Millerton Lake

I celebrated 4th of July weekend at the lake..in the sun..with good people, food and drinks ;) Dominic and I were invited to ride out and stay with Jon and Noelle (and baby Chase) in Jon's parents' motorhome. Their friend, Aron, joined the group, too. We got to our campsite pretty late on Thursday night and parked right next to more of their friends, Tim and Andrea and kids :) Little man Chase knew how to get the party started the next morning.

Chase fell asleep every time he stepped foot on the boat. Aron held onto him for a pretty long time that afternoon. Chase got a lot of cuddlin' that weekend :)

Kickin' back in the love boat.

Rock jumping was part of the agenda, of course.

A little word to the wise, DO NOT ride one of these things with 3 people. These kids WERE having fun, until the 2 on the left bonked heads and came into the boat sobbing. OUCH.

Noelle and I had a blast riding together. We rode it 4 times until we had enough. I'm not sure what we talked about, but we had some long conversation during the crazy bumpy ride. And when you can't throw your hands up in the air, your legs will do just fine.

Tim was trying to get the message across that his wifey was driving the boat too slow....until he flew off ;)

Tim and Aron were laughing hysterically on that thing until...BAM!

I was the first one to attempt wakeboarding. It was only my 3rd time in my life trying. My 2nd time, I got up for maybe 5 seconds...and this day, the same story. I was buzzing pretty good so that didn't help, and my wrist and hands were hurting. I get so frustrated when I don't do something well...but I'll get it one day, I know it :)

Jon didn't have a problem getting up, and made it look so easy (top left). Aaron (top right) did really well, too. Noelle (bottom left) got up a few times and mostly hung out in the wake, but ventured outside it a few times. Andrea (bottom right) did great, and finally has picture proof that she CAN wakeboard :)

Tim, on the other hand, owned it.

Don't underestimate the important job of "flag guy/girl"...we make it look good.

We like Eminem. Haaa :)

Dom's a pro "prop checker"...and handsome, too

Look at all that Moulden lovin'

He's so SWEET!

Friends, Carlos and Karen, cruised the lake with us (on the left) with some of their friends...and Tim & crew (on the right) are just plain sexy.

While the grown ups are away, the kids will play...dogs will fetch. Dom was nice enough to supervise the kids while everyone except us went on one last boat ride on Sunday.

Boys will be boys. Chase was thoroughly enjoying himself in some mud :)

Stairs are no match for this little guy. "Ball...ball...ball...ball..."

Oh the joys of motherhood. Poop-on-a-thumb :(

We all had a great time camping at the lake together, and made it home in the early evening. I had to rush home to get ready for my family's annual BBQ and Dom came over as soon as he helped unload and showered.

I had family (aunts and uncles) over and my stepdad made homemade gazpacho and jumbalaya and some fruit and cream dessert. Afterward, I cuddled up next to Dom and we all watched the fireworks in my backyard :) It was quite a special night. Happy 4th of July!

Vincent Gap...Oh, snap!

FINALLY...an overnight hike has been accomplished!!! (pat on the back)
My friend, Andrew, included me in a Facebook invite for a last minute overnight adventure in the Angeles Crest Mountains. Naturally, I invited Dominic. The plan was to meet Andrew and his 2 other friends at Vincent Gap parking lot around 11am and hike to the campsite together. Dominic and I drove my car (which is a p.o.s.) and about an hour into our drive, it began to overheat. It was pretty bad. We ended up turning around, driving back to Dom's and switching cars. It was definitely not the way we wanted to start this trip, but when life gives you lemons, make lemonade :) Can you believe we saw one patch of snow on the way there? It's not even cold out. Weird.

We found the lot AND a piece of paper posted (by Andrew) up on the trailhead marker with MISTY written in big letters, along with instructions on how to get to the campsite. He even said they would leave arrows along the trail to help direct us. SWEET! Neither Dom nor I have ever hiked this trail. The arrows were very helpful and reassuring. We began our hike around 2:30pm and stopped about an hour into it for some lunch.

I think I was carrying about 40lbs in my pack, Dom had maybe 55lbs in his. Our trekking poles were EXTREMELY beneficial. They helped keep our balance over rocky, narrow, steep terrain. I didn't think that mosquitos would be a problem, but I was WRONG. Because I wore shorts and a tank top (due to the warm weather) I came home with 45 bites! I'm still scratching. Those suckers even got me through my top! I've got some on my back and one on my tummy.

