Zuma.

We went to Zuma Beach last weekend with a couple I met through Aria's school. Their daughter Alicia was in Aria's class last year. They play well together but their friendship is no way as close as Aria's friendship with Cassidy. Aria and Alicia will not be in the same class next year but I hope to keep having play dates with her and her mommy because they're really nice peeps.
Zuma was wonderful, so much cooler than where we live. We had a good time eating, lounging, and playing in the sand. Aria even got to fly a kite. It stayed up really well. I hope this isn't our last visit to the beach for this summer.

Sand time.

More sand time. She likes to get her legs buried in sand and pretend that it's a mermaid's tail.

Flying a kite.

Meet Maggie, Tony and Alicia. They also have a baby boy named Ilan. He's not in this picture.

Here's Ilan. He's been eating sand. Gross.

Hot, hot, hot.

I was freakin' 100+ degrees today. Taking her to The Y during the middle of the day is not fun. Thankfully, we got invited over to a friend's house afterwards to partake of her pool. Yeah! It was very refreshing. Aria took on her own style of swimming. Everything she learned from her lessons went down the tube. I don't know what she was doing but she managed to stay afloat. Towards the end of the playdate, she refused to get out. I felt bad because it was hitting 7 PM. My friend needs to make dinner! I was finally able to scoop her out and apologized to my friend for staying so late. I hope she invites us again.

My crazy girl too 2 noodles and created a canoe with paddles. She paddle from one end of the pool and back.

Skirball on Wed.

Now that we're members to Skirball, I'm trying to take Aria there on a weekly basis. Try is the key word. I haven't been able to do it. We've only gone 3 times since we've joined. We did make it there this week though. Here's some pics from our visit. Boy, that place does not disappoint.

The ark.

Here's Aria sending the animals up the plank by turning the wheel.

More animals.


Here Aria is picking up poop, fake poop really. Why doesn't she do that at home????

Sitting on the alligator.

I love this poster.

The sheep takes a nibble.

Fashion show.

Aria decided to put on an impromptu fashion show for me by rummaging through my pile of clean laundry and putting together 4 different outfits. She would run up to me in a new outfit, tell me to take pictures of her while she posed and run right off to change into her next outfit. Too funny.

Summer update.

It's been awhile since I've updated. The only excuse that I have is that I've been really, really busy. No lie. I can't believe the summer is almost over and Aria will be back in school soon. We've done so much this summer already.

Aria finished a session of summer school. She also finished 2 levels of swimming lessons. (That's 4 weeks of daily swimming lessons!) Towards the end, I was pretty darn sick of taking her to the pool. I have to admit, the lessons were amazing. Aria's a bonafide swimmer. She can swim halfway across the pool, roll over to catch more air and roll back and continue swimming to the other side. I'm not a swimmer and have commented to her how I can't swim (and refuse to learn, don't like getting wet). Aria would reply back, " I'll teach ya. I'll save you from drowning." She probably can too.

Aria is doing even more YMCA classes now then before summer started. She's taking 2 ballet classes, 2 tap classes, a creative movement class and an art class. She alway amazing me with how well she's doing in each class. I remember when we first joined the Y and how distraught I was over her lack of concentration and focus. She sure have changed. She may not be the best in her classes but I will give her an 'A' for effort. As long as she's trying her best to learn, I'm happy.

We've also because members of The Skirball Cultural Center recently. I did it after my visit to their Noah's Ark exhibit. It's a new permanent exhibit that depicts the bibical Ark and the various animals that are on it. Hundred of artists were recruited to use mainly recycled or found items to create all the animals. Visitors are welcome to touch and explore the Ark. Aria loves going there so I decided to become a member so we can go there regularly.

Last weekend was also a pretty crucial weekend for both me and Aria. It was the first time that I was away from Aria for more than 10 hours. I went on a 'women only' excusion to Lake Arrowhead with 3 other friends while Aria stayed home with A. We rented a cabin that was both near the Lake and the Village (Lake Arrowhead's version of a town) and shopped, ate and relaxed all weekend. I had a very relaxing weekend in comparison to A.'s. He spent Saturday with the husbands from my group at California Disney. On Sunday, he took Aria to Skirball for a few hours, then he took her to Zoe's 4th Birthday party and after that Aria and A. had dinner with A.'s father. I'm tired just thinking about his weekend. I'm very fortunate that A. is such an wonderful dad. He did an awesome job while I was away. I couldn't help feelig alittle guilty while I was there that A. and Aria wasn't there with me to enjoy the trip too. Lake Arrowhead is so family oriented. There were so many things that Aria would have loved to do there. Can't wait to go back with the family.We still have a trip up to Northern Cali coming up in a few weeks. Gotta clean house. I'm embarrassed by how cluttered it is and I gotta get it done before we go away so our house sitter isn't too shocked when she comes over.

Shake, rattle & roll.

We were hit with a 4.5 earthquake around 1:00 AM this morning. A. and I were watching a movie on cable. Minutes before it happened, Moo-Moo (our dog) demanded to be let out of the house. I didn't think too much of it at the time but in hindsight, I'm sure she sensed the impending quake.

When the quake struck, I was paralyzed on the sofa. A., being the great dad that he is, ran into Aria's room to save her life. All I could think about when the quake was taking place was, "are all my vintage toys okay? did any of it topple off the shelf?" I did run into her room right after A. took off into her room but I'm still guilty of being a bad mom for not thinking of Aria first. I guess I know A. will take care of her, I'm just trying to save Aria's inheritance.