Stars of Cars

The stars from the Cars 2 movie are making their way around the country and stopped in Vegas today so I took the boys down to town square to meet them. We were able to see Lightening McQueen, Finn McMissile, and Mator. So cool! Although Mason and his friend Nick weren't excited about the 45 min wait in the hot sun, State Farm put on the event and made it fun. They were handing out water, rubbing tatoos on the kids, handing out fun magnets, and had a secret agent decoding station with other fun computer games to keep us occupied while we waited.

Cord's Preschool Graduation

Cord's preschool class put on a little program to celebrate the end of the year today. They sang 3 songs, got to receive their "diploma", and had an ice cream party. It was short and sweet. It was so cute to see him dancing and singing to all the songs. He knew all the words and actions and preformed great. Great morning! We still have another year of preschool with Mrs Carnaby which is fabulous because we love her.

Mason is a Star

Court of honor was tonight and Mason received his 11 merit badges as well as the rank advancement to Star. He has been working really hard and it's exciting to see the stack of badges that he earned. That brings his total up to 20 badges. Good job Mason!



Cord wanted to get in on the scout action. He really looks up to his older brother. Cord says "he is my friend".

Weekend escape

The law firm that Mike works for was bought out by a bigger firm from Phoenix earlier in the year. They have an annual mandatory meeting at a resort somewhere fun. This year it was at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. It's just west of LA and was right on the coast. The resort was fabulous, the kind that we could never afford. While Mike was in meetings Friday night I was able to wander around the walkways and enjoy the views. Friday night we got to meet everyone from the Phoenix office and enjoyed a nice dinner. Saturday morning we participated the annual Bocci ball tournament. Some of them are really serious about it but we had a lot of fun. You couldn't be on same team as your spouse. Both of our teams made it to the 3rd round then we got out. I guess the time we spent playing with our kids kind of paid off.

Then the rest of Saturday was free time. We loved driving around the area and checking out all the huge homes. We also saw a lighthouse and went through the visitor center. We checked out a glass church that is famous for lots of weddings called the Wayfarers chapel. I thought it was beautiful as it is surrounded by trees and nature. We also visited the Korean Friendship Bell. It was a gift from the Korean people to California to support friendship. Then we drove into LA to visit the Getty Center. It was a huge collection of art like the Smithsonian. We didn't have much time left but we enjoyed wandering around each of the buildings and the gardens outside. My feet hurt from all the walking but I loved the experience. We made it back to the resort just in time for dinner. It was a nice relaxing weekend without kids (yea). Chelsea did a great job keeping down the fort and the house was actually clean when we got home.

Before we left we had to pick what we wanted for dinner. I didn't even recognize the stuff on the menu so after I looked up a few things on-line, I blindly picked something. I was pleasantly surprised. It was really good and the deserts were more than fabulous. I wanted to take a picture but thought that would make me look really getto. Do you recognize any of these:
*Roasted beef tenderloin, potato confit, wilted savory cabbage, red grape mustard jus-lie.
*Seared breast of chicken, fiscalini cheddar polenta, stewed mushroom, brussels sprouts.
*Grilled filet of beef, sweet corn polenta, wilted argula, local blue cheese butter.
*Lemon-rosemary roasted chicken, olive oil, crushed potato cipollini confit, tomato-fennel.

This was our chance to pretend that we were "fancy". We stayed in a luxurious room and ate wonderful meals.








WAYFARERS CHAPEL




KOREAN FRIENDSHIP BELL




We stopped at a shopping center to grab a bite to eat. They had this replica of a fountain in Bolayna Italy. I couldn't get to close though otherwise I would have to change the rating on my blog.

GETTY CENTER

Mason's award ceremony

Tonight at the middle school was an awards ceremony for the 6th and 7th graders. Each teacher gets to pick two students that were outstanding during the year. Mason was nominated by his computer teacher, Mrs. Boyd, to receive an award. He got this really nice medal for his achievements in "computer literacy". Way to go Mason! He has had a great year in 6th grade as a Bobcat.



Mason with his buddy, Cayden Blake. He got an award for straight A's.