Fun videos to share!

Here is Rowan rocking the freehands (no apparatus) routine. She cleaned up at this meet! 2nd all around, and 1st in hoop (finally- she's been so close!)Gryphon totally rocked the hoop event, a clean, no mistakes routine that earned her 6th place (thats really good!).

We drove out with a gymnastics buddy, Becky, to freezing cold Ohio for this meet. It was literally a degree- yuck! Gryphon was great fun to watch, she is super expressive and just a joy to watch. The girl has some serious flair. She wasn't nervous at all, I am in awe of her confidence and moxie, this was her first meet, and she's been doing this all of 6 months.

A quick gymnastics meet update:

I dunno if anyone cares, but the score mix-up at the meet was ironed out, and Rowan came in 3rd all around. Pretty cool. Cooler, if she got proper scores *at* the meet (they switched one of hers with another girl!) and got that 3rd place medal instead of the generic "great job" medal, but still cool.

Go elasti-girl, go!

New York in winter

We had a gymnastics meet in Rahway, NJ, this weekend. The girls and I went up early on Friday, and hopped aboard the train to go into NYC.Rowan saw a rat the size of our house cat in the subway, but we think the NY subways have "personality" so I guess that just adds to it.We got off at Columbus Circle and headed into Central Park, which was freezing cold but still so neat. Of course our purpose was to see NYC #1 attraction: the statue of Balto, hero of the 192? serum run in Alaska.

We also walked around and rode the carousel, climbed on rocks, all the typical Central Park stuff. But it was cold, cold, COLD!

After the park and some 5th Ave exploring, we ate dinner at a cute little diner and warmed up with hot chocolate. We sat by the window and people watched, great fun in a city like New York!


We took the train back to Rahway and did some swimming with the girls' teammates, and got up early the next morning for the meet.

Rowan did *fabulous*. New York has the most rhythmic gymnasts of any area in the US, so the competition at this meet is the stiffest all season. And she did wonderfully! It was really fun to watch. I know its not all about "winning", but sometimes, it sure is cool to see your kid come in at the top!

Above, warm ups (Rowan is in orange) and below, the hoop awards- Rowan got 2nd! (Out of 16, pretty cool!)

We are really going to miss NYC and this fun meet. It was sad for the girls to say goodbye to Balto, knowing they wouldn't be back for some time. I am glad they have the opportunity to visit all these neat places, though. The trade-offs of military life, I suppose!

We're off to Ohio (not such a glamorous location!) for a meet next weekend, Gryphon's *first*. Stay tuned for more pictures, and possibly video. I had more technical difficulty at this meet with video- namely, Gryphon did the taping and she taped other people, not her sister. Which is cool, now we can watch them. But we can't watch Rowan!?! Oh well, I tried all year last year and only successfully taped 2 routines at the last meet, so I can't really hold it against her! But hopefully, there will be video of next weekends meet for both girls!

Christmas a little bit late!

I left my camera cord in Virginia, so I couldn't post any photos during Christmas while we were in St. Louis. We also had a flooded basement to come to, so things have been a little crazy here. Now back in the groove (sort of at least) so here are the belated Christmas posts.
We went downtown and saw the Capitol tree (from Montana this year) and the White House tree. We will miss having this stuff in our backyard!

The White House tree and Washington monument in the background.

Then it was off to St Louis, to stay with Mark's parents. The girls enjoyed seeing the cousins, especially Adam who was home for Christmas for the first time in many years.

Gryphon rounded up the little cousins and her sister and put on a Christmas concert.

Cleo liked being "Christmas Cleo" with her jingle bell collar. Sam ran around yelling "Its Christmas Cleo!! Christmas Cleo!!" every time he caught sight of her. Too cute. Sam has one tone of voice only- loud. It is adorable!

Christmas morning brought the much-anticipated Wii, Santa was predictable this year. ;) We did make the girls go on a scavenger hunt for it though.

Goosebumps Horror Land was a big hit with Rowan- Gryphon and I prefer Animal Crossing. Its a totally pointless game, and its great. If you play, give us your friend code so we can visit your town! We don't have the Wii online yet but will soon.

Merry Christmas to everyone, and here's to a happy 2009!

Gymnastics and cousins

We are in Indiana this weekend for a rhythmic gymnastics meet, and since it is not (so) far from St Louis, Mark's parents, sister and the 3 cousins came out! Haley (6) and Abby (4) watching with Gryphon. Not pictured in Emma, who is 2 and not so enthralled with rhythmic meets!Rowan had a good meet, here she is with her hoop. Actually, with *Nicole's* hoop, since I left her equipment back in Virginia. Whoops. Good thing they are about the same size!

Here's the whole team post-meet, from left to rt, Becky, Olga, Coach Konstantza, Brianna, Valentina, Giselle, Rowan and Nicole in front.

With her ribbons- she got 4th all around.

A very bad picture of Rowan getting 2nd place in hoop.

