A day with the Ippolito's

Today I was busy with more church stuff-- attending my first webinar and doing child abuse training, so Libi spent the day with Grammy and Aunt Andrea. I'm hoping they have photos to share, so some might be added later :)

Ron and I did get a brief date--- to attend the St. Stephen's Preschool parent meeting. It was great for both of us to become acquainted with the new policies!

I also showed Ron Libi's hook for her backpack :) So exciting!!!

Pens, pets, and Pop's

Libi made a beautiful sign this morning-- complete with her name and lots of flowers!

Gorgeous!!!!

We have been finding babies and pets all over the house lately....

Every pet has a blanket and something to eat-- what a kind girl!

At Pop's she did some lounging....

and some reading....

and some counting! It's a change to go to Pop's for dinner in place of lunch, but with our new school schedule it is the only way it will work.

More VBS... but we are almost done!!!

The summer of VBS has dragged on-- it has been a long, but fun 10 weeks. We only have one more to go and then it is over!

The kids wrapped up their teachers today-- a way to show them what a gift we think they are. They were truly good sports about it, even when covered in stickers, balloons, and butcher paper.

I did the Bible story today...

before we watched a quiet movie!

Star Wars at the Zoo

Today we met up with the Strassners to venture to a galaxy far, far away.

Libi was so excited to see them that she almost couldn't stand it!

Our adventure for the day was to see Star Wars at the L.A. Zoo.

It was super hot and very crowded, but we did get to see lots of Star Wars favorites-- Yoda,

a very sexy looking Leia-- who coincidentally wasn't hired for the day, she came in her own costume!

a pilot,

a sand person,

not sure who this is, but I'm sure that Ron will let me know :)

We stopped for a moment at the smelly flamingos and then we did something that we haven't done in all the times we've been to the zoo together....

we got on the tram!!!! It was simply too hot to walk all over the place, so we bought some tickets and went for a ride.

Our first stop was to another first-- we let the kids blow off some steam on the playground. They loved the misters and the shade and we loved the benches and some time to chat!

Despite the horrid weather, lots of animals were out and very active! The bear,

and the rhino were both around.

The kids begged and begged for an Icee-- we thought that one would be perfect for them to share. We let Emma hold it (there are some perks to being the oldest)... and then.....

there was an incident with a bee, a scared little girl, flailing arms, screaming, and eventually the Icee falling to the ground. After some tears and reassurance from her friends we salvaged what was left in the cup and moved on!

We took the tram to another first-- the bird show.

The birds did lots of neat tricks,

the kids enjoyed themselves,

and I got this really cool shot!!!

At this point we were all hot and cranky! We hopped on the tram, rode it back to the front, hit some more characters like: a stormtrooper,

and Boba Fett and then we were out of there!!!

We enjoyed a lovely lunch at the Cheesecake Factory with lots and lots of ice water!

Sending Ron out of town

This afternoon we drove Ron down to Burbank for a flight to Tahoe.

He was off to speak at another CADA conference...

and Libs and I were left to our own devices!

After some silly goodbyes----

it was just the girls for the weekend!!!

We had a lovely dinner at Wendy's, shopped a bit in Burbank (to avoid traffic),

and had a lovely (albeit traffic-y) drive home!

Getting organized...

Today Aunt Andrea came up to babysit so that I could clean the Sunday School office. I was also able to eek out my first bulletin board in many years. It's good to know that I haven't completely lost my touch :)

Daddy met up with us for lunch at Oggis...

and the girls got a little silly!

So typical...

Ron lesson planning, Libi playing on her V Reader, Mommy trying to capture family memories.