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Cameron’s “Lion King, Jr.” show
Alright. Cameron’s AAT “Lion King, Jr.” performance happened (last weekend) and, boy, was it impressive! Parents went all-out with making the masks and sewing a bunch of entirely new costumes! I felt bad that I barely contributed (although I was credited as being part of the costume crew — good intentions I couldn’t make good on due to work commitments)!
Cameron was a giraffe and in the ensemble and while her Giraffe mask was truly impressive, at first it didn’t fit! The opening for her head was too small and it was pressing up against her forehead and she couldn’t get her chin all the way over the bottom lip of the opening. She was crying — and this was dress rehearsal two days before the first performance. It looked so bad, I was thinking I might have to pull her out of that role!
Gratefully, the mask maker was there and could see the trouble we were having, so he made adjustments on the fly. By the next day, it had paint (!), a larger opening for her face, and some padding to make it more comfortable! It was awesome.
This was, by far, the most impressive production we’ve seen (and that is saying a lot!). The kids not only learned to sing the Swahili, they sang it beautifully. It was sometimes hard to believe that this age group went from 3-8.
In any case, here are some pictures and video clips.
Finale (our li’l giraffe comes out first). Around the 2:15 minute mark, the kids nail the finale!
Hakuna Matata:
Saturday show, working as “House Manager” and taping from the back:
The whole cast!
Bowing…
Bows…there’s our giraffe in the center!
Bows from the wings:
Some serious talent:
Waving to Lola:
Backstage with the masks:
Waiting for masks:
Backstage, ready for the show!
Mufasa…
Zebra masks:
Grasslands costume goofiness:
Dress rehearsal…with mask-maker extraordinaire! Look at how tall these giraffes are!
They asked for a “family photo”:
Very happy with the improvements/modifications to the mask:
Practicing bows:
My favorite giraffe:
Circle of Life (sideways):
“Just Can’t Wait to be King”:
Dylan came to help during Tech week and helped through out the show! He helped with props and with mics:
Rehearsing “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?”:
“Do not shake the kombucha, it will explode!”
All in a day’s work: cameron as a cake, a wizard, and a statue (back story to statue pic: went to a Thai restaurant in LA with a sign that has Chloe’s new mantra, “Do not shake the kombucha. It will explode!” So she asked Cameron to pose as kombucha — which I guess she has confused for the statues we see in many Thai restaurants — and then asked me to take a picture of her with the “kombucha statue.” Dylan flung himself across the bed in his (successful?) attempt to photobomb!).
And then they finally went to sleep…!
Oh, I should actually add that all of these shenanigans occurred about 30-45 minutes before bed time!
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Some recent notes from Cameron
Cameron’s note to the tooth fairy: “Dear tooth fairy, lost another tooth. It’s going to be hard to chew. Can I keep my tooth please? Do you like being the tooth fairy?”
Cameron’s 12/27 note to tooth fairy: “Tooth fiary, another gone. It is going to be very hard to chew! Well, at least for a little while. Haha got ya! Ha ha ha! <3 Cameron”
Cameron’s note to Santa: “Dear Santa, thanks for coming all seven years that I hav been alive. Is it hard traveling al over the world for the people who celebrate Cristmas? Do you like being Santa? <3 Cameron”
Minefest – 12/17/2016
Here’s the retroactive blog post on Minefest. I wasn’t sure how worth it this would be for Dylan and T. since they’re outgrowing much of the “basic” stuff, but they had a blast and, truly, it was amazing to see the creativity out there! Both big kids participated in the Build Battle (a theme was presented and then kids had 5 minutes to build something). T. won her round and went on to place 3rd in the finals!! Super fun fact: all 3 finalists were girls (go girls!!)!
Here’s some photo booth fun….
And here’s a shot of Dylan during the Build battle:
I’m looking forward to taking Cameron to these some day! But, I’m worried that the big kids will have aged out so not sure who we can take with her as it is more fun with friends. Cameron has been building some pretty incredible stuff this past week!
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Welcome to 2017
Well, I’ve neglected this blog for way too long! Clearly, a lot has happened since the last post! Tom covered a lot of highlights in our holiday card, but the details are all getting lost as we continue to transition to me being full-time (and thus having less time for writing!).
I have a goal to pay more attention to this in the coming year. It’ll be a nice ray of light–like a gratitude journal–in what I can’t help but feel will be a series of really glum news days!
Anyway, today is the first day of 2017. Everyone, even Tom, who came home from LA literally sick to his stomach, managed to ring in the new year! We even Skyped HAKT’s family and raised our glasses at midnight!
It’s been mostly a quiet day. I’m still not sure if I’m going to get this tummy bug or not — but, luckily, Tom seems mostly 100% recovered! As I’m writing, he’s at the gym!
I did my first run of 2017 (6.1 miles) and when I got back, I was delighted that Cameron wanted to run, too! So, Chloe climbed into the running stroller, I put my shoes back on, and we headed out for a 1.23 mile run at a 12:12 pace! Not bad!
We are still basking in the glow of various family holiday celebrations — the 24th with Cindy and her in-laws, Christmas with my family, and many Hanukkah days with family in LA.
In this first week of the kids’ school vacation, we’ve covered a lot of ground! Not only have we spent a good chunk of days celebrating, we also visited Universal Studios for the first time (grossly crowded–didn’t even make it on a single ride! The Harry Potter ride had a 4-hour wait!) and watched “Moana.” Cameron lost yet another tooth!!
