more summer fun

we have been having a great summer,
the kids have been baking some cookies,


making masks


and building forts with Caitlin.



This weekend we played miniature golf,
went to a Gulls game

and went to Baileys Beach with KK. The kids had a great time, we swam in the salt water pool, had yummy lunch, took a walk on the beach, then swam in the ocean, had ice cream and came home.

Today I got to go to karate with Zaven, He did great. His teacher thinks he will be ready for the yellow belt test on Friday Sept. 10

We head up to Maine on Thursday.

The other exciting thing is that our couch in being recovered. We hope to have the new fabric on in a few weeks. We are using the intervening time to practice not eating on the couch.
This is the fabric

Events

On Friday we all met at Nell's ballet performance. Nell sat with her class and waited for some parents etc.
Then just before the actual performance was going to start Nell pulled off her dragonfly headpiece and hurt herself.


This is the only photo we got before it fell apart. I held Nell for the rest of the 10 minute performance. We were sorry to not get to see Nell dance. But since them she has done some dancing for us here at home.

Chris and I went out to dinner in Providence in an area called Federal Hill. An Italian section of town. We had a great meal at Pane Vino and a nice time being out.

Saturday, I played double with some friends. Chris had a funeral, I made black bean salsa to take to the church picnic, then we went to the beach. We had a nice time, but about an hour in, the clouds rolled in, there was thunder and we came home before the rain came. Then we grilled burgers for dinner.

Sunday we just had one church service at 10am outside followed by a picnic, it was a great day.
We did not get home until around 1pm and spent the rest of the day cleaning and doing around the house.

Today, Zaven had karate and he earned a yellow stripe on his white belt. This is the first step toward earning his yellow belt.
He seems to be enjoying karate. And he is very proud of his yellow stripe.

ballet starts

i call this photo "the uncooperative ballerina".


later, for caitlin, nell came around and had her photo taken.

nell really enjoyed her first day of ballet and was keen to show us her twirls when we got home. and she told me they got in a circle and went around and said their names and she said "my name is Nell". when i asked what some of the other kids names were she said they just said "my name is ballet person"

while nell had her class, zaven and caitlin walked around in newport.


they got out of nell's class just in time to be out in a huge thunderstorm, but they got home and then went out later for zaven's karate.

we had dinner and then we went for a walk and bike ride. it was a nice way to end the night and a good use of the late light.

tomorrow night we are going back to the gull's game- weather permitting.

great weekend

we had a really nice weekend. friday night we got dinner at subway and then headed to the gulls baseball game. as luck would have it zaven's friend spencer was there with his grandfather so he was excited to have a friend there. we stayed for the whole game which might have been too long. nell was sobbing for the mascot, gully. she was positively despondent and exhausted.

saturday, i got up and played tennis at 8. it was a great way to start the day. when i got home we headed up to 3rd beach. it was a hot day and a nice day at the beach. we caught a hermit crab, played in the water, did the skim board, made drip castles etc...

today, we had church and then a quiet afternoon, then we motivated and went on a bike ride. it was a good day.

a nice night

tonight we had gazpacho and cheese toast for dinner, then we went for walk at 3rd beach.
the weather was really nice after a couple of days of rain.

chris got some great photos.




a funny little story I forgot to post the other day. nell has really taken a shine to the dogs. she loves to play with them. the other day i looked in and Nell was talking to the dogs and holding a piece of paper. I asked her what she was doing and Nell said "I am talking to the dogs about their schedule". It was very cute.

back on the blog

so, i have decided to come back to the blog.
i realized that i really enjoy doing it and even more than doing it, i like to look back and remember. this blog is probably the closet thing to a scrap book that I have. And the kids are always doing fun things that I certainly have plenty of fodder for it.

so here we are in the middle of July- how did that happen! Zaven had his 7th birthday, a filed day party that was a fun time. Both kids finished up at school June 15 and then they went to FL with Grammy, Papa and Ella and had a great time. Lots of swimming and playing and general fun.

Chris and I went to England for the Lygon family reunion and then on the Scotland with Milla and Poppy. It was a great trip. At the end of that Brice brought the kids home and stayed for a visit.


Now we are all home and getting back into the swing of things.
We have a summer sitter again and that is going great, her name is Caitlin. The kids seem to be enjoying her and they are hitting their stride.

Zaven has started Karate.


He is very excited and I hope it will be a good thing for him. Nell is going to do a ballet camp next week and she is very excited.



Zaven taught Nell how to spell her name- here is a silly video of them demonstrating her new skill.



Well I hope to be a frequent updater. We'll see

Easter 2010

A great day!

Egg Hunt at Whetstone and egg dying

Vermont

I am realizing that I have not posted in forever.
We recently went to Vermont with some friends from Church.
We had a great time. We went skiing and sledding and on a sleigh ride.
it was a blast.
Here are some photos.