Life's a Beach

For my birthday weekend we took a quick trip to San Diego to see Dante's new digs. Living just blocks from the beach is a pretty good life we discovered.

Shockingly the weather was not too great, a bit overcast and cool for July but the kids certainly didn't mind.

The adults also managed to relax -- here is Bob watching the kids.
and Caren watching the waves


and Max reading a book...

Little did we know that this relaxing day would end with a stressful finale as Max and Caren found themselves with a huge hassle in Menlo Park waiting for them including fire trucks and lots and lots of smoke and fire damage. Luckily no one was hurt but certainly not the relaxing weekend we were intending to have!

Kids on Bikes

As you know cycling is a big love for Bob, so this year has been a bit of a challenge as the girls are in the tween stage. Neither could ride their own bike and both were too big for mom to offer to take one on.
This had Bob doing a variety of "turn" rides to attempt to keep the dream alive. Sadly, mom hasn't been on her own bike in ages as a result.

Both girls are doing great on the jump bike though. In addition, Bob has been working toward getting them to ride for themselves getting Jacqueline a balance bike (with no peddles) and taking endless trips with Ashton on her two wheel bike.

As with most things that don't come easily for Ashton (which is a small list of things but always memorable) it's an exercise in patience. Most "bike training" trips involve Ashton complaining of a variety of things (hunger, pains, hatred for biking, frustration that she will never learn, tired, etc.), some tears and occasional bribes.

She is very close, but Bob certainly deserves credit for not giving up. Mom is wondering why there are ski schools and swim schools but not bike schools. For those of us who have kids who do better under peer pressure, I think it's a bummer no one has given an option to outsource this parenting challenge.

Kids in the hood

As you all know we so love our neighborhood, even when we have to walk (or drive) six blocks to be a part of it. As summer comes on it's hard to get settled inside for the evening when it's light out and there are friends to play with.
So we decided to do a little playing before going home.
This sitting up stuff is a little tough sometimes!
and getting a whole row of kids to face the camera is even a bit more challenging but worth it. Left to right -Ashton, Zach, Baron, Sophie, Jacqueline.

Happy Fathers day... whereever you are

In the long tradition of celebrations at the Bear household father's day lasted almost a week here. Not because Bob was getting special treatment (although you can see the force was with him in the form of a massive cookie) but because he was in Japan.



Not to have him miss the chance to be with his girls for the event we made a point to send him a few special photos to let him know we were thinking of him on his day. First was a required photo of the special blanket.

Next was a photo of his three girls saying happy father's day.

but getting three girls to all look at the camera is quite difficult so there were a few outtakes as well. It seems Julianne is less practiced at getting her photo taken as the other two...

Jacqueline graduates from Preschool

Anyone who has a child with a birthday close to the school cut off knows that you have to make a decision if you are going to progress to Kindergarten or do another year of preschool. There are as many opinions as people on this topic, and for Jacqueline we got several votes for and against another year of preschool.




In the end, we decided it was time for her to graduate and push forward to Lincoln next year. The deciding vote was Jacqueline's as she was very clear on her intention to start kindergarten.

The graduation was held at the park and each child had a part to play. Jacqueline led the group in a song. I think she can be described as "belting it out" with gusto! She faced the kids to make sure they were joining her.

She got her diploma and her congratulations from her teacher.



For the photo op, she had to say "peace out".

Open House

Here are some samplings of Ashton's Open House work. She had stories she had published, art on the wall and lots of great accomplishments to share.

Her self portraits are getting more and more realistic.
and her handwriting has come so far that even her teacher was impressed.


Jacqueline was happy to sit at her sisters table and take it all in. I'm happy to say that she even sat quietly so I could enjoy the presentation.

Stone Soup Performance

Two of the first grade classes combined to put on a performance of the Stone Soup Rock Opera.

This show was complete with sets and characters. In fact, we had a series of dramas as Ashton was not at all thrilled to be cast as a narrator and not an "actor". Later she switched with a friend and was given the role of "Captain Max".
As we got ready for the show I was surprised to find out that she didn't have any lines (so I was confused about what the drama was about getting the part). In the end, I realized the point was the costume and not the speaking. In fact, none of the actors spoke, they acted out the part as other kids did the talking (a smart approach for first graders in retrospect!).

So while Ashton was a huge hit I guess she does not yet qualify for the SAG from this part.

Somehow I'm sure there will be more chances! Bravo to Ms. Chan and the other teachers and helpers for pulling off a really great show with a cast of first graders!