I’m feeling the effects of less time with the kids (due to more time at work)! This week has been such a joy. I loved spending time with them…!
Some representative pictures are below:
Family Pajamas from Lola for Christmas!!! This year, girls and boys (and doggy!) got the same!! Everyone loves these jammies…!
Cryptic puzzle solved! Dylan is really enjoying this mail order mystery!
Silly hat from lola!
Setting out the cookies for Santa.
Christmas Eve love…
Yeah, so this is a picture of our 10-year old…he really does not want to get ramen…so grumpy these days!
This is Dylan’s happy place…! Sometimes, I fret about the time he spends on his computer, but on New Year’s eve, after playing some non-screen games, we did a Minecraft “show and tell,” and I was soooo impressed. He is learning a lot of programming concepts just by “doing.” As an example, he created some complicated command for a command block and said something about how cryptic it probably looks to people. I looked at it and broke that thing down: first word is a command, second thing is an array of arguments being passed into the command and one of those arguments is a JSON object. He was fascinated with the JSON part. He edited the command and showed me the error message, “Invalid JSON…” something or other…and then promptly went back to fix it.
I’m pleased as punch!
Big highlight of first half of winter break: we finally made it to LA for a visit and, as a bonus, we got a family photo.
We didn’t get to see E. much. He got sick so we only saw him on Wednesday evening. He is so big now!
Ok. So here’s another picture of Dylan acting all put-out about being “dragged” to Universal Studios for a picture! He changed his tune quickly, though. And, we’re so glad he loved the experience, in the end!
Here are the big kids at Universal Studios. We love it when they aren’t fighting!
Happiness…
Met a Who! Kids thought the nose was creepy, but were fascinated that make-up could create such a convincing effect!
Met Max!
Chloe’s art on a Buca di Beppo placemat!
Cameron lost another tooth! – 10/15/2016
Now the front tooth gap is complete! Here’s the tooth before ballet class….
…and here’s the smile after Nutcracker rehearsal. I have to admit, I’m surprised she managed to keep her tooth in there all day!
But, the poor thing really did lose her tooth. She took some time to write a note to the tooth fairy just before we headed up to bed. When I asked if she’s finished it, she pulled it out of the box and showed it to me, but then suddenly, the tooth was not in the box! Tom, Dylan and I spent a fair amount of time combing the carpet for her tooth, but to no avail. Cameron was heart-broken. It was one of those moments when I realize that she is still 7! She was so worried that the tooth fairy wouldn’t come! Just after lights out (she was still crying)and I reminded her that we’ve heard stories of kids swallowing their teeth…so, you know, this can’t be the first time that the Tooth Fairy has encountered a note without a tooth! She seemed to take some comfort in that…and I hope we still find that tiny little nib of a tooth!!!
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2016-09-29 Cameron lost her tooth!
Ok. Cameron lost Tooth #3! She had an adorable note for the “toth fairy” which also included some lovely illustrations of hearts with wings and a tooth with legs! As is customary with these Things, Cameron also asked the tooth fairy if she could keep her tooth!
Here’s her new smile:
The one right next to it is coming out soon!
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2016 Nutcracker is underway
This year, all 3 kids will be in Nutcracker! Rehearsals started a couple of weeks ago and, so far, all of the kids are really enjoying it. Dylan and Cameron will be party guests in the opening scene and Chloe is making her Nutcracker debut as a Gingersnap (she even signed her contract herself!)! Dylan is also in the Nutcracker Militia and Cameron is dancing as an Angel and a Lamb. I think these roles might be specific to IAD’s production of Nutcracker, so if they sound unfamiliar, this is why!
Despite the madness of the schedule (we are at the dance studio from 9:30-10am, 11:30-2:30pm on Saturdays as well as 6:30-7:30pm on Friday nights and 12:30-1:30pm on Sundays), none of us has lost our minds!
Today, the kids got their headshots (Dylan was in rehearsal so no picture of him):
The kids have also been watching DVDs of the previous shows which is helping them get familiar with their dances (Chloe, especially!). It’s going to be a different Nutcracker this year (no Chinese dragon and some of the dances are being newly choreographed) that we’re all really looking forward to!
As they prepare for this performance, the kids are also all in dance this year: Dylan is trying out Tap and continuing in Ballet; Cameron is exploring Hip Hop as well as continuing in Ballet; and Chloe is continuing Ballet as well.
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2016-10-02 San Jose Rock ‘n’ Roll
This year, the Rock ‘n’ Roll was a family event! A Kids Race was added on Saturday and both girls ran their respective events (Cameron did 1-mile and Chloe 1/4 mile) and Tom ran the 10K with Dylan (I ran the half)! Everyone had a great time! Cameron really wanted to do the 5K or 10K, but she wasn’t old enough to register, so she just blew threw the 1-mile course. I was so surprised to see her coming in after less than 10 minutes! I was thinking maybe she’d finish in 10, but probably 12 minutes!
Next year, we registered Dylan and T for the 10K and Cameron for the 5K. Tom and I will both attempt the half!
Anyway, to wrap up this year, the kids got impressive bling! Here are a few pictures from Saturday (Kids run and Sunday, 10K and Half):
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