Dancing Divas

Tuesday and Wednesday were the Kaleidoscope shows, and they were terrific! The Chorus Line did two numbers:

RESPECT

Stayin' Alive

These gold costumes looked gaudy in daylight, but onstage they really popped! If I get my hands on a video, I'll post it.

I've been doing this since 1996, and this group of gals is so fun. Believe it or not, three of these dancers are grandmothers! Betcha can't guess who.

Thanks for another great year!

Camping Capers

My parents took us camping at Sibley this weekend. It was very hot and humid, but still fun. That is, until the storms arrived the second night and chased us home. We bugged out just in time to hear the tornado sirens wailing as we raced home up Washington. Here are some pics from the first night.


Curt provided the best entertainment of the weekend when he tried to pop a Jiffy Pop over the campfire, despite direct warnings on the pacakge not to heat it over an open fire.


It mostly worked, however, even after falling into the fire toward the end. We then entertained ourselves further by throwing the unpopped kernels into the fire and watching them pop out.


Mom and Kassy


Curt and Kassy

Thanks for a fun time, Mom and Dad!

Kaleidoscope 2009

Live music! Dancing! Fun!

Kaleidoscope is Tuesday and Wednesday, and you are invited.

The Chorus Line looks dy-no-mite! We're doing two numbers: RESPECT and Stayin' Alive.

Get there early because it usually sells out.

Scout Oath Bike Ride

Tonight was the Scout Oath bike ride, which ran along the riverfront trails for a total of about 10 miles. Dylan and I mostly enjoyed the event, although it was sometimes difficult in a group of 52 bikes. There were two more groups of about 50 behind us, so it was a big event.

It wasn't too hard to make it through the ride itself because there were five pitstops along the route. The toughest part was the ride home, which was all uphill. I hadn't ridden a bike for years, and had to borrow a bike for the ride, but I did ok. We'll see how I feel tomorrow!

Lemonade!

The boys and a friend put up a lemonade stand on our corner yesterday. There were four garage sales on our block, so there was loads of traffic, and the weather was hot enough to bring many, many customers. My job was to keep the lemonade iced and flowing.

Many generous people paid more than the asking price, and the boys thought it was pretty cool when a police officer stopped and bought a cup. They had a lot of fun, even providing car-side service to those drivers who just pulled up to the curb. After three hours, they each netted about $10 and the satifaction of a successful business venture.

Little Drummer Boy

Dylan starts band this year, and he chose percussion as his instrument. No pressure from us - honestly! I do think he's made a good choice because he's got great rhythm.

He's taking a few lessons from Brad this summer, so we got him his snare and bell kit this weekend. He was so thrilled that he didn't even mind posing for pictures.

Day Camp Fun

This week was Cub Scout Day Camp, which was a complete success.




Archery


BB guns - Dylan's favorite activity





Climbing wall - Connor's favorite activity


Egg drop. Since this is Dylan's last year of day camp, he intentionally packed his egg so that it wouldn't survive. He got his wish.


Connor's egg survived the drop, and he earned the special iridescent bead.

Two Wheels

Today was the day! Connor learned to ride his bike.

He had not been very interested in learning, but on about his third successful ride down the sidewalk he said, "You were right, Mom. This is fun!"

I doubt I'll hear that line many more times.

Double Chocolate

When Connor found a recipe for chocolate cake in his cookbook, he HAD to make it. With a little supervision and guidance, he did almost all of it himself, from scratch. The only thing I did was to frost the vertical sides of the completed cake.


He was so proud, and it was delicious!

Mother Hubbard's Cupboard

Connor has taken a sudden interest in helping around the house. He loaded the washer, folded laundry, vacuumed the car, and helped me clean out the cupboard above the fridge, which I can't reach very well myself.

I wonder how long this phase will last? He certainly won't fit in the cupboard much longer.

