Summer Vacation

Compiled by SEAN HILLER We asked people at a Costa Mesa post office: What are your summer vacation plans? We're going to Texas to visit my husband's relatives. They live on Lake Travis, so there's water-skiing and SeaDoos. JENNY NEX Costa Mesa Summer vacation? Summer's almost over. I don't have any money right now. I baby-sit, so unless they take a vacation, I can't. JOCY OROZCO Costa Mesa I have a sick wife at home. I can't go anywhere.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District business was all kinds of fun for board members and district administrators Tuesday night. The school board awarded and acknowledged numerous staff, faculty and students at the meeting, one of the last before summer vacation comes. The district awarded its Superstar awards to 27 district staffers during a special early session, with awards ranging from teachers to administrators to custodians for their exemplary work throughout the year.

Police warn against calls Newport Beach police are warning the public about fraudulent phone calls from people claiming to do summer security checks, officials said. The Newport Beach Police Department has a program largely run by its volunteers in which the volunteers would oblige community members' request to "keep an eye" on their homes when they are gone for summer vacation, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman. "But we never solicit people to use that service," he said.

There are precious few traditions in this culture that just don't deserve to be disrupted. Turkey on Thanksgiving. Football on New Year's Day. And, of course, those lackadaisical, three-month-long summer vacations from school. From the earliest beginnings of this country's education system, kids have been free from the daily grind of reading, writing and arithmetic during June, July and August -- when the weather is much more conducive to playing at the beach than number-crunching in a stuffy classroom.

Nearly 65 students on Wednesday celebrated the final day of Victoria Elementary School's first summer reading program. The six-week program, led by Principal Linda Tenno and the school's staff, urged students to continue reading over summer vacation to keep reading skills consistent from the end of one school year to the beginning of the next. According to Tenno, when students returned to school last year, their reading levels declined due to lack of reading over the summer. "We don't have the opportunity to send students to summer school," she said.

With Newport-Mesa students about to return to class this week, we asked Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard to reflect on his summer vacation and the coming school year. Question: What did you think of the “Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County” show and was it an accurate portrayal of the student body? Answer: I have not seen “Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County.” I am told it was not an accurate representation, at all. We have not and will not endorse this show nor participate with MTV in its production.

The director of Newport Harbor Montessori Center and director of admissions at Back Bay Montessori, Jamee Backus, has been named to the 2000-01 edition of the Lexington Who's Who Registry of Executives and Professionals. The book recognizes individuals who have demonstrated leadership and achievement in their profession. ... Eun S. Shin, son of Newport Beach resident Dong W. Shin, has graduated with honors from the U.S. Army's chaplain assistant advanced individual training course at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. The course teaches students to prepare altars for Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Orthodox services and stresses the importance of being knowledgeable about all faith groups.

COSTA MESA — Kids, not ready to say goodbye to your summer vacation? Although school is about to start, South Coast Plaza is offering a month-long festival that will have you believing it's still summer. The Festival of Children started Friday but kicks off in earnest this weekend. Centered around the Carousel Court and Jewel Court at South Coast Plaza, each weekend itinerary is full of things to do, such as arts & crafts hosted by the Bowers Museum, face painting by Tickled Pink, storytelling time by Orange County High School of the Arts and performances by the Orange County Children's Theatre and Maple Youth Ballet.

What continues inappropriately to be called summer vacation for school kids ended this week. I say inappropriately because what used to be a summer vacation is becoming just more of the same old, same old. For a growing number of kids, school hasn’t just taken up again. It never quit last May. The opportunity to draw a deep breath and smell the roses that we once called summer vacation is looking as archaic as truly amateur athletics. Or civilized political campaigns. And what whole generations are losing as a result is the satisfaction and exhilaration — while it is still possible — of planned indolence.

Oh, the joys of spring! Flowers are in bloom, tax returns are due, and parents are stressing out over what the heck to do with their kids this summer. When I was young, back in the Mesozoic Era, the lazy days of summer were all about playing outside until Mom called us in, reading comic books, and piling into Dad's beat-up station wagon for our annual road trip. Thoughts of school were stored away along with my Pee Chee folders and wool sweaters. Not so for my kids. Summer for them has been a time to expand their portfolios, burnish their academic, social and athletic skills, and rack up community service hours.

