tide-ying up

the bean's very last field trip as a kindergartener took the class pretty far - all the way down to san pedro for a day at the tide pools and aquarium.

because we wanted to be sure that we'd back home for her to get to art class on time, the teen and i decided to drive our own car down while she enjoyed the ride with her friends on the bus.  not to mention, twenty screaming 6-year-olds on a bus for an hour...hard pass.

on the way there, we found ourselves on a familiar-looking bridge.  this is where i ran my very first race way back when.  ah, memories.

a few minutes later, we pulled in here:

and realized that we'd made really good time and had arrived way early.  a quick glance at my phone told us that there wasn't much around in the area to kill time, so like dorks we sat in the car, listened to the radio, and played on our phones.  finally, we caught sight of the bus and we swung a u-turn to follow them, where they joined the hordes of other school buses in the parking lot.

it was a really pretty day.

the teen loves children.

probably the longest part of the trip was waiting for the kids to take a potty break and have a small snack.  while they futzed around getting that accomplished, the bean's teacher headed over to take a peek and see if the tide pools were accessible to us.  unfortunately, the timing was off and the water was up too high for the kids to be able to poke around and check out some sea life.  but just for shits and giggles, we all trekked over there anyway.

at least we still managed to get some fun group shots.

there was a playground on the beach where the kids got to run around and burn off some excess energy.

after eating lunch, it was time to go into the aquarium and see what there was to see.

it was fun watching the teen get as excited as the kids as she walked around the exhibits wearing the emergency backpack.

tell me, is one ever too old to snicker at stuff like this?  apparently not.

my kid, always camera-ready.

fun at the touch tank!

the last stop was another time suck.

there was a good bit of traffic on the road as we made our way back, but the teen managed to survive it with the help of the bean's latest acquisition - a "despicable me" fart gun.

it made for a pretty funny ride home, let me tell you.

dancey-dance girls

the bean's annual dance recital is happening soon.  they've been practicing like crazy, and at the last class parents were allowed to observe (probably a couple of months ago), their routine is super cute.  they're dancing to "hey mickey" - although it's a kidz-bopped version of it - and i'm really excited to see the whole thing now that they've perfected it.

last week, they did a photo shoot in full costume with hair and makeup.  i'm pretty sure this is my most favorite costume out of the three she's had:

when she was done taking her individual pictures, she made silly faces and did crazy dances to make her friend rocky jr. laugh for hers.

and then we managed to get the photographer to squeeze in a couple of "buddy" shots.

i decided to give her the summer off from ballet/tap lessons, and she's pretty excited.  in fact, she's so glad to be off the hook for them that there's a good chance we won't re-enroll in the fall.  i personally would love to see her continue on in one or the other, but i'm going to leave it up to her.  she still loves her hula class, so it's not like she's abandoning dance completely.  the only thing we're both bummed about is that we won't see rocky jr. and her mom every week anymore, but that just means we'll have to be more conscientious about making playdates on the regular.

the recital is in a week and a half.  i cannot wait.

every breath you take

a couple of weeks ago, i shared the story of my friend laura, my knottie friend who was fighting a lung disease and awaiting an organ donor for a heart and double lung transplant.

not long after that post, a donor did indeed come through for her.  the doctors did what they do, deeming the organs suitable for her body, and performed the long transplant surgery.  as they were finishing it all and getting her closed up, the heart...stopped.  they were able to revive her, but that heart just couldn't do what it needed to do.

laura passed away yesterday.

with the help of social media, there were hundreds - even thousands - of people who were praying for laura and her family.  her story reached so many folks who hoped and prayed for her to be able to pull through and return to her loving husband and beautiful daughters.  and as the sad news spread, there was an outpouring of love and support from people who knew her, knew him, or simply knew OF them.  we were all so hopeful and optimistic that for a lot of us, the possibility of her not surviving wasn't even a consideration.  it's just so, so heartbreaking.

