Dance Photos

After posting about the dance competition last weekend, Heidi pointed out that we hadn't posted any good action shots of Allison doing her routines. So here they are (click to enlarge)....

Hey Daddy (jazz) flying leap...
Hey Daddy (jazz) again... Ally is 2nd from the right.
Scooby Dooby Doo (hip-hop) beginning...
Scooby Dooby Doo.. Allison is on the left.
Scooby Dooby Doo ending... Peace!
The Shoop Shoop Song (tap).. Ally is on the right.
The Shoop Shoop Song... it's in his kiss... that's where it is....
The Shoop Shoop Song kick line...

Talent On Parade National Finals - Des Moines, IA

This weekend was the Talent On Parade National Finals at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, IA. If you ever have 7 1/2 hours to spare and want to ride in the car with virtually NOTHING at all to look at, point the car west and take a trip to Des Moines. I've heard it's a boring ride and that is an understatement. Luckily, we broke up the drive out there by leaving Thursday night after my softball game and stopping about half-way for the night in Princeton, IL. The following morning we took a quick dip in the pool and headed out for the rest of the way to Des Moines.

While the drive wasn't that fun, the competition was pretty cool. There were groups from a bunch of different states and it was fun to watch the different routines (I think Nathan just likes looking at all the girls!) Luckilly, Allison performed all three of her dances on Saturday. Her group was the first of the day doing The Shoop Shoop Song (tap). Then she had a break and did Hey Daddy (jazz). A couple hours later, they did Scooby Dooby Doo. The girls did a GREAT job and performed each of the songs better than they ever have. Perfect time to nail it! They received an Elite Top First ranking (based on scores) for each of them which is pretty impressive. In terms of awards they did great too. The Shoop Shoop Song took 2nd place in the large group category (behind another BLDC routine done by kids in the next older age bracket). Hey Daddy took 5th place in the line group (larger than a large group). Plus, the judges give out "special" awards for whatever they feel like... The Shoop Shoop Song won one judges "Tu-Tu Cute Award". By about 6pm all the awards were presented and we headed back to the hotel for some pizza and swimming.

I must say I'm extremely proud of Allison and the way she's thrown herself into dance this year. She was a bit nervous during the first competition (and who wouldn't be when on stage in front of a crowd of about 1,000 people, judges sitting right in front of the stage, TV cameras, etc?). By the time Nationals came around she was like an old pro. She was clearly just having fun and enjoying herself and it really showed. And of course I let her know just how proud I was...

Heidi & Allison at the entrance.
Prior to the first dance of the day...
Stretching with the other BLDC dancers in the early morning...

Summer is here?! Random thoughts...

I have no idea where the time has gone since early April. Spring is gone and summer is here! I thought after hockey was done in March we'd have all sorts of free time. In reality, it was just the opposite. With both kids playing ball and Allison still doing dance we actually were more busy! But that's about to change (I think). The kids are both a year older now (10 and 7). The Wings lost in the cup finals (but secretly, Nathan is excited because Dan Bylsma - the Penguins head coach - is running a hockey camp this summer that Nate is attending). Allison and Nathan just wrapped up softball/baseball last week. I started my softball league with some guys from work. And we even built a 10'x5' box garden at home in the back yard. I'll have to post a picture sometime. It's growing very well. We've got some lettuce, spinach, brocolli, tomatoes, beans, cukes, peppers, etc. We haven't had a garden since our house on Fuller about 9 years ago.

We haven't been able to get up north as much as we'd like but we have been able to get some yard work done around the house so it looks pretty nice. We're travelling to Des Moines, Iowa this weekend for Allison's National dance competition. Now, it's getting very nice out and staying light until 10pm. We'll have to take full advantage and enjoying the outdoors until the madness begins again in September.

Great Grams' Rose Bush

Heidi's Grandma had a giant rose bush in her yard in Chicago. And when she passed away a few years ago, the bush was split up among a few people in her family. We got a little piece of it and planted it on the side of the house. The first couple years it didn't do much. Last year we cut it back and it actually grew pretty well. But this year, for some reason, it seems to be growing like crazy. Heidi picked up a trellis for it to climb up and it's already filled the whole thing. Here are some pictures she took of it in full bloom. It's still got a ton of flowers on it. I have no idea how long they'll last but it brightens up the side yard...

