Halloween Show 2011

We'll we made it through another ice skating show.  It was a lot of fun and I loved watching the girls, but I'm glad it's over.  Both girls did great.  I think Alli is content with just standing on the ice and doing her moves rather than actually skating.  I love that she does a spread eagle when Kelly picks her up.  She is such a funny kid.  I'm so proud of her though.  It's a pretty big deal to get up in front of hundreds of people like that.  She seemed to really like the attention though.  Paige, as always did great. Love you both, great job girls.

I had to add this video of the Adult Synchro Team (Kelly's team).  I love to watch them skate! I'm not sure how Kelly even finds time to practice! 

On another note I got another job.  I know...... 4 jobs in just under two years.  However, they are all with the same company and have all been promotions. So now I am the Central Processing Supervisor.  I had to trade in my office with the nice view to go back down to the basement of the basement.  I think it will be a great move for me though, and the pay increase doesn't hurt either. :)

Oktoberfest 2011

Paige competed tonight in the Oktoberfest competition. This was her first competition three years ago. She did an awesome job tonight and had some really tough competition this time. I'm so proud of her and all that she has accomplished with her skating. She is so confident when she's out there. Love you Paige! Congrats on Second Place!!

Allison's Skating Lessons

Alli really seems to like skating. Her level is called Snowplow Sam and it's the very first level. She was a little apprehensive at first because there were so many kids out there, but Paige came to save the day! Paige has been a great junior coach. She has really good control. I thought about taking Allison to a public skating session and help her on the ice, but I think she would be better off with Paige. I'd probably just fall on her. I love some of the looks she gives Paige. You can tell how much she looks up to her big sister and wants to be just like her. I'm so glad that Kelly is her coach. However, there was no coincidence there! Kelly told me if I signed her up she would make sure she was teaching her. We love Kelly, she is great with both the girls!

We lucked out borrowing the little pink skates from my cousin. Her little girl that is just older than Alli wore them. Thanks Des! They also had the skate swap just before Alli's first lesson. The skate swap is nice because you can sell your old dresses and skates that are too small. So now the girls have some new attire. Alli's little dress is adorable, but you can't really see it when she's on the ice because of her snow pants. :)

Paige is signed up for the Halloween Show that will be the very end of October. We are considering signing up Allison too. She told me the other night that she really wanted to do it, but we'll see how the next few lessons go.

OK, the video is long. I cut down a lot that I recorded, but I had to put it in two parts to get it on here. What can I say, I'm a proud Momma of my skating girlies.

Still more catching up....

These are a little out of order, but hey, they're on here right? Late as always though. This is catching up from the middle of August to the first few weeks of September. I think other than some ice skating videos I'm caught up.....For now.....

A few weeks ago Dianne took us to see Mary Poppins. It was fun, although it didn't follow the Disney version so I was a little lost. Alli hung out with Daddy and Grandpa Old Guy. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the attention span to sit through a play yet. After that we had a birthday dinner for Dianne.

Mike and my brother decided to surprise Robin and I with a steak and lobster dinner. The guys were really sneaky and stopped at Market Street to get the lobsters. The kids were fascinated with them. Although, when they started warming up a little and flipping around on the tray Alli was a little freaked out. I wish I would have got a picture of the face she pulled. She then informed me that, "That's scustin" (disgusting).

So yummy!!!

At the end of August the Silver Blades had their opening social. The kids loved the face painting and blow up slide. Alli opted for arm painting instead of face painting. Paige got a football and number 22 for Logan, he had a game the following day.

Alli got an ice skate, fitting for her new adventure...

Emma got a cute little monkey....

Here are the pics we took from Lagoon. Unfortunately I forgot my camera and was just using my phone so the pictures aren't great. Alli went on her first BIG ride (Bombora). OK so it's not really BIG, but for a three year old I'm sure it seems huge. It has some fast corners and a little hill. It was hilarious watching her head on the turns, she couldn't hold it up straight. I think I was turned around the whole time watching her.

Rylee is not a huge fan of the big rides, so she rode some of the smaller rides with Alli. It worked out great. Paige is really into the big rides now and doesn't even want to go on the little ones.

I'll try to post Alli's first ice skating lessons in the next few days, I hope..... Tomorrow night we will be at the Oktoberfest competition with Paige. Good luck Paigey!

More updates.....

Paige started the fifth grade. I can't believe how much she has grown up. This year at school she is learning to play the violin. So between violin, school, ice skating, and girls scouts she is going to be one busy little girl. Her new school just opened this year and it is amazing inside. Everything is so clean and I love the set up. She loves that she is on the second floor and that they have lockers!

Alli is trying out ice skating. She has been on the ice with Kelly one time so far and her Learn to Skate lesson starts next week.

Yellowstone.... Picture Overload

We made the trip up to Yellowstone this year. My dad has been wanting to go for a long time. This was his spot when he was a kid, and he has a ton of great stories about being there. One in particular about Fishing Bridge. We all went down there and my dad explained the story to all the kids. My brother recorded it and I'll have to get it from him and put it on the blog. We stayed at the Lake Lodge cabins which were just off the lake and very convenient for fishing. We went fishing almost every morning and the fishing was good!

This was Mike's first official time fishing and he did a great job. Mike caught 6 and Paige and I caught 7, but no one would ever rub that in! ;) We took up my dad's little aluminum boat that used to be my Grandpa Patterson's. It was great for trolling.

We saw almost the entire park in the ten days we were there. Here are some of our hundreds of pictures.....

A buffalo dusting himself. We had one do this right outside our cabin. We saw tons of "buckalos," as Alli calls them.

Mike at one with the birds.....

The kids loved having their bikes there and Jimmy took them on some nice rides.

The grizzly bear we saw right off the side of the road. It was amazing to be that close to one in the wild.

We went on an hour long horse back ride, well five of us did. Thankfully it wasn't ay longer, my butt couldn't handle anymore. Oh, and I think my horse had Tourettes. It had this weird twitch. Paige and Logan on the other hand did great!

Mike's horse was huge!!!

The Brink of Lower Falls. There was a ton of water running. It was pretty amazing being right at the edge. It was a nice hike down too. Alli had it the best being carried..... Poor Mike.

Roosevelt Lodge

West Yellowstone Bear and Wolf exhibit.

Waiting for Old Faithful

Skipping rocks....

The North Entrance. The one place we went that my dad had never been to.

The kids getting their Ranger Badges. It was a pretty cool program. They have a packet that the kids need to go through and so many different stops they need to make. When they get it all complete they get sworn in by a Ranger. Too bad Alli was too little.

The kids turned a downed log into a teeter totter.

Quake Lake. This house was moved off it's foundation during a quake. Allison was so upset by this house. She kept saying "Oh no, we need tape to fix it.... there and there...."

Mammoth Hot Springs