They can't all be winners
I see a lot of live performance. A lot. I enjoy it. Most of what I see I really like. I generally find the performances are good with good sets, stories, acting, and costumes. But when you see a lot you're bound to come across a few that aren't really your thing. That's to be expected.

The last two have been in that category. Not horrible but just not great.

The first was last weekend when Bobby and I took G to see A Wrinkle in Time at the local theater. This was the last in this year's children's series and the only one so far that wasn't really, really good. It was the story written by Madeline L'Engle that most are familiar with. I read it years ago, I think when I was in high school, and I remember liking the book. But, the play, ehh. What can I say? The acting was ok but the sets and the script just weren't doing it for me. G seemed ok with it and said she liked it at the end but I don't think she did. Overall, I found it boring and was bummed that I made G leave a birthday party where she was having tons of fun early to get there.

The second was just this past weekend at the California Theater's showing of The Chronicles of Narnia. There were some good things: the set and costumes (except Aslan) were very good and the acting decent. This was especially true considering that the little girl who played Lucy was only 7. But, I think it was hard for them to tell the story, admittedly a quite complicated one, in only 90-100 mins of stage time. Again, I read the CS Lewis books years ago and enjoyed them very much. I've also seen the movies that have been done in the last 5 yrs or so and found them beautifully done. But, it just didn't translate well to the stage. While reading I was able to picture the beautiful Aslan. When creating the movie they were able to bring that imagery to life with a regal computer animated lion. But, on stage, it just wasn't working.

I wouldn't say the show was awful it just wasn't that good which is always a bit disapppointing. The evening wasn't a complete bust as it's always nice to do my mother/daughter theater nights with my mom. And we did enjoy a fantastic --and very economical thanks to Groupon --pre-show dinner at Le Rendez Vous. Yummy filet mignon with bernaise in what turned out to be a private dining room. Fun!

Hopefully our upcoming shows will be better.

Bathing beauty!
Finally, summer is here and the weather is warm enough to swim! Of course we still have to heat the pool for Bobby to get in cuz he's a big wuss and won't unless the water is at least 85 degrees. G is at the perfect age for the pool. She still can't swim :-(  but hopefully by the end of this summer she will. But, she loves being in the water. She just loves it!! I'm still trying to work decent swim lessons into our schedule but am having trouble. In the meantime, Bobby and I have been working with her and she's actually doing really well. She can float on her back now. She doesn't feel comfortable doing it in the deeper water of the shallow end but she does fine over the swim step. Now I just need to convince her that there is absolutely no difference in floating there where its only 18" deep and just a few feet over where its 3' deep. She can swim across the pool using the kick board but only with her face in the water. For some reason she doesn't like doing it with her face above the water which confuses me. And, she's been working on swimming across the swim step (6-8 feet) with her own made up froggy stroke using her feet and arms. We're making progress.

Backyard pool days are very nice. We swim, eat bbq'd hot dogs, and listen to classic rock on the radio. Its a great way to while away a weekend day.

Here's G showing off some of her pre-swim poses:

 I'm not sure if she named this one but its funny

This is her classic ballet pose. She does this one often.

 Making a grouchy face just for fun

I think she called this one "princess pose"

No pictures of swimming. I thought I'd taken a few but they don't seem to be on my card. Hmmm. Oh well. I'm sure there will be many opportunities for swim pix this summer.

Dance, shop, eat, walk, fish
G had dance class Saturday morning like she does each weekend. After that we had to run an errand in Costa Mesa (for those not familiar with the so cal area, that's not close :-) at the South Coast Plaza. After some time in the mall and a quick lunch we started driving home and got pretty close when we saw G had crashed out in her seat. To kill time while she slept Bobby suggested driving up to Mt Baldy as we haven't been up there in awhile. It was a cold day (its usually really hot by Memorial Day so this is quite unusual) and when we got to the top of the hill it was FREEZING. The temp gauge was reading 39 degrees and in true California style Bobby was wearing shorts and G had a tutu skirt on :-) so after a minute or two it was time to move on down the mountain a bit. After watching the temp rise to a level we thought we could live with we found a turnout and headed down a path. G was so cute hunting for flowers, leaves and pine cone treasures. After a bit the cold started getting to us again so it was time to move on.

Next stop Trout Pond! Confession: I've never caught a fish. Never, not even one, in my whole life. Bobby has, tons. Brett and Casey have but not me. I don't really mind. I kind of feel bad for the fish. I don't mind eating fish and meat but I'd prefer not to kill it myself. Anyway, when I saw the little trout pond I knew G would think it was fun. I was right, she was excited but I explained to her "just one fish". Trout pond fish are super expensive plus, I'm not much of a fan of trout. G was a good little fisherman and, not surprisingly, caught a fish really fast. Yay! G tends to be a pretty sensitive soul and I thought she might be bothered by the flailing fish but she wasn't. Yay!! again.

