Humans of Downey - Joe and Joseph

"It's not that I want Joseph to be just like me, but I want him to instill the things I'm teaching him. I hope he listens. I'm going to lay a canvas out for him and he can choose what he wants. That way, he'll be himself.

"The one character trait I want my son to see in me and choose to build in himself is honesty. Every day, I quiz him about his day. I ask him, 'What do you remember about today?' He reflects back and tells me what he did. If we catch him in a little lie, we correct him. If he catches himself in a lie, he corrects himself. It gives him practice in honesty."

~ Joe

PS Joe is teaching his son to play golf. One of the few sports where you keep your own score and call penalties on yourself. A great way to build honesty.

Humans of Downey - Darrell

"This story is about when my oldest daughter was 8, my son was 7, and my youngest was 6. We liked basketball and we were at the park just fooling around with the basketball. There was just us on the court, just the four of us. We were going through some made-up drills. You know kids, they loved to do stuff and we were always making stuff up. I called a time out and I brought them into a circle around me.

"I was going through our upcoming formations we were going to do next and it astonished me that they were paying attention to me. They were really, really paying attention, like it was important to them. Then my son, who happened to be on the opposite side of the circle, for whatever reason, he stopped, walked across the huddle and kissed me. Then he walked back. I don't know how it influenced him, I don't know if it did influence him. I don't know what it did but I was moved. I thought it was important and to this day I remember it, I'll never forget it."
~ Darrell

More than just a pretty face

As Joan mentioned last week, there are 61 orphans at the Missao para Juventude orphanage in Mozambique--a jumble of arms, legs, and faces. Who can tell so many kids apart?

But by the end of the week, when we had to say goodbye, those faces had names and personalities attached to them. Here are two of my favorite three-year-old girls.

Tereza (left) and Aila are a couple of characters! They love to play catch, or push cars back and forth, or just hang out. Tereza lilkes to say "One, two, three, go!" before her turn. They can both say their ABCs and count to ten, and will do so often. When they started saying their ABCs before each ball toss, it really slowed the game down! Aila loves to tease, and you can almost see that twinkle in her eye and the beginning of a smile.

And that's just two of them!

Missao para Juventude, Mozambique

We are currently in Mozambique at an orphanage that also has a private community school. The orphanage is green and quite beautiful and the children here will steal your hearts. The official name is Missao Para Juventude, but it is really home to 61 orphans. It is supported through an organization in the US that was set up by some friends of ours. The organization is called CFO Mozambique (Caring for Orphans, Mozambique).

Here you see a class of toddlers with their teacher, along with Erin (our friend from the States who has made this place her home for many years now).

Below is Barbara with her class of preschoolers. Everyday they come outside to sing and dance. Barbara leads them and they sing back to her shouting loudly with their little voices.

The school has drawn in many community students and is up to 187 who attend school here.

Since the building we are staying in is connected to the class room, every morning we are treated to hear them chanting their lessons....A, E, I, O, U...among other things.

Training up the child

One of the things I love about living in Downey is the commitment we have for our children. This poster at Rio Hondo Golf Club, a city-owned and operated facility, encourages parents to invest in their children's development by having them learn one of the greatest games in the world. Anything that teaches a child etiquette is well worth the time and money. Try it out.

Working yard art

Went into northeast Downey tonight and found these children at work in this front yard. They look very industrious at first glance, but I noticed they didn't get much done.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Thomas Edison (1847-1931)

Backyard splash

Don't get me wrong, I love the rain. But on days like this, when it feels I've somehow teleported to Seattle, I miss the summer. I went back in my pictures and found this one of my cousin jumping in the pool trying to perfect his cannon ball. My brother's underwater camera was the hit of the 4th of July party.

Noche de Ninos

You know it is going to be a great evening when you get to have dinner with Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffith, and Heidi Klum, along with some of your closest friends. Last night was an enchanted evening, set in a forest scene on the event deck at LA LIVE. It was Children's Hospital Los Angeles Gala "Noche de Ninos." The event was hosted by Tom Bergeron (of Dancing with the Stars and America's Funniest Home Videos fame). At one point, the room was having a hard time quieting down, so the ladies got up on stage to give Tom a hand!

Our group was honored to be seated with Melanie, Antonio, and Heidi. At the table next to us was Melanie's great friend, Jamie Lee Curtis (who sits on the Board of Trustees for the hospital). Melanie was so friendly and gracious. She made a point of greeting everyone at our table, introducing herself and chatting with us for several minutes.

As the evening progressed, some of the conversations moved into politics. It was fun to watch the lively interaction between Berto and Antonio.

During the gala, CHLA presented the 2012 Courage to Care awards to The Walt Disney Company, Heidi Klum and Pau Gasol. (Pau is a professional basketball player for the Lakers)

The evening was magical, with great food and wine provided by Wolfgang Puck. We had a great time and can't wait until next year's event!

Two for the price of one

One of my neighbors was mowing his lawn yesterday and his son decided he would help his daddy.

Population growth

Dear sign makers of Downey,
Please update our signs, we have a new resident in town.

Thank you,
us

Beelieve it or not

Another Bumblebee image! I'm always on the lookout for more pictures from street artist Bumblebee. They are usually found on the sides of abandoned buildings, and they are always engaging and a little sad. According to Bumblebee, his paintings reflect his message of  innocence and coming of age. The bees represent vulnerability.

For more Bumblebee pictures, see a previous post from last June. Or click here to see our first set of Bumblebee sightings.

P. S. If you want to go by and see this one, it's on Firestone Blvd. on the side of the vacant storefront next to Steve's Locks.

Swim meeting

Many activities happened at the USA Swimming meets this past weekend. Swimmers like Olivia Aguirre, pictured here, swam to have minimum time requirements for other swim meets. Olivia enjoys the sprint lengths of 100-meter freestyle and breaststroke but will swim longer lengths if her team needs her.

Also at the meet were concession stands of energy drinks and the latest in swimwear among others.



It takes a lot of volunteers to put on a meet this size and the ones in the administration tent were very helpful in giving me a background of the meet and making sure I was legitimate before letting me take pictures of the activities. If you are interested in having your children be involved in organized swimming, contact our local swim club, the Downey Dolphins.

Guest Blogger, Steven Mansell

Budding graffitist?

When we checked out the Banksy-like graffiti last weekend (see Did Banksy leave his mark in Downey?), I noticed this young man studying the painting—with a piece of chalk in his hand. Was he thinking, "I could do this"? Or just "She'd look good with a moustache."

Did Banksy leave his mark in Downey?

I couldn't resist seeking out these pictures after reading about them in the Patriot . Banksy, a British street artist (read tagger) has been around since the early 90's. He's known for his distinctive stencil artwork which he has painted in cities around the world. We don't know if this is his work in Downey, but it was fun to search for  different paintings today and to discover we weren't alone in our quest. It seems quite a few of our Downey neighbors read the paper and had the same idea. There was a small crowd already gathered as we arrived at the first sight.

At the last sight, after spending several minutes maneuvering my car around so we could climb up to take a picture above the chain link, I looked down to notice a significant opening in the corner section of the fence- big enough to climb through easily...I always consider that an invitation.

Postscript: Further Googling indicates that the graffiti is the work of Los Angeles street artist Bumblebee. See this interview for more information.

Wider angle

I went to Wilderness Park again for a photo shoot and the baby got distracted by all the leaves, the birds, and the grass. The parents kept trying to get her to look at me by shaking a teddy bear and showing her snacks and anything else that would get her attention. I stepped back for a minute to get the whole picture.