Days 5 and 6 of our Texas Vacation

I'm exhausted from a full amusement park day today, but thought I should blog before I fall too far behind!

Yesterday we had a more low key, stay at home day. I've been trying to intersperse those with the busier days so we have good balance. Marlon and I went out to lunch with his good friend Steve from college and Steve's wife Beth. (Hi guys!) We see them pretty much every time we come to visit and it's always nice to catch up on what each of us is up to, what's going on with our kids and theirs (they have three as well) and then marlon and Steve love to argue politics!

While we were at lunch, Marlon's parents took the kids to lunch and to Game Stop to buy more Wii games.

After lunch, Jody (marlon's sister), Michela and I went to have manicures and pedicures. A nice afternoon of pampering. Marlon took the boys and Meme (his grandmother) bowling. We met back up with Bernie and Esther and all of us went to dinner (chinese food) and then to see a New Braunfels Community Theater showing of Hello Dolly at the Brauntex theater (which is where Marlon saw movies as a kid.) The show was great - lots of great talent in new Braunfels.

Today we left the house right after getting up, getting ready and having breakfast and went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas. It was just the five of us plus Jody and her husband, Jack. It was a Perfect day. A little hot, but not unbearable. not too crowded. Everyone got along really well, no one got cranky at all, the kids behaved perfectly, and we all got to do a little bit of what we wanted to do. Harrison and Jack went on ALL the roller coasters and enjoyed doing that together. Jacob and Michela, who don't like big rides, went on quite a few rides they enjoyed. Marlon, Jody and I, the ones who are more of the fuddy-duddies in the group were quite proud of the several rides we went on. We had a lot of laughs and saw a great drum and bugle percussion show. We got stuck in a rainstorm and got soaked. We finished off the evening at the original Rudy's BBQ in San Antonio (Yum!) All in all, a perfect day.

More tomorrow.....

Day 4, A Day in San Antonio

Today we got another late start, as we had another great morning of sleeping in and lounging around. I think Marlon's mom Esther thinks it's horrible that we've been sleeping late, but you all know how busy we've been the last few months that it is such a joy for us to have so much unscheduled time and to have the time and luxury to sleep in and RELAX. It's been just what we needed!

We finally left the house around 1 p.m. and drove the 40 minutes or so to downtown San Antonio. We walked through the Alamo, which we had been to before, and had a light lunch at an authentic Texas diner "hole in the way" across the street from the Alamo. It was the best grilled cheese sandwiches and chili cheese fries that we've ever had!

Then we did some very touristy, almost "cheesy" stuff that we hadn't done before and that was great fun. We went through this "mirror maze" (kind of like a corn maze, but mirrors.) Then we went to the Wax Museum and had fun looking at all the very realistic looking wax figures. The haunted house portion in the basement was fun and scary too! Harrison couldn't believe the one of Arnold Schwarzzenager because instead of being him as our esteemed governor of California, it was him as The Terminator! He didn't realize he was a movie star before being governor and especially a star of that kind of movie.

Then we went to the Ripley's Believe it Or Not Museum, which was very interesting. We enjoyed the various exhibits, especially the big Titanic exhibit.

We finished off the afternoons with snow cones on the plaza.

Then we drove about a half an hour to the other side of San Antonio to meet everyone for dinner--- Jody (Marlon's sister), Meme (grandmother), Bernie and Esther, and Marlon's cousin Lisa and her mom Anita (Marlon's aunt). It was great to spend time with Lisa and Anita, who we usually only see once when we come to Texas.

After dinner all of us (except for Lisa and Anita) went to a show that was the culmination performance of a three week summer camp for deaf middle and high school students. It was a dance show with skits mixed in. Jody knew some of these kids from her school (Jody is a principal.) It was a really interesting and enjoyable show and we were glad we went. It's amazing how these kids can dance when they only feel the vibrations of the music but they can't hear it.

We finished off the evening with ice cream cones at Baskin Robbins. Then we came home, everyone put on their pj's and read for 1/2 hour, and now the kids (and Bernie and Esther) are asleep, Marlon's watching tv and I'm at the computer.

