Bonjour!

After lots of hard work practicing her routine at Pacific Dance, Ava was ready to perform "Bonjour" (from Beauty and the Beast) at her very first recital.  After a dress rehearsal, Ava was ready for the big day.

Ava's recital was held before a full-house at UCI's Barclay Theatre.  Ava and the rest of her group did a great job and the crowd loved their performance.

Upon exiting the theatre Ava was greeted by Grandma, Grandpa, Grammy, and Poppy, along with flowers and a lei.

After the recital, the whole family walked to Yogurtland to top off the day.

The End of an Era

After two wonderful years at Good Shepherd Preschool, Ava said goodbye to Miss Julie and her Discovery Plus room.  

Before they left, the kids put on a wonderful art show with work which was inspired by famous artists such as Van Gogh and Jackson Pollock.

The kids (and parents) enjoyed snacks and treats before saying goodbye.  Fortunately, Ava will continue to see her friends during summer camp and play dates.

Ava's First Camping Trip

This past weekend, Grandma and Grandpa took Ava on her first camping trip (mommy and daddy came too) at Caspers Wilderness Park in the Santa Ana Mountains.  

Caspers is a great place for kids.  In addition to plenty of wilderness to explore and trees to climb, Caspers has a large playground with multiple slides, a see saw, and a tire swing.

On our explorations Ava was able to touch a snake at the nature center and saw plenty of animals outside.  

Of course, one of the most fun things to do while camping is eat.  Along with chowing down on hot dogs, s'mores, and pancakes, Ava helped out by shucking corn with Grandma.

 Our trip was a huge success, and Ava is looking forward to many more camping trips in the future.

Green Princesses

This season Ava played AYSO soccer with some new friends and some old friends.  The team wore green and black so the parents pushed for the Lucky Leprechauns or some variant of that.   The girls seemed to be ready go with the name Lizards but an 11th hour suggestion by one of them quickly turned the tide and the girls opted for the Green Princesses (much to our dismay).

Spring soccer is not nearly as intense as fall soccer but the girls still worked on stretching and warming up before each of their games.

During the last game of the season, Ava scored one of her patented breakaway goals.

After the game, the Green Princesses celebrated their successful season by playing at the park, and having a pizza party complete with chocolate cupcakes and green sprinkles.

What a great way to end another fun season.

The Long Journey Home

After two wonderful weeks in England, including three nights in the Lake District, we left Crofton Cottage and began our journey home.

Before making our way south toward Manchester, we made a stop at Holker Hall - the home of Lord and Lady Cavendish.  The family still lives in the home so in addition to the gorgeous furniture, paintings, and tapestries you would normally find in a stately home, we also got to see their family photos - all without any barriers allowing us to explore the entirety of the rooms.  Holker is known for its gardens and Ava was able to run around and see some of the flowers beginning to bloom.

As we approached Manchester, we made a brief detour to walk around the Reebok Stadium, the home of Bolton Wanderers, and the site where Chelsea clinched its 2005 championship (their first in 50 years).  The Reebok is located right next to a massive retail park and we stopped in at Asda (sort of like the UK version of Wal-Mart or Target) to get some sweets and other groceries that we can't find at home.

After a night near the Manchester airport, we made our long journey through O'Hare and finally to LAX.  Even though we were stuck in coach on old 757s without individual TVs, and even though Ava's DVD player ran out of juice, she was a great little traveller.  

All Around Windermere

After visiting Beatrix Potter's home and learning all about her on Sunday, we started the morning of Bank Holiday Monday by walking down the hill in Bowness to see her characters come to life at The World of Beatrix Potter, which includes scenes from each of her stories as well as a lovely little garden.

We then walked down to the water to ride Windermere Lake Cruises' MV Tern (built in 1891) from Bowness to Ambleside.

We explored the little lakeside town, visited the Bridge House (a former apple store built on a bridge to avoid taxes), and ate lunch at the Apple Pie Cafe & Bakery.

As the weather worsened, we headed back in the cold rain on the Miss Lakeland.

From the pier, we walked back to our car and drove around the lake, on very narrow roads (hardly wide enough for one car let alone two), to Wray Castle.  Designed to look old, this wannabe Camelot was actually built for a wealthy retired surgeon in 1840.

On such a cold, wet day, a nice hot cuppa tea was in order.  Unfortunately, since it was so late in the day we were thwarted by several tea rooms and pubs that were closed.  We did, however, happen to stumble upon the Cuckoo Brow Inn (muddy boots, wet dogs and children welcome) where we were Ava and Mommy were able to enjoy cream tea and Daddy was able to have a local ale from Coniston Brewery and sticky toffee pudding. 

We ended our day with a quick trip back to Bowness via the car ferry and dinner at home on our last night in the Lake District.

The Lake District

For our first morning in the Lake District, we started off by taking a ferry across Lake Windermere to Beatrix Potter's (not to be confuse with Harry Potter) house Hill Top Farm.  Along the way we stopped to see a number of sights from her books about Peter Rabbit and others including Peter's nemesis Mr. MacGregor.

The house had a number of Beatrix Potter's books, which allowed us to compare Potter's artwork with the rooms in the house and views from the house.

After a brief drive, we ended up in Hawkshead where we explored the town and enjoyed a warm pub lunch at the Kings Arms.  

We even got to see the school attended by poet William Wordsworth

After a fair amount of driving and getting lost a few times we made the long drive up "The Struggle" over Kirkstone Pass and enjoyed some great views of Lake Windermere and the surrounding countryside.

Heading north, we enjoyed great views of picturesque Ullswater.

Not far off the Ullswater shore we parked and took a short hike to Aira Force where we were able to scramble over rocks, view the waterfall, and feel the cold, cold water downstream.

Our last stop of the day was Castlerigg Stone Circle, which was constructed around 3000 BC.  Although not as famous as Stonehenge, Castlerigg is surrounded by wandering sheep and lamb, and gorgeous rolling hills (as opposed to fences and a major motorway).