A Trip to the Ballet--Just the Girls

This afternoon, Blythe and I had a mom/daughter date.  I got us tickets to Ballet in Concert at BYU, and we went to see Fables and Fairytales, the ballet department's touring show that after many years they have brought to Provo to perform.  Part of the show was that the audience members could come dressed in their royal/fairy/princess costumes and meet the dancers/fairies/princesses before the show.  Blythe was very excited and chose to wear her Elsa costume from Halloween.  We mingled with the dancers, had pictures taken, and then watched the show.  The dancing was beautiful, as were the costumes, and Blythe really enjoyed it.  It was fun to be together with just her too.  Kent and I decided at the beginning of the year that we needed to take time to do things with our kids individually, and this was a good beginning.  Below, Blythe had her picture taken with spring fairies and Cinderella, although Cinderella wasn't in her Cinderella costume yet.  We also saw Elizabeth, Ashlyn and Shaylee Elder (sitting on the row behind us), and Sarah Olyler and Kamila Stice who happened to sit down right next to us.  

Per tradition, I suggested that we stop by the Creamery for an ice cream cone after the performance.  Blythe, however, wanted to go to Swig instead, and get the same drink I got last week when we went.  She really did have drink envy last week.  We picked up Sprites with pomegranate and fresh limes, plus a drink for Kent and Brandt too.

 

My phone camera is very grainy.

Since I took these pictures, I have been wondering if the graininess is caused by the phone having been dropped, or if it is just a lousy camera. 

Funny Children

This morning, first thing, Blythe called to me upon waking.  I dragged myself out of bed--I was having a lie in because I get up so early the rest of the week--and went into her room.  Upon my appearance, she said, "Mom, did you fix my dress last night?"  We are going to Ballet in Concert at BYU today, and there is a pre-show.  Audience members can come dressed in their royal costumes, and Blythe wants to wear her Elsa dress from Halloween.  It needs to be sewn up in the front.

I told her I was going to fix it this morning before she needed it.  Then she asked, "Can I play with Lilly and Emma?"  It was 7:34.  "No," I replied.  "It's too early for playing with friends."

"Can I play with Ellen?" she immediately asked.

"No," I replied again.  "It's too early to play with friends."

"Can I play with Shalee?"

I got up and went back to bed.  She is number one primo good teaser.

Friday Field Trip #20--Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum

It's Field Trip Friday, and today we went to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum.  I bought a pass to Thanksgiving Point in March last year, and I was feeling like we hadn't quite taken advantage of it enough.  Plus, it was windy cold today, so we needed something inside to do.  We haven't been to the dinosaur museum in a long time, so a trip north seemed just the ticket.  We invited Tysen and the kids cousins to come too, so we were an energetic group.  The boys were so energetic, Tysen and I must have said, "Please don't run!" a combined total of 147 times during the 90 minutes we were there.  

The museum really is fantastic.  There are great displays, lots of things you can touch, and a dark starry tunnel Lyla wanted to walk through six times.  Had we not been so energetic, I would have taken more time to read all the plaques explaining what was in the exhibits.  Next time.  

Yesterday, after vision therapy, the kids wanted to stop for a milkshake.  It was too close to dinner, so I said no, but after our museum visit, we stopped at JCW's and got a shake for everyone.  (Though it was earlier in the afternoon, the children were still no interested in dinner until nearly 7:00pm.)  It was a fun time, and we enjoyed, as always, being with cousins.

Blythe is huddled in a cave she wanted me to climb into.

I didn't really want to get on the ground and crawl in, but she was insistent.

I should have gotten a picture of both of us inside.

Supersaurus and brontosaurus skeletons.

They were very large creatures.

I'm standing on the second floor of this exhibit, and I'm not even at the top of the shoulder blade.

The brontosaurus head is another story above me.

I liked all these skulls.

I wanted to play "guess the animal" with them all,

but my small people rushed on ahead.

Crew, Brandt, and Griffin

These next few pictures are prime examples of why I got a new camera.

Unfortunately, the new camera has a problem and must be repaired, 

so I'm back to the old one.

Insert curse here.