I seem to have SOOOO much more time for blogging while on vacation because I don't have all of my other usual activities/chores/responsibilities that I need to handle.

Day 3, New Braunfels Texas

Today was great fun! We spent the morning relaxing at "home" (well, at my inlaws house). Marlon worked a little, the kids played Wii and read, and I did Sodoku, played handheld Yahtzee and read. We were going to play some board games, but then it was time to get ready and leave.

We had lunch at Schlotsky's deli. Those sandwiches are delicious (the "original") and we don't have one near us.

Then we went to the spring fed "pool" (it's a pool, but way, way bigger, kind of like swimming in the river) at Landa Park and had a ball. The water comes from the river, so it's crisp and cold, but it felt great on a hot day. The kids enjoyed the rope swing (you swing, then drop down into the water) and swimming out to the island rafts and jumping in. Marlon and I played in the water too and I also read my book.

After we had our fill of fun, we came home and had dinner with Bernie and Esther, Meme, and Jody and Jack. Then Marlon, Jack and Bernie worked on putting together a new basketball thing for the kids and the kids, Jody and I played the Wii, while Esther and Meme watched us. Jody and I aren't too bad at the bowling game!

They left, the kids and I had reading time for about a half hour, they went to bed at 10:30, Marlon and I had ice cream and he watched tv while I read some more. Now we're going to sleep too!

(In case you're wondering, I'm reading the new Jennifer Weiner, called Certain Girls. She wrote "Good in Bed," "In her Shoes" and "Little Earthquakes" and I love her books.)

Vacation Days 1 and 2

I'm determined to do short blogs more often while on this trip so that I don't fall behind and so that it's not one huge post at the end. Unfortunately I don't think I can do photos or video until we get home, though.


We've now had two full days of our vacation. Tuesday was our travel day and it went smoothly without any complications. We spent the day packing and getting ready. It was a lot to get ready for a 3 week trip for a family of five. Monday was a busy day of catching up after the whole weekend of the dance show, having company staying with us, etc. Tons of laundry! And it took the whole day of Marlon, Harrsion and my father in law Bernie to get Harrison's stuff ready for sleep away camp, which he leaves for the day after we get home. Bernie spent 3 hours ironing "Harrison Boarnet" labels on everything! (sorry if I already mentioned that in a post, I forgot if I did!)

Anyway, our flight was at 5:05 p.m., right out of Orange County so that was easy. My mom packed us a bunch of snacks for the plane (from the Bistro at her place) and that was good because we didn't have time to eat in any of the airports. We flew from OC to Dallas, then Dallas to Austin. We noticed that all three airports seemed much less crowded than usual - must be the economy. The plane flights were relaxing - we played cards, read books and the kids played their DS games.

By the time we arrived, got a rental car and drove to Marlon's parents house, it was 2 a.m. so all we did was go to sleep. We slept really late yesterday (Wednesday). Then, the kids set up their new Wii. My sister and brother in law generously bought them the game system, all the controllers and accessories and some games for Hanukkah but we hadn't been able to find the darn thing in any store. It was always sold out. I called daily for awhile, then I gave us and figured eventually I'd just see it somewhere, which I did about a month ago. But I wouldn't let them take it out of the box until after school was over, then we didn't have time with all the dance shows. We bought the carry case and packed it all up and harrison carried it on the plane and we brought it here. It only took 3 calls to the Nintendo customer service people (who were great!) to get it up and running and they played almost all day. I didn't put any time restrictions on their playing yesterday because they had waited patiently so long to buy it and be able to play it. Plus it's an interactive and physically active game system, not like the videogames which are solitary and inactive. They love the bowling, tennis and baseball best.

While they played Wii, I unpacked and organized our stuff, read one of my books (I brought five and am so excited to read them all!), and just hung out with marlon, who also basically did nothing all day except read and relax (very, very unusual for him!) We interspersed the day with reading (the kids too), a couple of board games, visiting with Marlon's grandmother Meme (who we hadn't seen since October!) and eating of course.

