Spring Cotillion!

This past Friday evening, Faith had her March cotillion event!  She asked to wear her Easter dress for the evening, to which I said yes!  Olivia, not being one to miss a thing, quickly asked if she could wear her matching dress (she's been begging for weeks to wear it!) and go along!  I agreed, and Olivia actually did a good job watching.  She even claims to know how to do that Cha Cha now!

Every time at cotillion the kids play some sort of game that involves dancing!  At this event, the partners had to dance the Cha Cha while keeping a balloon in between them!  Faith and her partner had no trouble with this challenge!

Next up was two balloons!  That challenge too they were able to complete!

But three balloons proved to be too much for these too!  They made it much further than most couples (those eating the cookies and drinking the punch in the chairs were already out!), but they could not make it to the winning round of five balloons!  Faith is already excited about her final cotillion next month, which is a costume party!

Honoring Mrs. Reagan

Today, the kids and I took the ultimate field trip to the Reagan museum to see the body of Mrs. Nancy Reagan as it lay in repose.  I was excited to give the kids this once in a lifetime experience that I hope they remember for the rest of their lives!  One of the reasons that I really wanted to take the kids was because of my own experiences as a child.

When I was very young, my mom took me to watch the Presidential motorcade of President Reagan as it traveled down I-96 from the Grand Rapids airport to downtown for the dedication of President Ford's museum.  

A few years later, my mom again took us kids and some neighbors to watch a motorcade traveling the same route, this time carrying President George H.W. Bush!  He even waved to us!  We know this because we may have hopped a fence and been in an area we weren't supposed to be and were the only people standing along the freeway!!

When President Ford died right after Christmas in 2005, I was thankful the memorials in Grand Rapids happened while I had already planned to be there!  Faith was able to come with us (as an 8 month old in a car seat!) to watch the motorcade again travel the route from the airport to the museum downtown.  Then after the funeral the following day, we were downtown to watch the F-16 flyover in the missing man formation.

These are things I will always remember.  As a young child, it showed the honor and respect that we show to our elected officials, particularly the President of our country.  I hope my kids picked up some of that as well today; all three were in awe as we walked past the casket, noticing the four police officers guarding they body with unflinching care, honor, and respect.  

a memento of today, given to all who viewed the body

One more picture as were waited to board the bus back to our car

I'm glad I have pictures to show here of today as she may not remember it, but we'll remind her!

Ballerina Faith

Yesterday was one of the two days a year parents are allowed to view ballet classes!  I was so excited to visit Faith's class as I knew she had been working hard and really improving.

The girls all begin at the barre and do many exercises there.  I am always amazed at what strength and focus ballet is, along with the obvious flexibility.  

She's getting strong!

The girls then moved to the center of the room and did some movements.  While I didn't get a very good picture of it, they actually spent most of the class working in 5th position, which is challenging just to stand in!  I've tried recently and couldn't do it!

I'm sure there is a term for what she is doing, but I don't know what it is!  Looks pretty to me!

En pointe!

Little League Begins!

This past Saturday Shane had the opening ceremonies for little league and his very first game.  He is on the Diamondbacks this year.  With a practice and two games a week, we will be spending many hours at the ball fields for the next two months!

Shane's very first at bat!  He was able to get a hit on the very first pitch!  In his league, a pitching machine pitches to the kids.  If they are unable to hit the ball after 4 pitches, the coach brings out a T for the hitter to use.

The coach is very good about having the kids on the team all play the different positions.  After playing third base and right field, Shane was able to put on all the catcher gear and spending an inning behind the plate!  There is (thankfully) an hour and a half time limit on the games, so they only played three innings for their first game.  Hopefully as the season goes on and the kids are better able to hit the ball, they can finish more innings!  For now, they sure are having fun and learning!

Grandma's visit!

A few weekends ago, Grandma Bruinsma needed a break from the cold and snow and came to visit us!  We did some fun things while she was here!  None of us had been to the quaint little town of Solvang before, so we thought it was a great time to go there!  It's a Danish town about an hour north of us.  Faith was excited to see a giant wooden shoe!

We also spent an afternoon at the zoo!  It was a perfect day for it, and we were able to see many of the animals moving about, even the usually sleepy lions!

Strolling with Grandma!

A highlight for the kids was going miniature golfing for the very first time!  

Shane had some pretty lucky shots!

Olivia would have me help with her first shot, then she would place her ball right next to the hole and hit it in!  It was pretty cute!

It was so nice to have Grandma with us for a long weekend!  We were sad to see her go, but look forward to her April visit!

Desert Camping Trip!

We are back home from our camping adventure, and we are finally recovered from not only the trip but also the nasty stomach bug that took down our family!  Since no one wants the details of how terrible the bug truly was, here is a bit about our trip!

On Friday, February 12, we began what would be our longest desert camping trip!  We were going to stay for three nights instead of our usual two nights!  Each year we are learning more, discovering ways to make things easier, and basically how to enjoy the trip more and more!  We picked up a motor home along the way, which was our home for the next three nights!

We camped in the same spot as usual, and also as usual, the kids wanted to go for a hike about as soon as we arrived!

One new addition to the trip this year was Shane's dirt bike!  Here he is wearing all of his riding gear and ready for his first ride!

While I was very nervous about the whole thing, Shane proved to be a quick learner, as well as a very cautious driver!

Another picture of the rider!  Steve was never too far behind, and he taught Shane well!

Olivia had fun playing with sand toys and just running around!  The outfit in the picture is what she wore the ENTIRE weekend!  She kept telling us it was her desert style!  I just wished she had told me she was going to wear what she picked out that Friday morning the entire weekend as I wouldn't have packed her anything else!

Faith also decided she needed a turn on the dirt bike!  She also did well and had fun!

In preparing to go camping, one of the biggest questions I wrestle with is "what are we going to eat????"  This is definitely one of the areas in which we have really learned!  Pictured is one of our breakfasts!  Having the bbq is a major help in the meal prep!  Another highlight was grilling carne asada one of the nights!

The other families who camp with us have desert riding toys as well.  One family let Steve borrow their Rhino to take the kids to the place where we used to camp that is no longer accessible with the trailers. 

More of the crew heading to the Cliffs!

Shane is excited to get back out and ride his new bike again!

Swim Lessons

Today was an exciting day as Olivia had her very first swim lesson!  Now that she is over three years old, she can do a lesson in the pool alone (meaning I don't have to get in too - because I have no desire to do that!!), so it was time we get this girl some lessons! She was very excited about her new suit and new goggles!

 

Faith and Shane also started up with lessons again to refine and improve their stroke skills before the summer!

 

They have graduated to the lap pool, and it was nice for Olivia to be able to watch them for 30 minutes before her own lesson!

 

While Olivia loves water, she is afraid to leave the steps unless she is being held, so I wondered how the lesson would go!  From the start, she really enjoyed it and had fun! 

 

By the end of the lesson she was using the kickboard, with her teacher just holding the board!  The kids and I had so much fun watching her, and we were so proud of how well she did!  After the lesson Olivia claimed that "swim lessons are amazing!"  Let's hope it continues so well!