back in business

along with being back to school, the bean is also back to her regular (read: crazy busy) schedule.  on mondays, it's junior varsity cheer practice:

we had some shifting in the schedule, which now leaves tuesdays free.  this is when she can come home, relax, catch up on homework and do some reading.  wednesday is art class, followed by tumbling at a new gym that specializes in cheerleading.

thursday is the super insane day.  i'd originally had her enrolled in jazz dance again, and when we got there for the first class, her former tap teacher was finishing up a class and asked her if she wanted to join that one as it was perfect for her skill level.  and so now we go from school to tap class, transition into jazz, and then immediately after that i scoop her up and head to soccer practice.

luckily, soccer is only temporary - it ends in mid-november.  and they've already had picture day, too. their team name this year?  the "peppermint pink piranhas."  sounds fierce, yes?

on friday she has her hula lesson and then there's this:

we're looking at a pretty fun year of brownies this year, and we've picked up a lot of really awesome new girls who seem to be having fun so far.

and we've committed to a saturday activity along with the weekly soccer games.  this one, though, is going to be fantastic - one of her friend's moms is a phD who's really big into making sure that girls are strong in math and science skills.  she's offered to do a class every saturday morning during which a group of 5 girls in the bean's class focus on learning and sharpening their math skills, plus do some fun science experiments and activities.  so far, they're doing a great job and are having a blast spending time together outside of school.

the bean has also signed up for her school's talent show, and she's super excited to get up on stage and show off her hula moves.  i cannot wait.

looks like second grade is going to be even more fun than first!

it's the final countdown

this was the bean's last full week of summer vacation.

we've already bought all of her new uniforms, picked up everything on the school supply list, picked out new shoes, scooped up new socks and underwear.  she received a sweet "welcome" letter from her new teacher in the mail (who happens to be her summer school teacher, so she's excited because she's already familiar with her), which she read aloud to me after excitedly tearing open the envelope.  we've finally nailed down her fall activities schedule, and everything is ready for my little first grader (!!).  even she seems to be ready to go back and see her friends and start a fresh new year of learning.

i'm the one who's a little bit in mourning.  heh.  i've enjoyed the freedom of loose schedules, lax bedtime, naps without fear of getting her to sleep on time.  i'm not particularly looking forward to the hectic mornings, running like a chicken with my head cut off, making lunches, blah blah blah.  but it's all good.  i'll get right back in the swing of things as soon as it begins.

in the meantime, we've squeezed as much fun into this final week as possible.  on monday, we hit up sky zone for some jumpy, bouncy fun.  and unlike the last time we were here, we didn't have to wear their nasty, stinky rental shoes on the trampolines.  instead, we each picked up a pair of bright orange sticky socks for $2:

she had a blast.

i hung in there with her for the half hour session we'd originally signed up for, but when the time came to get outta there, she wasn't quite ready to go yet.  i figured it'd be a good idea to get as much energy out of her as possible, so i extended her time by another 30 minutes and let her go to town while i watched from the sidelines.  and as she always does, she made friends (read: talked the ear off of) with the staffer who was standing nearby, keeping an eye on the action.

many thanks, jessica.  she really enjoyed chatting with you.

right after that, we headed over to a friend's house for a swimming playdate.  she showed off her skillz and gave me a few handstands in the water for good measure.

it was right as we left the playdate that i looked at my phone and read the terrible news about robin williams.  these just break my heart:

we had already planned to go to disneyland the next day, for this:

each screening time had its own color wristband.  ours was orange.

when we got to the theater, we received cute little movie trinkets.

and free snacks!

the theater was about 2/3 full.  we managed to get pretty good seats, right in the middle.

the stars of the show even made a brief appearance.  i still have "rainbow connection" stuck in my head.  i've always thought it sounded like a sad song, but maybe it was amplified by my sadness over robin williams.  i don't know.

the teen and i both felt like we really needed to watch the aladdin show that day, and managed to snag some ridiculously awesome seats right in the 5th row.

as always, it was excellent.  and while the genie always gets lots of cheers, the applause every time he appeared onstage was exceptionally loud this time.

and right after the curtain call, when he's the only one left on stage, he usually does silly dances and makes crazy gestures all the way till the curtain hits the floor.  today, he simply clasped his hands, gave them a kiss, and sent it to the sky with a mournful look.  it was respectful and beautiful.

the next day, the bean and i headed back to the mud shack to pick up the tile she'd done during our painting playdate.  and while we were there, since we didn't have anything else going on, we picked out a couple of pieces to paint.

she earned the "star" card at gymnastics class that afternoon, and picked out a creepy plastic bug from the prize bucket to scare her sister with.

back at home, she made a batch of delicious cookies stuffed with mini-m&ms (yes, those are from christmas, shut up).  they're delicious.

and yesterday's outing was to jumping jacks, site of her last birthday shindig.  it's usually only open on the weekends for parties, but a couple of nights a week they're available for a few hours so kids and parents and come in for open play.  $8 per kid, with no charge for adults.  not a bad way to let loose and have a little fun.

we have a couple of open days next week, and then that's all she wrote.  her new dance class (she picked jazz this year, that should be fun) starts on monday, school on wednesday, and then we're off and running again.

phew.  i'm tired just thinking about it.

the cube? check.

going through the bean's summer checklist has been fun for both of us.  a groupon deal helped us cross off another item - the discovery science center in santa ana, aka "the cube."

we've been here a few times over the years.  i'm actually pretty stinking bored at this place, but kids love it, and that's what counts anyway when it comes to stuff like this, right?  so much so that we've never been lucky enough to park in the actual parking lot.  we always end up redirected across the street to the mall, but that's okay since it's free and an easy walk.

she made a beeline for the hydraulic lift chairs as soon as we got in, and pulled as hard as she could on the ropes to lift herself up to the top.  upper body strength, she haz it.

further demonstration of said strength at the rock wall:

upstairs, we found ourselves going in for a lesson on recyclables, disguised as a fun trip to the grocery store.

at the checkout, she got to take a picture to be added to the wall of fame:

and then played another recycling game.

there was a whole section highlighting fun things to do in every state in the united states.

we were going for a cheesy "i've got the whole world in my hands" thing here, but it didn't quite work out.

if you've ever driven by this place and wondered what exactly was in that cube, here you go:

she went inside the wind tunnel, which whipped her up to about 80mph, and it was hilarious watching her crack up at herself in there.

by then, we were both pretty much over it.  time to go...but first, let me take a selfie.

oh, and pick up one of my friend mommybelle's most favorite souvenirs ever.

this should come at no surprise to you.

school starts in a week!  the countdown begins...