So far today we slept in again, had breakfast, and while the kids played Wii, I spent some time online looking up different things to do that we haven't done before (or in awhile), and printing out coupons. I have most of the days scheduled for the rest of our time here, but I'm not going to tell you about it because I'll just be blogging about what we do after we do it!

That's all for now -- keep checking regularly for more updates. I'll try to blog every day or two.

Hope you're enjoying your summer so far. I - and everyone else -- would love to read about YOUR adventures too, so leave a comment!!! :)

The Big Weekend

Ok, I should be packing because we leave in a few hours (well, 6 hours) for our trip, but I wanted to take the few minutes (well, ok, an hour!) to get all these pictures posted and give a brief recap of the wonderful dance weekend.

My inlaws were here from TX, as were my sister and brother in law from Arizona, plus my mom who lives local. They all came to most of the 7 shows! We feel so very fortunate that we have family who loves us enough to travel here and sit through all those shows. The kids really, really appreciate having them come. Of course Marlon and Harrison were at the shows too. Michela wasn't in all 7, so she got to watch about 3. Jacob watched half of one from the audience and parts of the sunday night Gala from backstage. I was in charge of coordinating the volunteers for the sun night Gala show and worked backstage from the wings making sure all the dancers were ready to go on. (it's called the Gala b/c it's all the company/competing dancers, as opposed to regular dance classes, so it's an amazing show because everyone is good!)

Over the course of the shows, Michela had a tap number, 2 jazz numbers, a ballet number, a lyrical number, and 2 hip hop numbers. Jacob had his hip hop production number that he did all 7 shows, his large group jazz competition that he did twice, his small group boy's honor group competition number that he did twice, then 2 jazz, 2 tap, 2 ballet, 1 lyrical and 1 hip hop. (he danced 19 times!)

They did amazing and the shows were all very entertaining to watch. Being a boy, Jacob is front and center and usually featured in the dances, so that's always exciting. Michela doesn't usually get features (some of the girls do, but she hasn't yet), but she's becoming a really good dancer and we love to watch her. It's hard when they're in the same numbers (they were in 4 together) because it's hard to watch them both. The dancers tend to move around a lot.

Our studio is large (over 1000 dancers) and each of the 7 shows is different. Our director does an excellent job of mixing up the regular dancers with company numbers and having a variety of styles, costume colors, etc. mixed up so the shows are entertaining and not boring. Even the littlest dancers are fun to watch b/c they are so cute, esp the ones who just stand there.

It was a hectic weekend for me of having to re-organize costumes and dance bags before each show (it was a lot to keep straight), do Michela's bun, do her full make up (and a little bit for jacob) and all that. In between shows, we basically just went to restaurants to eat and hung out!

I'm glad it's over because it's quite overwhelming, but it was a wonderful weekend. Having kids who perform in dance and musical theater certainly keeps us busy, but we wouldn't trade it for the world.

Ok, here are the pictures!!!!! There aren't that many of them because they have so many numbers in each show that I can't take pictures of them in all their costumes because they're changing during the show and I'm in the audience watching. I took a few backstage before and after, but not many. Professional pictures were taken last week, so I promise I'll figure out my scanner and scan them in and post them when we get back from our trip! And by then I'll be able to hopefully post the actual dances from the DVD that will be ready by then. (you aren't allowed to video yourself, you just by the DVD but I ordered a custom DVD so it will just have my kids dances on it)

Jacob, Harrison, Michela and Harrison's girlfriend Danna at a restaurant. (He brought Danna to one of the shows. She dances too, so she really enjoyed watching.)

Michela in one of her jazz costumes

Harrison and Danna in the theater

After one of the shows. They were in this same number - a jazz number.

Marlon's parents, Bernie and Esther

My mom and Marlon

Michela and my brother in law Brian

My sister Patti and I

My mom (on the left) and her friend Shirley

Esther, Harrison and Patti

Michela just hanging out

Harrison and Michela. fyi, that's a bottled rootbeer in his hand, not a beer! We were at dinner at a brewing company and they have bottled rootbeer that's good!

Jacob in his boys' honor group costume

Michela in her tap costume

Jacob and his friend Riley who also competes with him, in their hip hop production costume

Michela in tap, Jacob in hip hop production

Photos from the last day of school

Here are some photos from the last day of school....

