First part of June

Here are a bunch of pictures from the end of May, first part of June. There's a bunch of random stuff, but you will see a bunch from our big tree getting trimmed. It was wicked cool...two guys with chain saws on their belts used only ropes to scale our tree and trim it. Then we have pictures from John's last class at Horizon Hills with Ms. Georgette. Next fall, he'll be heading to preschool! And finally there are a set of pictures from Peach Hill's final spirit assembly. Our principal challenges the school to record a certain number of reading minutes every year. If they meet their goal, she has to do some previously agreed-to stunt. This year, she had to go in the dunk tank and all the top readers from each grade got to have a go. Virginia got to throw the ball...she and all the other K's missed, but the last kid in line got to hit the button anyway!! It was very funny. The school read 3.5 million minutes this year, btw.

PICTURES 6/10/09

Grandma and Papa's visit

Whoa, end of school year craziness has made me late in posting these pictures! Almost 3 weeks ago Chris's parents were in town for a great long weekend with us. The first order of business of course was hitting the In-N-Out Burger. After that, we kept busy going to the beach, cooking out, visiting Pasadena (Eaton Canyon and Caltech) and just talking and visiting. As always, we appreciate it so much when people come to see us in California! Soon (in less than two weeks!) we'll be seeing everyone back East...can't wait for some heat, humidity, bugs and maybe even a thunderstorm!!

PICTURES 5/24/09
PICTURES 5/25/09

Beach and Boat

Hello, all. Back at the beginning of May we spent a really lovely afternoon at the beach with our friends the Vazquezes. Another mom and daughter, friends of the Vazquezes, came as well. It was so nice for V & J to have their friends Olivia and William, and a new friend, Ella, to play with! They ran in the water, dug in the sand, played with a giant kelp that had washed ashore, hung out in the beach tent... At first they wouldn't touch the kelp, but after a while, the girls were jumping rope with it! See pictures from 5/9/09.

Last Thursday, John and I went with our Horizon Hills class on a cool field trip. The class chartered a boat ("The Dreamer") to take us on a short cruise around Ventura Harbor, then out into the ocean to a buoy where sea lions hang out! We were only out in the ocean for a few minutes, but you can really tell the difference between the harbor and the open sea. I didn't feel sick at all, but I'm quite glad it was a calm day. On the way back to the dock we all sang "Slippery Fish"...hence the hand motions. :) The lady in the pink coat near the end of the pics is Ms. Georgette, our teacher. Also check out the yacht called the "Erin Marie"! I just had to take a picture of it for my sister! Whose name, of course, is Erin Marie. See pictures from 5/28/09.

PICTURES 5/9/09
PICTURES 5/28/09

Virginia's (second) 6th Birday Party

Last Saturday we had our second (and final) birthday party for Virginia and her kindergarten friends. Since they were different people, we had much the same party...making pizzas again. It was very nice ...not too many kids, but almost all of Virginia's favorites were there. The kids ran around, spun each other in the spinning chair, made hats, made pizzas, had cake and did a great job on the pinata! It took three times through the line (of maybe 10 kids) to break the thing! And nobody in that line had a weak arm. But then Virginia herself busted it. In fact, she decapitated it. :) Chris wanted to keep this paper unicorn head but I thought it was creepy and tossed it. Finally we had cake...pizza cakes!...and opened Virginia's gifts. Then it was time to go. A very nice party.

PICTURES 4/25/09

Beach, Birthday Party, Backyard

The pictures linked to here are from the day over Virginia's spring break when she, John and I spent a lovely day at the beach. It was a little chilly, but that never bothers the kids. The tide was exceptionally far out that day--the lifeguards weren't even letting people out in the water because the land was dropping off so close to the shore. Because it was out so far, there were many pretty rocks exposed and we had fun collecting them. Well, V and I did. I got the ones on the sand, she got ones from the water's edge. John spent his time hurling them back into the sea. Narrowly missing V's head a few times. That boy! As soon as possible we are going to divert his energy to more constructive pursuits like martial arts and baseball.

There are also pictures from a birthday party we attended at an indoor playground called Bright Child. This one (the first of three that week) was for three of our neighbors' four children.

Finally there are pictures from a play date we had at our house with friends from V's preschool. It was one of our really hot-90 degree-days last week so we made popsicles and got out the water toys.

Enjoy!
PICTURES 4/24/09

Easter Sunday

Pictures from Easter Sunday...also Virginia's 6th birthday! First, witness Virginia's new candy apple red Fender Squier 3/4 size electric guitar. It rocks. We started our Easter Sunday quite early with an Easter egg hunt. The Easter bunny did things a little differently this year. Normally, he leaves a trail of clue eggs around the house that lead each child to their Easter basket. This year, Easter bunny said that he had hidden all our real Easter eggs (dyed and glittered!) around the house along with ONE clue egg for each child to find their basket. After all the eggs and baskets were found, Virginia said she wanted to open all her birthday presents! She gots lots of great stuff (thank you to everyone) including some Care Bear dolls and videos, some cute clothes, new crafts, jump ropes, and a Cinderella play dress! Next we attended Mass. Then we hurried home, packed our picnic lunch and headed to the LA Zoo...along with many many other people. It was super-crowded but we had fun making and wearing our bunny ears around all afternoon. After the zoo, we stopped off at Red Robin for supper. We were lucky we got there early since they were closing at 6pm for the holiday. There were very few people there and only one waiter...who was sitting and chatting with his girlfriend and parents when he was not serving! It was kinda fun and you can watch a video of John dancing around at the end of the meal while Virginia was having her birthday sundae. There weren't enough waiters, our guy said, to do the birthday song. :( When we got home from THAT, we quickly assembled and iced a bunny birthday cake...but we totally forgot to sing! Oh well. Virginia will be having another birthday party NEXT weekend for her kindergarten friends. All in all, a very full but fun day celebrating our beautiful daughter.


The pictures will repeat themselves a bit because both Chris's pics and mine are here together.

PICTURES 4/12/09

Fillmore train, classes, etc.

Here are some older pictures that got overlooked the last time I posted here. First there are a bunch of pictures from the trip John and I took with his Horizon Hills preschool class on the Fillmore train. It's a real full-sized train that takes short trips (maybe 30-50 minutes) up and down the local train track. You go past beautiful mountains, orange and lemon groves (blooming at this time of year) and (when the track isn't being repaired) you can get off at a local fish hatchery and feed the fish. We had to drive to the hatchery, but it was close and really quite cool. The fish go NUTS when you throw the food pellets into the pools.

PICTURES 4/2/09