Ahh . . . SUMMERTIME!!!!

The month of June has been such a whirlwind! We kicked off the beginning of the month with Mia's dance recital. She was adorable as the girls danced a hip-hop routine to "September" by Earth Wind & Fire.

We followed it up with our annual trip to Ojai for the Ojai Wine Festival. It was another beautiful day, where we only lost one 2 year old for about 15 minutes. (A special thanks to the security at the festival for finding our friends little boy . . . by far the worst parenting moment in my life, and it wasn't even our child. Thankfully everyone was okay, just a little shooken up and heart-sick.)

Mia finished preschool at Christ Lutheran and we celebrated with a wonderful year-end picnic at the park. Kindergarten here she comes!!!

And, both girls started our seasonal swim lesson blitz. Tuesdays through Fridays for a three-week period the girls are immersed in the water. Mia, the beautiful mermaid, is honing her free-style, backstroke, breaststroke, and dolphin-kicks! She also experienced a diving board for the first time this week and was hooked! She wondered why we didn't have a diving board in our 5-feet-deep pool. Honest question for a 5 year old. Then she said we could put one in when our swimming pool wore out! Great idea!!! It's such a joy watching them swim.

And, the death-defying Zoe is fearless in the water. She is on the verge of swimming on her own. She's even taking a few strokes and practicing her her dives (after watching big-sister do them). She also loves going underwater, and will jump off the part of our pool that is about 18 inches above the water. All we have to do is get her to stop splashing the teacher and screaming every time he comes close to her. Poor guy . . . didn't quite know what he was getting himself into with our session.

Other than that, the remainder of June will be filled with a dance camp for Mia, a visit from Papa with the "bald", and relaxing and sipping vino in Big Bear.

"Knock, knock . . . "

. . . . "Who's there?"

Who doesn't love a good joke! Zoe and Mia LOVE them and constantly come up with new reditions of some of our old favorites. Check out these jokes!

Zoe Translation #1 . . . "Why did the chicken cross the road?

. . . . Because he was stuck to the gum!"

Mia Translation #2 . . . "Why did the the candy cane, and the shade, and the van cross the road?
. . . . To get to the beach to go in the pool!

Who says they have to make sense? So, long as they make you laugh, right?!? Wishing everyone much love and laughter in your life!

Mother's Day at Boulder Bay

What more could a mommy want on Mother's Day than to see her two little one's fishing at Boulder Bay? Mia practiced and practiced casting her line at home before we ventured to the lake to try our skills there. On the menu for dinner that evening was fish stew. We had our cooler ready for our catch, but needless to say the fish just weren't biting that day. We only had a about 40 minutes to try our hands at the sport, before we had a lunchtime tea reservation, so maybe we need to commit more time to the process. Or, perhaps we need to try a different corner of the lake. Next time we may even try fishing in the center of the lake. Our life jackets await our journey!

Photographer Mia

Mia is without a doubt a very creative individual. Having painted since she was about 8 months could, her pursuit of art is non-stop. Her latest endeavor has been photography. She has taken some beautiful shots, and is very interested in self portraits. Check 'em out!

Photographer Mia!

In her "Ballet"

Isn't she cute?!? This is Zoe's "ballet" that she likes to wear every now and again (thank you Grandma Syvlia!). She decided she wanted to wear it to her "Music & Movement" class at Shooting Stars Center last week. She looks so sweet . . . just don't try to take that pink ball away from her! The center only had 1 pink ball at one point, but after seeing Zoe's reaction to them they decided to invest in a few more.