Allison's Dance Recital

Today was Allison's dance recital for Body Language Dance Company at the Zeeland High School. They have these recitals once a year so you get to see alot of the non-competition dancers as well as the competition routines. Ally lucked out and got to do all of her dances in one show (her friends ended up having to be in 4 shows in one day). At the end of the recital they handed out awards. Allison received a 2nd straight perfect attendance award. She also received the Shining Star Award. That is an award handed out to one kid in each age bracket that the teachers vote on as the one that is "always ready on time, excited to be there, is a joy to teach, and makes it fun to come to class". That was quite a surprise to Heidi and I, but a nice one.

Hannah and Allison at the recital...

Red Wings vs. Ducks - Game 7

Today started just like any other day... get up, get ready for work, pack a lunch, check the calendar (Ally - dance practice, Nate - baseball practice).. and off to work I go. Then at about 11:30am as I got back to my desk after a staff meeting I got a call from Heidi. She'd been looking online and found two tickets to tonight's Game 7 NHL Playoff game between the Red Wings and Ducks at Joe Louis Arena for a decent price. Now, anyone who knows me knows I'm not Mr. Spontaneous. Knowing that I've been swamped at work and both kids have practice, I turned them down and said we can just watch it on TV. The view would be better anyway. But Heidi was persistent and talked me into leaving work early, picking Nathan up from school early, and driving to Detroit for the game. Don't you all wish you had a wife that would do that?! I finally agreed.

I left work a bit early and planned on picking Nathan up from school at 3pm. Remember, he had no idea of what was planned. But Heidi had called his teacher to let her know we'd be picking him up early (and why). When I got there, the receptionist called him down to the office. Having no idea what was going on, he was afraid he was in trouble for something. When he walked into the office and saw me sitting there he really got worried. I let him sweat it for a few minutes while we walked to his locker to get his stuff. He kept asking why I was picking him up early. I just told him we had a lot of running around to do tonight and I didn't think we'd be home in time to watch the Wings game on TV. That upset him! "Why?!", he asked. And I said, "Because.... we're going to the game!" After a couple minutes of convincing him I wasn't joking he was giddy with excitement. He couldn't believe I was picking him up early from school to go to a Red Wings game, let alone a PLAYOFF GAME!

Since Nathan had a math test the next day, he studied for two straight hours in the car with no complaints (no way he would have done that at home!). We got there about an hour before gametime and went down by the glass to watch the Wings warm up. It was a great game and the crowd was super loud. The Wings ended up winging on a goal by Cleary with about 6 minutes left. It was a GREAT TIME and I'm really glad we went. Who knows when we'll get another chance to attend a playoff game. Heidi definitely earned some brownie points for this one!

Here are some pics we took while there.

Nathan on the steps to Joe Louis Arena, home of the Detroit Red Wings...
Watching warmups up-close. The player right in front of Nathan is Jonathan Ericsson. Just two years ago, while he was playing with the Grand Rapids Griffins, he came to one of Nate's hockey practices and worked with the kids on drills. Nathan has kept an eye on him ever since. Now, he's one of the top defensemen on the Wings!
Face-off to start Game 7...
Nathan and I before the game...

Back To The Ball Fields

Baseball and softball seasons are in full swing now. Let me translate... we live at the ball fields most nights of the week. But it's fun so I can't complaiin. Nathan moved up to the 9-10 yo. kid pitch and Allison moved up to the 6-7 yo. machine pitch. This is Nathan's first season with kids pitching to him off a mound. It's quite an adjustment but he's starting to come around. I'll tell you what.. the fields they have put my high-school field to shame! Nice mound, grass infield, dugouts, unreal. They've both had a couple games and are enjoying the season. Allison is hitting the snot out of the ball and Nathan has scored a couple runs. The highlight for this season so far is happening at home though. I've been pitching whiffle balls to the kids which lasted about 15 minutes before they were bored. So I taught them how to play long-base baseball (only one base and home plate...and you can throw the ball at the runner to get them out) and introduced them to the "ghostie" runner. We've played each of the last couple days in the yard and they've been asking to play even more. What a sneaky way to get them to work on their hitting, fielding, throwing, and rules of the game. I only wish I'd thought of it earlier. I couldn't even count how many hours I spent playing the exact same game in the back yard while growing up.

Allison hamming it up before the pitch...

Nathan's first game...

Nate up to bat...

Fifth Third Junior Run

You're probably expecting this post to be about Nathan running another race. Well not this time... The Fifth Third River Bank Run is this weekend and they held a junior race at Rogers High School in Wyoming for kids age 5-13. They had 1/2 mile and 1 mile runs for the little ones and a 5k for the older kids. Nathan couldn't do this race because he had a baseball game. But Allison ran it with Zach and uncle Scott. Normally, Allison would rather do anything other than run. But she did it and said she had fun. Of course the goody bag she got probably made her like it even more... Great job, Ally!