Michela and one of her good friends since they were babies!

Jacob with two of his good friends. I'm not sure why he isn't smiling!

Michela and a few of her buddies

Some more of Michela's friends

Jacob and a few of his good friends from his class. The one in pink has been in his class every single year since they were in the 2 year old room at the JCC preschool! They have a wonderful friendship.

Jacob and his teacher who was wonderful!

Michela and her teacher, who was also wonderful

Harrison and a few of his buddies

Harrison and some more of his good friends

Video from last week's swim meet

Here is some video from the first swim meet of the season, which was a week ago Saturday. Our kids have been doing swim team for years - each of them since Kindergarten. It's great fun and has really helped them become excellent swimmers. They enjoy the meets because of the competition of the races and the social element of hanging out, cheering for your teammates, eating from the snack bar, and all that. We missed the meet this past weekend because of the dance shows and we'll be gone for the next two. But we'll resume meets in mid July.

Jacob and Michela step up to the diving blocks. They are the last two on the end. Just by chance, they happened to be next to each other. That doesn't usually happen. If you notice, he hit the water first, but she pulled ahead.

Michela comes back, quite a bit ahead of Jacob... they ended up first and second in their heat.

Harrison racing in his favorite stroke - breaststroke.

Assorted video clips from a couple of weeks ago!

This clip is from Jacob and Michela's beginning strings concert. Unfortunately you can't see them at all, but they are there, part of the group making this beautiful music! (Remember folks, this is beginning strings - they all just started this year!) Jacob played violin and Michela viola, but they are both switching to band next year, which you can do in 5th grade.

This is a little clip from Harrison's symphonic (honor) band concert the same night. (It was a long evening!) Again, unfortunately you can't see him because he's in the back, as that is where the trombones, saxaphones, etc. are. But know that he's there. This was one of the best pieces, you'll probably recognize it. It's called The Final Countdown. The director told us that the pieces they were playing this year were all high school level music!

This is a short snippet of Jacob in his 4th grade musical play "Gold Dust or Bust." He was Samuel Clemens and had a lot of lines. Michela close to be on the "crew" so she wasn't really in the play at all - just the opening and closing songs. (In the end, she decided she'd rather be performing that be on crew, but it was fun for her to try something different.)

Here's another little one of Jacob doing his lines.

This one has Michela in it as well - it's a little bit of them singing their final song "gold Dust or Bust."

Ok, folks, that's all for now. It takes awhile to download these videos and my time on the computer is up for now! I'll try to post again later -- some videos from last week swim meet! Then I'll try to post some photos and video from this week's dance stuff and then I'll be caught up!

Pictures!

Ok, sorry it took awhile, but here are some pictures! There's one of Harrison and his friends, six from this past saturday's first swim meet of the season, a couple from Jacob and Michela's 4th grade play at school (they're in separate classes, but their two classes do a lot together and they did the play together), and two from the end of the year band/strings music concert, which was last Wednesday.

We've been busy with end of the year activities - it's always a crazy time of year for us and this year we're leaving two days after the craziness ends for our 3 week trip, so that's making me even busier (plus I have to get Harrison's sleepaway camp stuff ready b/c he leaves the next day after we get back from our trip for 2 weeks of Jewish Community Center sleepaway camp!)

School is almost over (just today plus two more days!) and last week was a busy week of last projects, tests, etc. This week should be light in that respect. Today there's a big 8th graders vs. teachers annual softball game and picnic and all the kids get to go. Tomorrow Harrison's grade goes to Wild Rivers, a big waterpark, and then wed they get to hang out and sign yearbooks. Wed. Jacob and Michela's grade goes bowling and then to a park for pizza and fun.

Last week was picture week at the dance studio, so that was hectic because Jacob and Michela take 2-3 classes each day they dance, so I had to help them change into their different costumes, etc. Plus Michela needed a bun almost every day and make up. Harrison went to swim team every day, but unfortunately Jacob and Michela won't really be able to go until after our trip, although they did swim in the meet on Saturday.

