Mia does it AGAIN!

Last year, Mia submitted a photography entry in the PTA Refelctions contest.  Her entry went to district and then onto State.  This school year, Mia wanted to do photography again.  The theme was, "The Magic of the Moment".  She knew right away that she wanted to take pictures of clouds.  Here are some of her favorite pictures of the clouds.

She took them at different times of the day and in different places.  She finally decided on this picture as her entry.  This was taken right outside our house.

This was the description that she had for this picture:

"It's magic.  Clouds move shape.  I captured that beautiful view of magic.  It's magic because you may never see this magic again.  It fills your mind up with treasures and magic."

This year, Mia's entry went to the District level.  She was the only one from her school and even nearby schools that made it to Districts.  Also, this year, they did not take as many entries in the district and state levels.  For some reason, I thought because we go to a small school, Mia's chances were better since there weren't as many entries from our school.  But, I think that everything gets judged at the district level and it doesn't matter what school you are from.

We are so proud of Mia and that she is discovering her talents and interests.  

Next year, I've been asked to help promote the Reflections program at our school.  Since it is fairly new at our school, I don't think the parents know much about it.   I LOVE that the Refelections program gives children the opportunity to express themselves in artistic ways and I hope that more parents and children take advantage of it.

Mia expressed interest in continuing Photography for next years Reflection contest.  We might just have another photographer in our midst!

Year of the Icecream

Each year we choose something fun to discover.  Last year it was "Year of the Museum".  We started our year at the museum of art at Pixar.  Throughout the year we visited places like the Oakland Museum, the Bay Area Museum, Lindsay Wildlife Museum, Lawrence Hall of Science and even a local museum in Clayton.  Because of our library pass, we were able to get into most of the museums for free!  They also have free days throughout the bay area which makes it so nice!

This year is the "Year of the Icecream".  This will probably be everyone's favorite year!  Our goal is to find unique icecream places that people don't normally know about.  Luckily, Ben has co workers who know all the good places.  For our first visit to an Icecream place, we chose the San Francisco Creamery, which ironically is located in Walnut Creek, not San Fran.

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We ordered the biggest icecream you can get there, the kitchen sink.  The kids got to each choose their favorite iceream and topping.

Looking at it, you don't think you could ever possibly eat the whole thing.  But let me tell you. . . it is possible.  They have a kitchen sink challenge where if you can eat it in 15 minutes you can get your picture on the wall.  Not too long ago, they filmed, "Man vs. Food" where the host did the kitchen sink challenge.  

We are going to have a fun year, I'm sure of it!

GOING. . .

GOING. . .

GONE!