We LOVE this freeze dried meal, Chili Mac with Beef :) MMmmmm...just add boiling water!

Roxy, showing us the way through the creek.

After about 4 1/2 miles of the HARDEST hiking Dom and I have ever done (mind you, we were told that this was a super EASY hike), we found the rest of our group camped out HERE.

How cool is it to come upon an old plane crash. I guess people over the years had written dates on the plane, and the earliest date our friends found was in the 70s. I want to look up any old news on this crash, to see if I can find out what the heck happened.

This isn't the actual campsite that we intended on hiking to, but Andrew & friends said they tried reaching it, but it's unreachable. This hike is not maintained at all, and at times we had trouble locating the trail. Dom and I even went the wrong way for a bit before running into 2 other hikers who did the same and were heading back to find the trail. This spot did just fine, and no one else was around.

Dom's making us dinner...which I think was something like BBQ chicken bits and gravy over mashed potatoes. It wasn't bad at all...and for dessert we had some sort of Mocha Mousse Pie...amazing!

After many swigs of Whiskey and a few beers, Andrew was demonstrating some sort of joke on Peter, the punchline being a swift knee to the groin! Aw man, he hit him right on target and Peter went DOWN! It was soooo funny, and Andrew didn't mean to get him too hard. Peter didn't get up for a while..moaning in pain.

The Polaks (Andrew & Co.) stayed up later than us, singing loudly along to Polish songs (funny). The next morning, we basically got ready as soon as we were up. The others left about 30 minutes before us. The hike back to civilization...was INSANE! It was all uphill, and it was hot. The bugs were everywhere (I wore pants this time) and we were still sore from the day before. Our legs were killing! We had to climb over a bunch of rocks and large trees that had fallen onto the trail. I thought we'd never get there. It took us 3 1/2 hours to get back, and we had to stop numerous times to catch our breath. We did spot a rattlesnake, coiled up on the edge of the path, waiting to attack. Once we finally reached the car, we were soaked with sweat, hungry and pretty pleased with ourselves for finally taking on this challenge.

That night and the next day, I could barely move. My calves were the most sore (which never happens to me) and my lower back and thighs hurt, too. More tough hikes during the week are definitely needed for better strength training for something like this.
Gooooo us!!!

First solo hike

Last week, I did something that I have always wanted to do, but have felt a little unsure and nervous about doing. I went on a hike all by myself. It's a little different for females to go out and do things like this without having a little concern for our safety, whether it's fear of wild animals or harmful people. Anyways, I have hiked Eaton Canyon to the waterfall numerous times and I decided to take MYSELF for a little hike.It was much more pleasurable than I had thought it would be. It felt nice to get away from everyone and my life for a few hours and just be out on my own, with fresh air, sunshine, nature and ME. I think it's so important to be comfortable with ourselves, enough to be alone, to do things alone and to be able to keep OURSELVES company and entertained. When it comes down to it, I'm my own best friend...so why not do something nice for myself? It was very refreshing. Don't get me wrong, I do love the company of a good friend. It's just sometimes, we need to reconnect with our soul and spirit without distractions and make ourselves the priority for once, instead of others.

I LOVE having water resistant hiking boots. Yes, they give me gnarly blisters on my heels if I don't bandage them up properly before the hike, but they allow me to tread on pretty much any terrain out there :) I've gotten used to looking like a lesbian in them.
And here we have our destination, the waterfall.
It was a beautiful day

My first weekend...

...OFF!!!
Yup, since I'm a teacher at a school, I get the holidays they do. I have 3 weeks off of work until I start teaching over summer school :)
I kicked off the weekend with a little night with the ladies. Nichole, Kasia and I watched the movie, New Moon. I just finished the book, too. Honestly, I wasn't crazy about the movie. I was falling asleep through it. I loved the first, though. I'm now starting to read the 3rd book, Eclipse. Woohoo :)
We had a little BBQ on Saturday afternoon with Nichole, Kasia and Victoria. Nichole made some great shish kabobs with chicken, shrimp, veggies and corn on the cob and potatoes.She made an interesting (but really good) appetizer. It's a bread roll sprinkled with walnuts and cinnamon and Brie in the middle, then baked. I made some Funfetti cupcakes :)
We liked splashing in the cuzzi, too :)

Kasia's birthday was celebrated (a week early) at J Lounge in downtown LA. We all had a great time dancing and sipping on a few drinks.Us? Reserved??? HA! Aw, just kidding. We're two classy broads :) Oh, and btw...I LOVE my new heels.
Just a handful of the lovely ladies that showed up :)
There's the birthday girl, shaking her booty on the dance floor :) Happy (early) Birthday, dear!

