Opening

So,
   I had the opening at the museum Thursday evening. The following pictures will make it seem empty but it was actually quite crowded. The museum opened up to the public for free for my opening and they were shocked at the amount of people who came through. They said that they hadn't had that many people since the grand opening celebration 7 weeks ago. It was a good time. There were suave finger foods, beverages, and air conditioning. I was interviewed by some local media types who haven't posted anything yet but they took photos and video.
   T and the kids came and joined the fray at about 7:30 and they quickly took over the spotlight. They were really well behaved and all dressed up so that part went really well.
   It was a good enough time made all the better by the fact that everyone at the museum seemed overwhelmingly positive about the  reception and I sold a piece on opening night. 
  The show will be up until August 8th and they expect a lot of people to come through and see it. 

 Out in front.

The kids watching the activity and goings on.

The fliers for the most recent artists to go on display. I don't know who this Christoff fellow is. He wasn't there and I didn't see any of his stuff. I think it's on the roof.

The one on the right is the one that sold already.

Chatting, eating and goings on.

This guy attempted to completely monopolize my time and sweat all over everything. He went on for at least one half hour about dry lake beds and tectonic transformations of "his" Mojave... T sent in Z to get me out of there.

   I will be going back to take my own shots of the plaques and the space. It is my understanding that anyone can come up and see it for free any time the museum is open. 

RTSZA

Announcement.

So,
   With the opening only 2 days away I've finally gotten my hands on a copy of the announcement.

Last Week.

So,
   T finished up with work this week and is now home for the summer.  We are all really happy to have her around now, and I think she is happy to be done after a crazy last few weeks involving near fist fights (with parents) real fist fights (between students) and more drama than you can shake a 5th grade diploma at.
   We started out our summer by attending her school end of the year party at her principals house. Free dinner and a pool? Yes please! The kids had a great time swimming and were the stars of the joint. We are really the only ones that have little kids since the teaching profession (in CA at least) hasn't been hiring for a long time. There are no teachers younger than T so no kids our kids ages. This makes them the center of attention and they were happy to be. I got to meet a bunch of the people that she's been mentioning all year long and it was, uh, interesting? There are no pictures for a myriad of reasons mainly I didn't bring the camera.
   Aiden has been sitting at the big people table all week. This is new, interesting and like most things related to children, mildly problematic.

 
   Today is fathers day and we went  "down below" to get some of my favorite chinese food.

"A" wishes me a happy fathers day!

Z Shows him how it's done.

These beautiful ladies love Chi's Chinese Cuisine!

 I'll probably BBQ up something tonight and we'll hang out. It is summer for real here now and going out isn't very much fun.
   This coming week will be full of appointments with Drs. of all type since T is off of work. A few days of her cleaning up and moving to a new room at school. Then on Thursday the 21st I have a show going up in the new Lancaster Museum of Art and History, with an opening taking place from 6-8 pm. There aren't any images up on the web yet (grrrrr) but I'm going to make sure to take some pictures of the stuff on the walls and the opening and I will be sure to post them.
   That's what's new here.
Crazy shot of the week.

Till next time.

RTSZA

Cherry Pickin!

So,
   The day after Zs party the spoil me rottens were still in town so we decided to head out to the bucolic Leona valley to participate in some good old family fun in the form of fighting off busloads of asian toursits for cherries.
    Once a year the small valley 30 minutes from our house has a cherry festival and then everyone goes out and picks the ripe delicious red fruit. This season was odd because the festival was 2 weekends ago but none of the cherries were ready yet. A lot of the farms opened up for business this last weekend. We showed up bright and early ready to pick.
      Papa spoil me rotten was especially enamored with the festivities and they picked almost 5 pounds of the stuff to bring home. We made a healthy haul as you will see and had a great time.

We Made the kids haul the buckets like Cherry Mules.

Look at those bright red cherries.

Picking commenced.

Quite the pickers as you can see. 

Then temptation set in...

Sometimes temptations gets the best of even the best of us...

Mama wanted some shots of the beautiful birthday girl!

I was there too.

Papa and A showing off the sweet fruit.

There was a herder and his dog there putting on a bit of a show and the kids loved watching that.

Then the dog came over and immediately made us pet him. The kids were thrilled.

It was a great trip and we've got cherries coming out of our ears.

Till next time- pick em dark red or purple and leave the stems please.

RTSZA

Z Birthday Party Time

So, Z's birthday was Monday but we partied it up this weekend. We Invited her best friend and family to Chuck E Cheeses' yesterday morning for a morning round of fun. The kids enjoyed the pizza, the games and the company.

 

Aiden liked the pizza so much he didn't want to leave it.

So he assumed a post near the pizza from which he could watch over the festivities.

Yes that is Z open mouthed licking a Barney Ride. It was morning so hopefully it was sorta clean?!
The girls ran around like hamsters in a cage, and had a ton of fun.

Grandma was there but she didn't want us to know that.

Zs' friend brought her one present for the lunch party, a cool teddy bear which she had a hard time keeping secret and couldn't ait for Z to see it.

We went home from there and prepared for an afternoon BBQ and party extravaganza by putting the kids down for naps and decorating the house. Aunt C showed up and showered presents on our kids.

 Z was super excited and happy to thank Aunt C in her own way.

 Z immediately put on her new pretty dress from Aunt C and then refused to let me photograph her in it. So instead we have sad princess empty party picture.
    Aunt C also got her this sweet bit of swedish household engineering which she has since completely dominated. You'd better not touch it lest you suffer.

Our friends (and Zs best-y) from down the street came over and I cooked up a tri-tip, corn on the cob, hot dogs etc. 

 The girl dressed up like princesses and jumped on the bed.
Then came PRESENTS!

 She snagged a cool dollhouse, lots of great clothes and sleeping situation materials, and some princess dolls. She had a bit of help opening everything.

Her best friend also gave her the second half of her 2 part present for a 2 part party. One of those necklaces where there are two halves of a heart and when you put them together it says "Best Friends". Z loved the necklace but I'm not sure she understood the concept so I didn't get a shot if it despite my best efforts.

Then it was time for CAKE! we had a Dora themed cake and since T wanted to give her a challenge she put a bunch of candles in the shape of a "3" instead of just three candles. 

Lets just say she has quite a pair of lungs.

Did someone say CAKE?

I LOVE CAKE!!!

We ate and enjoyed company till the sun went down. It was a good party and we're happy to have good friends and family. 

The weekend wasn't over though, the grandparents slept over and we went cherry picking this morning. So stay tuned for that post once I sort through all of the shots.

till next time (and sorry for the strange formatting.) 

RTSZA