Volleyball Tourney and 38 weeks pics!!

This past weekend Long Beach played host to the first FIVB Professional Volleyball Tournament to be held in the States in 10 years...general admission was free each day and we went to one of the early rounds to beat the crowds...we were successful at that :-) And it was a lot of fun...for the fifteen minutes Madison let us stay :-)

 This was the view from our seats...

 This is why we chose the seats...shade :-)

 Madison enjoyed her thunder sticks...

 And the pregnant lady enjoyed her snacks :-)

We parked near our old apartment building and walked the half mile down the beach to the volleyball venue (no way were we paying to park) so on the way back we stopped and played on the beach and Madison and Anna got some 38 weeks pregnant pics...

Looking Good!

Baaba (Anna's Mom) arrived today from Japan!! Not too much longer now!!

VBS, Science Experiments and More!

My mom arrives from Japan tomorrow and hopefully the baby's arrival will follow shortly after so we have a lot of last minute catch up to do here...:-)

So here are a bunch of fun activities we have been enjoying so far!

At the end of June we participated in our 3 day VBS. This was our 2nd year so we tried to improve on what we could have done better last year like handing out flyers in the neighborhood and advertising better with a big banner, etc... and it was definitely more successful than last year and got to see lots of new faces which was great:-) Madison seriously LOVED every minute of it and all the kids just could not get enough! Dave taught in the 7-9 year old class which is younger than his normal range since being a high school teacher he usually gets stuck with that age group so he had fun doing more of crafty stuff with his kids this time...

At first everyone gathers in the auditorium and goes over the theme "Creation" and plays short games and sing songs, etc... Everyone gets a chance to participate in one way or another in front of everyone and Madison's hand usually shot up to sing one of the songs and I would move my big belly over to secure a good spot to film our sweetie pie:-) On her left is Kaelie and right Brigette, two of her really close friends singing "My God is so Big!".

 

I thought I attempted to get more pics or videos of her but this video was the only one I could find...

The following week many of them suffered a post-VBS withdrawal and made us wish we had more opportunities for young kids to be a part during services... Well we have a hope of trying something in the fall IF this baby#2 of ours doesn't drain all our energy:-)

For the summer because we are all going to be together all the time and can do whatever we feel like I still wanted to stick to some kind of schedule so we don't let the summer disappear on us. So we are trying to stick to our very broad calender such as Monday being a day to take a day trip somewhere, Tuesday we do some kind of art project , etc... We were originally planning Thursday to be a Science Experiment day but it usually gets pushed back to Friday or Saturday when we forget to buy materials for it or are too tired from late Wednesday night and stuff... Anyhow we've successfully completed 3 experiments so far and found out that it is super fun to do science experiments with Madison!! and trust me I get into it too!

Science Experiment #1: Cornstarch and Water

I did this one near the end of the year with my students in school and it was a pretty big hit...it was an even bigger hit for my two girls at home...it is simply cornstarch mixed with water until you get a kind of pasty consistency...but the actual consistency is like nothing you will have ever felt before...Steve Spangler did a cool demonstration of corn starch and water on the Ellen show which you can look up on You Tube if you care to see more...

 

 Science Experiment #2: Baking Soda Volcano

So we stayed pretty classic here, but Madison hadn't seen it before so it was new to her...

 

We ran out of vinegar so we started thinking what else we can try with and thought of lemons still hanging on our lemon trees that needed to be used sooner rather than later...

Science Experiment #3: Diet Coke & Mentos Volcano

A few days before the experiment we went to Wreck-it-Ralph, a movie in the park, which was a lot of fun...and mentos with diet coke were featured prominently...it took me a couple trials and a little research to find out the perfect number of mentos to create our maximum geyser...Madison helped me develop the paper cone we held the mentos in so we could dump as many as possible before getting out of the way...it went pretty good...

One of the Monday day trips was to Sea World in San Diego since Madison was missing her Shamu so much...:-) but this time the Cawthons family and Kathy who happened to be visiting them were available to go with us. We found out later we probably had met Kathy in NYC when we were attending Prospect Heights Church in Brooklyn but that's a really long story so I won't write that here but the whole day(14 hours total) went pretty fast and we had so much fun:-)

We were walking back to the car and happened to look down to find a set of duckie feet... Being 8 months pregnant and 14 hours on my feet will do that to you but I didn't mind it, it was such a fun day!

The following Monday we went North to Santa Barbara... because we wanted to :-) 

Madison had started to really enjoy hitting this ball volleyball style at home and she continued her efforts at the beach...we actually found a net after this practice session and had fun trying to hit the ball over the net...

 

She got changed...:-)

The real reason we went to Santa Barbara is because Anna saw this Fish N Chips place featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives...so up the coast we went...

 We got the whale to share...it was good!!

Santa Barbara itself was okay, but we didn't think the beaches were that great...perhaps it is like San Diego and it would take us a couple times of exploring to find the right places, but we would rather spend our day trips going to San Diego so I don't think we will venture north again anytime soon.

