Celebrity couple sighting

My friend Susan and I met for coffee this morning at Caffe Luxxe after drop off at school.  While in line for our orders, I saw actor Brian Benben (Shelton from Private Practice) up at the register.  I was excited about seeing a celebrity that I recognized as I always am, and attempted to get candid shots of him on my phone.  I managed to get a pretty good picture of him asking a neighboring table for a chair.  

About 30 minutes later, in walks Madeline Stowe, whom I've always loved.  She was in Last of the Mohicans and more recently in Revenge, which is the only TV show that Trung and I watch together.  The whole time she's at the cafe, I'm very aware of her presence, though I still carry on a decent conversation with Susan...what a good friend for not thinking me to star-struck.  As she walks out the door, I chase her down and actually have friendly conversation with her.  I tell her I love her work (possibly saying Dancing with Wolves instead of the Last of the Mohicans) and she asking where I'm from.  What a nice and gorgeous person! 

I wouldn't never have put them together, but apparently Brian and Madeline have been married for 30 years!  Pretty cool!

Last time in California Adventure

 As Disney annual passport members, we get little perks, like being allowed on designated days into the park an hour before it opens to go on all the popular rides.  We were planning on taking advantage of our early admission into California Adventure (specifically Carsland), but I set my alarm for Saturday instead of Sunday and we got a 45 minute late start.  By the time we reached the entrance, it was already 8 and there was a 30 minute wait just for the Fastpass for the Radiator Springs Racers.  At least we arrived super early and got to enjoy the park for 9 hours before heading over to The Boiling Crab for dinner. 

 Trung's first time on Luigi's Flying Tires

 Guess he liked it.  :P

 Look, it's Mater!

 Donald Duck with, as the Disney photographer called her, my sassy girl

 Lydia blends in well with Sully

 Three monsters...grrrr

 Poor Manny, no one wanted to take a picture with him.  No worries, my girls will.

 A stylish Goofy

Getting down with the five and dime band

Big Red Dog

 At today's Barnes and Noble story time, Clifford came to visit.  The girls haven't read a Clifford book or watched the cartoon in ages, but they still enjoyed listening about him and taking pictures with the over-sized pup.

 Listening to a Clifford book

 "He walks on two feet" Lydia observed

Two little girls with one big red dog

First Day of School

 After two months of summer, the girls and I were ready for school to start.  The waking up early part is always hard to get used to, but having the girls in school and staying busy instead of constantly complaining about how bored they are...priceless!  Granted, I only get thirty minutes to myself these first few days of school since Lydia has early dismissal, but starting next week, I get almost three hours!  Yahoo!  I never thought I'd say this again, but I love school!

 Lydia has three former classmates with her in Ms. Nitti's class

 Finally some time apart for these two

 Aye, aye, Sophie!  Cruising into Pre-K with Lydia's former teacher, Mrs. Flavia.

We made it through the day with no tears!  Looks like it's going to be a great year!

Late Night at Disney

 Today was our last time to watch all the late night shows at Disney since the girls' schools start on Wednesday and our passes only allow us go to Disneyland the day before a school day.  We arrived just after lunch and went straight for the rides had shady waiting lines.  Fortunately, we were able to avoid the heat of the day, and before we knew it, we were already picking up dinner and settling down to watch World of Color.  The girls always think of more rides that they want to go on when it's too late, so it's a good thing we'll be back two more times before our passes expire.

 

 Why the frown on Lydia's face?  Because she remembers this scary frog ride from the very first time Uncle Mike took her to Disneyland over two years ago.

 Me and my girls

 The big "man" himself

 Very very wild

 Trying to touch shrubbery

 Caught in the act

 Hanging out

 I still get teary-eyed watching World of Color.  We got great seats this time and plenty wet.

Fantasmic was once again Fantasic!  The girls got front row seats even though we arrived late.   Must be nice to be short.  :P

Sophie's LTP graduation

 The mothers of Sophie's Learning Through Play class have been so great!  Today they organized a graduation party complete with caps and diplomas.  Sophie hasn't been in the class since the beginning of summer, so it was fun for her to see all her little friends again.  

