Blogasbord: June 2006

IDEO Picnic

Following the Primary temple trip we headed to Flood Park in Menlo Park for the annual IDEO picnic. This year's theme was Sweet Tea Jamboree, which meant lots of southern food and Cajun music.

It also meant kids activities, including music . . .

. . . eating . . .

. . . face painting . . .

. . . eating . . .

Who knew Abby would be such a big fan of mussels.

. . . biting balloons to hear them pop . . .

. . . hanging from fingertips . . .

. . . and swinging.

It's enough to wear any kid out.

Primary Temple Trip (May 19)

Abby's primary had a trip to the temple the morning of the IDEO picnic. The temple was hopping that Saturday morning and we had to park down the hill behind the temple.

While the primary caught some shorter movies and a tour or two, the rest of us saw the new Joseph Smith movie. After the movie was done, the sister missionaries opened the doors, and as Jenna and I assembled our paraphenalia we realized that Louisa had escaped. I found her around the corner peeking out from behind a display.

Adams Kid Bookclub

First Trip to the Beach (May 15)

The girls headed to the beach with some friends, much to my surprise (I can count the number of time's I've been able to persuade Jenna to accompany Abby and I to the beach on two fingers). I recommended San Gregorio Beach, a nice little spot halfway between San Francisco and Santa Cruz with a slow moving river that empties into the Pacific (and is significantly warmer than the ocean).

Swingers (May 10)

Abby's Ballet Recital (May 10)

May 10 was Abby's ballet recital at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. I was impressed that the 4-year-old ballet students in our community perform on the same stage as more experienced performers. Abby wore make-up for the first time including, much to her delight, body glitter.

Much to my surprise, the whole production was quite entertaining. Each performance was brief enough to keep things moving along, and most had an America's Funniest Home Video quality them to compensate for any lack of graceful movement.

Abby's small class of four, dancing to Louis Armstrong's rendition of "What A Wonderful World", did very well compared to some of the other classes. Our Abby was always a step behind on the moves as she seemed to be watching to see what the kid next to her was doing. This may be due to the fact that she missed the last three practices before the performance (bad parents!). I also notices that her legs seemed much more tanned than the other kids, surprising since she's so pasty white. Then I realised the other kids were wearing white tights. Somehow we must have missed the memo (or the rehersal when they explained the bit of wardrobe planning).

Unfortunately, the only picture we got of the actual number is the blurry one you see above. However, we did capture the entire routine on video, which is available upon request.