Allison hitting her stride...

Zach and Ally with their "Finisher" ribbons...

TTQ and the 2009 Tulip Time 5K

So, for the past 2-3 months, Nathan has been attending Total Trek Quest after school two days a week. Basically, it's a program aimed at getting kids off their butts and get them doing some physical activity as well as making new friends. For about an hour each Tuesday and Thursday, the volunteer "coaches" would work with the kids on stretching, running, playing games, setting goals, etc. Surprisingly, only three boys from Nathan's school signed up for the program. But he still had fun and improved his endurance. The program culminated with the kids running in the Holland Tulip Time Run 5K race. Nathan did a mini triathlon last summer but this was his first 5k. It was a perfect morning for a race, clear and a bit chilly but not too cold. The entire pack took off very fast from the starting line and I was worried he'd burn himself out too early. After snapping some pictures at the starting line we headed for the finish line to wait for his arrival. The crowd gathered on both sides of the course leading to the finish line. Nathan's goal was to finish at around 28 minutes (pretty ambitious in my opinion). Interstingly, the overall (adult) winner finished in a little over 16 minutes... crazy! Nathan finally made the turn into the home stretch with just under 30 minutes on the clock and ran through the cheering crowd to the finish line. He placed 198 overall out of 486 finishers and his final time was 30:02. See his results here. I expected him to look a lot more tired than he did at the end of the race. He looked like he could have ran another mile no problem (but he did sleep hard that night). He also asked if we could do the Fifth Third River Bank run 5K next Saturday. That was our plan... until we found out it would cost $34 each for us to run in it. So we decided to pass on that one. Congratulations Nate... GREAT JOB!

Nathan approaching the finish...
The Bauerwood TTQ Team (Nathan, Mason, Vitale, and Coach Eric)...

Spring Break - Gatlinburg, TN - Part 2

After the rain had subsided a bit, we all drove up into the mountains to the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. We did a 2+ mile hike to see Laurel Falls which is a cascading waterfall. It was strange driving up to to top of the mountains where there was still snow. The air was definitely cooler too. The hike was uphill all the way there and downhill all the way back. There were a couple spots where Nathan was sure to be on the mountain side of the path since the other side was a very steep drop-off.

We also did a driving tour up in the mountains one night just before dark. We were hoping to see some black bears but didn't have any luck. However, we did see a couple turkeys, a number of small waterfalls, and some really old mountain houses and farms. On one of our last days part of the group went horseback riding in the mountains. It actually turned out to be really nice. Allison and Reygan rode horses all by themselves for the first time and were very proud about that. The trails went up and down in the mountains and across a couple streams. Overall it was just a nice quiet ride with some good scenery. We also took the kids into town to a kids-only portion of the Little Pigeon river where they stock rainbow trout every Thursday. There were some VERY large trout in that stream and I think almost all the kids caught one.
Nathan's big catch at the kids-only section of the river.
On our last night, we went to Gatlinburg so the girls could take a peek at the shops. We took the aerial tram up to Ober Gatlinburg (think 1970's ski resort that hasn't changed since it was built). the tram ride was pretty cool. It goes WAY up in the air and there were a couple parts (after passing a tower) where you'd get the "falling" feeling for a second or two. At the top, the skiing was done for the season but they had a skating rink, tubing, low-budget zoo with black bears, a couple rides, and a few little shops. It took awhile to get back down since it was the end of the night and everyone was trying to ride the tram back down to town.

The last night at the cabin was spent around the fire in the outdoor pavilion at the cabin cooking s'mores. As is the case with most vacations, this one was far too short. But maybe we'll do it again in a few years. It was definitely a nice break from Florida crowds.

Some additional pictures from our trip...

Nathan and Allison on their horses...

A dozen rainbow trout caught right behind the cabin (the only day they really seemed to be biting)...
Scott wading a section of the river a couple miles downstream from the cabin...

Spring Break - Gatlinburg, TN - Part 1

The time is finally here... Spring Break 2009! We haven't taken a big trip in a couple years so this year, after talking to some friends about their trips, we decided to rent a "cabin" in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee for a week. Heidi did the legwork of looking around and found an AMAZING cabin through Jackson Mountain Homes called Skipping Stone which was right on the Little Pigeon River, a nice mountain trout stream. It was a bit expensive so we split the cost with three families (her brothers Scott and Keith and their families). We didn't even have much planned once we got there but I knew I wanted to do some fishing and relaxing, Heidi wanted to do some shopping and relaxing, and the kids just wanted to play (no relaxing).

