President's Day in Washington DC

All 4 of us were off on President's Day this year - no school, no work - and so Evan and I wanted to do something fun with the kids. We thought: why not spend the day in DC? We hadn't been there for a while, and certainly hadn't spent time at many of the memorials. The weather was so beautiful that we didn't want to be inside any museums, so instead we spent the day outside, taking the kids through a number of memorials they hadn't seen before.


We parked where I had previously when photographing the cherry blossoms: in "extra" parking lots way on the other side of the tidal basin. I knew there would be parking available then, and it actually wasn't too far from both the tidal basin and the Jefferson Memorial, which was where we wanted to start.

I'll warn you - the kids wanted to take a lot of pictures like this, pretending to "hold" the monuments/memorials in their hands! Cheesy but cute :)

 

After exploring the Jefferson Memorial, we continued around the Tidal Basin towards the Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial.

 The kids liked it because there were many rocks and things to climb on...I liked it because he has some amazing quotes.

We then were questioning which way to go,when I got a text from my friend Beth - she and her were on the mall as well, right near the Washington Monument. Right, off we go! I love this shot of the monument...and I shot all of these in jpeg with no editing afterwards. It was a gorgeous day!

Remember what I said about the "holding the monument" photos? We all had to do it this time :) 

We met up with Beth, Jason and their girls for a picnic lunch on the lawn at the base of the monument (thank you food trucks!). The kids had a blast together.

Look - proof the grownups were there!

The kids were very excited that they could actually touch the monument.

 And then when we saw someone lying down and doing this, we had to try it too! Evan grabbed this photo of us while I was taking a photo of my feet on the monument

We then all walked together to the WWII Memorial, which is one of my favorites.

 We then went over to the reflecting pool, where Beth captured this fantastic family photo of us!

Our plan was to go all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial, but at that point Henry was pretty much done (and we'd all walked about 4 miles already, plus we had the walk back to the car). So, we started to head back, when we found this very cool open air memorial (I cannot remember what it was a memorial to). Henry got a bit of energy back to do some jumping photos.

(I also badly want to go back with some ballerinas at sunset and take photos there! It would be incredible.)

Almost back to the car, and Henry was just about done for the day.

 Driving home? Both kids were VERY done for the day. Success all around!

Natalie's first diorama

I'll be honest - anytime we get something home from the school that entails the words "project" "make" "diorama" or "craft", part of me wants to run away and hide. To be fair, my kids' school doesn't do too many of these kinds of things, but I would say we've had at least one each year. I always worry: what's the right amount of "help" I should provide? How much should I let the kids run with their ideas, versus guide them within the confines of the project? How do I make them even do this project if they don't want to?

This year's 3rd grade project was...a diorama! Natalie actually had yet to make one of these - last year we made an Native American longhouse, and there was something else in 1st grade that I'm forgetting now. I was worried how the implementation of this diorama would go - Evan and Natalie had talked through it while I was on a trip, and then it was on me to help her make it (I'm more crafty than Evan).

The 3rd grade did a unit on ecosystems; related to that, they each had to make a diorama about an animal that lived in a specific ecosystem. Natalie and two of her friends had "fresh water", and they each had a different animal in that ecosystem. Natalie's was the Florida black bear; we needed to create a diorama for the bear's habitat (based on facts about the bear). The only other rule was that each animal had to be made from a potato!

Natalie actually took this project very seriously; so seriously that when I needed to run out and get her some supplies, she stayed home by herself for the first time ever! Henry and I went to Target for about 45 minutes, while Natalie stayed home to work on it. I came home and found her like this, hard at work.

 And here is her finished product, compete with the adaptation of the bear.

 The presentation of all of the dioramas was supposed to be on Tuesday of that week (mid-March), but we had our one snow day of the winter on that day. So instead, it was postponed by a couple of days, which meant I was able to go and check them out during the morning presentation.

Natalie and her friend Lizzie presented their takes on the Florida black bear!

 I love how different the two habitats are!

So I have to say, even with all of my trepidation about this project, it ended up being great. Natalie did the vast majority of the planning herself, and most of the application - I just helped when she needed a stable hand. The whole ecosystem diorama presentation was a great event put on by the school, and the students all did a great job.

WCDE 2017 Part 2: Competition!

This year, unlike last year, Natalie's age group (Showkids) competed at WCDE. The girls were nervous but excited to compete for the very first time! They spent weeks working on this amazing routine choreographed by the fabulous Candra Eglin, who is a teacher at LSoB (in addition to 4 other schools!), and also the mother of one of the girls in Showkids. She's an incredible contemporary instructor, and we moms were so excited at the chance for our girls to have her as a teacher so early.