Nearly 65 students on Wednesday celebrated the final day of Victoria Elementary School's first summer reading program. The six-week program, led by Principal Linda Tenno and the school's staff, urged students to continue reading over summer vacation to keep reading skills consistent from the end of one school year to the beginning of the next. According to Tenno, when students returned to school last year, their reading levels declined due to lack of reading over the summer. "We don't have the opportunity to send students to summer school," she said.

It's that time of year across the Fruited Plain. Yes, vacation Bible school season! Though VBS is offered throughout this country — and the world — I've discovered that it's especially popular in the American South, traditionally known as the Bible Belt. Hedy and I have just returned from a three-week road trip through Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina. It seems that every little redbrick country church in every backwater hamlet that we visited had a sign on its front lawn announcing: "Catch the Spirit!

Oh, the joys of spring! Flowers are in bloom, tax returns are due, and parents are stressing out over what the heck to do with their kids this summer. When I was young, back in the Mesozoic Era, the lazy days of summer were all about playing outside until Mom called us in, reading comic books, and piling into Dad's beat-up station wagon for our annual road trip. Thoughts of school were stored away along with my Pee Chee folders and wool sweaters. Not so for my kids. Summer for them has been a time to expand their portfolios, burnish their academic, social and athletic skills, and rack up community service hours.

Looks like I ended up cutting off my nose to spite my face, as my sainted Kansas grandmother used to say. What does that corn-fed expression mean? Out of pique, we can end up damaging ourselves more than the object of our scorn. Case in point: I've made it no secret that I'm not exactly enamored with the Orange County Fair. I've lived two blocks from the fair for 36 years, and within a mile of the fairgrounds since 1952. Proximity has not made the heart grow fonder. Perhaps the fault lies with me. There's a chance that I've become a crotchety old dude, but I see the fair as a noisy, pollution-spewing, smelly nuisance that annually disrupts my quiet neighborhood.

The newspaper headline jumped out at me: "Fair Closes After Successful Week. " No, I didn't read the headline this summer. It wasn't about the Orange County Fair, and it wasn't printed in the Daily Pilot. I spied it this fall; it described the Wilson County (N.C.) Fair and appeared in the Wilson Times. My daughter, her husband and four children live in Wilson, a rural community near Raleigh, N.C.. The first thought I had after reading the headline was: "You mean their fair is just a week long?

COSTA MESA — Kids, not ready to say goodbye to your summer vacation? Although school is about to start, South Coast Plaza is offering a month-long festival that will have you believing it's still summer. The Festival of Children started Friday but kicks off in earnest this weekend. Centered around the Carousel Court and Jewel Court at South Coast Plaza, each weekend itinerary is full of things to do, such as arts & crafts hosted by the Bowers Museum, face painting by Tickled Pink, storytelling time by Orange County High School of the Arts and performances by the Orange County Children's Theatre and Maple Youth Ballet.

A group of local children and teens has spent the summer working to bring a “Secret Garden” to life. The actors, members of South Coast Repertory’s Summer Players, are putting the finishing touches on a family musical version of “The Secret Garden,” based on the classic children’s novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Before a recent run-through of the show, now in its final preparations, director Hisa Takakuwa encouraged the kids to take a few moments to visualize success and determine what they wanted to get out of the rehearsal.

Local kids hailed the start of their summer vacation Monday by learning how Worcestershire sauce got its name. Their esoteric (and rather erroneous) education came courtesy of Heebie & Jeebie, a musical comedy team billed as “the world’s only demi-nerd singing duo.” They performed at the Newport Beach Central Library’s first reading program event of the summer. Bedecked in yellow and gray camouflage shorts, red shoes and rainbow propeller caps to start the show, the duo donned dozens of other hats throughout the morning, from stylish fedoras to chapeaus made to resemble chili dogs.

Luke Nataupsky learned a lot this year, but it was his mastery of the spelling of “February” that really sticks out. As summer vacation was about to begin Friday, 7-year-old Luke and Ty Ueda, 9, were excited to get more play time, but they still seemed in a mood to learn more about science. “I like how, like, you investigate stuff like knowing what animals are and what they look like,” Ty said. Avalon Miracle, 7, agreed. She said she loved reading “Island of the Blue Dolphin” and going on a field trip to the Newport Beach Back Bay. “It was fun and there was a lot to see and tons of animals,” Avalon said.