Tiny Toucans Dance Recital

Last weekend we were in Alexandria and got to see Clare's first dance recital.  The recital was made up of about fifteen groups of mostly three and four year old ballerinas.  The recital was themed from the Jungle Book, so Clare's group was the Tiny Toucans, which is not immediately obvious from their costumes.  But all of the girls were adorable and it was fun to watch.  Both the dress rehearsal and the performance took place during Garrett's nap time, so Calvin and Toby split Garrett duties while Sarah and I watched both shows.

This was a serious recital and Clare got a little stage make up before the performance.

I apparently like her costume best from the back.

Well deserved flowers for the ballerina

My phone camera doesn't take the best inside pictures, but I needed to include this one of Garrett.  He has learned to help out by clearing the table.

Here he has just cleared his meal onto the floor and is very pleased with himself.  He is looking like he is going to be a fun two year old.

A Superior Weekend

This weekend we went to Colorado for the blessing of our newest granddaughter, Lucy Faye Smith.  The bonus was playing with her brothers and a snowstorm in May. Calvin and Austin spent some time creating amazing flying machines that run on solar power while we waited for Zach to get home from school on Friday.

Saturday's soccer games got rained out, so the boys showed us their prowess on their scooters during a break in the rain.

Calvin even got in on a little scooter action.

Zach went to great lengths to avoid being photographed on the scooter, but I got a picture when he was distracted with a little dam building.

We took the boys swimming at our hotel in the afternoon and finished up with a little ice cream.

Zach didn't realize that his ice cream is not safe when granddad is around with a spoon.

Sunday we woke up to snow which quickly melted so we were all able to get to Lucy's blessing. She behaved beautifully and Butch gave her a beautiful blessing.

Lucy wore the same blessing dress that Emily and her mom Barb wore. Three generations of beautiful women.

It was fun to see Jason, Katie and Nora Pence while we were in Colorado.  We don't get to see enough of them.

While all this commotion was going on Lucy was just perfectly happy to hang out in her chair.

But she was even happier to get a little loving brotherly affection.

What a wonderful loving family. We are so proud of them.

A weekend in Santa Barbara

Last weekend Calvin was riding the Chico Wildflower Century race, an event he has enjoyed for the past twenty years or so, and I decided that I had explored the wonders of Chico sufficiently and it would be more fun to spend the weekend in Santa Barbara. I have been to Santa Barbara a few times as well but I enjoy it every time I go. 

Alice is at an age where she is changing rapidly, in looks and personality.  When she is awake she usually running full speed ahead, so most of her pictures are a little blurry. You just have to catch her as she races by.

Rosie and Jay on the other hand will sit still once in a while.

Rosie, Alice and I made an outing to the beach in Carpenteria. On the way to the beach we stopped by some beautiful roses for a photo op.  Alice was a little more interested in the bees in the roses than the camera.

 The beach is Alice's natural element and she literally embraces the beach.

Rosie looks natural here too.

The beach park had a really cool roller slide.  It gives kind of a bumpy ride, but Alice kept going back for more.

We finished that outing with lunch at a beach grill where kids could play in a sand box during lunch.  What a great idea!