This week is dress rehearsals and dance shows, so we're at the big performing arts theater at UCI every day. The shows start on Wed and there are 7 of them. Marlon's parents and my sister and brother in law are coming in for the dance shows (and my mom lives local) so that will be fun and the kids are so excited they will have so many people watching them. Plus most of our friends dance at our studio, so all those parents are in the audience!! Michela is in 7 numbers over the course of 4 of the shows. Jacob is in 18 numbers over the course of all 7 shows because his competition numbers do their dances more than one time! Fun, fun, fun! (and, when you think about costumes, tickets, pictures, flowers, etc., in addition to fun, fun, fun, think money, money, money!)

We did get to have a fairly mellow weekend this past weekend. Harrison enjoyed the last school dance of the year Fri night followed by hanging out with his friends at In and Out Burgers. After dance, Jacob, Michela, Marlon and I just ate dinner and watched TV! We had the swim meet Saturday morning, then Harrison went with his girlfriend's parents to see her dance in her dance shows (two shows with dinner in between) and then they invited him to go again sunday and he wanted to go, so he went again! Michela went to a musical theater show with some friends on Sat while Jacob was at dance pictures and then Jacob and I met them (the four girls and three other moms) at the pool and the kids swam for hours while we moms hung out and talked and polished off a couple of bottles of wine (!) with some yummy appetizers (we also got pizza for the kids.) Marlon was happy to have the time alone at home to work since he's frantically trying to get stuff done before we go away. Jacob and Michela spent the night at one of the friends' houses and stayed til 4 on sunday, I got a lot done around here and Marlon worked, and then, when all the kids got back home, we went out to dinner as a family for Father's Day.

Enjoy the pictures!!!!

Harrison and his best buddies. (He's on the far left.) They've been best friends since Kindergarten and now they're in 6th grade! The one next to him, Brent, is moving to Seattle in a couple of weeks and Harrison's pretty bummed about that. The one on the far right, Brandon, moved to a different school this year, so they don't see each other at school anymore, but they still hang out as much as they can and they will be together again in 3 years in high school. The other three still go to our school and they all hang out together. The day I took this picture I took all of them to the pool and then for pizza and to see the Indiana Jones movie. I jokingly told them that they used to talk about Bob the Builder in Kindergarten and now they talk about GIRLS! They're all really nice kids and Harrison is lucky to have such a great group of friends!

Harrison hanging around at the meet.

Couldn't resist taking a picture of Marlon in his floppy swim team hat.

Jacob and Michela just hanging around. That's me in the background at the scorer's table. I was the "sorter," which means I put the cards in the order of fastest to slowest swimmer for each race. Then I pass them on to the next person who enters them into the computer and prints out the labels and then they get passed to the next person who sticks them on the ribbons. It's quite a system. I worked the whole meet and Marlon worked as timer for half. We have to work 6 meet jobs over the course of the summer and we might only be at 2 or 3 meets because of our schedule this year, so I wanted to get some jobs out of the way. I like sorter b/c I can see everything in the pool b/c we're up higher and it's in the shade!

Jacob and Michela on the diving blocks right before one of their races. They just happened to be next to each other. Convenient for a picture! This first meet was the boy/girl meet where the boys and girls are mixed together in the heats. usually they are separate. For this first meet, there's no other team, just our team, and it's to set their times for the season.

Harrison stepping up to the diving blocks for one of his events.

Harrison coming in to the end for his freestyle. I think he got second place.

Jacob in his 4th grade musical play "Gold Dust or Bust." The 4th graders spent a lot of time studying the Gold Rush as part of their CA history curriculum in social studies. They put on this wonderful musical on friday, which was fabulous even though they only worked on it in class for about a half hour a day for a week and a half. Jacob had a lot of lines as Samuel Clemens and did a great job.

Michela chose not to audition for a part in the play. Instead, she chose to be part of the "crew", so she got to tell everyone what to do. :) The crew designed the "sets" (one of them is seen in this picture) and they told everyone where to stand, etc. She thought it would be fun to do something different rather than perform, but at the end of the performance she told me she would have rather been *in* the show. Oh well, now she knows for next time!

