Sports, Sports, & more Sports!

I remember the days my mom complained about all the "taxi driving" she had to do. I thought I knew what she was talking about, but now I am living it! I have to say, with all the kids involved in different things, it makes me realize how nice it was when we lived in California and ALL 5 kids were on the same swim team...the meets were long, but all in one place and on the same day! This year, Brad jumped into tennis completely blind...never having picked up a racket before. Karina jumped right into cross country, and Kimball decided to give Lacrosse a try, after two years of football. I guess it is a year of "firsts" in the sports arena! They are all enjoying their respective sports and they keep me running around like crazy...I filled the car with gas twice this week! Yesterday was particularly exciting as we watched Karina run in a cross country meet and she ran a 5K in 25 minutes (her first time this year was 36 min!) All week she was psyching herself up for 27 minutes and lo and behold, she ran 24.5 minutes!! Her coach was blown away and recognized her in front of everyone. I even have a picture of her coach "hi-fiving" her...I LOVE the expression on her face! It is truly a thrill to see the kids trying out new things and enjoying success! I'm so proud of each of them for just trying something new (makes me wish I hadn't been so self-conscious in High School and had just TRIED something else...I was just too worried I'd make a fool of myself!) As I get older, the only fools I see are people who are unwilling to TRY anything new or make attempts at change! Thanks, kids, for your examples!

Homecoming Dances - They're growing up!

Wow, it seemed it took me forever to finally get caught up on my blog! Those Europe pictures took a lot of time (and I haven't even started my book yet!) The past few weekends were pretty fun as we watched Karina go to her first homecoming with a group of girlfriends (no dates, yet, she's still only 14!) The night before the dance, there was the homecoming game, and as you can see by the pictures, they had a lot of school spirit (considering we completely LOST the game). We had 30 kids over to our house AFTER the dance and they all stayed until we kicked them out at about 12:45 AM! (They never want the party to end! At Brad & KArina's homecoming, Brad didn't ask anyone, but went "stag" in his circa 1960's madrigal choir tux that we bought for $5 at a garage sale this summer (with the ruffles, velvet bowtie and his VANS). Amazingly, he can actually get away with such a stunt without being beat up! The following week-end, Brad was invited to their rival High school's homecoming and as confident as Brad comes across, he was NERVOUS! It was his first "official" date. He and his date, Taylor, looked stunning and had a great time. It is amazing to see these kids growing up so fast!

Days 18 & 19 - London, England

Days 16 & 17 - Copenhagen, Denmark

Day 14 - Stockholm, Sweden

Day 13 - Helsinki, Finland

Day 12 - ST. Petersburg, Russia

Day 11 - St. Petersburg, Russia

Day 10 - Tallin, Estonia

Day 8 - Lubec & Schwerin, Germany

Day 7 - Kiel Canal, Germany

Day 6 Dover, England/Ship

Days 4 & 5 Belgium

Days 2 & 3 - Paris, France

European "Dream" Vacation, Days 1-8

Whew! We did it! Nine European countries in 19 days!! Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Bevan...they were brave (and generous) enough to take all 7 of us on a GRAND, go, go, go, don't stop and rest, highly-charged educational trip (I wouldn't call it a vacation, per se) to Europe. On our way there, we had the amazing good fortune of getting upgraded (all 9 of us) to business class, so we arrived somewhat rested, which was nice! We spent our first 2 days in Paris. THe kids immediately had to try the escargot (and they even liked it...ALL of them!) We saw the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffle tower, and Monmartre as well as an upper-deck bus tour of the highlights of the city. Then, we took a high-speed train to Brussels, Belgium where we visited my good friend Veronique Godard-Artigas and her family for two days. WE spent the first day in the Grand Place and at Veronique's beautiful country home. The next day we spent at Waterloo and then beautiful Brugges. Then we got on a ferry boat in Callais, France to the White Cliffs of Dover, England, where we boarded the "NCL Dream" cruise ship. Our first day was crossing the Kiel Canal in Germany (didn't know there was a canal there!), the next day was at sea, and our first port was Rostock, Germany where we rented a van and drove to Lubec to meet old (Virginia) friends, Fran Kennedy and her son, Trent (Brad's good friend when he was 6-8 yrs old). Crad Kennedy is in Hamburg working for the US Consolate, so they drove 1 1/2 hours to see us and it was fun to have someone who sort of knew their way around (and a little German, too). GRandpa drove our Mercedes 9-passenger minivan on the Autoban and Kimball could be heard in the back seat yelling "Come on, grandpa, let's see how fast this thing can go!" Any of you who know my dad know that we still didn't top 70mph...maybe next trip! After Lubec, we went to Schwerin to see an absolutely charming castle and enjoyed the beautiful, lush green countryside on our way back to the ship!

Lindsay's Baptism

This post is a bit late (3 1/2 months!), but we wanted to share the pictures and news! We enjoyed a great week-end with Grandma & Grandpa Bevan and Aunt Coco and Uncle Travis. Lindsay is the last in our family to turn the magic age of 8 and be baptized. It was a beautiful service and it was so fun to have family here. Uncle Travis performed the baptism and Kent confirmed her and we had a nice open house luncheon afterwards!

On Friday, our family enjoyed the Elementary School Talent Show. This year, it was held at High School on a real stage. Both Lela and Lindsay performed...Lela played "Freight Train" on the Piano and Lindsay sang a solo "On My Own" from Les Miserables. She was accompanied by her piano teacher, Nathan. Of course I'm a bit partial, but I thought that among all the dozens of "dance" routines to Hillary Duff and "Disney Pop", Lela and Lindsay showed some real accomplishment. (Yes, we were proud parents.) Anyway, I've included the url for you to cut and paste into your web address spot and you can see the performance! )

Lindsay's performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYEs_-2qKdM



Lela's performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-VWy-m9qyQ

Linda's first post!

OK, After a little encouragement from my sister, I thought I'd give this Blogging thing a try (When I told my kids, they thought it was a great idea...makes me look like a "hip mom", eh?). It will be a place where friends and family can keep up on our lives (if they actually care or have time in their own busy lives!)