Summer of 2011 - Round 4

OK, Dad here for this installment...
First up: Summer gymnastics.
Two years ago we offered to enroll Allie in ballet. Like most Kindergarten girls she was thrilled to be a beautiful princess dancer. So what was with all the picking cherries and not dancing (or so she thought)? Aside from all the weird non-dance moves, she already knows how to dance. We made her finish it up but she did not enjoy it very much.

Enter the begging to sign up for gymnastics. It finally happened this summer- we "signed her up". What's more, the boys can go too. Allie is enamored. She told us "don't ever unsign me from gymnastics!"

The gym is very close to our home - it is about 35 years old and only a mile and a half away.
The boys love it too and look forward to their class. We like the fact that all three of our older kids can participate in the same activity.

The best part for Wesley is "swimming" in the foam blocks.
After Dad was out of town for a few weeks we decided to go on a little family outing to Rancho de Las Golondrians (see http://golondrinas.org/index.html).


Golondrinas is a living history museum recreating the Spanish settlement at the site dating to the early 1700s. Each weekend has a different emphasis- the event we attended was the "Viva Mexico" weekend and was co-sponsored by the Mexican Consulate (Joy's former employer). The guys on stilts above were super funny and gave me plenty of flack about my wife and numerous kiddos.
Kids watching the cute little girls performing traditional dances.
We had a hard time keeping track of our super shy little girl- this woman made a wool bracelet for her.
LARGE:
MEDIUM:
SMALL:
The highlight of the trip was seeing the Voladores de Papantla perform. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danza_de_los_Voladores_de_Papantla). They are a dance troupe from Oaxaca who perform a traditional ritual (for rain I believe) and climb an 80 foot pole, balance on the top and play a mesmerizing half flute/half drum instrument. The museum worked for years to get a pole permanently installed and bring the dancers. They suspend themselves from the pole, twirl a rope around their feet/pole and launch themselves off.
And they are all 50+ years old:

As you can see from this last photo, our kids are growing up too quickly. Come to ABQ next summer and we'll take you to Golondrinas!

Summer of 2011 - Round 3

Does Luke zooming by in this picture- and thus slightly out of focus- make your head spin?! Well good because now you understand my feelings about our summer. I really focused on PLAYING with my kids this summer! Oh we did chores as well. Everyday was supposed to be a new chore (like totally cleaning out the book shelf and other big projects). We did crafts and swam and and read and went on adventures (Explora, community garden, watering the plants at that house with the scary dogs that jump on you). We watched very little TV -hooray!- and it just zoomed by.
Our little 4th of July firecracker! Spent the evening with dear friends.
We really played hard all summer...
and had friends over...
and I mentioned special projects... like let's try to use every single piece of the train set...
and it just zoomed by I tell you- ZOOMED!
I love how Allie's hair is just flowing behind her. Something about that makes me think of carefree summer days. Yes like the ones just passed.I absolutely insist that you click on this photo of Wesley and Isabella so you can see Wesley's face!
"Ha HA! I laugh in the face of danger!"
The pit crew

Summer of 2011 - Round 2

Happy 10th Anniversary to us... 8 months early! We have talked about visiting New England for years where Jason was a missionary (New Hampshire Manchester Mission) and thought about making it a 10th anniversary trip. And then we found out Carter and Jen would be married in Buffalo so we combined the two. First BEAUTIFUL Buffalo, NY then on to Boston...

where these wonderful people put us up. Thanks cousins Joe and Jen!
A BIG thanks to their adorable and brilliant sons Ian and Blake who gave up their room for us. Also seen here Jen's little sister Natalie whom Rachel adored.

By the way, Rachel pretty much looked like this the entire trip:
And why not? She had mom and dad all to herself for 10 days!

Boston was amazing! And rainy.

Rockport, MA (tip of Cape Ann)


Little lobster shack where we ate...
lunch!
Loved all the clap board buildings! We ate at this little shop too in Gloucester, MA (where The Perfect Storm was set).
Portsmouth, NM
There goes the bridge! Up, up, up to make room for the tug boat.

I repeat- happy!
We went to church in Portsmouth with Nori, someone Jason taught as a missionary.
And lastly... some cute little billy goats gruff that we thought the kids would want to see as we headed to airport on our way home. They were cute. And a HUGE thank you to Grandpa and Grandma Jackson for watching the older 3 kids!