Michela getting ready to play the viola at the end of year band/strings concert

Jacob getting reading to play his violin at the end of year band/strings concert. Harrison played trombone in the same concert, but I didn't get any pictures of him. He sits in the very back because of his instrument (that's just where the trombones are) so I couldn't see him to get a picture. But I had pictures of him playing trombone recently at the temple band concert!

Small Taste of Photos

Ok, I know everyone wants pictures. The problem is that we've been so busy that I've hardly taken any. Here are just a couple from Seussical. Because of the licensing rights, no cameras were allowed during the show. They were only allowed to take one full cast picture and then some small "group" photos based on the character groupings. So this is all I have. :(

I will have more from High School Musical, once I receive the photo DVD from another mom.

I took a couple of photos at last night's band/orchestra concert that all 3 kids were in.

I'll try to do better and take more photos!

Ok, it's almost impossible to see him, but Harrison is in this photo of the cast and crew of Seussical.

This one's a bit better. Harrison as a Wickersham brother (a monkey). He's the one on the far right.

Kids Konnection column, June 2008

Here is the text of my Kids Konnection column for this month "Find a Way to Connect Youth"... Enjoy and be sure to comment! (share your ideas of ways that you've found to connect your kids to other kids at synagogue, church, etc - what a great topic for dialog!)


Orange County Jewish Life - Printer Friendly Page

KIDS' KONNECTION
By Barbara Boarnet


Many parents struggle with balancing our children’s Jewish and secular lives. Most kids are busy with sports, dance, art, gymnastics, and all of the other activities that occupy their time, not to mention school and homework. With busy schedules, it’s often hard to make synagogue a priority. We all send our children to Hebrew and religious school every week, and most of us make an effort to attend services as often a possible, but many of us still seek a way to help our children really connect to the synagogue and the friends there. Kids see their friends at school every day and have multiple opportunities to spend time together. It’s harder to form bonds and connections with the kids at synagogue. We just need to make sure we’re taking advantage of the bonding opportunities at the synagogue. The activities mentioned here are based on what is offered at Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’alot, our own synagogue, but most Orange County synagogues have similar activities to explore. The main activities that our kids participate in at temple that have been really significant in helping them connect are youth band, youth choir, youth group activities, and hanging out in the youth lounge. Our oldest son, Harrison, has been playing the trombone in the youth band for the last two years. It has been the most wonderful, fabulous experience, and I’d like to encourage all of you with kids who play instruments to get them involved in your synagogue’s youth band. If it doesn’t already have one, talk to your cantor or musical director, and see if you can get one started.The benefits of taking part in this band have been so many. First, the kids have a blast. They have rehearsals once a week, on Sundays after religious school, and they enjoy the camaraderie of jamming and practicing together. The ages range from fourth grade to twelfth grade, and it has been really nice opportunity to bring kids together.Second, the kids in the youth band feel an extra connection to the temple and feel as if they are a meaningful part of the service. Moreover, their participation once a month in family services greatly enhances the musical beauty of our services. In addition to traditional prayers and melodies, they have worked on a wide variety of musical genres. One of their favorites has been a remake of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” into “Jewish Man,” with special lyrics written by our cantor, Arie Shikler. Heavy metal on the bima is a bit different, but was a great hit! Third, participating in the youth band is an excellent way to supplement your child’s music instruction. Our youth band director, Paul Carman, is an excellent teacher. The hour he spends with the kids every Sunday is almost like a free hour of private music lessons, and we all know how expensive those can be. (Paul is also available for private lessons on Sundays as well, right at the temple, which has been very convenient.) Harrison’s band director at school has been amazed at how much better he gets every week from the extra practice on Sundays and Friday night services. In addition to playing at family services, our youth band put on a wonderful concert a couple of weeks ago. Directed by Carman and accompanied with vocals by Cantor Shikler, the group played a variety of Jewish melodies and secular songs. The band members plan to take their repertoire “on the road” and play at some of the local senior living facilities and other venues. They may be available for hire.Jacob and Michela have been singing in the youth choir for the last couple of years. Although they are hoping to switch to the youth band next year, being in the choir has been a positive experience that they have both enjoyed. The kids who sing in the choir have had opportunities to hang out together at rehearsals every Sunday morning after religious school, and they have enjoyed being exposed to a wide variety of Jewish songs. Participating in the family Shabbat services once a month has enabled them to make a meaningful contribution to the temple. Shir Ha-Ma’alot has a very well established youth group program that has helped the kids to bond and connect with other kids at temple. The synagogue is forming a new youth committee, so that we can continue to enhance the youth program and make it even better. Youth group events are offered for 4th 5th graders, 6th through 8th graders and 9th through 12th graders. The high school group has its own student leadership, which is a wonderful way for them to be even more involved. The lower grades have activities once a month. There is always a wide variety of activities ranging from outings to park days to fun and games at the synagogue. Each event has a Jewish component and, of course, food. The county-wide dance for 6th to 8th grade Jewish youth at all of the synagogues, held annually at Temple Beth Sholom in Tustin, is a wonderful event. Our youth lounge is open for “hanging out” twice a month after Friday night services during the Oneg time and is a wonderful way for the Jewish kids to spend time together and enjoy the “privilege” of having their own space. No younger siblings are allowed, and only the couple of parents supervising that particular night are in there, so it is really their own space. If your synagogue doesn’t have this, it’s easy to start a youth lounge by just designating an area, putting in some games and other things (parents are always willing to donate items to this kind of a cause), and finding a parent or two to supervise.Any youth activities at the synagogue are sure to help strengthen the bond kids have with the synagogue and their temple friends!• Barbara Boarnet is an attorney specializing in legal/human resource consulting, the mother of three children ages 12 and 9_-year-old twins, a member of Congregation Shir Ha Ma’a lot, a life member of Irvine-Kadima Hadassah, and a member of the PTA Board at Vista Verde.For feedback, contact editor@ocjewishlife.com.
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Sleeping with the Seniors...and under the Stars