her husband johnny is the strongest, most positive and faithful husband in the world.  and by that, i literally mean full of faith - as he continued to update the facebook page he'd started for laura on a daily basis, he would infuse those posts with cheerfulness as he delivered whatever news there was to share.  and he would end each post with a heartfelt, fervent prayer for his wife to be healed and come home to her family.  and even as he broke the awful news yesterday, his faith was strong and unfailing.  while he has every reason to scream and shout and rage at the world, he chooses not to join the dark side - which, let's face it, would probably be easier at this point.  and of course he's got to be incredibly upset and sorrowful.  but as you read his post, he expresses deep feelings of gratitude, love, protectiveness over their children, and always, always faith.

while there's sure to be an abundance of offers to help johnny and their daughters, who are just 2 and 4, my friend yahpee said it best:  yes, they will need assistance in the days to come.  lots of it.  and if you're so inclined, the donation page that johnny's sister set up for them is still active and open for donations in any amount.  but we also need to make sure that we don't forget them as time passes and our lives move on.  let's continue to remember and support and pray and love this family 2, 3, 6, 9, 12 months from now - and beyond.

and as we all mourn the loss of our friend laura, i'd like to just toss out a reminder that organ donation is so incredibly important.  and signing up to become a donor is super easy and takes just a few minutes, if you haven't already done so.  you can do it online, even.  it's an incredibly bittersweet notion - for someone to live, another must die.  but if you can save up to 8 people by signing up to be a donor...well, i just can't see why not.

thank you, laura, for your kindness, friendship and humor.  we love and miss you tremendously, and we'll do the best we can to help your family as they face life without you in it.  i know you'll be watching over them, too.

adding to the cookiefolio

the cookie parade marches on.

i was super sad to have missed my friend yahpee's baby shower - it was the same day as the 5K the hub and i ran downtown, and with the party down in OC, there just wasn't any way i'd have made it.  boo.  but i was represented in the form of cookies!  the shower theme was based around this cute set of prints:

and here's what i sent in:

these were for a fourth wedding anniversary.  the traditional gift is fruit or flowers, so this is what i did.

my mom asked me to do some for my gram's 89th birthday.  i think i've mentioned before that my gram was (and continues to be) an amazing seamstress, and so i thought i'd play on that for her cookies.

hey, did you know that summer's coming?

gold star for you!

but i hate heat.  don't bring back summer.

have i shared those frozen-themed cookies already?  i think so.  i don't care.  i love them, so you get a second look.  heh.

back at it

for our may 5K, the hub and i did the live ultimate run in downtown l.a.  last year, it was in santa monica - which is fun since it's by the beach, but it's quite a trek from our house out in BFE.  i was pretty happy to have a much shorter drive, especially since the hub was tired from his closing shift at the cigar lounge the night before.

we'd cut it kinda close, with even more delays due to street closures, but still managed to get there on time.  across the street at staples, it's WNBA season.  go sparks!

considering it was only 15 minutes till start time, i was really surprised at the small crowd of folks present for this race.  there was a quarter marathon in addition to the 5K, plus the presence of olympian ryan hall, who also holds the u.s. record for a half marathon at 59:13.  that's nuts.

we didn't have much time to kill before the national anthem was sung and the gun went off.  i hadn't actually gone out for a run in two weeks, so i was pretty rusty.  the hub was ahead of me for the first half of the run, and as i caught up to him just before the turnaround i panted "i think this is gonna be the one that you finish first."

when we rounded that turn, he reached out and smacked me right on the ass.  like the child i am, i giggled like crazy and just kept on running.  later, when i posted pictures on facebook, one of my fellow team superheroes commented and said "oh!  so that's who slapped your butt at the turnaround!"  turns out there are cameras throughout the course - i think for timing purposes and to verify that runners are actually running it and not cheating?  i don't know.  either way, i thought it was funny that we'd been spotted.

i didn't take many pictures since i was huffing and puffing like i'd never run a mile before.  this is the best i got along the course.

you know what's a total mind fuck?  bringing runners to the where the finish line is in their line of sight and then going "haha, you thought you were done?" and sending them around another corner to finish out the mileage before finally turning towards the end.

but it wasn't very far before i made one more turn and reached the finish line.

the hub was just a couple of minutes behind me.

yay for may bling!

i'm actually having some trouble finding a 5K with a finisher's medal for june.  there's one in culver city and i think another in long beach, but man...those are faaaaaarrrrrr.  i guess i'd better pick one soon, though, huh?