Kindergarten Swim Party

George's kindergarten class had a swim party at a sweet classmate's house on the day of the girls' dance recital. Specifically, his party was scheduled for the space of time in between the rehearsal and recital, also known as the time when the girls would be getting ready.  We divided and conquered, and Skip managed the pool party, while I was in charge of all things dance.

George absolutely loved swimming with his friends, and the party was so much fun.

Fourth Grade Field Trip: State Capitol

Last week Skip and I joined the girls on their fourth grade class field trip to our state's capitol. We arrived at school at 5:45am, boarded a chartered bus and traveled two hours to the capitol. Lauren napped, Skip worked, Gracie watched a movie, and I listened to an audiobook (IYI: Bossypants).  

After a brief stop at the train station/welcome center, our group took the capitol tour. We saw the old state senate room and the rep room, and we saw new Governor Ivey's office.  Gov Ivey has the distinction of being the second woman to hold the office.  

After a quick walk around all of the governmental buildings, we took a tour of Old Town, where we saw a one room schoolhouse. This was fascinating because the duo's elementary school began as a one room schoolhouse 103 years ago. Their "teacher" was formal and strict and had everyone standing at attention. Afterward, Lauren said, "I liked him. He was very organized."

We also saw the church, a residence, a store and a physician's office.

We went to the planetarium and had a picnic catered by CFA.  Afterward, we went back to the Archives for another tour. 

Finally, we went to the Rosa Parks Museum which was a favorite of the day. Lauren and Grace love the Rosa Parks story and her simple act of defiance that brought about so much change.  

After all that walking about, we had another snack and boarded the bus for home. We arrived back at school at about 6:30pm, and the duo were really tired. George had a baseball game at 7:30pm so we went straight to the park for a game and to reunite with our William George.  

Dance Recital 2017

A couple of weeks ago, Grace and Lauren wrapped up their seventh year of dance.  They were very excited about the rehearsal and recital. Because William George's kindergarten swim party was the same day, we divided and conquered a bit, but everyone met up for the recital and dinner.

As always, we loved watching the girls dance their three routines, and they continue to say that ballet is their favorite. However, their tap routine was to "Tomorrow" from Annie, and the jazz number was to "Easy Street" and both were a huge hit with them.

After rehearsal, we did our usual photos in the theatre, but we did a few extra this time since we had not had an opportunity to have official dance photos taken. As it turns out, taking the extra pics was a good move because my camera completely died later that day during the recital.

Gran and Poppa came to see the duo rehearse, which is a great way to see the performance up close -- and without the crowd!

Grammie also came to watch the duo, and the trio always love having all the grandparents together.

The girls' tap number was a little more complicated, timing-wise. Although the group had a little mix up during rehearsal, they nailed it that night.  

Alternately, Grace and Lauren will tell you each number is their favorite, but in reality they just have so much fun on recital day.  

After a fantastic show, the trio were ravenous and wanted some celebratory pizza. They voted for Pints and Pies, and cheese pizza really hit the spot.  

 We had a wonderful evening watching these our girls do something they love.

PS: Remember years past?

2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016

Final note: the video was really off this year because I forgot my tripod, and I was holding the iPhone with my left hand and using the right hand for photos. That very pronounced slant that occurs at the halfway point is an indictment against my ambidexterity. But given the camera snafu that occurred later that night, I'm just glad to have it, regardless of the quality.

Jazz 5-13-17 from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.