Random Sunday Afternoon

It was nice Sunday afternoon.  My parents and I hung out in a park in the small town of Sierra Madre after we watched the movie 'Brave' for the second time (that's right!).  My dad napped on the benches a little bit, my mom read her book as she kept an eye on me, and I played on the playground and climbed trees.  We had Jamba Juice for light lunch then we headed to the restaurant Lemonade afterwards.  They have very interesting food.

I told you this was a random afternoon, right?  Okay, so here's a random encounter.  As we walked around the park, an old gentleman approached my mom and chatted with her for a little bit. He was walking his dog.  My mom found out that he's 82 years old, was a WWII vet, operated some cannon-type artillery, and had fathered 11 children (that he knows of...).  He was well dressed, clean, had a big hiking backpack on his back, and had one black earring on one of his ears.  Then he asked my mom if she's heard the plant "purslane".  She said she had.  Then he reached inside his flannel shirt and pulled a ziplock bag full of these and gave my mom some (which was weird).  After he left, my mom 'googled' purslane and turns out it  is classified as a weed, but is an up and coming 'vegetable' that is showing up on high-end gourmet food in restaurants and has omega-3 fatty acids and other vitamins and minerals.  It's interesting how strangers cross our paths, how we learn from them, and then never to see them again.  Whatta weird and interesting encounter.

We planted vegetable seeds early in March. Many of the baby plants didn't make it in the erratic weather we were having, but for some that did, my mom transplanted them to bigger pots and are doing well.  However, my mom no longer knows which plant is which.  She's just waiting to see what bears what.  Well, she was looking at this one plant yesterday afternoon. As she parted a few leaves, she found two green beans hanging there!! She was so happy because this is the first time she's gotten beans after two years of trying to grow them.  Yay!


I hope you had a nice weekend.

Brave

I've been waiting to see "Brave" for weeks now.  My mom and I saw it Friday night.  Princess Merida is not your typical princess.  She loves the outdoors, doesn't mind getting dirty, doesn't mind getting scruffed and scratched up, she gets up when she falls down, doesn't mind if her hair isn't combed, doesn't mind if her clothes rip, likes to climb rocks, she's feisty.....wait a minute...that sounds a lot like me...no wonder I like her and I can relate.  You know what else is cool about her?  She's a great archer.  At summer camp, we actually do archery.  I got to use a bow and arrow and shot at targets.  I told my mom I like it a lot.  Then this movie comes out and the heroine does archery.  How about that?  One thing that I didn't like about her in the beginning is that she doesn't listen to her mom and answers back too much.  But in the end, she realizes she was wrong and says sorry.  That's the bravest thing one can do is admit to fault and say sorry.  I like this movie because it shows that girls can be independent thinkers and they can be strong.  It also shows the bond between a mother and daughter. Check it out.

Summer Camp

Hi there!  How's your first day of summer?  I hope it's going great.  I started summer camp this week at the Wilderness Park in the City of Arcadia.  It's the first time I'm going to summer camp and I was a little nervous.  But once I got there, it got better because I'm meeting new friends and we do a bunch of activities together. We play all kinds of games, do arts and crafts, cook, swim twice a week, go on a field trip once a week (we went to Adventure City today in Anaheim), and barbecue and slip-and-slide on Fridays.  I'm learning to be independent and how to take care of my own stuff like putting my bathing suit on, keeping my wet stuff separate, etc. My mom put a sunscreen stick in my bag so I can put that on by myself too. When she asked me if I did, I said yes. But only on my chin. (awww...my mom said).  I didn't have time to put it all over me, you know.  I told my mom that I'm the littlest one there.  That makes her sad because although we have camp counselors, it's just me to take care and fend for myself.  But it's part of growing up.  It teaches me to adapt to different circumstances.

 Tonight, I'm a little tired.  I requested udon soup for dinner as I watched The Secret World of Arrietty for the 30th time.  I'm wearing a scarf we colored at camp to get my hair off my face (and soup).  

Oh yeah, I get to ride the big yellow bus everywhere.  It picks us at designated schools in Arcadia, then it takes us to the Wilderness Park.  It also takes us to our swimming location and of course takes us to field trips.  I fell asleep in that bus today.  It was a long drive home from Anaheim.  But tomorrow will be another fun-filled day, I'm sure.


HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SUMMER!

Happy Father's Day

To my most favorite person in the world!

Last Days of Kindergarten

Next week is my last week as a kindergartner.  A few more days and school is out.  

 This is my last Open House Art Exhibit for the year. Can you believe it?  Time just flew by.

 Here's my classroom.  My friends brought their parents to show their cool school work.

 Here's my teacher Ms. Logsdon demonstrating our smart board.

 I made this little vest for my monkey as part of a project.

Some students made this robot using soda bottles and boxes.

Of course I met up with my buddies to play around, too. 

 My friend Katharine and I.

Looks like I'm still one of the shortest kids in the class.

But I can tell you that I'm one of the fastest ones.  

Farewell kindergarten!  

Hello summer camp!

THANK YOU MS. LOGSDON.

I learned a lot in your class.  See you around in the fall!

Venus passing through

Tonight, the planet Venus passes between the Earth and Sun.  This event won't happen again until the year 2117! That's 105 years from now, people; the last time we'll see it in our lifetime.  Below is an amazing picture found on the internet.

The planet Venus makes its transit across the Sun as seen from Kathmandu June 6, 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere). Venus made a slow transit across the face of the sun on Tuesday, the last such passing that will be visible from Earth for 105 years. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar (NEPAL - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY)

High-Tops

I have the same exact shoes as my Lolo.  Except mine are smaller.

Messing with my dog

Saturday afternoon.  What's a girl to do?

 Ah yes, I'm going to transform my dog into a prince.  

Charlie: "Uh-oh"

Charlie: "Ah geez, here we go."

 Charlie: *muffle, muffle, muffle*
Me: Abra (giggles) kadabra (giggles) !!

 Charlie: "Why are you letting her do this to me, mom?"
Me: Ta-da! Your royal highness!

 Charlie: "Eh, I guess I look cool and regal in this blue cape. I'll show this little girl that I appreciate it, by..."

 Charlie: "...blowing my afternoon doggy breath on her."

Me: EWWWW!!

So that's how I mess with my dog.  By the way, that mound of poop-looking stuff in the background?  That's not poop.  It's potting soil my mom forgot to take out when she was potting her plants this morning.  Gotcha.

Tangled

This morning, my mom took a quick nap on the couch after her morning jog.  On rare napping sessions like this, I like to putter around her quietly.  I would sometimes sit next to her and fix her pillows or put my stuff toys around her.  Today, I decided to practice my braiding skills on her hair.  But the thing is, I have no braiding skills. What she had were series of twists and knots.  When she woke up she had some untangling to do.