We started at Starbucks—a very expensive choice made by me but happily accepted by four non-coffee frappuccino-slurping girls. I really need to curb my caffeine habit.

Then we took Bug to gymnastics (Ballet was out for the week) and afterwards Toby took all of us to dinner on the pier in Balboa. The good thing about not seeing Toby for a whole week is that when he does see us, he doesn’t mind if there are FIVE rowdy girls instead of just two. It was a real circus.

We took Bug’s good friend “Boo” from the neighborhood. We may have been trying to show off how cool the ocean is. She was happy to oblige us and be impressed.

And the nieces. They miss their mom so much that whenever I suggested we take a picture of them together for her, they cuddled together like two little chicks and didn’t even whack each other, which is often their habit.

Us on the pier. I really need to try and be in more pictures.

The light was really cool as the sun was setting because there was this heavy fog bank that blocked the rays that would normally blind you. So we got to take interesting unusual pictures we normally couldn’t see.

Long shadows on the walk back to the car…

And more getting-along-nieces shots. Where did Rapunzel get such pretty lips? Not my side of the family.

Of course Pouty McPouterson had to join the party.

Thankfully the fun wasn’t hampered. “Don’t get wet!” I threatened in vain. Words to the wind, words to the wind…

Pretty pier.

Boo is properly excited.

It’s too bad I have my point-and-shoot camera set up to take super vertical shots and I cut off Super Chic’s face but I still love this photo. It really is a “slice of life.” A super narrow skinny slice. Super Chic is handing me shells to keep forever but of course I put them in some pocket and they are probably lost in the washing machine now. I love Rapunzel’s cackle.

More slices.

I love this shot of Boo playing jumprope with a piece of kelp. She wasn’t afraid of the slimy kelp at all. That’s my kinda kid.

The next day we initiated Boo into our traditional breakfast of doughnuts on lifeguard tower number five.

Patriotic sprinkles were enjoyed.

Tradition!

And then they were off to the sea. There really was no stopping them.

Catching a few rides in the morning soup.

This kid was unstoppable. She’s never had a boogie board before because technically she doesn’t know how to swim yet. But really, she can swim. She’s in the water more than she’s out and she’s not afraid to get her face wet at all. If she had her way, we would have been at the ocean all day and all night for probably the rest of the year. She never gets cold and she never gets tired. She borrowed a board this year and she may have found her life’s calling. I think I know what I’m getting her for her birthday this year: her own board.

Deb and Eric stopped by for a quick visit. I love my old beach friends.

By the way, Deb is on twitter now! One of these days I’ll get her to put up her own website. She really needs one. She has such amazing art.

We stopped by her house for a quick chat and I snuck in a few more photos of her art-filled house. She calls it a mess. I call it beautiful.

Rapunzel was looking particularly pretty and blue-eyed next to this stunning painting. Not sure which is prettier.

And then back to the beach! This time with sunblock.

Woooo-eeeeee! Boo took to the waves like a natural.

Bug stuck to the sand, much to my relief. I took a book to read but I couldn’t get much reading done because I was constantly looking up to count off my chicks. One, two, three, four. Phew. They’re all still alive. Then back to reading.

Which by the way, is a very good book Did you know Journey Mama wrote it? She’s such beautiful writer.

It’s just as much of a pleasure to read as her blog. She has a way with details…I’m completely engrossed in the story and quite attached to all of the characters. I’m not done yet but when I am, I’m going to have her do a guest post and maybe even a give away. I really think you all would enjoy reading it too. It’s a keeper. Of course I’m personally invested because it’s set in Northern California which is near and dear to my heart.

But back to Southern California and the waves…

I think it’s safe to say, a good time was had.

This Saturday was Bug’s first dance recital. It was so awesome. Her performance itself was not awesome at all but we weren’t expecting much. She got up there on stage and smiled and looked cute in her adorable costume and that’s all we could ask for. That’s her teacher above. I love her so much. I’m really sad that she’s going to be Sleeping Beauty for Disney Tokyo in Japan and won’t be teaching ballet anymore. But it was really cool while it lasted. Bug is going to miss her.

Anyway, you want to see her performance right? It should load below if the internet is cooperating with me.

Yeah, stupid me. I didn’t make sure my camera was in focus before I started filming and then half the time I wasn’t even paying attention to the camera and let it list off to the side. I’m sorry about that. But you’ll have to forgive me. I was going bananas because my little itty bitty girl was up on stage!!! Oh, it was so cute. I may have cried a little bit.

I wasn’t even supposed to be filming. This is contraband footage you’re looking at. Although, between you and me, every single parent there was filming with their iphones and spy cameras. The theatre didn’t want us to film because they sell a super expensive dvd of the whole production at the end but Toby and I weren’t about to shell out money to the man.

That is until we sat through the entire production and had our socks blown off by how good it was. The little girls were so cute and the big girls were so amazing. I fell in love with dance all over again. And I’ve never even danced (outside of that one class I took in college where I kicked everyone accidentally.)

As soon as the curtain fell, Toby beelined it for the dvd sales desk. He was sold. Which is really cool because before this recital he was talking about having Bug drop out of ballet. He just never really thought it was that important. And since he is the one who pays for her to have gymnastics and ballet lessons (it’s part of our co-parenting deal), that’s kind of a bad thing for Bug and I who happen to LOVE ballet. Toby won’t admit it but I think he has ideas that Bug is going to be in the Olympics or something (not gonna happen thanks to my genes unfortunately) and he’s pretty competitive when it comes to how Bug does in sports. He’s a little hard on her. Before you worry though, don’t. I’m really easy on her so it evens out. She needs a little chiding here and there.

