Tennis anyone?

My mom, the tennis lady, has been supporting Sage in her tennis lessons. Thanks mom. She is on about her 12th lesson and really enjoys it! Her coach is very patient.

It is important to use one's height in the right sport. What are the choices for tall girls? Volleyball, basketball, and tennis.

her lessons are right on the water: Marine Stadium

Easter photos

Pie maker Lee

JEALOUS WOMEN ... DO NOT READ!





My husband likes to make pies. His speciality is meringue pies, but for Easter, he made a large apple pie. Perry likes to cook and he especially likes to use cool kitchen gadgets such as the "corer, slicer, peeler" which is apparently shared by the Loveridge family.

Look at these men sweating in the kitchen...such a marvel to watch.
Here is the final master piece that was delicious, especially with ice cream. I know the jealous women are still reading, even though I warned them not to. You are probably thinking that Lee left the kitchen a mess for me to come and clean up - not a chance! He is getting wiser (hence his proud slight flocking of gray hair) these days and left the kitchen clean. Lee has learned that women find that sexy, well at least one woman does. Keep up the cooking and cleaning Lee!

Bunny hop

I thought a bunny hop would be a running/hopping activity. It turns out that the middle school PE teachers organize several activities into an obstacle course for each grade level to participate in for fun. This is one of the benefits of being at a K-8 school.
Libby doing an army crawl under the ropes

Sage balancing a large egg (ball)

Libby on a bouncing ball. Her teacher is wearing the ears :)

Sage is getting off the scooter to pass to the next child.

Personally, I like these types of events that are non-competitive. All the kids are smiling instead of crying about losing.

Awards for Libby and Sage

Sage is wearing a light blue shirt and Libby is to her left in white.

Our Elementary school has an awards assembly about three times a year. They separate the children by grade level, so it only lasts about 20 minutes. We are proud of our girls for wanting to do well in school.

P.S. Wyland

Lee took some additional pictures. This one is of Wyland up on a cherry picker spraying and fixing up some of the Long Beach Arena.

He also got a shot of me getting Wyland's autograph. I couldn't believe how young he was, early 50's. Personally, I think he has left a wonderful legacy of cleaning up the oceans in a very short time.

Painting with Wyland

Today we took the kids to participate in painting a mural with the artist, Wyland at the Long Beach Arena. The arena is his largest wall mural and was completed back in the early 1990's. He has come for the next 5 days to restore it. http://www.wyland.com/ Growing up in Southern O.C. I was very familiar with his wall murals and sculptures from walking through his gallery numerous times in Laguna Beach. I will admit to have buying many of his prints in the past. Today, I couldn't help buy a DVD that showed many sea animals and then had Wyland autograph it! Aquarium members were invited to bring their children to paint with him by getting a reservation for today only. I said we were available at all times of the day, so we got a spot. Thankfully, Lee was home today, so he could help check kids out of school and get them there before noon and return them to school a little after 1.

Group shot with Wyland. Sage is in the front left, Perry behind her, Libby is in front of Wyland, our friend Kelly has his arm around her and Brooke is to the far right (almost out of the photo).

Libby is working on her memaid.

Brooke is pointing out her creation.

Sage is working on her mermaid and Perry is working on a fish.

I didn't line them up this way, but they look cute in the new "paint shirts" they were given. Brianna Hardey joined a few moments later, but I never got another group shot:(

What color paint will look good on this very white shirt??? Brianna (blondie) is in the center.

Perry is giving the whale some bubbles.

This mural is being donated to the Long Beach Arena to keep on display forever. I think this was a worthwhile activity to pull kids out of school for a few hours, don't you?

Sail away, sail away...

but please come right back. We went to the beach today to do a little sailing with Lee. He is on spring break and the day was gorgeous...what better way to spend a day in Long Beach, but out on the water. Aunt Jenny and cousin Gavin came along for a ride with us (Brooke and Staci).

Gavin wandered down the beach to another group of people, probably to use their toys and Brooke was more than willing to go get him. Funny thing happened, she actually joined him (yup, sat right down in the sand). Maybe she was building a relationship of trust before she asked to come back???

"Come on Gavin, over here"

So here is the skipper of the minnow that was to take us out in the bay. (I had to give a second take when I realized he was wearing my sunglasses and my hat. Now, I don't know about you, but I thought women could borrow their husband's belongings, but not the other way around. Oh well, now you know what a sensitive guy Lee really is.)

Here is Brooke with those cool transition glasses on that work perfect at the beach. She was all good with the ride, especially the part about not getting her feet wet. Lee brought the boat up on the sand.

The happy sailors: Aunt Jenny and Gavin. "Can you say, food?" Well Gavin knows all about it. He is a muncher just like me!

SLee (meaning Staci and Lee)

Lee decided to be more adventurous after leaving us back on the sand. The boat is a lot of work for Lee, but he really enjoys his time on it and sharing the experience with others. Some people spend all day golfing, others spend all day sailing...

The movie "Earth"

We all went to see a movie screening of "Earth"; coming to theatres on Earth Day. disney.com/nature Since our family has an aquarium membership, I entered our name in a drawing to win free tickets to this private showing. We won! Unfortunately, it was on the same night as Libby's play. We all saw the play before that night; except Perry. So he went to see the play with his Mom and Aunt Jenny came with us to see the movie. We all agreed it was fabulous, except for the timing. It started at 7:30, which meant a late night on a school night for two little girls.
Large popcorn shared by all 4 of us, got refilled for 50 cents before the movie even started! Did you know that Aunt Jenny loves movie theatre popcorn? Remember that for when you want to make her day special.

Brooke found a way to make her seat the right size...a booster, provided by the theatre.

Yes, we were very thirsty after all that popcorn. I thought to bring a water bottle for just that reason...just didn't think to bring several water bottles for everyone. It gave great excuses to get out of our seats several times before the movie started.

Visiting the bathroom was another reason to leave our seats. You might be thinking, "Why would you have that much time before the movie started?" Well, we needed to get there an hour early to reserve our seats, the literal seats. Our names were on a list to get in, but the seats were first come, first sit. Personally, I think we had prime real estate.

The movie is basically a narrated National Geographic video, produced by Disneynature. There were moments shared on the screen, that many of us would never experience on our own. Such as, watching polar bear cubs emerge from a den and seeing daylight for the first time and walking for the first time. I love to watch that, but honestly would not want to be there. There are some sad, but very realistic moments such as death of animals. I thought the movie handled these realistically, but kept the gruesome from entering the show. Very enjoyable!

Libby stars in "Ugly"

Libby is the swan in the left part of the picture, the spotlight was not on her, but you can see her graceful moves.

Lee helped paint the bridge on his day off. Here is a shot of the skunk and the ugly duckling, Noah.

A story about the Ugly Duckling was presented by Libby's 2nd grade class along with a 5th grade class. It was a musical that has touched all of our hearts. They perpetuated the idea of taking control of your own future. Libby played the role of a farmer as well as a swan. A friend of ours, Noah, played the ugly duckling. He sang a solo and then a duet with a skunk like a professional. They performed 7 times in 2 days; these kids will never forget this experience.