New leotard for Gryphon

Gryphon has always swam, but this past fall she decided to take a break (we hope) from swimming and try rhythmic gymnastics with her little sister. I bought her a used, not so great but serviceable competition leotard off eBay. Unfortunately a few weeks ago it somehow (cough cough Mark! cough cough) got put in the *dryer* and shrunk. It was a polyester blend, and polyester shrinks. Badly. And we had 9 days until a meet!

So a wonderful woman at the gym made her a plain black one, and I painted it with fabric paint and put a gazillion rhinestones on it. I must say, I am super proud of it- it looks so beautiful and its very unique. The cherry blossoms turned out wonderfully- they are also covered in rhinestones. Gryphon loves it!

I set up the tacky photo studio in the basement and took some photos of her in it today. They turned out pretty good considering my "studio" is lamps with the shades off, aluminum foil over cookie sheets for reflectors, $4 worth of nylon for diffuser screens, and some sheets!

I haven't edited the photos of Rowan, but they will follow sometimes soon. For now, enjoy gorgeous Gryphon and her brand new leotard, courtesy of her Bedazzling Momma!

Fun at Great Wolf Lodge

To celebrate Mark being done in Norfolk (he was there all of January and February) we went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, VA for the weekend.

That place is *so* cool! The waterpark is amazing, and they also have neat games and stuff to play.

The kids and Mark on the Tornado.

This bogey board ride wa neat- you flop down and try to ride the board against the really strong current. Most kids, especially little ones, got flung back and off. Gryphon did better than average on it and was able to steer soem through the waves back and forth.

Rowan was apparently a surf champion in her past life- she rose on her knees, and steered, and stayed on a really long time! Then she tried to STAND UP (the whole place was yelling "no! no!" at her) and actually surf. Its not a surfing ride, by the way.

"That was wicked!!"

We spent the whole time in our bathing suits or pajama pants, it was a great mini vacation. If you have one in your area, I highly recommend going!