This one taken with grainy phone camera.

Grrrrrrrr.

I have lots of cute pictures of Blythe because she hung around with me and didn't run all over.

I was able to get her to sit still for a moment (or two or three since I was working with the old camera).

Blythe, Griffin, Lyla, Brandt, and Crew

Brandt made sure to point out to me that he has his hands in the dinosaurs nostrils.

Now I've pointed it out to you.

I do like these two.

Blythe wanted a picture on this rock, 

and Lyla did too.

Please don't think I'm a bad mother based on what my daughter is wearing.

It was cold today and I encouraged her to put something else on her body.

She would have none of it.

She wanted to wear the skirt, so wear the skirt she did.

My post-museum visit root beer freeze.

Yum!

Restful

There I was on the couch, 7:43pm, taking a moment to rest my eyes while the children did some last minute playing before heading up to bed.  They had been completely ignoring me, doing their thing, until I actually laid my head on the pillow and closed my eyes.  Immediately, Blythe rushed to the couch and insinuated herself onto me.  That's right, onto me.  It wasn't enough to snuggle up next to me, she had to be on me.  Isn't that so sweet.  And restful.

100th Day of School

Today was the 100th day of school.  For Brandt, this was not anything particularly remarkable, but for Blythe and the first graders, it was a big deal.  They had a big 100th day party; they made Froot Loop necklaces, read a funny story about a wolf who is trying to fatten up a chicken and ends up getting 100 kisses from the chicken's chicks, they made 100 shaped glasses, and worked on a fun packet of activities.  The packet included counting to 100 by 2s, 5s, and 10s, stamping to 100, and completing the following sentences: I could eat 100 .... , I could never eat 100 .... , I could hold 100... I could make 100.... , I could do 100 ....  Blythe completed her sentences with crepes, pancakes, and waffles for the 100 things she could eat (a breakfast themed list), but could never eat 100 apples.  She could hold 100 pennies, make 100 cookies, and do 100 jumping jacks.  She was quick to point out that she can really do more than 100 jumping jacks, but she knew she could 100 so used that as her answer.  All the kids had brought in a collection of 100 somethings, and they used different things to measure lengths.  Blythe chose to bring in 100 pennies.  100 straws were the longest.

The last and best thing was that the children were to draw a picture of what they will look like when they are 100 years old.  I love Blythe's picture and had to include it here.  There is wonderful detail, right down to wrinkles on her forehead and a cane.  She told me she's walking in the park, and then demonstrated how she was walking, slowly and seemingly painfully.  I hope she makes it to 100.

Homework

We continue to struggle with homework at our house.  If the kids would sit down and do it, they would be done in about ten minutes, but instead, we have twice that long in whining and wailing and teeth gnashing and histrionics, then we have ten minutes of homework.  Insert eye roll here.

Today, when Blythe finally got around to doing her homework, she did her math and spelling quickly, and then moved on to her reading.  Thing was, she didn't just read.  Instead, she sang the text to her book "So Many Penguins" to the tune of "I Know that My Savior Loves Me."  It was sort of that tune, altered a bit to fit the text, and changed up when the mood struck.  It was taking an agonizingly long time and going on and on, but I suppose I really can't complain because she was, at last/least doing what she needed to do.

Cookies

Sunday afternoon.

Somewhat squirrely and antsy children.

Solution?

Decorate cookies.

Field Trip Friday #19--Bowling at BYU

Today's Friday field trip was to the BYU bowling alley.  We brought along Jarom, Sarah, and Sam Olyer.  They were delighted to come as they told us on the way there.  Jarom said, "It costs a lot of money for our family to go bowling because there are so many of us, so this is really great."  I was happy to make their day.

The kids enjoyed bowling, though they seemed to equally enjoy playing on the arcade games, even though they weren't actually playing them.  Sarah was super delighted to be in the lead for most of the game, but Jarom came from behind with a strike and two spares.  He broke 100 which delighted him.  Turned out that the scores went from highest to lowest based on oldest to youngest.  How fitting.

 

 

We finished off our field trip with a trip to Swig for sodas.