We had a fun weekend of something a bit different. On Saturday, Marlon took all three kids on the synagogue camping trip, which was just an overnight at a campground about 25 minutes away. He had been camping many timeas in his younger days, being an Eagle Scout and all, but we've never taken the kids camping. I've wanted to try, but he's sure I'll hate it and we've had so many other trips to take that we just haven't made time for it over the years. This seemed like a perfect opportunity, though, because there were other dads to share in the work of cooking, etc. and to bring all the stuff. They even had a tent for us.

They had a GREAT time. They played a lot of frisbee and other outdoor games, they hiked 2 miles to the beach and played in the water, then hiked back. They bbq'd burgers, hot dogs and all the stuff that goes with that kind of food for dinner. They built a bonfire and had smores. They told jokes and stories around the fire. They went on a scavenger hunt. They had pancakes and eggs for breakfast. Then they went to the beach again for a few hours and one of the dads gave all 3 of our kids a surfing lesson (apparently they were all able to stand up.)

All 3 kids enjoyed some nice, relaxing, unstructured daddy time and he enjoyed it too!

I had a few options of what to do with my "free" 24 hours of no activities. I could have organized a girls' night out with my friends. But I didn't. I could have enjoyed a quiet afternoon, evening and morning home alone to get done one of the bizillion things on my to-do list. But I didn't. I could have spent the day at the Montage Resort and Spa in laguna beach using the $400 gift certificate that my friends gave me for my birthday a year and a half ago! But I didn't. Instead I gathered up Midnight and a little overnight bag and I went to my mom's senior living place. She and I and a couple of her buddies went out for Mexican food. Then, we went back to her place and we watched two movies I had rented in one of their lounges. (27 Dresses and P.S. I love You, both "ok" but not as good as I was expecting them to be.) Then she and I went back to her studio apartment and I spent the night. The next morning, we had breakfast, took Midnight (who was so amazingly good there) to the dog park to play with his friends, and then we went to a Party Planning Expo at one of the Irvine Hotels to see if there were any vendors of interest for planning Harrison's Bar Mitzvah.

