Sunday, July 24, 2011

Miracle Ranch Open House

Today Ethan, Amber, and I decided to pay a visit to Miracle Ranch here in Port Orchard. The Christian radio station, Spirit 105.3, was hosting a Family Fun day at the ranch and it was a free open house. Miracle Ranch is part of Crista Camps.

The biggest draw for Amber was finally being able to ride a horse, something she's wanted to do for a VERY long time. We stood in a non-moving line for quite a while, and then they brought in a couple more horses and things started to move along.


The young man with the horse was not a talker, so Amber just sat and enjoyed the ride. She was grinning from ear to ear. I think if she had the opportunity, she'd do it again in a heartbeat. Her horse's name was Virginia.

Ethan's ride was fun as the girl leading his horse was talkative. She even asked him my name so she could call for me to turn around and take a photo as she posed the horse for us!

And yes, I also rode a horse. Ethan was my photographer and I think we may need to do a photography class for him :) The hardest part, "You can get off now." Ummm, where's the step stool you let me use to get up on the beast? Nope, had to swing and slide. Let me say, it's a LONG way down from that saddle.
Then we headed down the trails and looked for the paintball site. We found it at Marksmans X.
These are some of the targets they were shooting. If you were REALLY good you could try for the stuffed duck. Let me say, I TRIED! I don't know as the sites were very well aligned. I could barely hit the tractor! I think I hit it once. Each person was given a paintball gun with 10 shots.
Here's Amber lining up her shots. She hit the tractor.
And here is Ethan. He hit the tractor, too.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Boy Scouts are Back!

Upon arrival at Camp Parsons on the Hood Canal.
Ian on the obstacle course.
Mystery Beach? I don't know. Not sure who took the photo and no boys around to identify!

Daryn and two of the boys on their hike together.
Daryn and Evyn
Daryn and Ian

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Wasp ... Antibiotics ... Jellyfish ... What do these have in common?

Ethan!

Poor little guy is not having a great time at boy scout camp.


He was attacked by a wasp during yesterday's hike. It started after Daryn, but couldn't get past his hair, and went at Ethan and into his ear. He reached up and smacked it and killed it ... thankfully before it stung him! Daryn reported that several of the kids were in similar situations (attacked) ... not sure if any were stung.



Ethan also has an ear infection. He went into the water the day they got there (Sunday) because he had to do a swim test. The person watching them didn't see Ethan do a certain requirement and Ethan asked if he could redo it. They wouldn't let him, but told him to return during free time and he could do it again. Between the two he acquired an ear infection and Daryn took him to a doctor and he is now on antibiotics. To top it off, doctor has told him absolutely no going into the water. Poor guy. No small boat sailing merit badge. He really wanted to do it, too!



Lastly, getting out of the water Sunday, he was stung by a jellyfish. There was no one there to pee on him, so he was told to smear katsup on it ... and that's what they did.

I asked Daryn to please take photos of all the wounds ... but apparently, when I asked Ian to make double sure (after I had already checked) the camera had a card, he didn't, and they don't, so no camera :(

Where's My Cow?

I lovingly call this little cow Elsie. This is a special garment by British designer Ann Kingstone. I made it during a KAL on Ravelry. It is being gifted to our friends Nate and Olivia Harrell for their new daughter, Ehlena.
We are going to also send along a little Webkinz cow for their first born, Brian, and a story by Terry Pratchett titled, "Where's My Cow?" to be shared with both children. Oh, and in case you didn't guess, the romper is based on the story :)

And, for any knitter out there who wants to know, the romper was knit entirely as one piece; there are no seams. The yarn is a cotton shine from Knit Picks and the colors were chosen when Daryn asked Olivia what her "colors" were going to be for the baby. The cow was applied using a Swiss darning technique and the flowers added for that extra special girl touch and splash of girlish whimsy and color.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Visiting Post Falls, Idaho

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbIzwACvqTY

Grandma Judy took this Flip video of the kids watching Post Falls.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

More recital memories

Well, I think I have everything now. I may have duplicates, but I can't be sure.


This is Amber's lyrical dance called Talking to the Moon. Her teacher was Karen Basket. There were four girls in this piece and they were fantastic on performance days. This is the dress rehearsal. Their dance number brought tears to our eyes. On show night, Jen Scott, who is in charge of Performance Team, specifically came out to watch these four girls, as they all had auditioned for the team and she had heard so many good things about the dance number. We found out yesterday that Amber and her friend (left in this photo) Sarah both made team! They are very excited. We haven't heard about the other two girls yet.

The piece was very emotion driven and you could really see it on their faces. Their choreography had been done for quite a while and they had many weeks to perfect their dance.

Amber's final pose with her friend Maggie.

This is near the end of Ethan and Amber's ballroom number, Better Now. It was a cha-cha. They really like their ballroom teacher, Christine Luder. Amber's friend (and our neighbor) Ellie is on the left, Amber is next to her. Ethan, of course, is on right.

Cha-Cha! Twist!

