Summer always starts with Will's birthday and Father's Day. We are out of school and the days start warming up after a little June gloom. Will turned 45 and got his very favorite peach pie from Marie Calendars. He also got presents and love from his family.
Our friends, the Pereas, came out to California for a few weeks. They moved to Florida a few years ago and we miss them. It is always a great start to summer when the Pereas are back in town. Colter and Eli, Adell and Estella, they fell quickly into their old best friends grooves.
For Colter's birthday in May, we gave him tickets to see Blue Man Group in Las Vegas re-opening night. That wasn't until June so off we went. Colter was the most appreciative kid ever for this trip. It was very sweet.
For dinner we ate at a place called Sugar Factory, known for wild desserts (naturally). Colter ordered a milk shake and was sufficiently impressed.
Fun story, we stayed in the Luxor and the show was in the Luxor. We spent a good amount of time walking around the inside of that gigantic pyramid. Vegas is known as the City Of Sin for good reason. We were cautious about how much Vegas Colter got to see as a 9 year old kid. Every major hotel in Vegas seems to have four types of show: a comedian, a musical group, an acrobatic group, and a sexy show (strip teases, show girls, etc). It is easy to find family friendly entertainment but impossible to avoid advertisements for the less family friendly faire.
Colter quickly noticed the posters for the show girls act at the Luxor. As we walked to our room he spotted the moving billboard that included videos of their sexy dance. When we got to our room Colter wanted to show us the weirdest thing he had seen. He walked us back around the hotel and pointed to the moving billboard. "Why would those ladies want to dance in their underwear?!" This coming from a kid who hangs out in his underwear at home all the time. I can't keep him in clothes to save my life.
For the rest of the day and night we were staying at the Luxor, Colter's eyes would find the posters of the show girls. What can I say, Vegas knows how to capture your interests.
Let's talk about bucket list items. I've never made an official bucket list. Truth be told, unless I think I am going to do those things, why write them down? If I made a bucket list, dancing in a public flash mob would have been an item I wanted to put on my list. However, I wouldn't have put it down because I am just a mom. I can't be that outrageous and draw attention to myself in that way.
Well, I started following an instagram account called bobsdanceshop. They do flash mobs and had put on their first one since the pandemic just a week before I started following them on insta. They put a call out to San Francisco area peeps. They were doing a flash mob in San Francisco that very Saturday (it was Friday night). I wanted to go! I debated if I was allowed. Decided I was and signed up. I also signed Clare up because she is cute, knows how to dance, and I hoped she would be down to clown with me.
Saturday morning we drove into the city and met at the park address given to us in the email. No one was there. I panicked for a minute...I had been punked. More and more people started showing up and I figured at least I wasn't alone in being punked. Finally our organizers arrived. They are from LA and couldn't find parking. Whew!
We took two hours to learn the dance and then walked over to Delores Park to preform. It was one of the funnest things I have ever done! Clare was adorable. We met some fun and interesting people. Most importantly, we danced our hearts out and had the very best time. I'll never forget it...and it is immortalized on the internet.
Oh, fun...not so fun...fun again story. When we walked over to Delores park we met at a set of picnic tables while the organizers set up their speakers and the location for the flash mob. I set my bag down under the table thinking our dancing spot would be very close to the tables. We walked down to the actual location which was farther down the park. I left my bag. We danced, laughed, high fives and walked back up to the tables. You guessed it, my bag was not there! I was heart sick. The only valuables were our phones, one credit card, and the van keys.
Worst case scenario, we could borrow a new friend's phone, call Will and have him meet us with the spare keys. I could cancel the credit card and we can replace phones. Just some hassle, right. We said a little prayer and headed back to our new friends who were still celebrating our successful mob. Miracle of miracles, one of the Bobbetts (the bobsdanceshop guys, Jake to be exact) had noticed our bag when we were walking down to the location and brought it with him! I couldn't believe this awesome blessing. He said he knew it was our bag because he recognized Clare on my phone's screen saver. We were so grateful. We gave extra hugs, extra thanks, and a prayer of thanks, and headed home.
I am so glad I got to spend the day with Clare. We did not reapply our sunscreen and got pretty burnt. But we had so much fun! Now we have a little dance to do whenever we want. Right after the flash mob Saturday we sent Clare off to Utah for EFY. Again, I'm so glad I got this flash mob time with Clare because turns out she was going to be gone all summer (I am actually typing this in July). She went to EFY, met us in Southern Utah for a family reunion, came home and did an overnight babysitting job for Alan and Heather, and then drove up to the lake. We haven't seen her since I dropped her off at Alan and Heather's house. She is, of course, having the very best time! We miss her. Here is a picture of her with her friends and cousin (who moved to Utah) just before EFY.
Finally, swim team season is upon us. We were going to take last year off and just do Fall swim but COVID ended up canceling swim anyway, even Fall swim. So the kids were happy to get back to it this summer. Alas, I remembered why I don't love summer swim (meets just about every Wednesday night and just about every Saturday morning). Next year it is Fall swim for sure!
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