Fires

To update my family...

We woke up this morning to a much stronger smell of smoke. The girls are complaining of headaches.

After turning on the TV this morning, the fire has spread toward Chino Hills and Diamond Bar. This is still miles away from us to the north east, but close enough that I am glued to the television set.

Air quality is very bad. We are trying to stay in and keep the doors/windows closed.

When Ben took Shaggy out for a walk this morning, he said the lawns are scattered with burned pieces of brush and twigs. They just disintegrate into ash if you touch them.

Evidently the fire got quite close to Ben's office in Brea. We don't know how close yet. The building was in a mandatory evacuation area.

It is supposed to be another very hot, dry day today, which is not good. However, the winds have died down a lot, which IS good.

I'll post more later if things change.

Reflections

Congratulations Ellie! Her photograph placed 2nd (secondary photography category) in her school's Reflections Program. The theme this year was "WOW."

To see the other artwork, click here.

Opening Night!

Here is Claire on the opening night of "A Little Wicked". What an exciting night it was! Dress rehearsal was the same night as the first performance, and we were all just a little nervous. This was the first time using a microphone and moving on the stage.

It all came together and everyone did a great job. We were a little worried at first, because the person who was supposed to introduce her didn't make it to rehearsal. We thought Claire would have to do her intro and sing her song ... however, he did make it at the last minute and she didn't have to introduce herself ... whew!

She has another performance tonite and I'll try to take some more pictures. There are some great visuals going on behind Claire that I didn't get a chance to get into the photos last night.

My Corner of the Sky

Only two days til Claire performs in "A Little Wicked". We are so excited.

In addition to being in all the dance numbers, she is singing a solo from the musical Pippin called "My Corner of the Sky".

I don't have a video of Claire singing, but here is "The Greatest American Hero" singing My Corner of the Sky for your listening enjoyment. (Please tell me I'm not the only one who remembers The Greatest American Hero!)