OBX 2016: Dolphin tour

On July 4th, my parents booked a special event for us - a dolphin boat tour! We did this a couple of years ago, and really enjoyed it. So we thought why not take the kids out again, now that they're a bit older? Even better, the boat wasn't too full (maybe because it was July 4), so we were really able to see the dolphin (and oh my were there a ton of dolphins!).

We arrived a little early, so of course I took a few pictures.

 

Love this pic of the kids on the boat!

On our way out to where the dolphin typically are, we kept our eyes peeled but weren't seeing anything. Except for these gorgeous osprey nests that they make on the posts in the sound.

After some worry that the expedition might be a bit of a dud, we were able to find SO MANY dolphins! They were all over, and even came quite close to the boat. I took the best pics that I could, but of course they come up for such a short time period that it can be difficult to capture a good shot.

I think of all the ones I took, this one was the best. A little face can be seen in there!

And, well, it isn't an event without a few phone selfies. Aren't we all adorable? Well, not all - somehow Natalie didn't make it into any selfies. Are we reaching the point where she's "too cool" to sit down and do this with us? :) 

Great one of Dad with Henry and I!

Love this one of me and mom!

You won't see any photos of Evan here because he isn't into outings like this (weirdo). So, he dropped us off and wandered off to a nearby coffee shop for the duration. Although, come to think of it, if I say that I don't like things like this, will that get me a couple of hours to sit at a coffee shop and read by myself? Hmm, he might be onto something here... But really, we had a blast.

Franklin Park pool with friends

On a pretty nice night in July, I took the kids to meet a few of their friends (and moms) at the Franklin Park water park. Turns out that from 6-close, admission is only $2.50/person! Definitely worth the price of admission. The kids had a blast all swimming together, and it was nice to go to a water park we'd never been to before.

Once again the underwater camera proved to be useful, and the kids loved having me take their photos underwater. 

We didn't make it back to Franklin Park again this summer, mostly because we went to AV Symington water park on three separate occasions, but it's great to know that this place is out there, and at that price in the evenings. Definitely fun!

OBX 2016: Fun in the Sound

As I mentioned in my previous post, we spent quite a bit of time swimming in the Albemarle Sound on this summer's trip to the OBX. My parents found a great little beach on the sound side of the island, near Jockey's Ridge, that allowed us to swim around comfortably without having to worry about waves. The kids absolutely loved it! We ended up going twice; on the first day it was quite overcast, but luckily the weather held out. Even better, I was able to use my new waterproof camera! I really should have had it last summer, with all of the beach trips we did, but better late than never, right?

Turned out that Henry's favorite thing to do while there was be thrown by both Evan and my dad. That kid was really soaring on some of those throws!

 Since the weather was nicer on our second day, we thought to bring the boogie boards from my parents' house. The kids spent a LOT of time figuring out how to balance on them...with not much success at the beginning:

 But ultimately, they got the hang of it!

Because the weather was nice, I'd also brought my real camera with me. With the zoom lens I have, I was able to get shots of them in the water, from the beach.

 Look at what a beautiful area we were in...and practically to ourselves!

 And I know I'm biased, but these kids are pretty darn cute.

OBX 2016: Fun at the beach

Like every year, we headed to the Outer Banks for an extended weekend over July 4th. This year was extra special for us because it would be our last July 4th weekend there with my parents. After 14 wonderful years at the OBX, they have sold their house and moved back to Va. It was bittersweet - they had a lot of good reasons to move, but of course they loved that house, and their lives there, and we loved it too. Personally, I'm very excited that they are now less than two hours away, so we can see them move. They've moved to a lovely area between Fredericksburg and Culpeper, and I think will be happy there.

Interestingly, given that this was our "last" OBX trip (of course we'll go back, likely with our friends, but it won't be free!), we didn't spend much time at the beach! In fact, we never went in the ocean. It was a little rough, and it was just easier to swim in the Sound, especially since my parents found a nice beach on that side (more on that in the next post). We only went to the beach twice: the first time is shown here, after having dinner at my aunt's condo, which is right on the beach; the second time was when we went to watch the fireworks.

It was a nice night after we finished having dinner, so the kids and I headed down to the beach for a bit. Luckily I had my camera with me!