 Our little graduate

Sophie got all pouty because she didn't want to wear her graduation cap, so we're lucky she even got into the picture (and only because she was standing next to Teacher Anna)

The best library EVER!

As the summer is coming to an end, I realize that I seriously wouldn't have been able to make it through without the help of my local library.   Located just six blocks away, we go at least twice a week to participate in the kids' activities, whether it be story time or a movie.  We will miss going all the time with school starting up next Wednesday, but are grateful that we have the option to go whenever we want. 

 Making butterflies out of clothes pins

 Creating a mobile with sea creatures

 After we got home from swim class, I meant several moms from Sophie's Learning Through Play class for dinner at La Sandia.  This was the first time for all of us to hang out in a social environment without the kids, which was extremely nice.  The people sitting around must have known that we were mommies from our crazy topics.

Beef fajitas

From the desert to the beach

 This morning we made our way to Venice to watch the kids' perform the songs they had learned from the past week's "Amazing Desert Journey" Vacation Bible School.  Then after lunch, we hit the beach, which Trung has been wanting to do for awhile.  I don't care for the cold ocean water, but I enjoyed snapping pictures of the kids (and hubby) as they played in utter delight.

 VBS performance at First Lutheran Church of Venice

 I found a sand angel

 Or rather, a sand cutie

 Trung really enjoyed hitting the waves, literally

 Superman!

Tom, Isabelle, and Ryan joined us a little later.  The girls had fun cooking "curry soup" and "chicken noodle soup".

Let's go, Dodgers!

I am always one for freebies, so when I saw that Dodger tickets were up for grabs, I was all over it.  All I had to do was submit a summer-y family picture to this one organization and we get a pair of tickets.  Snow did the same and couldn't go to the game, so we ended up with four tickets!  Yay, our first Dodgers game (and my first ever baseball game) and it was pretty cool experience.  The girls kept busy eating and playing with our phones and we managed to make it to the bottom of the 7th inning.  By the time we got outside of the stadium though, the game had ended with the Dodgers winning 6-4 against the Rockies.  Go Dodgers!  

 Dodger Stadium

 

 Gotta have Cracker Jack at a ball game.

We watched Matt Treanor play on the day his wife Misty May Treanor won her third Olympic gold medal in beach volleyball...pretty cool to be a part of it.

 We got to witness a marriage proposal

"Take me out to the ball game"

 Decked out in blue

Bright lights

Free cut at Penny's

We rarely take the girls to get their hair cut because it's pretty easy to do ourselves...even though I make Trung do it.  JCPenny's has a promotion for a free haircut for all school aged kids, so we took the opportunity to get Lydia's hair ready for the first grade.

 

The sun and chlorine from the pool has dried Lydia's hair quite a bit

 

She had at least a few inches cut off

Nice and healthy again

Coordinating cousins

The girls have not had soccer practice in a month, so it was tough getting them into the groove again this morning.  They complained almost the entire time, but somehow we made it through and they happily played on the playscape afterwards.  We then had lunch at Class 302 before visiting Mike and his family.  My has baby Alexis grown...so cute!

 Shaved snow at our favorite Taiwanese restaurant

 These were the dresses that the little girls wore for our extended family photo shoot four years ago.  Lydia is now wearing Jocelyn's dress and Alexis is wearing Sophie's.

 All bundled up and ready for a nap

Lydia and Sophie performing their VBS songs for everybody

Operation Overboard

 Lydia and Sophie attended their first Vacation Bible School ever with several of their friends and had such a wonderful time.  Drop-off the first day was extremely hard as the kids have been with me all summer and have been out of the practice of going to school for 1.5 months.  After 20 minutes, Trung and I finally left them crying, but they were all smiles when I went to pick them up.  I hope drop-off is better next week when I take them to another VBS that none of their friends will be attending.

 The orange octopus mascot

 I think Sophie said "Adam and Eve", but I'm not sure.

 I dare you!

Praise the Lord!

Operation Overboard!