Good Times From Palermo

These are the most recent pictures of Lake Oroville. This was taken from Highway 62 that heads towards Berry Creek. You can see the backside of the dam from this viewpoint. After our rain last weekend the lake level rose 20 ft. We are hoping for more rain this week.
This is a fork of the lake where Ben and Dad did their best bass fishing. It's a pretty little stream right now. At the top of the picture you can see how the lake is slowly creeping into the fork.
I like this picture because of the earthy colors. All this is usually underwater and looks like an island with little trees on it.
Another picture of an inlet below the North Fork of the lake.
Here we are happy and safe after our bike ride. I had left the house clean and a weeks worth of groceries for Harrison and Mikey just in case we didn't make it home in one piece!

What's Up?

Peggy has started her student teaching at Oroville Highschool. She is currently working with Juniors and Seniors in Anatomy (the dream class!), Freshmen in Earth Science (very challenging), and Sophomores in General Biology (spunky and smart). The character with the blonde wig is the master teacher, Rich Hogan. He's really tall, about 6'5'', less than 300 lbs, and he reminds everyone of Shrek. Even the kids give him a bad time. The blurry fellow rocking out is Brent McGie, he's retiring at the end of this year. He has all the Honors Biology classes and has been teaching for years and years. Friday was Spirit week at school and at the rally the teachers did a spoof of "The Wall" by Pink Floyd. We thought it was really funny, but I don't think the kids got it...
Last weekend, Jan. 23-25, Peggy, Samantha, Tracy, Chad and Dr. Fischer went to Ontario, CA and participated in the Western Robert Noyce Scholar Symposium. We are the chosen scholars from CSUChico for the year 2008-09. Each of us earned $10,000 and some other perks to help us become the best teachers in CA....For three days the five of us were taken really good care of in a smancy, dancy hotel, good food and lots and lots of speakers from all over. The majority of scholars were from CA, but we got to meet and talk to students from Arizona and Colorado as well. It was fun finding out that in other states they are suffering from the same problems CA has with a diverse population of students and their needs. Some key speakers that were impressive were a scientist from NASA that helped to create and design the robots that are on Mars right now, and a professor from CSUSantaBarbara that specializes in Anatomy and Invertebrate Physiology. In his spare time he works with artists and computer guys to make movies like Night at the Museum, Ratatouii (however you spell it) and he helped design the new 300 foot Yeti at Disneyland. I'm not sure why they invited this guy to talk to us because we want to become teachers and his job looked pretty fun!! Using his knowledge of anatomy, he feeds data into a computer about bone length, hip and joint measurements of all kinds of animals and the computer compiles all the data to create an exact skeleton replica of rats, dogs, people and from there the artists fill in the rest and the characters will move and walk with fluid movements exactly how the real animal would walk. Being a biologist can be cool!!

Gorgeous Day in California

What do you do on a Saturday in California when the temperature is near 80 degrees, the sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky? Go for a walk of course! Mike and I got an early start and drove to the lake to get pictures of lake levels that are at a historical low. The lake has dropped below levels recorded in California's worst drought in 1977. Even tho levels are low people are still trying to take advantage of what water is there.

Mike standing in the danger zone after the perfect picture!

Later on, Joey, Danielle and I went searching for water on Table Mountain. There is still some water bubbling up and over the sides of the mountain. We walked, turned over rocks in the creek and found abundant stone fly, mayfly and caddis fly larva. We even watched a Megaloptera larva hunting among the rocks!

Joey took us rock climbing practically to get below this waterfall! I had some vertigo issues but it was worth it! Joey found a California newt in the pool below! We remembered another hike we had taken with Grandpa Rycraft near Grass Valley where Joey, Kim, Ben and Elissa had swam in a pool of bright red newts!

My hiking partners! It's sad that California isn't getting the rain that we need, but this was a wonderful day to be out and enjoying the fresh air and sunshine!!

The Sights in Nashville, Tennessee

We visited Nashville, Tennessee and saw many great things. We got lost but found our way to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. What a huge place this is! I've heard they do things big in Nashville and this proves it!

Inside Opryland, an atrium that was decorated for the holidays. We saw this pointsetta tree and were impressed by sparkly hanging lights, huge topiaries, tropical trees, waterfalls and a boat that slowly winds through the atriums.

A beautiful waterfall with fish swimming in the water captivates Kaylee and Heidi.

Ben and Heidi are trying to push the world. This is a huge monument to all war veterans, especially those who came from Tennessee. It was very touching and pays tribute to the great history that lies within our great nation.

Heidi learning to blow bubbles! She's pretty good at it. Mike and I are so blessed to have such wonderful children and it is really fun being able to see how their lives are progressing beyond what we ever dreamed and imagined.

Celebrating the New Year in Tennessee

In Arlington, Tennessee they have a super park to play in. The girls and everyone had fun sliding, swinging and playing hide and seek.

Heidi is a great tight rope walker.

Kaylee, pretty princess, eating a bowl of ice cream before bed.

I love it in Tennessee, there is so much to do and learn. This is Heidi's front door...

This is what it looks like when the Taylor's look outside their front door and see their neighbors.

It's going to be a good new year for Ben, Shauna and the girls. Ben starts his fourth semester in Optometry School, he is looking forward to practicing what he has learned on school age children as he travels to schools in the area to do eye exams.