Friday, July 10, 2009

Albercas y Toboganes


I grew up loving to go to waterslide parks.  In the summer, it was a special treat to visit the Tri Cities (WA) and go to Oasis Waterworks for the day.  So, yesterday we took a summer day and spent time together as a staff at one of the local waterslide parks in Tijuana.  Tijuana has several parks that have pools (albercas) and waterslides (toboganes), and we decided to check one out.  So... off we went, the Baja Staff, local friends and our guests visiting us from Washington State.  I will just say, it was awesome.  Fast slides, short lines, and not too many rules.  You could go down slides backwards, headfirst... 


The group before the sliding began

The park has been in Tijuana for over 50 years

The Medusa.  Imagine the ride at the fair with the gunnysacks... add water and you have the Medusa.  


I tried out the white one and really liked it.  The blue slide next to it is called the Kamikaze.  It was definitely the tallest slide at the park and even our neighbor Chewy knows this slide.  I am not sure this picture shows the top part well, but I was told that the tube was probably there to make sure you stayed on the slide :-)

This was my favorite slide.  You went down the tube and it shot you out into the larger bowl.  Once you entered the bowl you could go around inside 1-3 times before being dropped out the bottom shoot.


There were several water games throughout the park too.  In addition to this one they had a rope swing, a river and a wave pool.



It was a really good day.  We came home tired, content, and a little sore from playing so hard.  I would gladly go and do it all over again.    

Friday, July 3, 2009

Episode 6... A Baja Morning with Dave

This past year, we have had the opportunity to meet with Dave Burdette on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  We have been working our way through the book of Mateo (Matthew).  We've been discussing what it means to follow Jesus and live Kingdom life under the Father's rule and reign. This past week talked about the themes that characterize kingdom life.   Words that were used were wholeness, liberty, authority, and hope.  This is the good news and that is what Jesus spent time proclaiming to people, the good news of the Kingdom.  We just finished chapter nine this past week and it ends with Jesus saying this:  The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.  Matthew 9:37-38
In just a little under over two months we will beginning our first school year.  As we talked in class this past week about the good news of the kingdom and workers being sent out into the harvest, I thought of our students and of us as a staff.  May we be people that enjoy living under the reign of our Father and partner with Him in seeing His kingdom extended wherever He leads us.  

Now onto class time...