I got a Sprite with lime and pomegranate syrup.

Blythe had Swig envy and vowed to have the same the next time we went.

Interests

Today I went to volunteer at school, and I helped in Blythe's class.  Each day, Miss Medaris has a question posed on the board, and as they come in, they put their name in the response column.  Today's question was, "What do you like to do in the snow?" and there were three choices: make a snow angel, ski, and make a snow fort.  I would have guessed that Blythe would choose "make a snow fort" because when we had lots of snow, she, Brandt, and the Olyers made a big snow fort at the end of the cul-de-sac and played it in for hours, in spite of the cold temperatures.  I was surprised, however, to see that Blythe put her name in the "ski" column.  I'm going to use this to my advantage because I want to take the children cross-country skiing, and now I can show Blythe that she wants to ski.

Does that seem like a mean mom thing?

Five up from the bottom in the middle column.

Proof!

Kent's Birthday

Today is Kent's birthday.  Being Sunday, and Kent being as he is, we kept it pretty low key.  Brandt asked him what we wanted for breakfast, so we made him waffles.  We went to church and then I made him meatloaf for dinner.  Meatloaf always fills his love bucket.  We then had a few family and friends come over for pie and ice cream.  My mom came with Donovan, and Lee, Cammie, and Aaron, then Heidi with Jack and Simon, Tom and Suzan Nelson, Nick and Stacie Mason with Ellen, and Gregg and Linda Pugmire.  The pie was delicious--jumbleberry and apple--the company excellent, and none of it too much for Kent.  It was fun without being overwhelming.

Brandt and Blythe were very keen on making Kent cards.  Brandt drew a picture of Kent which I love.  Blythe told me what she wanted to say on her card, and then asked me to help her spell the words she didn't know.  She did really well until the end when she misheard what I said.  She was also anxious to let us know that although she said she loved Kent "more than anything in the whole entire worlp," she loved me and Brandt too.  Understood.  It is Kent's special day and thus perfectly acceptable to love him more than anything else.  I love him that much too.

Happy 58th old man!  Wouldn't have anyone but you.  Here's to the next 58.

San Diego Family Vacation Day 6--The Beach, Part 2

Today was our last day in California.  We had to be out of the house by 11:00am, so we spent most of the morning packing, doing some laundry, trying to clean up a bit and find missing bits of stuff.  We packed the cars, we double checked, and though Lyla and Collin both wanted to go for another walk, we had to pass.  Too bad for them because they had five plus hours of car ride ahead of them.  

As we flew, and as our flight was not until 7:30pm, we had one last day to be in San Diego and play.  When reading about beaches, I read that the beach at La Jolla had lots of marine mammals to see as well as tide pools.  We all thought it would be great to go to the beach again, not necessarily to swim/boogie board, but to see the animals and poke around looking for sea creatures.  Low tide was at 1:30 and we were going to be there then.  

There were really cool things about the La Jolla beach, and a disappointing one too.  There were lots of seals and sea lions, all lounging around on the beach and rocks, all within close distance so we could get a great view.  There were interesting birds, too, pelicans and cormorants, and they all smelled really bad.  The sand on the beach was nice, but La Jolla is rocky once you get out in the water, and the sea is rough with rip tides.  You can't really be out in the water very far along here, except in a cove where there is a swimming club.  We watched swimmers who stayed in the cove and swam almost like they were in an infinity pool with a steady flow of water towards you so you don't cover much distance but still get a good workout.  

We were all delighted with how close the seals were.  We walked along a path that was well above the level of the water, but there were seals right by us, close enough we could have reached out and touched them.  A small group was lazing under a sign that said, "Please don't disturb the marine mammals."  It would have taken a lot of effort for them to "climb" up the rocks as high as they did, but there they were, snoozing.  