PaRtY dAy!!!

Friday was the LAST DAY of the school year (like I've said before) and we had our annual PaRtY dAy!!! We rent big bounce houses, have video games (rock band) set up in class rooms, and more activities set up down at the field. We also have a ton of food that the parents bring in for everyone to eat.

I took my usual place in the crafts room to face paint along with Miss Kathy and Miss Audrey. The theme this year was Hawaiin luau...which explains the Hibiscus flowers :) These are just a few that I did...our lines were LONG so many of them are a little rushed. We sat there for 4 hours doing this! Our backs were a little sore, but the kids LOVED their face art!

One of my student's mom asked me to take a picture with her kids, of course I agreed. While I was setting them up on my lap and posing with a great big smile for the picture, another student of mine (7 years old) was sitting nearby and studying my face. After the picture was taken, she says to me, "Wow, Miss Misty, you look REALLY pretty when you smile." She smiled real big when she said it, and seemed to be seeing me in a new light. I loved how honest and genuine and sweet she was. That comment made me feel really good, and made me think I should wear a smile more often. Thanks, Sophia :)

a job well DONE

In 2 days, it will be the LAST day of the school year. Wow, the time really did fly by. I started out with students who were average (with a few exceptions) in their artistic abilities and I helped shape their talents and direct their creative minds to become better artists than I had hoped for. Looking back on all the artwork we created together, I can't help but feel proud and accomplished. This year, I was on top of my game. Years ago, I incorporated more crafty projects but this year I focused my program on the finer arts. I introduced famous artists to my students and challenged them to use one of the artist's work as inspiration for their own recreation. Of course, I guided them through EVERY step and taught them art terms, theories and techniques. I also made sure to expose my little artists to different mediums to help broaden their imaginations and skills.

Here are some student examples of the projects we've done since the last time I've posted them.

This project took me weeks! I made clay handprints with my 4yr olds for Mother's Day.
Watercolor pandas with my 4 year olds for Father's Day.
I read the story Rainbow Fish to my 4 year olds, then we recreated the fish in the story with crayons and watercolor paint. We also added glitter to a few scales.

My 4 year olds made crayon and watercolor tulips for Mother's Day.
My 5 year olds used watercolor pencils to draw their swirly floral bouquets for Mother's Day.
The artist, Kandinsky, was introduced to my 5 year olds before recreating one of his color studies.
Here, my 5 year olds painted a cactus with watercolors for Father's Day.
I went over "negative space" with my 6 year olds. We drew the background (negative space) first, and the bunnies just...showed up :)

Here, my 6 year olds learned about the artist Jim Dine and then used one of his bathrobe drawings as inspiration for their Father's Day art. We used oil pastels.
I went over the artist, Paul Klee with my 6-7 year olds and we recreated his Castle and Sun with oil pastels.
For Easter, my 7 year olds recreated one of Magritte's works. The famous painting is of a large green apple in the middle of a room, but for Easter we replaced it with a giant egg. We used pastels and colored pencils and learned about how light casts shadows.
My 7 year olds used pastels again for this Georgia O'Keeffe recreation of a white shell.
My 7-8 year olds learned about Vincent Van Gogh and used his many paintings of sunflowers to recreate their own sunflower art with oil pastels. We were careful to try and copy his brushstroke techniques by making lots of little lines and dashes.
My 7-8 year olds used acrylic paint on canvas to recreate Paul Klee's Senecio, for Father's Day. We sponge painted a few of the final details at the end.
My 8 year olds recreated this Georgia O'Keeffe painting using pastels and watercolors for Mother's Day.
This was my FAVORITE project of the whole year. My 8 year olds learned about Vincent Van Gogh and they tried to copy his painting style using short lines and dashes with oil pastels. We recreated his Wheatfield with Crows, for Father's Day.
My 8 year olds recreated one of Laurel Burch's mystical horses using oil pastels and watercolors.
FABULOUS work, my little munchkins. I always refer to them as "munchkin land" and they get a kick out of it :) I'm looking forward to seeing what great creations we come up with NEXT year. I'll lose my oldest class to the other art teacher (who teaches the older kids) and I'll get a fresh new batch of 4 year olds. Have a great summer :)