May Days the Burton Way

Whew... We are looking forward to some lazy summer days around here! None of us have had the chance to "sleep in" for over 1 month! It's just the time of year when sports are wrapping up, school events take precedence, recitals, family comes from the other coast to find SoCal warmth, and these are just the predictable events! We've even had a few unpredictable happenings as well.

Taylor's Girl Scout Troop (me included since I'm the "Camping Mom") took a trip to San Fransisco to bridge from Juniors to Cadette's by walking over the Golden Gate Bridge. This adventure happened over Mother's Day weekend, and ended with 11 happy kids and 5 exhausted Mom's! All told the kids did fantastic and relished the Ft. Mason Youth Hostel we slept in, loved the cable cars and busses for transportation, really loved the airplane ride (Virgin America rocks!) and logged more than 14 miles on their tennis shoes. Upon getting home I slept for nearly 2 hours before getting up to a GREAT Mother's Day dinner provided by Eric and the girls.

Eric kept Sammie going all weekend while we were gone by taking her to Disneyland for a little Father/Daughter adventure. He got her to ride the BIG rides too - this was a true feat! They had a picture taken with Chip and Dale at a "Character Dinner" there, and I love it. How do you like Sammie's Goofy hat with ears? That's our Sammie :) Sammie also finished up our soccer season that weekend by competing in a team tournament. 3 games in one day - YIKES! Our little warriors finished in 3rd! Lastly, they surprised our neice (from Tennessee) with Balloons for her birthday.

The next weekend Taylor's soccer team competed in a Tournament in Temecula. It was HOT and windy! Two games were played each day, and they ended up in 3rd place. Another fantastic part of this weekend was staying with Eric's brother Jeff & Michelle - we call them MICK & SLICK. Michelle hooked us up with great meals all weekend long... this really helped us out tremendously since we were all tired from the heat on the soccer fields.

In between we met the Burton side of the family down in Oceanside for a beach bonfire. This was a "school-night" adventure for us, which resulted in exhausted kids the next morning. But it was worth it! There's nothing like a fire - roasted hot dogs, smores and friendly faces to make you feel good inside.

Lastly, one of Taylor's past teachers nominated her for a youth service award with the "Savannah's Organic Ranch" non-profit organization. She wrote a very nice essay nominating Taylor by depicting the ways Taylor has helped others locally, nationally and internationally. The result... we were invited to their annual charity dinner and she received a prize for 2nd place. She spoke at this dinner in front of nearly 200 adults about her civic service. Can you tell I'm proud of her? Then, her 5th grade teacher honored her in front of the whole school this morning with an award that said "Consistently Exemplifies a Scholar." The smile in her picture says it all! You should see the smiles on her parents...