It was a big day that we capped off with a sushi dinner (no, not the fish G just caught, all together different fish :-) to celebrate my birthday. yay. Exhausting.

Fairy pix
I love fairies. Not surprisingly Georgie also likes fairies!!! Therefore, in the mind of G, what could be better than having your picture taken while dressed up like a fairy??? Nothing, that's what! 

The Joys of Georgiana
When I was choosing G's name (I had about 3 yrs) I tried to find the most perfect and beautiful name I could. My reasoning is outlined in this old post. Once her first name was chosen I moved on to her middle name. I seriously considered naming her Georgiana Joy but was dissuaded from doing so and eventually chose Rose instead. Rose is a beautiful name but sometimes I wish that I would have gone with Joy. She really is the most joyful person I've ever known and she brings our family such incredible happiness its sometimes hard to express without sounding like a goof, lol! I love watching her grow and become the person she will be. She has a beautiful heart, a kind soul, and a loving spirit.

I've been thinking a lot about these aspects of her personality and the things that make G who she is. I've decided that over the next few days, weeks or months (not sure yet!) I'm going to try to memorialize the things that make G so, so special. Be prepared, these might be more braggy than normal and I apologize in advance for what will probably be some very mushy posts ;-)

Berry pickin'
G loves to pick stuff, usually flowers, but last year we went to a blueberry farm that was really fun. Then I thought about the cute strawberry dress she had, did a google search and well that did it!

My mom decided to come along for the ride down to Rainbow. I wasn't really sure what to expect. They grow lots of strawberries around here. There are huge fields of them in long rows. I was wondering if it would be difficult to pick them especially for my mom who walks with a cane. As it turned out, the strawberries on this "you pick" farm were grown in vertical baskets up off the ground which made them super easy to "pick". We didn't actually pick them, they gave us small scissors and you could snip each one which prevented people from squeezing the fruit as well as damaging the plants I'm sure.

It was an absolutely gorgeous morning to be in the Temecula winery area and we took our time walking around finding the perfect berries. Georgie was in heaven and wanted to pretty much snip every single berry she could find. At $4 per pound I tried to slow her down a bit.

While at the strawberry place I mentioned to my mom that I'd seen a facebook posting that the blueberry place had recently opened for the season and that as I recalled it was pretty close to where we were. You know what goes great with fresh strawberries?? Fresh blueberries. After a bit of lunch we were off to do some more pickin'.

It seems that the blueberry season has just begun as the bushes were not loaded down with ripe berries like they were when we went last year. There were still plenty of berries but we had to be a bit more selective this time. I was really proud of Georgie. She was quite patient with her search for the ripest berries. It took a long time (30-40 mins) for her choose enough to fill her 2 pint bucket but eventually, with a little bit of help from me and Grandma, it was full!

By the time we began to make our way home, it had been a very long day for little G. She was so, so tired from her busy day of harvesting.

The best part of the harvest is definitely getting to eat the fruits of your efforts. G gave it a big thumbs up!!!

 Three generations of fruit loving ladies :-)

Next stop, blueberries!

 I think these are some of the prettiest strawberries I've ever seen!

 Georgie's own personal creation. A blueberry in a strawberry cone!

Somebody told me you can pick apples around here too. Sounds great!

Mother's Day Weekend Part 4:
After a lovely morning with Bobby and the kids, I still had planned a lovely evening with my mom! It was actually our normal part of our series at the Candlelight but we were lucky that it fell on Mother's Day. The show was Aida. It was an interesting show. I can't say it was my favorite show ever but it was certainly enjoyable. The female lead had an amazing voice! But the most important part was that I got to spend a really nice evening with my mom :-)

It was a wonderful end to a perfect Mother's Day weekend!

Mother's Day Weekend Part 3:
Finally!! The official big day had arrived. I started hearing G's little voice about 6:45... "daddy, can I show it to mommy yet?" Then I'd doze off. Finally about 7:30 she could no longer take it. I was smothered by hugs and kisses, dozens of I love you's and greetings of "happy mother's day, mama". After we all got up and got ready, G gave me her beautiful project that she'd created with bobby. Bobby got me something slightly more official in a pretty little yellow Brighton bag--yeah for me!

I love the Mission Inn. Its so pretty. I was majorly bummed that I blew it and didn't get us a reservation for Easter. I was so not letting that happen again. I took matters into my own hands and booked it at least a month before mom's day. We had to wait for a patio table but it was totally worth it. It was just so pretty and peaceful out there with the five of us. I so very rarely get to spend time with just me, bobby and all three of the kids. The perfect mom's day morning.

