Swim Lessons Take Two (or three or four or five.....)

Samantha has been taking swim lessons on and off for a couple years now.  We've never been consistent with lessons nor do we have daily access to a swimming pool thus Samantha is still not swimming.

We had a breakthrough recently during our latest run of lessons with Lydia at Cathedral Oaks Athletic Club which happened at just the right time since we were leaving on vacation where we would be spending most of our time at the pool.  I think it also helped that I pulled Lydia aside and said she needed to be a little more aggressive with Samantha and move past the bunny hops and blowing bubbles.  

While I feel like we are so SO close to having a swimmer, I've got to do my part and get the lessons going again so that we don't lose the progress we made.  If only there were more time in the day to add one more activity to our already busy schedule which has gotten even busier since school started.  I'll figure it all out and get you more confident in the water soon Sammie Girl!

Random July Photos

These kids were crazy for Despicable Me 2 and are obsessed with Minons!  I'll admit, I loved the movie too!

Daddy is good at face painting. 

Procrastinating a beach run with my bestie. 

He's such an angel, even more so when he is sleeping ;)

Apparently people dress up once a year as cows at Chick-Fil-A for free food.  It's called Cow Appreciation Day. The kids and Todd happened to be there on that night and I hear it was quite something to see grown adults dressed as cows eating chicken sandwiches.   In any case, Samantha came home and has her homemade cow outfit ready for next year.  

A fun night out with the ladies to celebrate Elena's birthday.

Pilates with my kiddos. 

Kids Happy-Houring 

Parents Happy-Houring 

Two five-year-olds taking a Selfie 

Fiesta 2013

Phew!  We made it through Fiesta!  Samantha performed more than 20 times at various venues all over town the week prior and during Fiesta.  My friend and neighbor, Cami, wrote a hysterical article on what it is like to be a flamenco parent during Fiesta, a Fiestamama as she calls it.  Her daughter is in SEVERAL groups so I'd say we got off easy but take a look at this article to get a sense for what it is like:

 http://www.independent.com/news/2013/aug/01/fiestamama-marathon/

Poor Thatcher.... Dragged around for 2 weeks to watch his sister perform and practice A LOT of patience.  I had zero time to battle getting him dressed every day as you can see. 

Fallon and Samantha really bonded during Fiesta.  I love these two together and love Fallon's family.  It was nice to have a veteran mom to hang out with from our group as Fallon danced last year.  And yes, there was constant confusion amongst the studio with Fallon and Samantha Fallon, which blonde was which and who was who and was our last name her first name questions constantly ;)

Thatcher was a trooper!  

Downtime between performances

Another day, another performance. Actually, it was more like several performances in one day. 

This is a past Spirit of Fiesta.  She is now a resident at Garden Court which I have to say threw one hip Fiesta party.  We visited a lot of retirement homes around Santa Barbara, there is some fine living to be had in this town!

Angelina and Shaianne have been friends since preschool

Studio picture at The Courthouse

Like I said, Thatcher was a trooper and brought his own style to Fiesta throughout the week. 

One of the best parts of Fiesta for Samantha was performing for her friends.  We appreciated every single friend (Dancing Grandma too!) that came downtown to see Samantha.  We know it is not easy navigating the crowds and parking during this time of year.  

Yogurt breaks were a must!

After performance dinner with friends. 

We narrowly made a performance on this day as we got stuck in the middle of the horse parade.  You can see the horses behind me and in front of me was a horse carriage going zero miles an hour.  I told Cami that she needs to add "getting stuck in the middle of the horse parade" to the list of things that can go wrong during Fiesta for a Fiestamama.    

The Fiesta Children's Parade 

A time out for a Selfie with my little man 

The De La Guerra performances were streaming LIVE on the internet.  My parents were watching and Samantha wanted to pull her ear to say "hi" to them.  She forgot on stage so we sent a photo afterwards. 

Quick pit stop in between performances with friends to Cielito for a margarita is a MUST to make it through the long days ;)

Samantha made the newspaper not only once BUT

TWICE! ;)

This was after their final performance with Sofia who is the assistant teacher in their class.  I somehow missed the photo of their teacher, Ms. Cari.  She is the equivalent of a Disney princess to the girls.  They love her and she is so good with them. 

Fallon and Samantha with Linda Vega at the wrap BBQ.

Official flamenco photo. 

Official group photo. 

And as if you haven't seen enough of Samantha in that darn outfit, here are some clips of her dancing including a few snip-its of Sofia.

I should mention that Samantha loved all the performing and despite being a little, okay more like A LOT, concerned with what was required of us from the end of June through Fiesta to participate, I can honestly say I enjoyed it.  So much so, we've signed up for next season and lessons start again in about a week.  I've become a Fiestamama!