Candra took the girls out into the hallway at the hotel/convention center for one last practice before they went onstage. I was able to capture this on video, and in photos.

During the competition, no photography or videography was allowed. However, we moms all chipped in together to buy the photo/video package, so I have some fantastic stage shots of our girls! Here are my favorites where you can see Natalie well. In this first one, she's in the back on the far right.

 Natalie is next to last on the right (head down).

 This one cracks me up, as he caught her right as she was peeking out at the audience!

 And I love this almost final shot (again, Natalie is next to last on the right).

I haven't had a chance to get the HD video yet, but I will do so this week! In the meantime, how did they do? Well, they received a 5 star rating, and "Best artistry" in their category! They were seriously beautiful on stage - I cried watching them; I couldn't help it. And they were so proud of themselves afterwards, as they should have been!

WCDE: Competition Dress Rehearsal

My previous post showed the workshops that Natalie and her friends participated in at WCDE. I had planned that my next post would be about the competition part of what she did...but then I remembered these dress rehearsal  photos that I took at the studio, so I wanted to post them first.

During the week prior to WCDE, the girls had a couple of extra rehearsals at the studio to perfect their performance for the competition. I was given permission to take some photos of the girls during this dress rehearsal, and I wanted to share a few favorites here (mostly ones that show Natalie well, since it's my blog).

They first performed facing the mirror.

 Then they had to turn around and face the wall, so that they didn't watch themselves the whole time. The lighting in the room changed a lot for me when I shot from the other side! I think I like the bluish tint better.

I had chills just watching in the studio...I couldn't wait to see them on stage at competition!

WCDE 2017 Part 1: Workshops

Oh my goodness, where to start? In late January, we headed up to Bethesda, MD for a weekend of dance competition. I am happy that our studio only does one competition a year - the parents (and dancers) who go to schools who attend multiple every year have my respect! It's a busy 2.5 days, that's for darn sure. But, as our studio owner says, competitions are a part of dance, so it's in the girls' best interest to be exposed to this world. And despite the exhaustion, and the stress, the girls really do enjoy it, and watching them learn and compete is really enjoyable.

We arrived on Friday evening and watched some of the LSoB dancers in the solo competition. Then, bright and early Saturday morning, it was time for the workshops to start! Unfortunately I don't remember the order of classes any longer, but that doesn't really matter. What I'm most proud of is that Natalie went into the workshops planning on skipping a few sessions that are not her "cup of tea" - mostly hip hop related classes - and instead, she ended up loving those! While the video evidence shows that hip hop is not really her forte, I was proud of her for sticking with learning the routines, and doing her best, even when she wasn't totally getting it. Perseverance goes a long way!

One of her favorite sessions (taught by the same person as last year) was the lyrical. They did free style across the floor

Followed by their routine.

Then some jazz (I think)

And ballet! A workshop that our ballet trained girls did very well in. I loved seeing Natalie's lines and control in this one.

Finally, Natalie's last favorite class: musical theater! After doing this routine, she ended up signing up for musical theater again this year (she didn't take it in the fall). I love that she enjoys the Broadway/theater routines so much!

I have to admit, I was a big fan of her instructor, too. A very attractive man, it's true. More than that, he's helping to bring the new Temptations musical to Broadway! So cool.

I took a few photos of Natalie during the workshops with my real camera too - here are a couple of favorites. 

 

Natalie and her friends: Choreographers

Quite unsurprisingly, when Natalie and her friends get together, they love choreographing dances! I've got two to share in this post: the first was from an impromptu playdate with her friends Sara and Carson. They've all been friends since preschool, and even though Carson goes to a different school from the other two, and Sara doesn't take dance classes with the other two, they still love to play together, and dance together!

This year, Natalie has made a new friend at dance named Aly. She just joined LSoB this school year, and since the Nutcracker the two have grown quite close, with a couple of sleepovers under their belts! Aly's mom was nice enough to send me this video of the dance the two choreographed recently. The school is thinking of doing a choreography competition next fall, and we really think the girls should work on this over the summer and enter!

Henry's Winter 2017 recital

At the end of January, Henry had his next-to-last Rising Stars recital! I took photos at the dress rehearsal, and Henry was nice enough to act as my subject on stage while I set my camera and did a little prep. What a ham this kid is!

And here are the boys dancing during dress rehearsal! They did a great job

I love this last shot I took of the boys acting "tough" at the end of their dance.

 Here is their posed class shot with their intern after they danced.

 The next day was recital day! Henry was ready to go when we got there, hamming it up for me in the cafeteria.

 And also posing sweetly with his sister. The recital was a ton of fun - the little ones were adorable, as always! I can't believe we only have one more Rising Stars recital, and then they've BOTH outgrown the program. Such big kiddos I have now.