My Gym

Since I knew the girls wouldn't be exercising during Spring Break since all their extra-curricular activities take a break as well, I purchased a My Gym membership for them a couple months ago.  It was probably one of the best purchases ever because they loved it and the workers are really nice, not to mention they have an awesome play list.  We went at least twice a week, once for a class, which was actually pretty hard, and once for free play.  Though today was our last class, I would definitely consider doing it again.

Arm bends

After the second class (we had a make-up class to do), we went to Ben and Jerry's for our free ice cream cone. Yum!

Callback

We had our first family callback today, which I had a gut feeling that we might.  Our first audition on Thursday went well...casting asked me to ask the girls what they wanted to do today and Sophie's response of "go to Benihana" and maybe my genuine surprise are what I think got us the callback. Trung doesn't go to the first audition, but I made him come to the callback.  Sadly, we found out that we are definitely not actors, but at least the girls had fun trying.  Next time...

Waiting and goofying around

Crabby

'Tis the season for crawfish but alas, the crawfish in Santa Monica is non-existent, well, you can place an order and it will arrive in three days, but it's $8.99/pound!  So, instead, we went to The Boiling Crab!  I was thrilled to find out a new location opened in West LA in February, so I can get my fix more often and much quicker.  People probably don't know about this location just yet because the wait was only 20 minutes when it's usually a couple of hours.  I love me some Boiling Crab!

 Lydia really loves crab now, especially snow crab

Sophie mainly stuck with the chicken tenders, but she took whatever crab anyone offered

Pier Day

Lydia won a free day pass to Pacific Park at the pier back in December, and there was a Groupon deal, so I got Sophie and myself tickets as well.  After two busy weeks, we finally got to go the final day of Spring Break.  We didn't make it out to the pier until after 2, but we stayed until 6 and definitely got our money's worth.  It was a great end to a fun break!

Bumper cars...Sophie recently made the height minimum

In my opinion, a pretty boring ride, but the girls kept going on it.  Diane and Ione joined us after a hour.

Hot air balloon ride

Ferris wheel time though it was awfully windy up top

Ione doesn't like the crazier rides, so I just went with my girls to Scrambler

The froggy ride is always very popular

Thrift Store

My friend Simona had a great idea of having her girls create a thrift store to get rid of toys that they no longer play with or want.  They gave my girls monopoly money to buy anything that was on the table, and my girls went to town and bought all but three items.  Lydia and Sophie had so much fun that now they want to have a thrift store too, which just might be the perfect way for us to get rid of excess toys.

Sophie, Julia, Rachel, and Lydia getting thrifty

Serendipity

We had a easy morning...I took the girls with me to zumba and then after lunch, we made a quick run to Santa Monica Place.  Lydia then got sealants on her four adult molars.  We headed to Burbank for Sophie's audition right after to beat the traffic, but still ended up hitting some.  We visited a local park to kill some time and a few minuted before we were about to leave, we were informed that a ice cream truck was giving out free ice cream.  Apparently, a local church was giving back to the community.  How funny that I was thinking about buying ice cream at Sprouts right before the park too, but decided against it.  

Off to the audition we go, and right when I get out of the car, I see an old high school friend walking by on the sidewalk.  I hadn't seen her in over a decade and to suddenly run into her after living in LA for almost 5 years!  What are the odds!  And to top that off, I met someone from Sugar Land at the audition and we saw Lydia's teacher jogging with a friend on our drive home.  What an interesting day!

Lydia asked me take a picture of her sealants

Free ice cream

Old old friends

Kidspace with friends

I always look forward to going to Kidspace during Spring Break because it allows us extra time to have lunch at Porto's and for the girls to play at the playground.  Since we got home late last night, however, I ended up spending the morning getting situated and we ate lunch at home, so we didn't head out until after 1.  We did drop by Porto's for some desserts, though, and stopped by Glendale Galleria before going to Kidspace.  April's family and Deborah's family joined us at the museum and we all went to dinner afterwards, overall, a fun time, despite the rain.

Making wiki art

Ready to eat!

Deborah, April, and I

Mammoth

Right after Caleb's birthday party, we took a five hour drive to Mammoth to spend a couple days skiing.  Trung and the girls already had their lift tickets paid for with their Mountain Collective passes and we borrowed ski equipment for the girls, so we only had to pay for lodging, food, and my lift tickets.  Mammoth had a really mellow run, Sesame Street, that was perfect for teaching the kids; they were skiing by themselves by the end of the trip.  We all had a great time and are all looking forward to our next ski trip!

Our first family ski trip riding up the ski lift together

We ran into Wooly on the way to the slopes

Proud Daddy

Fun times with Daddy before he snowboards down from the summit

Riding up the Panorama Gondola

On top of the Sierra

"Hope you make it down alive" kiss

Our last run for the trip and Wooly followed us up

Not all mascots can snowboard

So proud of my girls that they learned to ski, and with the mascot!  The perfect way to end our trip!

A year gone by

We celebrated my nephew's first birthday in Orange County today.  Time sure does fly!  The "Where the Wild Things Are" themed birthday party was super sweet and the food was delicious.  Happy first birthday, big boy Caleb!

Soho Taco catered the party

 Mike's little family

I guess I'm the boring aunt

Alexis was having so much fun with this marbled balloon that Sophie reluctantly let her have

Sophie turns 7!

We spent the most part of Sophie's birthday hanging out with her acting buddy, Emma, who was staying in Hollywood for a couple of days.  Emma and her mom Marie have called us up the last couple of times that they have been in town to invite us to swim at their hotel pool.  They are super nice and are our only "acting" friends with whom we keep in touch.

Hotel lobby swing

Taking a little break from swimming

Marie and me

Enjoying fish and chips, poolside.  Life sure is tough for this seven year old.

Lydia and Emma enjoying their lunch with a view of downtown LA

After swimming, we went to KC Crepe's for a birthday crepe.  Sophie has been asking for one for awhile now, so I was happy to oblige on her birthday.

The crepes are so good, with green tea ice cream, fresh strawberries, and much much more!  I think they have the best jasmine milk tea.

After a quick stop at Sprouts, we met Trung at M Street Kitchen, where Sophie wanted to go for dinner.  They gave her a cookie a la mode for her birthday.

Hope she gets her wish!

Sophie had been telling everyone that she can't be April Fooled on her birthday, but we set things straight