The disappointment came in the tide pools.  There was almost nothing to see in any of them.  There were lots of very small hermit crabs in shells, and we saw some sea anemones camouflaged in bits of shell and sand.  There was also some seaweed.  And that's it.  No starfish, no larger crabs, no small creatures creeping around.  We took our time, but there really wasn't much to see.  The lack of marine life, however, did not dampen the children's spirits.  They were happy as a clam (none of which we saw) to be at the beach, playing in the water, and they both ended up soaked.  They threw rocks, Kent tried to teach them how to skip rocks, and they dug in the sand.  The adults sat and watched the water breaking along the shore, and enjoyed the sun.  There was no agenda, no place to go, just the ocean, the sun, and us.  And other people, but not that many. 

The birds stank horribly! 

These are the seals that had worked their way up the cliff.

The shadow is the sign that says, 

"Please don't disturb the animals."

That's my shadow holding the camera, with the kids and my mom.

See how close we are?

I took this picture because I wanted to show how far up the cliff the seals had gone.

There is a post at the top of the dirt track.  That is the sign the seals were napping under.

You can see how far down the beach is.

 

 

It's a something!

That is an anemone, covered with shells.

Looking for something--anything--interesting.

Picture of me with the kids.

Blythe not looking in one,

Brandt not looking in the other. 

 

These were all little crabs.  

The shells were moving around, but you could hardly see the crabs inside.

They must be having a meeting.

 

 

This seal was lounging on the sand right where all the people were.

We could have walked right up to it and touched it.

We didn't, but I was very concerned that it was sick or something.

We had heard at Sea World about their animal rescue work, 

and I tried for some time to contact someone.

We finally saw a life guard who assured us the animal was fine.

They are there all the time.

 

The cormorants

 

 

Brandt working on his rock skipping.

 

 

Blythe doing Down Dog in the surf.

That's my family way down there.

At the far end of the beach where we were playing is the Children's Pool.

Years ago, this area of the beach was dredged to make a pool.

As the sand slowly filled it up, 

the seals claimed it as their own, and now they hang out there.

See?

Seals hanging out.

After spending about four hours at the beach with only a small snack to tide us over, we decided we needed food.  There was a gelato shop near where we parked, and although we hadn't had lunch, we opted for dessert first.  It was delicious!  If I lived anywhere near there, I would take myself there three times a week.  Probably good I don't live there.  Below is a picture of Brandt's, Blythe's, and my choices.  Brandt got mint chocolate chip, Blythe got chocolate chip, and I got prickly pear and blood orange.  I don't remember what Kent and Mom got, but we all had a taste of everyone's, and it was all yummy.

Since Mom and I were last in San Diego, more than a decade ago, I have been yearning for really good fish tacos.  We ate at a place along the beach while we were last there, and it was so good we went back the following day to have some more.  I haven't had a fish taco that compares since, and I've eaten a lot of fish tacos hoping to find one.  After finishing our gelato, I looked up good fish tacos and found a little place called Oscar's Mexican Seafood.  It wasn't fancy at all, in fact, they only had a short counter inside to eat at, and then stools and a couple of tables outside, but the fish tacos were tasty.  I ordered two different kids, both delish, then went back for another.  We had been gone for about ten minutes when we returned, and the woman must have thought we were pretty funny because she gave us a cup of fish stew to enjoy while we waited for our tacos, and although I had only ordered one more, she gave us two, one for me and one for Mom.  Although they were not quite as wonderful and memorable as the ones we had all those years ago, they were very good.  They sated the craving.

 

Kent and the children ate up the street at a Chinese restaurant.

They had orange chicken and egg rolls.

This is a picture of me trying to get Blythe to eat a bit more, 

taken by Brandt who had already finished and was in the car.

We drove to the airport as the sun was setting.  There was the most incredibly beautiful sunset, bright and colorful.  It was such a lovely send off as we ended our vacation.  I had a very funny conversation with Blythe as we were walking into the terminal, pulling our bags behind us.  She asked me if I had been able to get her pink kiki and stuffed animals in the suitcases.  I had made her carry those in her backpack on the way to California after she insisted on bring both her blue and her pink kikis, as well as several stuffed animals when I had hoped she would be happy with one.  "Yes," I replied, "I was able to get everything in the suitcase."

"See," she said to me.  "I knew they would all fit.  You had a fit about them for no good reason."  Thank you for pointing that out, Miss Smarty Pants.