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.

MU
Back to El Capitan for the latest Pixar flick; Monsters University. It is, as all the world knows, the Monsters, Inc prequel. We did the character breakfast with Sully pre-movie. He was huge and really cute with his letterman jacket on. Georgie unsurprisingly loved him! We had a small issue with our breakfast taking FOREVER to be served but all turned out ok. I was also caught a bit off guard by how packed the theater was... I guess we're not usually there on an opening weekend and during the touristy summer season. I'll just leave it at "wow".

Anyway, G and I both thought the movie was great! It was really funny and had a good story. I even liked the message. Cute, cute, cute! Friends, Tanya and her daughter Gracie, came to see the movie with us which made Georgie really happy. Afterward we headed over to what has become our "after El Capitan" lunch spot Johnny Rockets where G happily enjoyed her very first shake ever! She got strawberry and liked it a lot! By that point it had been a pretty big day and we headed home.

Fun, fun!

The table centerpiece was cute... see the title of the book? Scare Techniques :-)

We were smart this time and brought our stuffed Sully with us avoiding the necessity of buying a new stuffed lovey.

Official Grad Pix (x2)
Its not everyday that one of your kids graduates from preschool and another one graduates from college! This is an event that definitely needed to be immortalized. Georgie's preschool doesn't do any kind of a graduation ceremony but that didn't stop us from getting some for-no-other-purpose-than-its-really-cute preschool cap and gown photos ;-) and of course Casey looks SOOOOOO handsome in his ceremonial garb.

IMO they are Adorable!!!

Con-GRAD-ulations
to our family's newest graduate Casey! Can you belive it? I can't but, nonetheless, there it is; my younger son is a college graduate. I'm so proud of him. We got super lucky that the weather for the ceremony was beautiful, overcast and relatively cool. It heated up later in the day but it was almost over by then. Thank goodness! At Brett's graduation ceremony two years ago we nearly keeled over from the heat so this was a relief.

It was a really nice ceremony. The mascot for UC Riverside is The Highlanders so there was a strong Scottish theme running through the entire event. It began with a couple dozen bagpipers in kilts and led eventually to a rousing rendition of Pomp and Circumstance. Casey walked in toward the end of of the group... I could see him because, in true mamarazzi style, I had pushed my way to the front of the camera wielding crowd... anyway, I could tell he was happy because he had the BIGGEST and most natural smile on his face I've ever seen. I teared up. It made me so happy to see him so happy!

Casey looked very handsome! and he was sweet to patiently pose for the 1000 pictures I took of him :-)  Afterward we had a celebratory lunch at Mission Inn's Las Campanas and then we topped the day off with an impromptu pizza and swim back at our house. Great day!

Yes, we were early. Yes, we sat in the very first row!

I'm not usually a big fan of bagpipes but I must admit that having dozens of them play along with the scottish drummers made for a festive mood

 There he is... the happy graduate!

This is the professional photo that the school takes. I can't believe how great it is! I swear I think they could use it in their advertising :-)

Casey and his super sweet girlfriend Maria. It will be her turn to graduate in just two more years

After lunch we went back to the school to take some more pictures. Just after the ceremony the place was PACKED with bodies and there would have been no way to get any decent shots on the school grounds.

I think this is such a good picture of Casey and my mom. She was a very proud grandma and almost as excited about Casey's graduation as he was.

Two kids down, one to go. Of course Georgie won't graduate from college until 2030!!! Eeek!!