i was never a flower girl..

My girls were lucky enough to be asked to be flower girls and this past weekend was the special event. It is evident that each of my kids have their own special, distinct personality and it is interesting to see how the girls react so different in similar situations.



Julia, my social butterfly, just LOVED attending her first wedding and being part of the wedding party. She followed the bride and groom everywhere and Todd and Alisa were so kind to let her do so. When the DJ announced the flower girls at the reception, Julia waved to the guests and whispered to me, "I am a star." Too funny.



Serena on the other hand is shy and at the ripe old age of 2 is a wall flower. There was no dancing for this girl. She did not want to walk down the aisle, she fell in the fetal position at the top of the aisle and refused to have any photos taken by the photographer. Several hours later she finally agreed to photos with the bride and she eventually opened up and ran all over the reception.

The wedding was beautiful and I am so glad for the happy couple. Congrats you two!!

around town today

Today the girls and I hung out around town. It was a gorgeous day out.



First Stop was Los Rios street. There is a new park in town and a great job was done to build it to look old. It really adds to the historic district.









Next we walked down Los Rios street to Zoomars and Julia went on a few horse rides. Last weekend we went to the Tall Ships Festival in Dana Point and we were given 4 free tickets to the mini-farm. Serena refused to ride the horses and cried. Maybe next time.





After all that fun we headed over to South Coast farms to pick up some organic produce and "ride" the tractors. Such a simple treat was such a hit.

Education

My dear 5 year old started kindergarten this week. She loves it just like I knew she would. My social butterfly of a daughter has attended several years of preschool and junior-k last year so this year it not a major transition for her. Her school has about about 70 or so kindergartners, enough for 2 full classes and a combo K/1st grade class. J is in the combo class and I think she will do well. Today was day three and she cannot wait to go tomorrow. What a lucky girl she is to be meeting new friends, meeting and learning from new teachers, and have many new learning experiences!

I say J is lucky because last night I watched a show on PBS called Wide Angle, Education Part 3 and it brought tears to my eyes to learn of the featured children in the show. The kids and their life journeys have been documented for the last six years. The circumstances some of these children live on a daily basis are hard to imagine and it is amazing they are still in a school. One child from Benin, a girl, was selected to get a public education. She is the only one in her family and only a handful of girls even get the chance. She walks 2 hours each way, daily, to her school.
Dedication.

She knows how lucky she is and it is amazing. The other stories, too, were inspirational and emotional.

I really am thankful my kids can experience the public schooling they do and I am doing my best to remind them daily how lucky they are. Happy learning!!

Oh, by the way, how could you not have fun with Mr. Curt Visca as your principal? If you are a local then you know I am speaking of the Curtoon guy. Serious fun! "Elvis"has already left a message on our answering machine to give us the school scoop.

it's not over until it's over...

Kindergarten begins on Tuesday for little miss J. She will love it!

We will now need to conform to a "school year" calendar which means we can't just go away on a whim anymore. We have three more days of summer recess left to sleep in, relax, and have fun.

Since the weather has been unbearably hot lately we have spent much of our time in and around the beach, harbor, lake, and other bodies of water to cool off.

Here are some of my favorite pics from this past week.