Papa's Birthday 05-31-15

On Friday night, we enjoyed "Big Hero 6" at Movie Night at Harbour View with some friends. On Sunday, we went up to Pasadena to celebrate Papa's 66th birthday. Happy Birthday, Papa! http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V3iw

Thirteen Colonies 05-28-15

Cecily's 5th grade class put on a musical called "Thirteen Colonies." Caren watched all 4 performances today, taking pictures and videos during the first three since it was easier to with the kids at school sitting on the floor. At night, Michelle and Richard came to watch the last performance. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V3dA

Kira's Birthday Party 05-27-15

Happy 11th Birthday Kira! Cecily had fun celebrating her birthday at her party. They had lunch at Kira's house after school before heading over to the movie theater to see "Tomorrowland." http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V3Vg

Memorial Day 05-25-15

Happy Memorial Day! We got invited to a last minute BBQ at our neighbor's house. Richard carved Rasha's watermelon into a pirate ship. Cecily had fun playing and swimming with Sophia. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V3ZQ

Bridal Dress Shopping 05-23-15

Michelle and Edmund got engaged about a month ago! So excited to help celebrate their wedding! Caren and Cecily got to go dress shopping with Michelle and the Matron of Honor Stephanie (Caren will be a bridesmaid, and Cecily will be a junior bridesmaid). So fun looking at all the dresses! Can't wait to find the perfect ones. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V3MA

After-School Painting 05-20-15

Cecily loved doing the after-school Timree paint class. Unfortunately she missed the first one due to a Girl Scout conflict, but she enjoyed painting the other 5 pictures. She can't wait to hang them up in the house. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V3Rw

Camp Scherman 05-17-15

Our Girl Scout Troop did a mother/daughter Outdoor Cooking Weekend at Camp Scherman. We had a few hiccups here and there, but overall, it was a fun camping weekend. It drizzled rain on the way up after we checked the kids out of school early, and we were the first troop at camp. We had our picnic fried chicken dinner before the kids activity and mandatory adult meeting. Bright and early the next morning, our troop was in charge of the flag ceremony. Our morning rotations started after breakfast: arts & crafts, outdoor cooking, & hike. During arts & crafts, they made a recipe booklet for the things they would learn to cook using stamps and embossing powder (cobbler, tortillas, and quesadillas). At the outdoor cooking station, they learned how to make an apple cobbler using a dutch oven and charcoal as well as lanyards. After our hike, we headed to lunch which turned out to be the kids' favorite meal at camp (baked potato, chili, hot dogs, and watermelon). Once lunch was done, we started our afternoon rotations. First up was canoeing which turned out to be Cecily's favorite activity at Camp Scherman. Then we headed to archery where they also made tortillas and quesadillas while waiting for their turns to shoot a bow and arrow. Caren got her second shot in the yellow bullseye area! Then it was time for dinner and the evening "campfire" at the fireplace in the dining hall. Our troop's skit was saying the Pelican Rap from school. That night, our kids were too tired for the optional night hike and went straight to bed after warm showers. Caren and Cecily tried to make the optional morning hike but ended up missing it. After cleaning up our cabins and eating breakfast, we headed home with a stop at In-N-Out for lunch. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V3IQ

Volunteer Appreciation 05-15-15

Friday morning, Harbour View had their Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast. They had kids from each grade level come in and sing. Then they presented some of the outgoing 5th grade parents an Honorary PTA Service Award. Caren received a certificate and a PTA pin for her Honorary Service Award. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V3Eg

Teacher Appreciation 05-13-15

For Teacher Appreciation this year, we celebrated "Nacho Average Teacher" and had a fiesta. For our classroom door, we went with the class theme of chess, so the kids loved their teacher to pieces (chess pieces). The kids brought flowers in on Tuesday and Wednesday so each teacher could have a beautiful bouquet (we threw in some Girl Scout Thanks a Lot cookies too). After school on Wednesday, we had our Fiesta at Melissa's house. The decorations all came together nicely, with the bright and colorful blankets and cheesy sayings Caren printed out (nacho average teacher, taco bout our awesome teachers, etc.). The teachers really enjoyed their taco salad lunch with lobster, steak, or chicken. Then they got to take home the mini cactus plants that were the table centerpieces. This was Caren's last Harbour View Elementary School Hospitality event before she moves onto Hospitality at Marine View Middle School. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V3Aw

Mother's Day 05-10-15

Happy Mother's Day! Cecily gave Caren a special painting she made in her after-school art class. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V2_Q