It was nice to spend time with my mom since we'll be gone 3 weeks and since I've been so busy lately that we haven't done as much together. I was tired, though, b/c I didn't sleep well. Her bed is just a double bed, so it was crowed and I'm used to sleeping only with Marlon so I didnt' sleep well, though. She snores and rolls around a lot. :)

We all met back at home around 2 ish and spent the afternoon studying for upcoming tests, reading, doing some homework and hanging out. Everyone was exhausted because none of us had gotten a good night's sleep so we were ALL in bed by 9!

Starring...Harrison, Jacob and Michela!

I know some of you have been faithfully checking the blog regularly, anxiously awaiting updates on baited breath! (well, ok, maybe a slight exaggeration, but I have gotten a few "update the blog already!" emails/comments.)

I'm sorry it's been over a week. My only excuse is that we've been incredibly busy with rehearsals and performances the past week and a half. Since I last updated on Sunday May 25th, we have had either a rehearsal or a show every single day except for Thursday May 29th. Couple that with school, homework, work, etc. and it's been pretty crazy around here.

Marlon's parents, Bernie and Esther, came in for the kids shows and we are so appreciative that they always fly in from Texas for our kids' performances. It really means a lot to us and the kids. They were here from Friday through this morning (they stayed so they could see opening night of Harrison's middle school production of Seussical last night.) We didn't have time to do anything fun and spent the whole weekend at the theater or a restaurant, but at least we were together. (I did cook one nice meal on monday night.)

High School Musical and West Side Story were GREAT. They ended up doing the 15 minute West Side Story pre-show before all four of the High School Musical shows, even though they were only going to do it for two shows. West Side Story was the "older" kids in the theater group - they were all a little "not thrilled" at doing High School Musical because they're too cool for that, so it was a way to let them shine in a more mature way. The choreography was more difficult and geared for the older, more experienced kids. Most of that group is entering High School, but Harrison has been part of that core older group for years because he's done so many shows, so he was automatically in that cast. They let Jacob, Michela and one other younger kid do it too because they have more experience than the other younger kids. Jacob and Michela were thrilled to be a part of that cast and it was a great pre-show of about 6 songs/dances.

High School Musical turned out well too. They double cast that show, so Harrison and Jacob had leads on saturday and sunday afternoons and smaller parts friday and saturday nights. Both of their lead parts were perfect for them... Jacob played Ryan, a thespian who is very good at and into theater and dance. Harrison played Chad, a basketball player who can't understand why Troy, the lead, wants to be in a musical. They were both excellent at their roles and did a ton of singing and dancing. Michela didn't have a lead this show, but she had four smaller parts which ended up resulting in a ton of time on stage. She was in almost every scene and in almost every number. She was a thespian, a braniac, a jock and a teacher. She has a way of shining on stage because she has a lot of stage presence and personality, so she had fun with it and was very noticed even though she wasn't a lead.

Many friends came to watch the various performances and the comraderie among the cast members was great as usual, so it was a fun filled but tiring and busy week of technical performances, dress rehearsals and then four performances. A lot of dinners together with the cast, etc. It's always a relief when it's over because you can't keep up that pace for more than a week, but it's also always a bit of a let down too. harrison was especially sad sunday night because it is his last show with that group. All of the older kids are going on to high school and won't be doing it anymore and he's part of that older generation, so he won't do it either. Jacob and Michela might still do it next year, we'll see. It's sometimes hard to juggle it all, but so worth it.

After those shows, we went straight into Harrison's production of Seussical at school. Our school is K-8 and the middle school puts on a very professional and well done musical every spring. It's for 6th-8th graders, but there were only 3 or 4 6th graders who made it. It's very competitive b/c not everyone gets a part. Out of 60 or so who tried out, they took about 30 or 35. Harrison made it and was thrilled. He's enjoyed it tremendously. He plays a Wickersham Brother and has a pretty big part for a 6th grader. His stage presence and acting is great and the directors are so glad they put him in, even though they had some initial concerns about his singing (the first round cut was based on singing alone and that's not his strength, although he has improved.) So far they've had two performances and they're going really well!

Ok, this is long enough and I'm exhausted and need to get to bed!

I'll post pictures in a day or two.