Mother's Day Weekend Part 2:
Bobby had to work Saturday. I knew he'd have to :-(  So I planned for G and I to do a mommy/georgie morning. Using another one of my fabulous Groupons!!! we did makeovers and photos at one of those Glamour Shots places. G loves nothing more than to be prettied up and take pix and she was thrilled beyond belief that mommy would be in the pix with her. I was less than thrilled actually. I'm not a fan of having my picture taken but I knew G would like it.

As it turned out, it was really fun! G had such a good time and I like nothing more than seeing my precious little girl happy :-)

We won't get the pix back for a few weeks. I'll post them then. Until then here's just one cute one of little Miss G getting all gussied up.

Fun day!

Mother's Day Weekend Part 1:
One of the things I most enjoy about being a mommy to a little one again is all the cute preschool stuff! Its so much fun I just love it!! I actually woke up friday morning a little giddy because I was so excited about going to the mother's day tea with Georgie at her preschool :-) Georgie was really excited too! She was so sweet when she woke up. She kept telling me over and over "mommy, I have a surprise but I can't tell you". So cute!

When we arrived at school the kids did chapel. The director read a cute story about mother's day and then our tea party was to begin. Georgie was so proud and happy to take my hand and lead me into her decorated classroom. The kids sang a few songs then G presented me with her gift; a flower and bead necklace made by Miss G herself. Then G's teacher read to us the Love You Forever book. I must admit that although I find it odd and slightly disturbing, it still makes me teary eyed. We had strawberry tea, pastries and fruit and chatted a bit and all the while G smiled and me and held my hand and said over and over "happy mother's day mommy. I love you".

After the little tea party they had outside play time. As is usual, G collected leaves and sticks and other little treasures. She usually hands them to me to hold but this time she didn't. When we got in the car to leave I noticed that she had some stuff in the pocket of her dress. I tried to get her to dump it out and leave it there at the school but she was insistent that she needed to bring home her "collection". Luckily I was able to find a ziploc bag in my car. I was pretty shocked to see how much stuff she'd accumulated! My silly girl.

Such a wonderful way to start the weekend.

Somewhere over the Rainbow
This past weekend we caught a local showing of The Wizard of Oz at the Grove theater in Upland. The sets and costumes were nice but overall it was a fairly amateurish performance. No matter, Georgie really enjoyed it. She's never seen the movie but we've read an abridged version of the book several times. It was a good experience for her to see the story that we've read come alive on the stage.

At first I wasn't really sure if she was enjoying the show. She was very quiet and quite intent. At the intermission she looked up at me with this HUGE smile on her face and said "I really love this show mama!" Her favorite part? The giant flowers in Munchkinland :-)

One of the fun things about going to these local shows is that the actors almost always come out after and take pix with the kids. As usual, G loved that part!

This is
what everyone wears to go to dinner at Souplantation, right??

Busy, busy, busy
Friday night was Family Fun Night at G's school. It was a luau theme which included yummy hawaiian food. Mmmmmm. It also seemed to necessitate the wearing of hawaiian attire :-) Fortunately, we were able to borrow a cute little grass skirt from a friend for the event! G looked adorable and had lots of fun dancing around with her friends and watching the show which included drum music and different kinds of island dancing.

Saturday was a Mama and Georgie day at Disneyland! I was a bit hesitant to visit DL on a Saturday. I normally don't because of the crowds. But, all the lower APs were blocked out and it was after spring break and before summer. It seemed safe. Well, my analysis paid off, it wasn't too crowded at all! Plus the weather was fantastic! We had lots of fun that day. First at DL for Pirates, Pooh and Haunted Mansion then off to Calif Adventure for Disney Jr, Monsters, and G's absolute fav ride ever Soarin'!

 No visit to DL is complete without at least one spin on the carousel.

I'm constantly amazed that there are parts of the parks we've never visited. This time we spent about an hour on the Wilderness Creek Trail and were lucky to come across Russell from one of my favorite disney movies Up.

G, being the task minded person that she is, was very interested in the trail map activity. You're supposed to make your way through the trail completing tasks along the way. Each time a task is completed you get to scratch that number off your map. G took this very, very seriously and was actually quite pleased with herself when she received her sticker at the end! I love watching her become the person that she is. So interesting :-)

Sunday we had an errand to run at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. I'm really not much of a mall person. Too cheap I guess :-) nothing much more than Target, Kohl's and Walmart for me but WOW! that is some mall! Fancy schmancy. They had a home and garden show going on and one of the displays was this beautiful butterfly arrangement made with flowers and seeds reminiscent of the floats in the Rose Parade. So pretty!

And then, just like that, the weekend was over. Sigh.