BUSY!

I took a bunch of pictures of all the different things my kids were doing around the house, but only Cheesie's pics look decent enough to post. Big Al and her friend were making faces while studying for her Spanish exam, T-Rex was working on her science fair board (but the light was awful), and Blondie was on the computer working on a project (with something smeared across her face..... so .... you know). 

So, while ALL of my kids are busy this week, Cheesie gets the focus.  She wrote a story for extra credit which had to include different types of clouds (cirrus, cumulus, blah, blah, blah).  She wrote it and then was stuck on the illustrations.  So, she grabbed the lego people from my collection (see below: the fairy, the German pretzel dude with wings from an extra fairy, and Gandalf) and was trying to illustrate her story with them. I reminded her she didn't need to make a castle (she was REALLY not wanting to do that) because we had a set somewhere, and she got right to it.

So, above they are flying through a storm, and I have no idea what is going on below. She shot all of the pictures herself and printed them off for her story.

Tonight she also asked me to watch her at tumbling practice, where she is REALLY coming along with her skills. Pretty soon I'll have two daughters who can do a back handspring! (I don't know why the sound isn't working).

Juggling lesson

   

  My sister started/runs/owns-I-guess, Columbia Alternacirque.  When she was over for Christmas dinner Blondie pulled out her little hacky-sack type balls and showed everyone how she could juggle two at the same time with one hand.  Natalie, my sister, got on the phone, and set up a juggling lesson with a man named Paolo.  Apparently he is one of the few (or only ) Americans to juggle as the jester of England.... something-or-other. I'm not exactly sure what his title is, but while he was in town he was willing to teach Blondie.

Concentrating so hard.  I was worried about the eye-hand coordination 'thing," but she seemed to do just fine for a beginner.

 Throwing and catching with two people juggling.

Brian took her and she was so excited when she called me afterward.

Here are some of the videos Brian too

She came home with three new balls to practice with,  although I'm not sure who will be able to partner with her because I certainly am not that coordinated. I also don't think this is a habit she will be giving up anytime soon.

The video below is the best set of the day!

This would have to be the most difficult combination of the day:

 BIG THANKS to Paolo for his patience with this lesson (because I didn't post all of the outtakes). She was so thrilled.

Manatee

It's that time again..... my yearly manatee trip with my students.  This year, Blondie got to go.  We take our students down to Florida for 3 days and get to visit a wildlife refuge, snorkel twice with the manatee and then snorkel down rainbow river.

 

Homosassa is the first place we visit. They take in injured animals from Florida and rehabilitate them hoping to release them.  If they can't they maintain them for the rest of their life.

Here's Blondie on the morning boat out to the first manatee swim. All of the students are excited, but the reality when they get in the water and manage the snorkel, and in water that is murky, and periodically a big mammal will swim past your field of vision.  Many panic at first, but I was so proud of all of them today.

Here she is looking for them.

There's one.

And doesn't that look like the baby manatee that followed me around last year - a little bigger?  Probably isn't, but I was thrilled to see this one.

This is what it looks like when they "swim out of the murk"

I can't post pictures of rainbow river because they are mostly students snorkeling, but trust me....... it was great too. Blondie was so tired by the end of the day,  but managed to find time to jump in the pool. In a little bit we'll head over to the ice cream parlor.