Western States Road Trip

With our bags packed, car loaded, and travel boxes (containers decorated and filled with art supplies, mad libs, puzzle books, games, snacks, glee gum, magazines, travel notebooks, nature sketch journals, maps, and mileage charts, etc.) in hand we set out for our road trip last month.  We traveled up the coast of California, crossing the border to Oregon, then through Washington over to Idaho and Montana, through Utah to Nevada and then home - phew!  It was quite an adventure.  The kids said they felt a bit like the "Little Travelers" except that we were not traveling to another country and our travels lasted closer to three weeks vs. three months!  Over the next week or so, we will post some of the highlights of our trip; some of our favorite places we went to and some of the things we did.

Loving LACMA - Japanese Fun

We are loving LACMA these days.  This week we took a tour of the Japanese Pavilion.  Some highlights were: statues of Buddhist Monks (made out of wood!), a gold stationary box, and the Netsuke Gallery (miniature sculptures used to suspend purses or boxes from the sash of a man's kimono).  After the tour we had a Sumi-e art lesson.  Our instructor was terrific, and it was fun, but much harder to do than it looked!

Later in the week we enjoyed some real Japanese Mochi with good friends at Mochilato in Irvine.  Micayla and Allie loved the mint chip, Carly liked the raspberry cream, and Nate voted for Mango.  Here's Micayla's description, "They were like creamy gelato with sticky rice paste on the outside - yum!"

Another great way to learn more about Japanese art is by going to the Japanese Garden at CSULB. They have an Arts Day on Sunday, June 7th, and an Origami Festival on Sunday, July 12th.   Maybe we will see you there!

Spectacular Sewing

For my 13th birthday party, I sewed 13 aprons for the guests (it was a French pastry party).  Well, one of my friends liked her apron so much, that she asked me to sew her a skirt for her 16th b-day in May!  I was very busy in the past months, but I managed to whip out her skirt in the last week of May.  Ms. Hilde (a seamstress that I normally go to for help with sewing projects) was in Norway, so I had to find somebody else to help me with the skirt.  Luckily, we found a lady who has a sewing shop nearby (The Artisan's Lair) and gives lessons.  So I went to her, and she filled me chock full of information: how to do the basting stitches just right, what "pinking shears" are, how to straighten the "grain line", why you don't want to use the "selvage" and how to sew a button hole with precise precision.  Ms. Linda was a meticulous teacher.  It was good for me; I learned to slow down and work more carefully.  Ms. Linda is such a wonderful sewing instuctor, I'm going back in the Summer to work on a sun dress with her.  If you like to sew, but want to learn more about the art, then Ms. Linda's sewing lessons are for you!  Here is me and my friend Olivia (who I made the skirt for, also the skirt that I'm wearing I made) and a picture of me with Ms. Linda below.

Beauty and the Beast

If you missed the Gala last weekend, you might want to see the Long Beach Ballet Student performance of Beauty and the Beast coming up - Saturday, June 6th @ 2pm and 7pm - Lakewood High School, 4400 Briarcrest Avenue, Lakewood.  Look out for Micayla who is a Villager and Carly who is a Rose.

What Is Your Walk-Score?

We travel on foot or by bikes whenever we can. We go to the library, the park, events at the university, and to our local shops and restaurants. We are grateful to have quite a few places close to our home.

We found this site called "Walk Score" - where you can find out how "walkable" your neighborhood is. All you have to do is type in your address and the site will calculate your score based on the number of things you have nearby. Just for fun you might want to check out your "walk score"!

Here is a photo of us from earlier this year on one of our many walking trips to the library.

Parlez-Vous Francais?

Nous sommes étudiants en français et nous avons une professeur de France. Elle est super! Nous jouons, apprenons, et chantons ensemble. Quand tu voudras apprendre le français, tu peux envoyer Valerie un courrier éléctronique à valimexico@yahoo.co.uk

We are studying French and we have a teacher from France. She is super! We play, learn, and sing songs together. If you would like to learn French, you can email Valerie @ valimexico@yahoo.co.uk

If you'd like to practice French on-line check out Mango Languages - a free program offered by the Long Beach Public Library; all you need is a LB Public library card (they have other language courses too).

Here are Allie & Micayla singing a couple of their favorite French tunes:

Gala Performance

Long Beach Ballet Gala 2009 is coming up this weekend!   Featuring Act II from Swan Lake and excerpts from Don Quixote, company dancers (including Carly:) will be performing at the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Saturday, May 23rd @8pm and Sunday, May 24th @ 2pm.  Go to the Long Beach Ballet site for more information.