Our Southern California Family
On St Patrick’s Day we had a little luncheon with our family here in southern California. Jeanette and Dan came down, and Chris, Tracy and Adriene came up. As it happens we are exactly in between the two of them and so it worked out great. Everyone contributed something to our picnic style lunch, and we ate and chatted for a while as the kids all played. After we ate we walked several blocks to the Lake nearby. There is a playground there and we fed the ducks too. Jeanette was wondering why we brought so much bread, almost 1/3 of the loaf, until she saw how quickly the kids threw it all out to the ducks! Adriene was just eating the bread as a treat for herself because she doesn’t get white bread very often. It was so fun to have our little cousin Adriene here to play! She is such a cutie, and is talking so well now. We can hardly wait until Easter when all of the cousins on my side will be together again. That hasn’t happened for a long time, I think since Matt came home from the Philippines!
A New Look
I have a new site design! It all started because we (meaning Rob, I don’t really think about these things) wanted to break free from the last design that was tied to our web host. It had some limitations that were frustrating to him, including the web address ending with “/blog”. Now it’s just bizzert.com which is nice and clean. Rob had me sort through the hundreds of themes to find one I liked, and this one really seemed to fit for me because it was simple and fun. It also fit in nicely with my other site, Polka Dot Island. The box about the author was also Rob’s idea, and I’m not crazy about the silly photo he used, but I guess it’s ok for now.
The Bicycle Thief
Rob and I actually got all of the kids into bed at a decent hour and watched the movie, The Bicycle Thief. It is an Italian movie with subtitles, so Rob was especially excited to see it. He said that there was a pretty thick dialect so he was relying a lot on the subtitles too. We both really liked this movie!
It’s hard to say that I love it, because it is a bit depressing. It takes place in an impoverished community post World War II and follows one man and his son as they search for a bicycle the father needs to keep a new job. There are no special effects, and the plot is simple, but the emotions of desperation and hope keep you locked into the story. The performances by the Father, Antonio, and his son, Bruno, are amazing. They really make you feel their pain. In fact, every character comes with a history and depth that you wouldn’t expect from such a simple story. I don’t want to say too much about it because it helps to go into the movie without a synopsis of its events. It helps add to that feeling of – what are they going to do next?- The movie makes you think and feel and sympathize. All things that don’t seem to be the motivation of movie makers now. If you’ve seen it, tell me what you think; If you haven’t, go out and rent it!
Read MoreVacation to Mars – The Movie
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HYz9uEeRK4
Rob got a clip of Hunter’s play up on YouTube after lots of fiddling! The good news is that the next time we want to post a video, it should be pretty straightforward. Hunter is the one in the orange ball cap. I was pushing for no hat so we could see his face better, but I can’t win them all! This is the first song in the play where Hunter announces to the family the plans for their family vacation. He came up with the choreography himself, and is such a cutie manly “Dad.”
Read MoreVacation to Mars
Hunter’s third grade class combined with another one and put on the play “Vacation to Mars.” It’s all about the solar system and mixes a lot of information into cute songs and a story about a family going on vacation to Mars. Hunter is the Dad in the play and did a super job on his lines and his solo in the first song! There were also little songs for all of the planets, and he knew all of the words for those too. His classes worked so hard, practicing every day for weeks. His teachers were also very impressed with how quickly he memorized the lines, and how well he did on stage. We have been trying to get the video we took online, but have run into some snags. Hopefully that will come later.
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