Last fall, Elizabeth joined the drama club at her school. The youngest grade that is allowed to participate in the annual play is 3rd grade, so she was very excited to be part of the chorus. She attended drama practice once a week from December through the end of April and as the play drew closer and closer, she got more and more excited. There were three other chorus members, all girls in her class. I will admit that I didn't exactly have high expectations when I volunteered to help out with dress rehearsal; and that I didn't really pay too close attention during the dress rehearsal, just videotaping now and then. But when the show started I, along with everyone else in the audience, was fixated on her. No joke. Now, I'm not trying to suggest that she stole the show from the main performers - no doubt, their voices and their ability to deliver lines were fantastic. But she completely threw herself into her role and had a fabulous time - and everyone noticed!! I was so proud of how well she did and so happy to see her glowing as everyone praised her during Intermission and at the end of the show both nights. I can't wait to see what she does next year!!
The play itself was excellent and I was so impressed with how well all of the students did. We have some seriously talented kids at our school!
(I took these videos at the dress rehearsal - I thought that the performances from the two shows were much, much better.)
We try to take some interesting day trips during school vacation week but this year, we fell a bit short. The weather did not cooperate on the day that I was able to take off from work, so we were a bit limited. We did manage, however, to squeeze in a few hours in Essex, Connecticut and visit the Connecticut River Museum. The museum is small but interesting - we learned that during the War of 1812, the British advanced up the Connecticut River from the Sound and burned two American ships, right at the site of the museum. The town still bears the evidence of this battle in 1814, from musket balls to bullets, many of which were on display in the museum.
Bushnell's Turtle - the first submarine (below).
Remnants of battle in 1814.
Steering a ship.
Elizabeth's wing span isn't nearly as long as an eagle's.
Checking out the river.
We strolled around downtown Essex after visiting the museum - this is beautiful St. John's Episcopal Church.
Three weeks from today, Lee will again be part of the Bench Press for Breast Cancer, an amazing event run by our friends Brian and Ninette. Over the last four years, this event has raised more than $25,000 for the Connecticut affiliate of Susan G. Komen and they are hoping that this year will be their best year yet. If you would like to sponsor Lee/donate, please click here and make sure to put his name in the comments section. Last year, we were the top fundraisers, because of your support! Thank you so much for supporting us this year as well!!
As I've mentioned in previous posts, the girls have really gone crazy over Legos. They are constantly building - both kits that they receive (or buy with their own money) and free building with the massive quantity of Legos that Lee was able to pick up from Freecycle. I love the creativity and how their brains works. And because they have their own Lego area, we don't have to worry about stepping on all of those little pieces all of the time!! Here they are building some of the kits they received at Easter.
Spoiled....
Emily is "free building".
One of Emily's kits.
Seaside house, in the works.
Love this masterpiece that Emily built, using her imagination.
When we went to see Annie, we made sure to put aside a little bit of time to go shopping - and it was fun, as always. A new store this time - Lego in Rockefeller Center - as well as the old standbys. These girls are shoppers!!
Believe it or not, the girls were disappointed in the Lego store - too many people, too small of a store.
A ridiculous replica of Rockefeller Center.
Check out the attention to detail!
The girls at Rockefeller Center.
American Girl never disappoints!
Times Square
Naked Cowboy - I couldn't convince anyone to pose with him!
