our buddy Super B turns 5!

My darling, clever and creative friend Cakestina threw a fantastic 5th birthday party for her little man, Super B. I was happy to shoot some photos for her and even happier to share them with you!

Recycled refrigerator box made a great telephone booth. Handy for changing into your super hero clothes or for stealing kisses from ones honey ;) 

Plastic pool + dry ice + board for crossing = fun way for kiddos to test their bravery!

Super B, Super T, Super J in their Super CUTE t-shirt capes. Thank you scissors, velcro and fabric markers!

They fly!

and leap over buildings!

Super B's mom made a super cool cake!

Great table set up. Art by Carlton Christy

Hungry Heroes

Birthday Boy!!   Pre-Scooped ice cream! smart!!

 We LOVE the M's and Super B!

Reflections Art: One Mile Shoes

Last fall, JT entered a PTA sponsored art contest called Reflections. 

There is a theme given and entries are accepted in areas of dance, music composition, stories, choreography, visual art, and photography. The theme was "Diversity means..." We explained to him what diversity was and talked about what it meant to him. We were running the LB 1/2 marathon, Bubba Gump 5K and Aquarium kids runs. JT decided that he would photograph shoes of all the kids that completed the race. His artist statement read: "Diversity means a lot of people can run the same race. You don't need the same shoes to get you to the same place". Crazy insightful right? I was truly impressed. He shot all the photos on my Rebel XT, loaded them on to the computer, used iPhoto to give them a sepia ish look and then used the free software Picasa to make a collage. We had to submit it in early November and kind of forgot about it.

In May, we received an invitation to the Expo Art Center in Long Beach. There was going to be an art show and JT's piece would be on display. There would also be a ceremony for the participants. We headed down to First Friday (a street festival in Bixby Knolls) and checked it all out. 

When we saw his photo hanging up the ribbon next to it said, Award of Excellence. Come to find out he placed 1st! In the Long Beach Council for his category and age group! Awesome!!

Super proud of this boy!

Wray-Rays tie the knot

Wishes of happiness and laughter to our dear friends the John and Al 

who tied the knot and became the Wray-Rays. 

We were excited to be on hand to watch these two FINALLY get married! They are some of the coolest cats we know. The wedding itself paid homage to tradition but like the Wray-Rays was anything but. There were custom sodas, a cake bar, a popcorn wagon, photo booth, yummy eats and lots of laughs. They both looked radiant. And happy. That's a good sign

assorted homemade butters. honey, garlic and herb. yeah. i love butter. i love these guys

cake bar. oh my

us b's. here to support the wray-rays

For crazy fabulous pictures of this couple and their amazing wedding, check out Robert Paetz

We LOVE us some Andrew and Maria <3

trouble makers

Congrats to John and ALisa. Thank you for outfitting my daughter in pink cowboy boots, indulging my sons helpless crushes, being so cool and being our friends. we really do love you.

Custom Art by MandasArtStudio

Open Houses, woot for school!

JT had open house at his school. The evening was kicked off as our Awesome Charter School celebrated being named a California Distinguished School again. There was a Super Mex truck, an ice cream man, Milikan's drum line and cub scouts raising the flags. The energy and sense of community overwhelms me sometimes. Crazy awesome!

We wandered through JT's classroom looking at the various projects that they've been working on. We sneaked a peak in each of the 2nd grade classes and know that we're definitely in for dinosaurs.

We are in the process of adjusting to a new teacher. JT's teacher that had been with the class since the first day of school was actually a substitute. We grew to love her very much throughout the year and were very, very sad to see her leave the school when the other teacher returned. We miss Mrs. G lots and  lots but are super lucky to live just a bike ride away from them!

JT was excited to play on the playground even though he'd just been there hours before and was going to be back the next day. Kiddos are so silly. Love him to bits!

HeaBug showed us around her preschool at her own open house the following week. She was so excited for us to come see her school just like we'd seen JT's. We enjoyed face painting, snacks, cotton candy (YUM) and watching our little butterfly girl socialize. She is writing her name on her own, recognizes letters and numbers, holds conversations like a tiny little woman. It actually freaks me out a little... Just a little. haha

Spring Break in Yosemite 2012

                                Dear All in Cabin 1A,

We enjoyed a wonderful Spring Break here at the Wawona Retreat. Arriving the day before Easter we were SO pleased with the upgraded kitchen. It made cooking for 10 quite a treat! Easter Sunday we had brunch at the Wawona Hotel then hunted for eggs there.

We came back and hiked to Chilnualna Falls and the Swinging Bridge (about 5 mi). We had another egg hunt in our backyard while our Easter Ham and dinner cooked, although we had to wait for the THREE DEER that were relaxing to leave

Can you spot the 3 deer. 2 there in the center and one off to the left 

Mashing Potatoes! 

washing up their dishes! 

Monday we hiked to Mirror Lake then over to Happy Isles where we took the Trail of Mist up to Vernal Falls (around 7 mi).

 Tuesday we went all over the valley. Bridal Veil Falls, Lower Yosemite falls (even took JT to climb up the rocks), The Ahwahnee Hotel, The Meadow, Le Conte Memorial, through Housekeeping camp, here, there and everywhere.

Wednesday the weather changed sharply from the warm spring days we'd enjoyed so far and we woke to rain. Deciding to brave the rain we headed to the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias trees only to find it closed due to the abundantly falling SNOW! We parked the trucks and walked the two miles uphill, in the snow, to the grove entrance. It was another mile from there to see the Grizzly Giant, serious flurries the whole way up! 6 miles with 5 kids under 8 in 3 hours.

Our last night we had s'mores and hot chocolate after our Talent/Show and Dance Party!

We definitely feel awesome having gotten to do so many things in Yosemite and experience both the beautiful warm spring AND the lovely white falling snow! Best of Both Worlds. Thank you for having such an amazing cabin and for sharing it with our families. We couldn't have asked for a cooler spring break!

With Love the B's and the S's