Summer Vacation Day 1 - Long Beach

Chris's parents came out to see Ryleigh's recital and then we took a trip to California. Sunday after the recital we piled in the car and headed to Long Beach. We found the beach and Ryleigh got to frolic in the waves, and took a face dive into the surf. Here's Chris cleaning Ryleigh up after she bit it in the surf.

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Not impressed with being all wet and cold.

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Light house in Long Beach on our walk by the marina after dinner. Sorry for the grainy photos. I only had my iPhone, not my camera.

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The next day, I woke up SUPER early and went to Pure Barre class in Huntington Beach. Class was at 6am, so I was driving down PCH at 5:30am. Got to see the sunrise as I was driving with the windows down enjoying the cool morning air. Great way to start the first official day of vacation. From 2012 Summer After Pure Barre, we all got ready and headed to the Queen Mary. It was spectacular! It's amazing how HUGE that ship is. We took the ghost tour, which was neat to learn about some of the history of the ship. And we got to see the Princess Diana exhibit to see all the royal memorabilia. So neat to walk around the ship and imagine what it was like back in the day.

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This is the top deck of the ship.

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After the Queen Mary, we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific and looked at all the sea life. Then we got ready to drive to Anaheim to get ready for Disneyland! Great first day of our vacation. 

Ryleigh's First Recital

Saturday, June 23, 2012 was Ryleigh's first recital at Liberty High School. 

She was so excited to get her hair done, get her "face painted" (aka. make up on), and put on her costume. She was in a funky mood though and got tired right before the 11am recital. It was hard to get her to smile... the dreaded ugly face is back for whatever reason. This is the best smile we could get before the show.

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On stage. Doing her echappes. 

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Piques.

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Marching to the tea party! 

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After the recital. She was SO happy to get a trophy. At dress rehearsal some parents picked up the trophies they ordered and gave them to their children. Ryleigh was like "why don't I have one of those?" Little did she know that she DID have one, but she wasn't going to get it until after her show. She practically wanted to sleep with the trophy! 

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Dance buddies! Ryleigh and Claire after the show :) 

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Dress Rehearsal

June 19, Ryleigh had her dress rehearsal for dance. Her dance was to the Wiggles "To Have a Tea Party".
This was her first time on the stage. She wasn't too sure what to think. 

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And it was her first time in a dance costume. She kept playing with the costume. 

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Here's all the girls. From left to right: Claire, Brenna, Alexis, Sadie, Bailey, and Ryleigh. 

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Plie, Plie... She started lifting her heels for whatever reason lately. Tried to get her to fix it, but being the stubborn kid she is, kept doing it her way :) 

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Pique, pique...

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More piques

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And take a bow

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My dad's 1st MARATHON - Rock N Roll San Diego

We went to San Diego this past weekend to cheer on my dad in his first MARATHON!! That's 26.2 miles of running!!

He had been training really hard and following a pretty strict training plan since the IMS half marathon in February. And he was training by himself which was also pretty admirable to stay on top of the training with no one else to push you. He was determined to do it!

We were able to walk to the Trolley (a light rail system in San Diego) which took us to downtown by around 8:30. We scoped out a spot and waited to see him around mile 5-6. Thankfully Starbucks was right on the corner to wake up the spectators. Finally we spotted the green hat and shirt. Can you see him in the sea of purple coming down the road?

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He's taking a picture of us cheering for him. 

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Looking pretty good! 

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After seeing him downtown we took the Trolley back up near the Old Town area. It was a little more confusing around this area because it was mile 10 for the half marathoners, and mile 14 for the full marathoners. So we had to get to the correct side of the course (because half was on one side and marathon was on the other) and settled on a spot after the half and full went their separate ways again.

See him coming? That hat is hard to miss!

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Look at the variety of people doing a FULL MARATHON. If they can do it, I know I can do it one day!

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High Five from Cory. 

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Signs from the little one. It was the Rock N Roll San Diego Marathon. Get it?

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From there we knew we had a while to wait. He still had 12 miles to go. So we sat down and waited in a Carl's Jr. Then we got some Jamba Juice and Subway and headed for the Trolley. We took the Trolley to the closest station to Sea World. From there it was a 1-2 mile walk to the Sea World Parking lot. Then we had to go all the way around the entire finish area to get to the side of the chute they wanted us to be on. (No idea how the people across from us got where they did.) And now we wait for him to finish. We watched some people finish that we noticed WAY back at mile 6. Like the lady in orange pants in the middle of this photo. She was speed walking.

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And Captain America! He ran the whole way with the flag up like that!! 

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And this lady. Initially we thought she just hopped on the course back at mile 6, but she was a participant in the full marathon!! And she's BLIND! That's not a walking pole in her hand, it's her cane. 

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There's Mark!! Almost didn't recognize him without the hat!!

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Looks like he's hurting! Apparently not long after he left us at mile 14, he started getting hamstring cramps whenever he'd run. So he had to cut his run/walk intervals back to allow for more walking to avoid the cramps. 

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But he did stop to get a hug and high five from his granddaughter! 

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AND HE FINISHED!! His first MARATHON at 55 years old! Quite the accomplishment!! His official time was 6:01:48. Way to go dad!! SO PROUD OF YOU!!! 

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And no race is complete without a big hug at the finish line from Miss Ryleigh!! 

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Mother's Day 2012

My Grandma Beam was still in town for Cory's graduation so it was extra special spending time with not only my mom, but BOTH of my grandmas too! I started out the day with a great Pure Barre class. Then after Ryleigh's nap, everyone came over for dinner.

They started with a dip in the pool. It was up to over 80 degrees already!!
Ryleigh enjoyed swimming around with her Grandpa and her Uncles.

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Then she got cold and her lips turned blue. Despite it being about 100 degrees outside. 

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And yes, we got BOTH grandmas out by the pool. And our new umbrella sure came in handy to cover the pool patio. 

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The pool was so warm, even I went in!! And it's only the middle of May!

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Ryleigh trying to decide if she likes broccoli or not. 

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Chris manning the grill. 

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Practicing their ladderball skills. 

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It's a spectator sport. 

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The girls in the shade. Ryleigh right by Kristin's side as always. Kristin's such a good sport to be glued to a 3 year old 24/7 when she's around us. And she keeps coming back. Can't help but love her!

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Mother's Day dinner.

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Fierce ladderball competition after dinner. 

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Including some taunting by certain parties.

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When we were cleaning up and they were getting ready to go, but the boys were watching the end of the hockey game. Chris looked over and commented "oh so I guess we see where Ryleigh learned to sit on coffee tables." LOL. Classic!

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No photos of all the moms on Mother's Day. Oh well. We still had a fun day!