Star Light, Star Bright

After playing chess, Bingo, Zingo, and Mouse Trap all day with my children, I thought we were all due for an outing. So, tonight Elijah and I took the children to the Shabot Space Center in Oakland. On the way there, we stopped by the Oakland Temple which is located close by the museum. The children were excited to see the Temple building, and enjoyed watching the San Francisco skyline from the lookout point on temple grounds. Here are some pictures I took tonight:


After we visited the temple grounds, we hopped in the car and drove to the museum. Tonight, we wanted to participate in the telescope viewing. There were around six to seven big telescopes outside and inside the observatory. We all took turns looking through the telescopes to see Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. I was never able to see Jupiter, but I saw a small red to orange dot that I was told was Mars. The coolest thing was seeing Saturn. It wasn't bigger than the dot of Mars, but I was able to see its rings and that made a big difference. Saturn was brighter and the star constellations around it were numerous (tens of tiny dots). Seeing Saturn with its bright rings was the highlight of the museum visit for me. The children were amazed by the gigantic telescopes and by the idea that they were actually seeing the real planets out there in space. The Spirit in the temple grounds, the beautiful fresh breeze while enjoying the sunset over the San Francisco skyline, and the marvel on the children's faces, all contributed to a great ending of our day.

It's the last day of April, so here is the list of the books I read during this month:

18. The Black Death by James Day (A quick historical overview, with plenty of facts and covering several decades that Black Death took over Europe)

19. World Without End by Ken Follet (This is the book with over 1200 pages that I read till the wee hours of the morning for five days. Its genre is historical fiction; the author has beautifully mastered the skill of intertwining accurate historical facts while developing strong characters and an amazing story. It takes place during Medieval times, so be prepared for the brutal reality of those times touching on the Black Death, the one hundred years war between England and France, the relationship between royalty and the catholic church as well as the rules and corruption that went along with that kind of relationship, the relationship between the lords and the peasants and the struggles between those two social classes. Amongst all of that, the author was able to build a beautiful story of love, search for independence and oneself, loyalty and honesty. I really enjoyed it.

20. The parents we mean to be by Richard Weissbound (The author had very interesting and good ideas, but I didn't enjoy his style and format.)

21. The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease (I didn't find many new things in his explanations and theories on reading aloud, since I already do those things myself. However, I loved the list of books he had compiled. I went through and crossed out what I had already read to my kids, and we are checking out the ones we haven't read yet. A lot of good books in the list, classics and non classics.)

22. The horse and his boy by C.S.Lewis (I truly enjoyed this one. It was nicely written and it had a creative story with a good lesson.)

23. Prince Caspian by C.S.Lewis (I wasn't impressed by this story as much; it kind of repeated itself. It is a hit with my boys, though. Princes with swords, animals that can talk and fight, kings that come to the rescue with their bravery,time portal, and many more cool stuff. What is there for a boy not to like!)

24. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit (I really enjoyed the writing in this book. The story had a touching message about the importance of our humanity and mortality.)

25. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (I liked this author in "Stargirl," but I have to admit I liked this one better. I was touched by the story and I enjoyed the character developments. Spinelli's art with words caught me off guard; I wanted to underlined every page for beautifully written passages. A must read for all ages.)

26. Lives of the musicians by Kathleen Krull (I started to read it to my kids, and I got into it myself because of its fun stories for these very 'serious' classical musicians. A great book for those who would love to learn about the lives of the classical composers. And for those who know a lot about them already, this book brings the humanity to our ideals of these great men and women of classical music. I readsome of the stories to my children and they liked it, too. It's a compilation of quick stories, so you can just read one a day.)

27. Dave at night by Gail Carson Levine (The author of Ella Enchanted surprised me with this book; it's nothing like what she has written before, the main character is a boy, and has nothing to do with princesses or princes, but with an orphan boy discovering New York at night. I enjoyed it.)

Happy May reading!