I did tell the Sisters that I had bought some when our kids were pretty young. I thought it would be a good, quiet Sacrament Meeting toy.  Was I ever wrong!  Every time one moved, the kids let me know in their outside voices.  They only came to Sacrament Meeting once. Never again.

Today our spotlight is on fun Sister Saathoff from Idaho.  She loves to run, play baseball (she is a catcher) and don’t tell her dad, but she has become a Chargers fan.  She goes to BYU and would like to be a nutritionist.  She has many dreams.  She’d like to do Tai Chi on the Great Wall of China, run the Boston Marathon and be an MMA fighter.  If anyone can do these things, it is Sister Saathoff.  She is incredibly capable.  She knows the gospel and the scriptures.

Tide Pools

This week has been busier at the Battalion.  School tours started up again.  We don’t ease in gradually, either.  There were over 70 kids the first morning.  And it is fall break in Arizona so we have a lot of visitors from there.  I have never heard of fall break.  Evidently, Utah has fall break next week.  It will keep us out of mischief.

Check out this beautiful sunset looking out from the front of the Battalion.

Here is a picture of me and Sister Cazares wearing our matching costumes. 

And here are Craig and Elder Miller wearing their matching costumes.

We were looking forward to this week since there was a negative tide for the first time in a couple of months.  We went to Cabrillo National Monument where there are tide pools. 

You need to carefully climb down to the water. 

Then start exploring!

We saw lots of pretty sea anemones.

Tons of hermit crabs moving around in the shells.

Do hermit crabs remind you of the Incredible Mr. Limpet?

 Other crabs, too.

I remember visiting tide pools as a kid and I remember it smelled.  No smell here!  Well, until we got to where a lot of seaweed was dying.  It smelled there.

We heard there was an octopus hiding under some rocks, but we didn’t see it.  Too bad.  But it was a beautiful day in a beautiful place and we had fun looking in the tide pools.

Let me introduce you to Chinese-American Sister Wang from Utah, who was called Mandarin speaking.  She loves to read, write, draw, and to play piano and violin.  Her mother and twin brothers are also currently serving missions.  They all got their calls on the same day!

Just recently Sister Wang generously donated 14 inches of hair.  Here is how long it used to be!

She says, “The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is my rock, song and salvation.  And I am a disciple of Christ.  I believe it, I live it, I love it!”