This is how Karis dressed herself to go to the park. Soccer shirt, high heels, short skirt, purse, glasses, microphone, backpack. She contains multitudes. India and I had a chance to see Mama Mia at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. I was raised on Abba so this is one of my favorite shows, and it was so fun to take India for the first time. She loved it. We’ve been listening to it ever since. And watching the mom sing “Slipping Through my Fingers” with her tucked under my arm might have put me into the ugly cry. We also went to Bubblefest at the Discovery Science Center. I posted about that here but forgot to include the picture of all four of them in a bubble. I cannot keep this kid in books! He plowed through all of the Diary of the Wimpy Kid alternatives, and then through every Rick Riordian series, and finally a teacher friend recommended the Alex Rider series, which he is loving. Our friends Matthew and Jessica were in town this week, so we had our mutual friends Chad and Sarah over for dinner. Making pizza is our new thing. Just like the Oscars except really not at all. We tried to get a picture of all of our kids together and our boys decided that was a good time to give an armpit fart concert. This is what life is like around here, 95% of the time. On Thursday I flew out to New York to see my nephew in a play. I flew in around 5pm and out the next morning, so we hit the town after the show and ate All Of The Things. I’m still recovering. Austin is a musical theater major at NYU. This was also my undergrad major, so I am living vicariously through him. So fun watching he and his friends put on a show, and it made me miss those days. It also made me marvel that not everyone’s college experience involves singing and dancing onstage with your classmates. I’m glad mine did, even if I now have a completely useless degree. From New York, I flew to San Antonio, where I visited the test track for Continental Tires. I’ve never really been a car person so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as it turns out I HAD A BLAST. More on that later, but here’s a preview: While I was gone, Mark decided to take the kids on a little adventure over the weekend. They visited Lake Havasu. They saw a drive-in movie. They stopped at Calico, a ghost town, and got to be part of an old-timey magic show. They also got thrown in jail. And visited a school. To everyone’s disappointment, the ghost town did NOT actually contain any ghosts. I got back from San Antonio bearing the requisite souvenirs. I got the girls some Alamo crackers but Jafta and Kembe got BBQ larvae and a cricket lollipop. They were thrilled. Yesterday, we took the kids to the Imaginology event at the Orange County Fairgrounds, which was an exposition of science, math, and technology. In keeping with their love of gross things: Jafta learned some wood-working skills. India made some crafts. She also played some golf. And they all enjoyed the bounce-houses and food trucks. That was our week!