Christine asked Ellie, Ethan, and Amber if they would also learn the teen number, which was a swing dance to Crazy Little Thing Called Love. You can also see Ian in the back with his partner (on the right) Brittany. Ellie made her skirt. Her favorite animal is pandas, can you tell?
This was dress rehearsal, but on performance nights all the jumpers were up and in their splits. Look at Amber's! Even she was amazed when I showed her the photo!

Here we have our Grim Grinning Ghosts. This is Ian and Evyn's Tap 8 class. Ian really should be in a higher level class, but they didn't have one at the beginning of the year. He is more advanced than most of these girls and really needs to be challenged next year. Their number was done in black light and their gloves, shoes, and ghost faces glowed.

What's a tap number without some good cane work?

Evyn and Ian ... puppet ghosts.

One of their last final moves was a kick line. Most of them are at the same height ... unless that person was a bit shorter than the others.

Final ghostly pose. Ian and Evyn are in the middle with their arms up.

Of course, I've already posted some about this number, Time Warp. This was their musical theatre performance taught to them by the absolutely amazing Stephanie Brush. She outdoes herself every year! Evyn forgot to put on his black shirt for this photo.

"Let's do the Time Warp again!"

"Bring your knees in tight!"

The intermediate class now does their part. Did I mention Stephanie taught this as three different classes and they all came together to perform as one number? There were the tiny kids (beginners) then the "tweens" in the intermediate class (Amber left on second box from right and Ethan left on first box from right), and then the advanced class (Ian and Evyn).

"Just a jump to the left" and the boys perform a barrel jump. Each has his own technique, but they all went up and came down at the same time. The smoke machine really added to the effects in this number. Evyn is on the left, Ian is on the right.

Final Time Warp pose. Amber is in the back in black gloves on Ian's shoulder, arms in the air. Evyn is left of center about to pick up his little kid (white shirt). Ethan's hidden in the middle somewhere.

Ian and Evyn's hip hop/jazz class. I was less enthused about this number. I felt they had a better teacher last year and learned a whole lot more. However, our boys gave it their all and put as much energy into as possible. The number ended up being called Show Goes On.

Ian (left), Evyn, and the rest of their hip hop/jazz class.


Amber likes to be Tanya's (owner of studio) teacher assistant and this year helped with the 3-year olds and the 4-5 year olds. This is the 3-year old class. They weren't quite ready to go on by themselves yet. Their number was Mr. Golden Sun. Amber, of course, is on the left. She's dressed ready for her tap number. We were glad her costume went with the little girls'.

This piece segued into I'm Walking On Sunshine. The little girls were concentrating very hard on getting THEIR little wand. It was quite comical when they didn't get "their" wands ... but it all worked out in the end.

Ethan (right) and Amber (center left) did their tap number to On The Sunny Side of the Street. Jessica Howell taught their class, and the ghost class, and mine.


Final pose ... and Amber's balancing on her toes the entire time! (Ethan did not wear white socks on performance days!)

And, for a laugh, this is my class. We did a piece set to three songs: themes from X-Files, Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, and The Jetsons. We were so glad Jessica danced with us. She is on the left. This was the last show. One of the tech crew took this photo for me. We had two people join us on our final dance, our MC, Mark, and Lori (far right) who has been stage manager for several years and is leaving to spend the senior year with her daughter. (Oh, and in case you can't figure out which one is me, I'm next to Lori.)

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Intergalactic Tech Rehearsal

Another dance year comes to an end. A culmination of all the kids' efforts will be displayed this coming weekend throughout matinee and evening performances in two different shows.

All the kids have excelled in Stephanie Brush's acting classes. It started as Acting for Dancers and has blossomed into a wonderful acting class. This year they perform an except from Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

Here Evyn, as Mr. Willie Wonka, announces, "Fumbo feezy bungo bunny, youbelooney, webewise, and youbecookoo, katikati moon and stars, fanevesha venus mars! Anapolinta zoonk zoonk!"

The astronauts spot something odd in space! It's a Great Glass Elevator, with a bed, and elderly people in their nightshirts, and an odd man in a great purple cape.
The President and his advisers are quite worried. The Chief Interpreter (left) has been called in to make sense of what Wonka is saying. The President's vice president and former nanny (Amber) and Chief Military Advisor help her to make decisions on what is to be done about the situation.
This is Evyn and Ian's Tap 8 class. They are doing their number partially in black light. I have some photos, but they did not come out clearly for obvious reasons. I may insert one anyway. They are doing their piece to Disney's Grim Grinning Ghosts.
The Grim Grinning Ghosts perform their kick line.
Stephanie Brush also does the musical theatre class. It's a phenomenal jazz number to Time Warp. She taught three different classes with three different age/dance skill levels and brought them together into one number. This is the advanced class with Ian and Evyn.
Again, the advanced class doing Time Warp.
Evyn really gets into the acting and musical theatre numbers.
Time Warp ... "Bring your knees in tight!"
This is the intermediate class with Amber and Ethan. (Amber is second from left, to the right of their friend Ely Dawson, and Ethan is center in white shirt.) This is a giant V formation.
The intermediate class brings their "knees in tight" during Time Warp.
Jonathan (Ian and Evyn's friend) and Ian come out for "just a jump to the right" during Time Warp.
Time Warp ends with all three classes coming together in the end and then ...
their final pose! It's FANTASTIC!