Up in the Ranks

Connor earned his Tiger Cub badge last night, in a ceremony held at the Super Slide Amusement Park. As part of their advancement, the boys had their faces painted to signify the tiger.


Most of the boys liked getting their faces painted; however, Connor wasn't too happy about it.


Then they exchanged their orange Tiger scarves for they yellow scarf of the next rank: Wolf.


Dylan also earned two Webelos badges.

After the formal ceremony of the meeting, we all headed to the rides - Super Fun at the Super Slide!

Train Bridge

The 4th graders at Northridge presented their final projects of the year today. The cafeteria was packed with parents to view the projects of over 100 students. They were supposed to choose something to do with North Dakota history, and there were many great projects, some obviously more student-constructed than others.

Dylan chose the original Northern Pacific bridge across the Missouri at Bismarck. It took him over two weeks and lots of work to research and construct. He was pleased with the final product.

Unfortunately, after we got it to school today, another child's project accidentally fell on Dylan's, breaking up most of the popsicle stick bridge. He had to hot-glue it back together this afternoon, but it turned out just fine in the end, and we were quite proud of him.

Burn Notice Season 3

Burn Notice, one of the HOTTEST shows on television, returns for its third season June 4 on USA.

In the meantime, here's a 1 minute teaser.

LOVE IT.

Band Night Parade

Whew! Made it through the Band Night Parade again. We had over 180 dancers in our unit, and the music worked great with a generator this year. I saw many in the crowd jamming along to "On The Dark Side," and I think Just For Kix made a big impact with such a large group.

The kids had a great time ("Look at me - I'm in a parade!") despite the cool temps. What a great night!

4th Grade Music

Tonight was Dylan's music "demonstration" at Northridge. Not quite a formal music program, they performed some songs of their choice and clapped some of the rhythms they are working on in music class.


The first song was a "Welcome Song" that they sing to start each music class. After singing to each other, they sang it with a family member.


They demonstrated a simple dance to "Yankee Doodle" and brought up a family member to join in. Dylan chose Connor, and they both excelled at the rhythms and movement, making my heart swell with pride.

The whole thing was no more than 30 minutes, and thoroughly enjoyable.

Three Little Pigs

Link

FLASHBACK: Here's a video I took a year ago. At the end of third grade, the kids in Dylan's class were paired up to present readings of alternate versions of fairy tales. Dylan and his friend Connor presented "Three Little Pigs" in class, and I had them do it again at home so I could take this video.

My favorite parts are when Connor grins and drops character to remember his line, and the way Dylan silently mouths Connor's lines.

Dylan has changed so much since this video was taken! Where has this little boy gone??

KIA Soul

link

Here's my favorite TV ad of the moment, for the KIA Soul, which appears to be competing for the same customer base as the Toyota Scion xB.

Anyway, I like how the hamster gives a cool head nod after rolling down his window, and how they groove to the beat. Great song, too.

I love how commercials are getting to be just as entertaining as the programming content.

Happy Birthday, Brad

Brad celebrated his birthday by playing a gig and eating a hamburger cake, which he said was delicious at 2 am.

In the Big City

We spent Easter weekend at Mall of America, on a repeat of last year's successful trip. The kids loved the rides, especially the Splat-O-Sphere...

The Log Jam...

And the Underwater Aquarium.

In the shark cage.

On the way home, this was the scene on I-94 west of Valley City. Crazy flooding this spring!

Here's a short video clip I took of us fording the flood in the Suburban:

link

Brad rode a few rides that were too intense for me. I took video of one called Tak Attack:

link

Dunkie's No Flunkie

My Mini Kix classes performed at tonight's Dakota Wizards game, and coincidentally, Brad and the boys got free tickets for the game from Gate City Bank. Even though Dylan declared that he doesn't really LIKE basketball, they ended up having a fun time.

The game turned out to be a real nail-biter that went into overtime, with the Wizards pulling out an exciting win.

I don't really LIKE basketball either, but it was still a fun evening out with the family.