July 4th

4th of July
It was a very low key day. We went over to Claremont for the activities. They had some crafts and a few other things but G couldn't stop talking about the water slide. She remembered it from last year and could barely control her enthusiasm. She pretty much dragged us back there :-)

Each year they set up the ropes course. Its interesting to see Georgie's confidence improve from year to year.

Finally!!! The water slide!! G was in heaven. Bobby was smart and thought to bring us chairs and an umbrella so we hung out while Georgie slid herself into near exhaustion.
This is how happy the water slide makes Georgie!

At some point, even with the umbrella, I could no longer take the heat and we decided to head home. Later that day, Casey, Maria and my Mom came over for a swim creating an impromptu BBQ.

Georgie swam and swam and swam but still managed to stay up late enough to enjoy sparklers.

Overall, a pretty good day.

Butterfly Kisses

Butterfly Kisses
The date of Georgie's annual costumed recital finally arrived. This is a HUGE event in Georgie's life. There is the costume, special pictures, weeks and weeks of dance practice, special added practices, the wearing of make-up, etc. Georgie loves every minute of it. For me, other than watching the actual 3 minutes of dance performance, not so much :-) But, I do my very best to maintain a positive attitude for the kid. Anyway, the day arrived and Georgie was super excited. Truthfully, she looked beautiful in her dress and she did a fantastic job on her dance! During the performance, a pretty little ballet set to "Butterfly Kisses", her improved confidence really shined through. In years past she was always so intimidated that during the performance she'd stare at the teacher rather than relying on her memory of the dance. But this year, as she explained to me, she knew it "cold"! And, she did! Adorable, truly adorable.

Feeling hot, hot, hot

Feeling hot, hot, hot
Well, we're definitely giving our Huntington membership a workout! On our last visit I was told by one of the gardeners that the roses would be even more beautiful, with many, many more blooms, in a couple of weeks so back we went. It was an enjoyable day but OMG so freaking hot!  Its cooler in San Marino than it is at my house but 99-100 degrees is just super hot to be out and about looking at flowers and such.

As has become our routine we stopped at the gift shop first so G could choose a postcard featuring one of the museum works. This time she picked Girl with a Parrot by a British artist Allan Ramsay. Its really fun to see what she picks each time to be our scavenger hunt piece! After that we moved to the children's garden so G could play. Lots of fun and a nice cool off for her, not so much for me and my mom. But it was still early in the day and relatively tolerable.

Because it was so hot we spent more time chatting in the coolness of the tea room than we normally would have. All three of us love it there so we snacked and chatted and G entertained herself with an activity book I brought for her. The roses were beautiful and, just like last time, G required that I photograph all that struck her fancy. Even though it was hot, G still kicked off her shoes and ran around on the grass. She eventually plopped herself down in a patch of those little weedy flowers and attempted some daisy chains. She's loved the idea ever since I told her that I'd done that when I was a little girl :-)

I'd planned to visit one of the galleries that we've somehow always missed on previous trips but, by that point in the day, I was toast... melted toast :-)

Chillin' literally!

Georgie discovered these little snails on the bottom of some of the rocks in the water.

She then went on a mission to "save" them all by searching them out and moving them to another area of the garden. I'm not sure that it was helpful to the snails but it was wonderfully entertaining for Georgie :-)

Georgie decided on this trip that she liked caviar, so funny

Working on her flower chain. She wanted to put enough together for a bracelet or a necklace but it was just too dang hot to sit there and help her

 Coming to show her creation to me! Oh how I love this beautiful girl

Not the greatest picture (because no flash aloud in the galleries of course) but we eventually located Girl with a Parrot. I have to say, the postcard scavenger hunt is pretty fun and really educational for ME! G's starting to piece together some of the symbolism in the various paintings. There are a lot of British portraits at the Huntington and she loves to listen to the audio guide so eventually its going to start to sink in.