Catching Up-November and December

We have had a busy fall with school, after school activities, and travel. Emma continues to play soccer and has now scored 3 goals for the Pixies. She is also taking Ballet this year. Ian loves preschool and will start Soccer in the spring. He also has learned to swim and always asks if the pool is open when we drive by. He can't wait until next spring to be swimming again!

In October, Dan and I went to Germany for a "work trip" we visited Munich during Octoberfest, Salzburg, Mad Ludwig's Castle, and the Christmas town of Rothenburg. We traveled to Virginia for the week of Thanksgiving and had a great time visiting with family and friends. We are staying in California for Christmas with both sets of Grandparents visiting for the holidays. Here are a few slideshows of our adventures.







And here are a few videos of our musical adventures:

Thanksgiving music with the family




Dancing in San Jose with one of our favorite children's musicians, "Mr. Peter"

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from our Flamingo.....


and our Little Minion

First Day of Second Grade

Emma started Second Grade Today! She was really excited to go to school this morning and see all of her friends and her teacher. Most of her class stayed the same this year and she her teacher has looped up with them to second grade.


First Day of School Picture


And a silly faced one


One more


Friends!

And just to look back, here is the beginning of First Day


And the beginning of Kindergarten

Dance Camp

Emma had a great week at dance camp last week. She got to learn about several different kinds of dance including Ballet, Jazz, HipHop and Tap. She has decided that ballet is her favorite and will be continuing on in that for the fall. Here are a few videos of her performance at the end of the week.

Ready for Second Grade

Emma is really ready for second grade; and she really looks like a second grader now. She lost her two top teeth last night.

Summer Vacation Part 3 - Crater Lake and Northern California

After spending a hot week in Florida and cruising the Caribbean,  we thought it would be a good idea to go some place a little bit cooler for our last week of travel. Dan's brother and family were going to be up in Oregon for the week, so we flew back to California and then drove up North to spend the week. We spent 3 days in Crater Lake, Oregon. We lucked out and got to stay and a big room in the lodge right next to the rim of the crater. We did a lot of hiking (Ian amazed us a little with how much we pushed him). One day we even took a boat to wizard island (the volcano in the middle of the lake) and we climbed to the top of the and ate lunch in the crater.
The last 4 days were spent in Northern California. On the way south, we went to the Oregon Caverns National Monument and got to see some amazing rock formations underground. In California, we went hiking in the Redwoods and took a jet boat tour where we saw several species of birds including a bald eagle. Here are just a few of the many pictures that were taken on the trip.

Summer Vacation Part 2-Cruising the Caribbean with Mickey Mouse

Since we were already in Florida, we decided to spend the next week of our vacation trying out our second Disney Cruise. Once again, we loved it! We did a week long cruise of the Western Caribbean including stops in Grand Cayman, Mexico, and the Bahamas on the Disney Fantasy. We spent a lot of time enjoying the boat as well as doing a few shore excursions including tubing and snorkeling. Disney's private island is amazing, the service all over the boat was wonderful and our kids loved their kids club area. Here is a slide show of just some of our pictures from the week.