Recital

Marian had the audience cracking up, when she came out waving excitedly instead of dancing. Then she waved to where I had been sitting during rehearsal, then she waved at the people standing in the wings... I think she spent as much time waving as she did dancing. Most of the pictures of her dancing are from the dress rehearsal.


"The Doll's Waltz" from "Coppelia"






Taking a bow.

School's Out...

for summer!!!

I saw this in a magazine the night before and thought it looked like a fun way to begin summer vacation.

I didn't actually capture them breaking through the banners, but you get the idea.

Gymnastics

Aidan's done gymnastics for the last 3 years (we started in parent/child class). Here's a few pictures from his last day of class:

Warmups, which he just refused to do until this year.

Donkey kicks

Working toward a headstand

It took him all year, but Aidan finally figured out how to keep his arms straight and support his own weight. He started doing it everywhere--on the pews at church, on the baby gate at home! He doesn't like to flip forward though...

Showing off his V-sit

One of his least favorite things was the high balance beam, especially doing forward rolls on it.

Catching some air on the trampoline--always a favorite! And one of the reasons we liked doing gymnastics at a gym instead of at the Y--you get to use all the big equipment, especially fun for the parents in the parent/child class!

Deciding where his stamp would be at the end of class was always a very important decision. When he was little, he liked getting them on his tummy.

All done!

Cousins!!!

The girls have the majority when the cousins get together. Aidan and 'Mila Bunny' bonded over a game of running across the room and crashing into the couch, over and over and over. Marian and Mila danced to any music that came on the tv.

When Maggie and Didi arrived, much time was spent emptying the fountain of its water. The little ones loved it!

Aidan liked testing to see which golf balls floated and which sank.

With so many illnesses going around, the trip to the beach got changed to a trip to the park. I think the kids didn't mind at all. Brennan doesn't look too sure that Maggie can give him a good push. She is only 8 months older than him!

With the kids on different time zones and not feeling all together well, we never got a chance to get a group shot. Here's as close as we got:

We'll have to photoshop Maggie in.

Here's all the siblings with Mom:

Paulette, Thomas with Brennan, Deidre, Keven with Mila, Christina with Maggie

Old Stomping Grounds

We went out to Stanford, well mainly to eat at Pizz'a Chicago (they have the BEST BBQ chicken pizza ever), but also to visit our old home. Marian doesn't remember it, but all 3 had a good time playing on the old playground. Another little boy came out to play, and Thomas and I nearly burst when his mom called for him: "Berkeley!" Stanford and Berkeley are big rivals, and since she said they'd been at Stanford for 6 years, and he was about 2-3 yrs old, it wasn't a fluke. Some people have more school pride than I can imagine!


We have a picture of Marian around this age crawling up the stairs. Aidan was this age also the last time we visited, so we have a picture of him. So it was only fitting to get one of Brennan, too.


Aidan's all decked out in Stanford gear, b/c his coat was still damp from graduation that morning. I made matters worse by putting it in a front loading washing machine at the hotel, which I mistook for a dryer. We stopped at the bookstore to get him a jacket, and he went to town picking out a hat and pants, along with clothes for Marian and Brennan.



Brennan loved the tunnel! It's fun to play peek-a-boo in! Aidan wasn't ready to leave. He like playing in the sand with the 'big diggers'.

Day with Grandpa

Grandpa Brian came down to see us in Berkeley. He and Thomas took Marian & Aidan to Fisherman's Wharf while Brennan napped at the hotel in peace. They had a great time seeing the sea lions, riding a carousel, and eating ice cream!







Then we all went down to the Berkeley marina, and played on the playgrounds there. The first one I'm betting you can only find in Northern California. It made entirely of donated recycled lumber, and the kids were welcome to add to it by hammering or painting. It was interesting, to say the least.








Marian's screams are worth listening to on this video. She did the ride several times and screamed each time. "That was AWESOME!!!"

Doctor Uncle Ben

We flew out to 'Berzerkeley' last weekend to see Ben graduate with his PhD. That listing in the program just confounded the people behind us. They kept saying, "Philosophy? This is Engineering!" They also said, "Wow, the rain is really coming down now" when it was just a heavy drizzle. I had to laugh!

It was drizzly and cold enough (in the 50's) that we left as soon as Ben got 'hooded'. Luckily they did the graduate students before the undergrads, and Ben's dept was first, so he was the 5th one across the stage. Ben had a front row seat in those white chairs up on the stage, so he couldn't sneak out right away like planned.

Some of us were smart and packed our raincoats. The only other time it rained between March and December in the time we lived there, was at Thomas' graduation (which was inside, luckily).

Here's a short video. They skipped somebody in the program list, so I wasn't ready, so the name being called out didn't get recorded, which was what I was trying to get. Oh, well! It's a bit shaky, too, but at least you can see it if you want.