Vacation at the Best Western Thousand Oaks Inn

By MAGGIE DING

In effort for a quick get-away, we took off for a last minute trip to the FREE Best Western Thousand Oaks Inn complimentary of A-gong Toshi & A-ma Alice for some fun in the sun! 

Hip-Hop Dance Classes!

By MAGGIE & KEVIN DING

We neared season's end with five classes to make up from Sedona and Maven's ballet/tap class at the School of Dance and Music, so we thought we'd try them in hip-hop rather than ballet. 

As cute as ballet can be, it's hard not to love them in the action of hip-hop, trying to duplicate certain tough-looking movies. They are so cute.

 Maven did one class alone (photo below) while Sedona was just coming back from getting some work done at the dentist for a a filling that had broken. But Sedona had plenty of moves when she got in there, as seen in the videos.

Max's Birthday Snake

By MAGGIE DING

Max is in Sedona's kindergarten class, and his birthday party was toward the end of the school year. That made for a super fun way to end kindergarten. He had cool real animals such as this snake on display. I didn't find them that appealing, but the kids did! 

Mrs. Strong made a special guest appearance with her baby, Charlotte. The kids quickly moved over to make room for their teacher, with Parker and Sedona nearest.

Fun party favor: a guppy!

Home Art Class

By MAGGIE DING

Just some fun times at home during the summer ...

Who needs fancy toys? The girls painted fillers from all the boxes we have delivered to our house -- a never-ending string of goods these days. Online ordering is the best!

Dance Recital

By MAGGIE DING

The kids' weekly ballet/tap classes at the School of Dance and Music culminate in an on-stage performance. Sedona did one previously, and she did another in the same recital this time as Maven's first performance.

Dance classmates Sedona, Riley and Mackenzie got ready together for their "Do You Believe in Magic?" song together ...

Love that Sedona's class is filled with all our pals: Riley, Mackenzie, Siena, Raychel and Isabel.

Maven was so excited for her first recital and happy to get to wear so much makeup. Kevin was less enthralled, likening them to clowns and lamenting how hard it is to remove afterward.

Maven was joined by friends Charlotte, Belle and Sabrina in her class for their song, "Little Bitty Pretty One."

Maven stopped to pose with Sophia Luckey, who was in Sedona's Montessori class last year and is in Maven's class this year, with Sabrina squeezed in the middle.

Field Day at Sedona's School

By KEVIN DING

Maggie and I went separate ways in the morning because it was Parent Appreciation Day in Mrs. Strong's classroom for Sedona.

Maggie was there to accept a thank-you mug from Sedona and take in a performance for the parents ...

I went with Maven for Daddy Drop-Off Day at Montessori, and we had some bonding time there before she finally let me leave and I got back to Hermosa View for Sedona's next activity: Field Day!

At Field Day, Sedona went through all the stations with her best buddy, Parker Albarian:

I shot a lot of videos of Sedona in action, and she did pretty well -- especially in the running jump rope.

The last station was carrying a potato with a flat spoon, and Sedona wasn't quite patient enough -- same as she sometimes skips reading the instructions to assignments she assumes she will be able to do. In this case, she just picked up the potato by hand and hustled along. If you're not cheatin', you're not tryin', eh?

Mommy Breakfast Club

By MAGGIE DING

With the kids in kindergarten, it puts many of us who used to gather for South Bay Adult School parenting groups when the kids were younger now in different elementary schools. That means making new friends (for our kids and ourselves) from our elementary schools, but fortunately none of us are forgetting our old friends: To ensure we get plenty of time together, we have started a monthly breakfast club: (left to right) Kathy, me, Betty, Patty, Loretta and Whitney -- all together!

Maya's Fairy Party

By MAGGIE DING

One of our new buds, Maya, celebrated her 6th birthday with this party where all the girls were fairies! So cute!