Beach!!

Finally, after almost the whole summer has gone, we made it to the beach! It was just an after dinner spontaneous event with no buggy-boarding or drenched swimsuits, but it was still a ton of fun!
We left around 7pm, I think, and drove to Stater Bros. where we purchased Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Yum! Then we drove down to Sunset Beach at sunset. (What a coincidence!) It was a little chilly down by the water, so I was glad for my jacket. We devoured our ice cream and then ran to the waves.
None of us had any bathing suits on, so we just rolled up our pants (or leggings) and enjoyed the cool sand. We raced the waves up the beach (we usually won), dashed across the sand in competitions, and jumped to our heart's content (with goofy poses too!).
My mom also had fun taking pictures of us as we gallivanted around.

Ice cream . . . !
 (From left to right: Jonathan-9, David-15, Molly-13, Annie-11)

Walking . . .

Eating . . .

Eating and posing . . .

More dramatic posing . . .

Racing . . .

Jumping . . . !

Landing with sand (and hair)  flying . . .

Jonathan  . . .

David . . .

Me . . . !

Annie . . .

David and I . . . 

                                     (David said to do a ballet pose-don't know what happened there!)

Father and son . . . (aka Dad and Jonathan)

And finally . . . cleaning up after a night of all the above!

I love the beach. Especially at night time when the sky is glowing orange and pink. I really enjoyed this last Friday night and look forward to the next beach day where we can actually get in the water!

Lots of Library Time . . .

This summer, my big brother David and I have been volunteering every Tuesday at the Huntington Beach library near our house. We go at 9am and interact with kids and parents until 11am.
During the first few weeks of the program, we worked 3-5pm. But there was an extra person who had nothing to do in the whole 2 hours, so we got transferred to 9am where there is a lot more business. 
Our job is to sign kids up for the Summer Reading Program (where they read 54 books/chapters or 20 minute blocks for prizes) or hand out prizes to the ones who have completed a certain amount of books or minute blocks. Usually we work with 2 other people, but sometimes it's just 3 or even 2.  Everything is recorded on the computer, so it's super easy.
At 9am there is story and sing-a-long time for the young kids in the Tabby Theater, so when we're not interacting with people, we get the pleasure of listening to the 'Good Morning' song and lovely stories about big red foxes. It can be quite entertaining!
There are also a lot of super cute little kids.Today, I had a little girl, probably around the age of 4, come up to me and ask me what my name was. I told her and asked the same thing. I found out that her name was Abbi. Abbi then just smiled and walked off. And that was it! Just super cute and friendly.
The program ends next Friday, but does that mean that you have to stop reading? Absolutely not! Read on, I say, read on!!

Dancing for God's Glory

Earlier this week, I had the privilige to participate in a Dance Conference hosted by Dance for Joy at a studio in Huntington Beach. I and the other dancers, were able to sample different types of dancing during the four days there (Monday through Thursday) such as hip-hop, tap, ballet, and creative expression. I had a blast! It was so much fun!
Over all, I think I enjoyed tap and creative expression the most. Aside from ballet, of course. I liked the creative expression class because a lot of it was based on sign language, which I have always been interested in learning. Tap was just fun all together.
I also enjoyed spending time with friends and meeting new people. But most of all, I enjoyed glorifying God through our dancing. The conference was focused on laying things down like our lives, or even things that don't exactly go our way. The verse for the week was John 15:13-"There's no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends."
I really enjoyed the conference and am already looking forward to the Youth Praise Dance Conference 2015!