Our trip had us driving down to Cincinatti (actually Florence, KY right at the Cinci airport). We spent the night there and then continued on to Gatlinburg, TN the next morning. I'd never been down to this area of the country before and it was my first time in the mountains. I must say it was pretty cool to see. When we got to Gatlinburg we did our grocery shopping and picked up our fishing licenses and then checked in and got directions to our cabin. I had some pretty high expectations of the place based on the information online and the price. But when we finally got there I was completely BLOWN AWAY (as was everybody else)! In fact, I think Scott may have been literally jumping up and down out of excitement when he got out of the car...

The place was twice as big as I expected and we could have easily had another family go and still have had extra room. We all spent the first hour or so unloading cars and groceries and touring our home for the next week. It happened to be 72 degrees when we arrived and we knew the next few days were supposed to be very cold so we took advantage of the weather and spent the rest of the day outside fishing and relaxing by the river (pictures below).

Just as expected, the next two days were very cold. We even had snow on the ground one morning. But that didn't hurt anybodys feelings. We spent the time relaxing and playing inside and also made a trip to the Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. It was pretty cool as far as aquariums go. They have a really cool tunnel through some of the aquariums and we got to see all sorts of sea creaturs up close. The highlight for us was the sharks. The lowlight was the crowd of people. Everyone had the same idea of visiting during the cold stretch.

Here are some pictures from our first couple days.... Stay tuned for more on our trip.
Rocky (the dog), Zach, Nathan, and Nick stretching their legs at a gas station just before we got to Gatlinburg...
Skipping Stone - our home for the week in the Smoky Mountains...
Nathan and Allison on the rocks by the river. This is one of my favorite pics from the week...
Nathan and Keith fishing the Little Pigeon River right after we unloaded the cars. Keith would eventually slip on the submerged portion of the rock he's standing on and get a taste of how cold a mountain stream really is...
I got to try out my new Cabela's waders right after we arrived and they didn't leak a bit!

Allison, Nick, and Reygan playing in the river...
Allison, Rocky, and Angie chilling out on the swing by the river...
Keith caught the first trout shortly after we started fishing. We thought we'd be catching them that quick all week. Later, we found out only one day would be a 'good' fishing day...
The swim spa was a big hit with the kids. It doubled as a large hot tub too so we got to use it every day regardless of the temperature outside...
Shot of a shark swimming over us at the aquarium while we were in the tunnel. Look at those teeth!
Heidi and the kids at the aquarium...
Nathan after diving with the sharks.... (just kidding, just posing for a photo-op)
Nathan and Zach getting ready for bed in one of the four "cubby holes" up in the padded play area...

Showstopper Dance Competition - Battle Creek

We just returned home from Allison's second dance competition of the season. We were in Battle Creek at Kellogg Arena for the Showstopper Dance Competition. Luckily, all three of her dances were on Saturday afternoon so we didn't have to do an overnight. Grandma Anderson and Breanna were there to cheer Ally on. Allison was FAR less nervous this time around compared to her first competition. She was having a ball and even went up on stage to dance during breaks just for warm-up. The kids did a great job and ended up winning a couple trophies and medals. Allison had the honor of receiving the awards for The Shoop Shoop Song (tap). They took 1st place in the division and 10th overall for that song. They were 9th overall with their Hey Daddy (jazz). For Scooby Dooby Doo (hip hop) they took first in their division but didn't make it into the overall.

One dancer gets to receive any awards for each song and Allison was lucky enough to have the teacher pick her for The Shoop Shoop Song. When they announced it, she went up to the center of the stage and the announcer asked her a couple questions and then had her say her name and the name of her studio. She spoke up clearly into the mic so everyone could hear "Allison McDaid from Body Language Dance Company!". It was too cute! Congratulations to all the little dancers who are pretty impressive!

Also, Allison is considering doing her tap dance for the school talent show as well. We'll see if she follows through on that and does it by herself. Here are some shots from the day. Click on a picture to enlarge.

Warming-up on stage by doing "The Freeze". It's a move they do in the Scooby Doo routine...
The ending of the Scooby Dooby Doo performance... (hip hop) Allison is front & center.
The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)... (tap) Allison is on the far right.
The beginning of Hey Daddy (jazz)... Allison is on the far left.
Accepting the 1st Place award for The Shoop Shoop Song...