So anyway, ballet lessons have not been chopped from the budget! Whoooeeeeeee!!! All thanks to the most wonderful ballet recital production ever. I wish I had filmed the whole thing but it would have been too big of a file to put up here anyway and then I’d really get busted by the theatre company.

Disneyland was so awesome. It wasn’t crowded, it wasn’t too hot. We got to do everything we wanted to do. Our tickets were free (thanks to a friend who works there who signed us in, SCORE!). Our packed lunch was delicious…I couldn’t have asked for a better day! It was just great! Toby and I didn’t even really squabble that much which was really really awesome since I thought Disneyland was pretty much everything Toby hates about everything and I was dreading his ongoing commentary. He was on his best behavior all day and so was Bug!

We got a bit of a late start but it was fine! Because Disneyland wasn’t crowded! I don’t think I’ve ever been on a better day. If you’re thinking of visiting, I cannot recommend an odd Thursday AFTER spring break enough. Guess how long the wait was for Pirates of the Caribbean? Five minutes. Small World? Ten. That NEVER happens! At least not to me.

Obligatory family portrait taken by a total stranger. He didn’t even cut off our heads!

We met Ariel right off. Bug was enthralled.

Then we hit the teacups. This is my favorite photo of the whole day.

And I was there too! It’s kinda nice having Toby around to take photos of me. I get tired of taking the hand-held self-portraits sometimes.

We kinda sprung Matterhorn on Bug which was not really very smart. Prepping a kid for a roller coaster is tricky. You have to tell them how scary it is so they aren’t traumatized but you have to tell them in such a way that you don’t scare them into not going. Bug was pretty brave but Matterhorn was a little too dark and fast for her. Thankfully she seemed to get over it pretty quick and it didn’t scare her off roller coasters for good. Of course we praised her to high heaven for being so brave so maybe that helped.

Toby had fun challenging himself with my camera. (Shot while twisting. He had the camera strap wrapped around his wrist about eight times, don’t worry.)

Next up was the underwater Finding Nemo submarine ride. This is my least favorite ride up there next to the Haunted Mansion and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Dark, claustrophobic and it takes forever to load and unload. I wasn’t terribly impressed with the new Nemo features but Bug seemed to like it. Except for the pretend crash and all the electricity sparking. I think she’s taken our “Don’t play with the electrical cords” sermons to heart.

Meh. We promised we’d take her to Catalina and show her some real fish on a glass-bottomed boat.

It looks pretty from the top though.

Autopia was a huge hit. I’d talked it up before we got there and Bug couldn’t wait to drive a car. She was pumped.

Unfortunately the steering wheel in our car was useless so she ended up letting Toby drive and just enjoying the scenery.

We wished we had bumpers like these cars (especially after my recent bank-parking-lot incident).

We waited 45 minutes to see the princesses. Normally I would think that was ridiculously stupid but then I had Bug and she reprogrammed my brain. We love princesses now and I am eating all my words one by one with salt. I’m so glad Aurora was there, Bug’s favorite princess. Bug was so shy. It was kinda like how I acted when I finally met Dooce in person.

By the time we got to Snow White and Jasmine she’d lost her timidity. She loved the princesses and I think they loved her right back. It was really sweet.

Then Toby bought her her own crown. I had stupidly stepped on her old pink plastic one a while back and she’s been mourning it for months now. As you know, Bug loves her crowns—sharp, hard, plastic crowns jammed right down on her ears. It was kind of nice that that was all she wanted. I was prepared to shell out major bucks for souvenir crap but she didn’t seem that into the merchandise. Good thing too ’cause it looked kinda cheap for the dollars they were asking.

Then we hit Small World. I thought for sure Toby would rather die than go on this ride since he suffers from earworms that will last up to a week. But he was a trouper and really enjoyed himself by taking photos in challenging lighting situations. Who knew Disneyland was such fun for photographers?! Also, my camera rocks. I’m so glad I bought it. (Thank you, again.)

(Toby pretending to be in awe.)

Tick tock, what an awesome clock.

I just thought these balloons were pretty. No other reason.

We didn’t do much in Adventureland/Frontierland. They were preparing for the premiere of the latest Pirates movie and a lot of stuff was blocked off. Bug wanted to go see the singing plastic flowers in the Tiki Room but I promised Bug we’d do that next time.

But we did ride Pirates of the Caribbean! Five-minute wait!!! Bug wasn’t scared at all. She’s braver than I was at five.

Then we passed by Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, my favorite ride of all time. I just figured she’d be too short for it but she wasn’t!!! Then I had to talk her into going. It took a lot of negotiating.

We pretty much just walked past it and gave up. She wasn’t into it and you know how stubborn Bug can be once she makes up her mind.

We wasted some time at Toon Town, which she loved but we hated. And then right before the park closed, she changed her mind and we ended up going on Big Thunder at dusk!! I have no photos but that seriously made my day. And! She liked it. Best. Day. Ever.

The rest was cake.

Then we called it a day and took our tired selves home. I can’t wait to go back.