Well Madison continues to grow up too fast...last week we took her for her four year check-up...she was SOOOO excited...it was cute!

 She gives her dolls and Mommy and Daddy check-ups all the time at home with her doctor set, so she was loving having it all done to her...with the small exception of the two shots she got...which only made her look confused at the nurse for a moment because this injection did not make a squeaky noise like the one at home :-) no tears though...she is officially already braver then me (Dave).

4 day San Diego Getaway!!!

Now that all of us are done with our work/school and have the time and limited budget to do whatever we feel like we have been enjoying by taking a few "day" trips...this particular one to San Diego was extended to four days thanks to the generosity of Grandpa and his hotel points!!

Ever since we told Madison that we will be going on a trip and staying in a hotel for a few days she got super excited! Did we ever tell you she LOVES hotels? We personally do not like packing for  over night trips because it's too much work for just one night so usually we do our best to make the trip to last at least 2 nights and for this trip we were hoping to stay 3 nights so we can relax more... Fortunately Dave's dad had enough hotel points for 3 nights at the Crowne Plaza which was just perfect! We researched restaurants/beaches/parks and reserved our Ellie/House sitter for the 4 days so everything was pretty set:-)

But allow me to sneak in what happened a few days/a day before... 

The Tuesday before Madison invited Dave for a Father's day breakfast at her school... Since Dave had to be at his school by 7:30 they had to leave the house super early to make the breakfast but I believe they had their private breakfast time which was kind of nice...:-) Anyways, here is why Madison thinks Daddy is special:-) The first one is no longer true but glad she has a nice memory of it (Madison K is towards the bottom of the page, not to be confused with Madison D at the top)...

And on the actual Father's day he got a yummy crepe breakfast and I believe the new triathlon suit that he is picking up from a store sometime next week was a gift from me... Madison got him a big tub of red vines which he shares with us daily...:-)

Okay back to the San Diego trip!

We asked Madison to pack for the trip which she got busy doing right away which further proves her love for trips:-)

Here is what she packed... I told her to make sure to pack 5 undies which she did... Can you see them stuffed in the mesh pocket!? Apparently she thought she could walk around with just her undie the whole trip because everything else she packed were toys and books...:-)

As you can see she is very serious about going on trips!

She has her packed suit case, Minnie Mouse Pillow, Rody, A baby stroller and a paper bag full of books I believe...:-)

Of course we had to help her realize somethings she packed are not important for the trip and managed to fit in some clothes and of course as many swim suits as she owns...:-)

Day1: Coronado Beach

We researched kid friendly beaches in San Diego area and yelp and everyone we talked to recommended Coronado Beach so we had to go there... We got down there super fast(in like an hour and a half) and loved the fact that we get to take a bridge to get to the Coronado Island from near downtown San Diego...

I made Japanese Fried Chicken and Shrimp(Karaage) that Dave really likes for lunch we were able to just relax and enjoy the beautiful beach while we snacked...

Coronado Hotel

 

 After lunch we checked into the hotel which was really nice, the best part was that since Dave's dad is a premium member!? we get free daily parking($12/day) AND Complimentary breakfast/snack & cocktail social hour held in an executive club house every morning and evening!!! Awesome!!!

The view from our balcony!

  

We jumped in the pool right away and afterwards attempted a nap time for Madison but was not successful and it was almost dinner time so we got in the car and left to check out how San Diego Mitsuwa is, BUT 10 seconds after the car departed we lost Madison to a dreamland and we didn't get her back until our final stop at Trader Joe's for some snacks and dinner for Madison...:-)

Day 2: Sea World

I got to sleep in while Dave and Madison went up to the executive floor and to the club room for the complimentary breakfast which we enjoyed for free then we were off to Sea World!! The Crowne Plaza is among the many hotels that are lining up along the freeway and we didn't realize this but it is in a super convenient location so it only took us 10 minutes or so to get to the park but because of the really annoying map app on my iphone we had to turn around and ended up taking us 15 minutes plus frustration... Still we were at the gate as the park opened for the day and got a pretty good parking spot:-)

At first, we pretty much had the park to ourselves so after checking all the show times we headed to the kids area that can get super crowded later on... 

First Madison wanted nothing to do with this fun jumper thing, but Dave managed to convince her finally... We are still confused to why we needed to do that though! She loves jumpers!

 

 

We left the park to go get Lunch then back to the hotel for some pool time!

After a short break at the hotel we went back to Sea World for some night session including a night time Shamu show called "Shamu Rock!" and Dave decided to ride the Atlantis which is like Splash Mountain:-) Madison and I were able to catch him go down the big drop and the unfortunate decision to sit in the front got him pretty soaked! Ha!

