Spring Music Recitals

Niclas and Sophia had their Spring music retital yesterday. This one was much bigger than the prior recital and they have both learned so much since then. Niclas played four songs and Sophia played a tune too. At first she didn't want to go up but decided at the very end that she would. I'm so proud of her for doing that...the piano playing was secondary to that achievement. Here are a couple of clips from the recital. Hopefully you can hear them over Austin's commentary. The clip of Sophia is from after the recital. I had taken Austin out of the room and Linda went up to the piano with Sophia when she played the first time so this was the encore performance.

Niclas' 7th Birthday and the beginning of Spring.

We've finally gotten some good weather. It's been a verrrrrrrry long winter and I hope that it's behind us. It's great when we can finally get the kids outside, get the garden planted and run off some of that built up winter energy...although I could do without the lawn mowing. Spring also means Niclas' birthday and we were again blessed with a sunny day for the day of his party. We were lucky to have Chris in town right before Niclas' birthday so we got to get together with her a couple of times before she headed back east. We all enjoyed visiting with her. We went to dinner at Chuck E. Cheese on the night of his birthday with just the family. Having now experience Chuck E. Cheese, i.e. HELL, I don't really see us going back. The kids had a great time though. We had a birthday party for him and his friends on Sat 5/16 and we rented a bounce house. I'm always amazed at the amount of energy kids have. I think they were in the bounce house for nearly 6 hours straight, stopping only long enough to have cake and ice cream and open presents. Quentin, Carlin and Lisa stayed the night so the party carried on into the evening. Not a bad day at all.

www.flickr.com stewhill6's Spring and Niclas' 7th Birthday photoset

The Beach in Hawaii

I heard a song on our trip that really captures our feelings about our latest trip. The song is "Beach in Hawaii" by Ziggy Marley. It's a really simple song and the tag line goes "I wish you were here with me/On a beach in Hawaii". That's the perfect summary of our trip. Even with the higher than normal winds, the beach in Hawaii was exactly what we needed. We decided to leave Austin home for this trip which was really hard to do because he would have had so much fun but we wanted to spend some time with the big kids since so much of last year or so has been geared toward Austin. Although we missed him dearly, it definitely made the trip more relaxing. It was also great spending time with our very good friends the Plaster's and the Nielsen's. Most of the time was spent at the beach where we snorkeled and played in the waves. Niclas tried snorkling and saw fish, a squid and a sea turtle. I even saw a white tip reef shark when I was out snorkling. They are supposed to be the puppy dog of sharks but it will still get your heart pumping a bit. We enjoyed our trip so much, we "decided" to stay a bit longer than expected. We missed our flight coming home so we had to take a day trip to Kauai to catch the red eye out on Tue night. It made for a tiring day at work the next day but Kauai was a very nice island and we had a good time exploring. Even saw an endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal laying on the beach. Maybe our next trip back we will go to Kauai. Now sing it with me - "I wish you were here with me/On a beach in Hawaii".

www.flickr.com stewhill6's Maui 2009 photoset

Austin's First Haircut

We decided that it was time for Austin's first haircut. That first one is always hard because their long baby hair is so cute. But it was getting pretty crazy so we took him in. It's funny how much older they look after they have their first haircut. Here's a before and after picture.

Sophia 1st Day Skiing

We took Sophia and Niclas up skiing last Monday since they were both on mid-winter break from school. No new snow yet again but was a great day for Sophia to give it her first try. She tried really hard and by the end of the day was getting it. Her skis were probably a little big for her first time but she's ready to give it another try. Hopefully we can get her up again one more time this season. She will definitely be ready for lessons next year. Linda and I took turns skiing with Niclas and doing our best to keep up with him. He's really improved and he shows no fear. Uh oh :-)

www.flickr.com

Family Room remodel is finished!

It's finally done. Our contractor did a great job and we are really happy with the outcome. The new surround sound system is a bit more powerful than I had anticipated but I'm sure the neighbors won't mind...too much.

www.flickr.com stewhill6's Family Room Remodel photoset

Sophia Little Gym Graduation

Sophia had her Little Gym graduation today and she did great. She's really gained a lot of confidence this session. She will be starting a new class at Northshore Gymnastics next session where Niclas also takes a class. We've really enjoyed our time at Little Gym and I know we will be back when Austin gets a bit older.