hello, summer

the rest of the bean's week off before summer school went by in a flash.  it helped that she also had her regular extracurriculars to attend.  on wednesday, while she was hard at work with her dance class practicing their routine for the upcoming recital, i went on a target run and grabbed a little pick-me-up:

the s'mores frappuccino at starbucks is so delicious.  i'm pretty sure it's all about that gooey marshmallow they put at the bottom, plus the marshmallow-flavored whipped cream.  i have to limit myself to the mini size - although it's a mere 2 oz. and $.20 less than the tall, it's 100 calories less and so i feel a teeny-weeny bit better about it.  sort of.  heh.

when we got home that evening, after i had dinner cooking and the bean had taken her shower, i put her to work on a treat everyone could enjoy - a chocolate chip cookie pizza.  sweet.

and in an effort to counteract all that un-clean eating, i decided to accept the june challenge at xtend:

it's gonna be a little rough, with only 10 days off to spread over the entire month, but i think i can do it.  at first i was like "oh, hell naw, that's not happening!" but after i looked at the calendar...well, it's doable.  just barely.  we'll see.

on a gloomy, overcast day, we headed out to pasadena to visit my cousin r and her sweet baby boy, who's already 3 months old.  the bean, being the baby lover that she is, was over the moon as we took turns holding him.

she would've made a wonderful big sister, but sorry kid - this shop is closed permanently on account of old age.

on our way home, we made a pitstop for more of that delicious poke we'd discovered with our friends over the weekend.  i think it's fair to say that we're addicted.

it was a good day at gymnastics class.  after finally conquering testing the previous week and advancing to the next level, she enjoyed a session with her favorite coach and earned a star card for the first time in forever.

the week ended with one of the best holidays ever - national donut day.  too bad we had such a hard time trying to find a place with any in stock.  even the reliable donut man let us down - all they had left were the strawberry-filled donuts, and we all know that ain't happening for us.  all we wanted was a simple chocolate iced donut, dang it.

it took driving to three more local donut shops before we finally hit pay dirt:

oh, hey, mom - thanks for the mother's day gift.  or, more accurately, your granddaughter thanks you since she swiped it from me.

and now we are in the throes of summer school - field trips, academics, piano lessons.  we'll be throwing swim lessons into the mix too, and looking at her schedule for the next six weeks is making MY head swim.  it'll be fun, and it'll fly by in an instant.  next thing you know, we'll be gearing up for the first day of school.

gah.  slow down, father time!