Day3: San Diego Zoo

We decided to spend a few hours at the Zoo but for the first time we took the bus tour which was perfect since I did not feel like walking up and down the hills in the heat too much... We got to see some animals we normally miss off of our normal route so that was really cool but after the tour we left the park for the yummy lunch we looked up and wanted to try:-)

The restaurant is called Cucina Urbano and rated very highly on yelp...:-) When I looked at the menu and read "Make Your Own Pizza" I did not think actually make your own pizza but that's what she got to do which was really cool:-)
 

 

 

Everything was delicious and I got my homemade pasta craving satisfied:-) We probably will come back here again...:-)

For dinner we tried a highly rated Thai restaurant called "Amarind Thai" while Madison slept in her bugaboo and unexpectedly gave us a semi-date night feel:-) then we went to a beach called Mission Beach right by Sea World for our evening stroll and a giant soft serve for dessert:-) It was free to park and had a nice board walk so I'm sure we will be going back there again:-)

Day 4: Final Day
We didn't have to check out of the hotel until noon so we slept in and had a nice breakfast and Madison and Dave got to enjoy the heated pool one last time before we headed back home...:-)

 It was a great mini-vacation!! We can't wait until Grandpa saves up enough points so we can do it again :-)

Webby Dance Recital

Our apologies for being extremely slow about posting all the happenings at the Klein household but we are happy to tell you we've been having a really nice Summer...:-)

Madison has been taking a dance class at the Montessori Greenhouse School and in June she had her first dance recital debut...:-) We first didn't want her to do the recital since the costume itself cost $45 plus $12 per person to see the show which was just ridiculous BUT in the end I guess we were glad she was able to have the experience with her buddies...

A week before the recital she had her first dance rehearsal where we picked up the costume and did a rough run through of the dance with all the other groups. Then the day before the actual recital we went for a dress rehearsal at the actual recital place which was a high school auditorium pretty close to our house... 

She is the first one from the left and I don't want to give away too much but she has the most important role to play...

 

During other practices she proved herself well but during the dress rehearsal maybe the size of the stage overwhelmed her or something and she forgot her routine a little... It's super cute though we just could not stop laughing:-) so you can laugh too if you would like:-)

After spending $45 for the costume we just wish it could have been something a little more useful for Halloween time or something...? Not sure how we can try to reuse this costume again...:(

She pulls it off well...and it isn't easy to make this costume look good :-)

 

Four of her dancing buddies

The way it worked was we dropped Madison off with two mom helpers who stayed with the kids in the back gymnasium before it was time to go on stage, and one of the moms was super prepared with a whole goody bag for each kid...it was very thoughtful.

 

 The official Webby Dance program...I'm sure a good chunk of our admission fee went to this beautiful program...

 

 The show was actually pretty entertaining...it opened with one of my favorite numbers...they are little flowers that danced in flower pots...one girl spent the whole song crying, another tripped getting out of her pot...it was a great opening number!

This would have been Madison's favorite...not only did they dance to a Little Mermaid tune, but they had cute costumes too.

This was an all boy group who danced to We Will Rock You and some other stereotypically male numbers, but they did really good.

 But all of this was merely an appetizer leading up to the incredible Crocodile Rock Dancers of the Los Alamitos Montessori Greenhouse School!!!

The curtain rose and immediately Anna and I exclaimed "Oh No!" Our little sweetheart had taken the "I'm not doing this stance." As her little dancing buddies gleefully waved their arms, Madison stood there with her arms folded tightly. Anna and I were horrified... We felt so bad for our little Madison and could not believe she wasn't loving this. We quickly flashed forward in our minds to the face that Madison was supposed to lead the gang around the stage and we thought for sure she was going to ruin the whole dance...but then something magical happened. It came to the part of the song where Madison was supposed to hold hands and dance with her partner Maya. Well Maya came over and grabbed Madison's hands and that was the wake-up call she needed! From that point on she nailed it! She led the group in perfect formation and even remembered to cease chomping and go back to her spot which was an improvement from rehearsal. We were so proud (and relieved) that she was able to recover so well when she was obviously upset at the beginning!!

We were sitting in the upper deck and Anna's Iphone ran out of charge, but you can tell Madison doesn't get into the dance until after her buddy grabs her hands...

 

 Then after all the performances, (Madison was next to last), all the groups come on the stage for a final number...all the kids were having a great time...except of course for...you guessed it...Madison. (In her defense we are pretty sure that daisy who wouldn't stop crying in the first number had already gone home :-) When we saw her exit stage left crying we exited the auditorium and hurried around to the spot where we could pick her up and timed it just perfectly as her group was exiting the stage. She ran to us and we ran to her and gave her a big hug and told her how great she did.

 We got Madison a flower bouquet to give at the end of the show and were glad we did because I think it lifted up her spirit a little...:-) and she gave one of the roses to Maya (center) who got her out of the arm holding coma and saved the dance...:-) If we could of we would have gotten Maya a dozen roses!!

Congratulations on your first dance recital Madison...thanks for making it such a memorable one!! Sadly we are getting really close to ordering the $45 video of the Dance Recital so that we can keep it forever and ever but should we...!?

Bonus Video: Madison's last Webby Dance session ended with a freeze dance!