Matt managed to SCORE on our Dodgers tickets for Mother’s Day.  It was a very last minute decision to go, and what would have cost over $82.00 on the Dodger website for nosebleed seats, we got on Craigslist for $40.00 – and really great seats.

The day was full of wonderful things for Lucy, too – including her first Build a Bear experience, as our present to her.  We’ve now added ‘Rainbow’ to Lucy’s vast collection of beloved stuffed animals.  She had a great time – and after picking Rainbow a new dress to wear, actually declined getting her a pair of shoes!  Wow – I’ll have to remember that when she is 14 and wants more shoes.

After slogging through some LA traffic, we got to the game near the end of the first inning.  They were playing the Giants, which was interesting, since that is the name of Max’s Little League team (he wasn’t quite sure at first who to root for).  God’s mercies were abundant that day; it was very un-crowded, we were sitting in the shade, and the kids really enjoyed themselves (especially when yummy foods were being consumed).

Room to stretch out and get my feet tickled

Wow – what a cool field.  Glad we don’t have to mow it!

I didn’t mind sharing my day with this sweet 5 year old.

Especially when she still magically falls asleep when she needs to!

For our biggest surprise of the day:

Earlier I had been the food-getter while Dad and the kids stayed put.  I was on the hunt for some juice for Lucy and asked an employee about it, mentioning that it was her birthday.  He took me far and wide, but no juice was found.  I told him it was no problem, I saw some frozen lemonade and that would be great.  So several innings later – a section manger came over with a big bag of goodies for the birthday girl!  Amazing – and slightly unnerving that they had found me in my seat that I had never mentioned (thought I was one of the only people not in Dodger Blue), but truly some awesome customer service.  So since Lucy was sleeping and doesn’t care much for baseball schtuff, Mr. Max got a wonderful Merry Un-Birthday bag of a Bobblehead, baseball cards and other neat stuff.  Such a day!

I should really trim the hedge around my house twice per year.  This past year though, I only trimmed the front part, and left the sideyard hedge untouched.

Today, the first day of the 4 day Memorial Day weekend, I decided that I had to trim the side yard hedge.  Below are some pictures as I am about 2/3 of the way finished.  I am cutting down 6+ feet of hedge to bring it down to a manageable 6 foot tall.

The Fair was great fun this year, especially in the art department.  Lucy won 3 First Prize Ribbons, here’s one of her creations:

Max won 9 First Prize ribbons, 1 Second Prize ribbon and 2 Honorable Mentions (which means they were considered for Best in Show – very cool!).  (Literally, we have been talking about this for a whole year.)

One of our most favorite parts was when we went to see the animals.  We approached a sweet lady who had brought many goats.  We asked her if we could pet the tiny baby goat in her arms.  She said sure, and said it was only 4 days old.  We then we asked if it had a name, she said no – and then asked Lucy if she would like to name it!  So there is a baby goat somewhere in Santa Maria now, that is named Lucy!

We brought Dad along to show him the art on display, our favorite animals and the like.  We were blown away on the expense of riding rides – most were $4 or $5 for just one ride!  Yikes – so glad that there were many other things to do.  Max and Lucy just rode 2 rides each, but fortunately did not seem to mind. 

Lucy’s birthday party at the beach was a success.  Only half of the little girls cried at any one time.  Lucy had the worst crying as she got fistfuls of sand in each eye.  Below are pictures of some of the more pleasant times.

Max took his friend Ben to the beach also.  Ben was hesitant to go until we convinced him that he was just going to the beach with Max. Ben was concerned that he was going to a girls birthday party and wanted nothing to do with that!