Soccer Game & Party 05-09-15

Our last soccer game of the spring season was against our own Region 143 Coach Allen. Some of the girls on the other team played on the All-Star team with some of our girls in the winter. The teamwork between our girls really paid off as we won 4-0, ending our season in first place! Go Narwhals! http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V23w

In the evening we had our end of the season team party at Natalie's house on Trinidad Island. The girls had so much fun swimming together. Coach Steve and Coach Mondo were fantastic coaches. We are going to miss our team next year. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V27A

Tinkerbell & Mama's Night Out 05-08-15

On Thursday, Caren spent the day volunteering two shifts for the Tinkerbell Marathon at the Disneyland Hotel. She helped check in runners and pass out their bibs to the ones participating in the Pixie Dust Challenge (running both the 10k and the 1/2 marathon). While Caren was volunteering, Cecily was over at Scarlett's house after school before soccer practice. The girls made a poster to welcome back their principal from being out from her knee surgery. 05-07-15 http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V2uQ

Friday night, Caren attended the Mama's Night Out to support Harbour View Elementary. One of the moms offered to drive us over in her Duffy through the harbor. It was a fun night for an early Mother's Day celebration. 05-08-15 http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V2zg

Cotillion 05-05-15

Jo invited a group of the Harbour View moms to Sandy's at the beach for lunch to celebrate the end of 5th grade. In the evening, Cecily had her last 5th grade Cotillion, and it was costume night. Cecily borrowed Karey's dress again and was Laura Ingalls from "Little House on the Prairie." Since it was Cinco de Mayo, we met up with Kelly and Alexsia for Taco Tuesday at Seacliff Country Club for dinner before Cotillion. It was fun to see all the different costumes the kids wore. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V2qA

Fifth Grade Concert 05-04-15

After our whirlwind weekend, we came back to the Fourth & Fifth Grade Concert at Harbour View. The fifth graders went on stage after the fourth graders were done. They started with several songs on the recorder before ending with "Fifty Nifty United States." Caren still remembers all 50 states in alphabetical order because she also learned that same song when she was in fifth grade. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V2ZA

Girl Scout San Francisco Bridging 05-03-15

We had planned this trip for so long, and our Golden Gate bridging weekend was finally here! We checked the girls out early from school to catch our flight from LAX to San Francisco. Once we arrived, we headed straight to our hotel (Pier 2620 near Fisherman's Wharf). Caren and Shari checked our troop in for bridging, and then we all headed to Hard Rock Cafe on Pier 39 for an early dinner. After dinner, we walked down to Pier 33 to catch our ferry for the Alcatraz Night Tour. 05-01-15 http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V2dQ

Everyone got up bright and early for breakfast at Denny's before catching the shuttle bus over to the Golden Gate Bridge. (Richard was a devoted soccer dad and went to cheer on Cecily's soccer team while we were in San Francisco). As we crossed the bridge, cars honked and waved while the girls moved from Junior Girl Scouts to Cadettes. It was amazing to see over five thousand Girl Scouts bridging on the Golden Gate Bridge. Once we walked off the bridge, we stopped to eat our Boudin boxed lunches while we enjoyed the view of the bridge. Then we continued on down to Crissy Field to enjoy the Girl Scout festivities. The girls did a great job with all the walking and minimal complaints and whining. Since Kelly had bad knees and couldn't do so much walking but wanted to celebrate our bridging, she chartered a private shuttle to take us on a tour of San Francisco in the afternoon. First stop was Ghiradelli's for some ice cream before driving around to see the sites: Lombard Street, Coit Tower, Chinatown, The Fairmont, cathedral modeled after Notre Dame in Paris, San Francisco City Hall, the Painted Ladies at Alamo Square (from "Full House"), Twin Peaks, Jerry Garcia's house, Janis Joplin's house, Golden Gate Park, Palace of the Fine Arts, "Mrs. Doubtfire" house, "Princess Diaries" house, and Union Square. We ate dinner at Burger Bar at the top of Macy's with a beautiful view of Union Square before taking taxis back to the hotel for the night. 05-02-15 http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V2ig

Our last morning we were up early so we went out for a morning walk to Pier 39 with Scarlett and Shari. Cecily and Scarlett found a Chinese red envelope with $20! They had fun playing on the piano steps and seeing the sea lions. We headed back to meet the rest of the group for breakfast. Since we were short on time, the girls weren't able to ride the cable car but we did get their photos on it. After grabbing breakfast at Boudin's (Cecily really enjoyed her clam chowder in a bread bowl), we had to head back to the hotel to catch our shuttle to the airport. It was a short trip, but we had a fabulous time in San Francisco! 05-03-15 http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3V2mw