 

 

You can't go to the beach and not get at least your feet wet!

As you can probably tell from the light, it was getting on towards sunset, so I got a couple of nice shots in of the beach, and sky.

 

LSoB - Summer jazz camp

After a week off in June (no school, no activities), Natalie went to Jazz Jr performance camp at Loudoun School of Ballet. This summer, because she is in the Showkids performance group, she was required to take the camp for the first time. They offered it twice over the summer, but we couldn't go to the second week (when most of her friends were going) because we were already scheduled to go to Disney for part of that week. I'm hoping next summer we can do both, as she absolutely loved camp, and it really does help to keep skills up over the summer.

At the end of the week, parents were allowed to come so the girls could do a performance for us. Unfortunately, long before we enrolled Natalie in the camp, I was scheduled to be in Chicago for work the last couple of days of the month, and Evan was out of town that Friday also! I was so disappointed that neither of us could be there...so who did we get to go in our stead? Two of my colleagues! Natalie adores my colleague Brooke (who watched the kids for us on our Janniversary last year), so Brooke happily agreed to go watch the show, along with my colleague Yvonne (who Natalie also adores). They took tons of photos and videos and sent them all to me! It was almost like being there.

Their first dance was to "Me Too" by Megan Trainor - Natalie knows all the words to it way better than I do! Such sassy little dancers. They made the shirts themselves.

 Here is where I was going to post a video of Natalie, but unfortunately blogger doesn't seem to be cooperating tonight. So, you'll just have to believe me when I say these girls were extra sassy!

The second dance was to "Let the Good Times Roll" (the old jazzy version). Love the hats and chokers! The Showkids will be performing this one again at her fall performance in about 6 weeks, so I'll get to see it in person - can't wait.

And a few select photos of the girls all together. I was sent a couple by another mom too, so I have quite a few.

Natalie with her friend Sara, and then being sassy by herself.

Here's Natalie with Brooke after the performance. Brooke and Yvonne then took her out for FroYo afterwards! All in all, I'd say she had a pretty darn good day :) 

Recital Weekend 2016

And now, we come to what I spent so much of my June involved in: Recital weekend! I've been pushing off this post as I knew it would be involved, but I finally do need to buckle down and write it. Particularly since I have other dance-related posts from this summer. I cannot possibly post all of the pics that I have here, but I'll do my best to post just my faves of the kids!

Just like last year, we had 3 recitals during the second weekend in June. The week before the recitals I spent at the high school, every day, bringing first Natalie, and then Henry, out to Purcellville for the dress recitals. Not only did we have hair, makeup, and costume changes to worry about, but of course I also was taking the action/stage photos for all 3 dress rehearsals! It made for quite a busy week, but Natalie and Henry did so great. Frankly, all of the dancers did. They worked hard (as did all of the staff!), and the recitals were fun for everyone.

I did a "test run" of the photos I would take on the actual dress rehearsal days on the first two days (Monday-Tuesday were stage rehearsals, then full dress on Wed-Thurs). This let me get lots of photos focusing on Natalie, as well as practice getting my settings correct. However..it turns out that those photos are saved on my computer at work (as that's where I edited them, on my next business trip), so I don't have them here to share! Guess I'll have to do another post of those, as I know there are some good ones. Instead, here are my favorites of N during each of her performances.
Ballet III:

Jazz II:

Musical Theater:

Showkids:

Oh, and Henry during his dress rehearsal for Jazzy hip hop:

His face in this photo cracks me up!

Then, of course, it was recital weekend! I did bring my camera to take a few pics of the kids before and after. First up was Henry's Rising Stars recital.

 

I love this photo of Natalie and my mom together as we wait for the recital!

 And here is Henry and I being silly in a photo after his recital.

 Later that afternoon was Natalie's contemporary recital. Because she had 3 performances (see above), I only got a photo of her in her first costume (jazz) when I dropped her off.

 Natalie and her friend Bridget.

 Natalie and Lily after the recital. Note that Natalie's makeup is a bit messier than it was at the start of the show!

 Then on Sunday we went back to the school for the ballet recital! Check out my superstar before her show.

 Natalie and her friend Bella in their costumes.

 And finally Natalie and Henry again after ballet. Henry was wearing his "fancy shirt"!