The girls in bed, watching High School Musical post-pool.They had so much fun!

Thanksgiving, DC style

We went to the Old Ebbitt Grill for our Thanksgiving meal, as has become our DC tradition. Once again, the girls and Mark had "Thanksgiving food" and I had...crab cakes! It was great, again.

After our pie and coffee, we swung by the White House, just because. The Old Ebbitt is right across from the White House.
Then it was off to the recently re-opened American History Museum. Gryphon was super excited to see Abraham Lincoln's hat, since its been closed for 2 long years for a remodel.

The remodel was underwhelming, though. All we could see that had changed was the central staircase (its glass, making wearing a skirt sans tights a little, uh, risky!) and the area where they keep the Star Spangled Banner. That was cool, though, they have done a much better job of preserving this historic flag in its new spot.

And Abe Lincoln's hat was *not out*!! Not until January, which had Gryphon quite sad. We did see all the usual things- the ruby slippers, Kermit, Seinfeld's puffy shirt. All in the 60s-era decor of the American History Museum, which had changed not a bit after 2 years and millions of dollars. Kinda stumped by that one!

Then we drove around DC in the beautiful late afternoon light, and later went to see Bolt. (Bolt is very sad- I cried, Rowan cried, Gryphon cried. Too much crying, though it has a happy ending.)

Aunt Kim

Aunt Kim had a layover in DC, so we got to meet her for lunch down in Georgetown. It was great to see her again- the girls talked her ears off!

New leotards and fun stuff

We had gym pictures last week- it took until midnight! But the girls had lots of fun, it was the first time dressing up in their new leotards. One of the girls on the team has a mom who sews, and so Rowan got a new leotard she picked out herself this year.(Last year she got moved to the team after they had been ordered, so I got her a used one on eBay that was nice, but she didn't get to pick it!) Its her favorite color- blue! And the stars were her idea, too. Gryphon may compete later this season if she gets more flexible (ouch...!)so she has a fancy leotard, too. Hers is from eBay, and she loves it.

The flash dies while Rowan was posing, so while the photographer got batteries I snapped some cheesy photos of my own of her. Gryphon had no flash malfunctions during her photo shoot, so I don't have any pics of her . I'm sure I'll have gymnastics pictures ad nauseum later though, never fear! ;)

OH happy day..!

Been dancing around to this song gleefully all morning. Polling places are packed from coast to coast, and the times they are a changing.
http://www.last.fm/music/Bob+Dylan/_/The+Times+They+Are+A-Changin'

Click on the link and sing along with me if you want.
Happy, happy, happy today.

Halloweenies

Its that time again! We went outside in the beautiful fall weather for some Halloween costume pictures

Rowan is Sleeping Beauty, she adores her wig. When she puts it on, she walks very primly and strokes her hair. Its hilarious- the poor kid is obsessed with long hair.

Look! No Harry Potter, for the first time in years!!

Both girls went to a costume party last week with a costume contest, and Gryphon went as a headless cheerleader. Her *real* costume is of Marley the Yellow Lab (from the book Marley and Me) but we didn't get around to making it until today. Its homemade, by Gryphon. She is very proud of it- I prefer the headless Cheerleader myself for the hilarity!
More pictures this weekend of Trick or Treat and some more fun fall stuff we have planned!

Concord

Today we went to Concord, and it is the *cutest* little New England town! Like driving through a calendar. The foliage was spectacular. We walked around Walden Pond, and took in the beautiful scenery and Thoreau's cabin sight.

While at Walden, we noticed what looked like swimmers in the far side of the pond. As we started around, we met this amazing man coming out of the woods. He was 91 this past August, and swims in the pond every morning. In winter, he has to break the ice to get in the water! Must be something in the water- he was really neat.

We also visited Louisa May Alcott's home, Orchard House. The tour was spectacular, and the girls (especially Gryphon) loved hearing about the plays put on in the Alcott's parlor.
We went to Concord's Sleepy Hollow cemetery, site of the famous Author's Hill. (No relation to the headless horseman Sleepy Hollow, though we saw a man taking pictures of himself with his head tucked into his shirt who apparently didn't know that!)

We saw the graves of the Alcott family, Thoreau, Emerson. Wow! And of course, lots more cool cemetery photos for me!

We also went to Minuteman park, where the girls raced over the North Bridge. They also played Paul Revere- Gryphon is the horse, and Rowan is yelling "The British are coming!". A quick stop to Lexington Green rounded out the day.

More Boston adventures tomorrow!

Well, crap.

I turned on comment word verification due to spam. Sorry, I know its annoying, but...Bob the Builder on the last post forced me to. Its a testament to my low readership how long it took to get any spam here. ;) Would that it lasted forever!

Boston in the fall

We are here in Boston, with Mark's parents, for a little fall vacation. Today we started out at the public gardens, where I tried to get some fall portraits of the girls. The swan boats were put up for the winter, but the fall foliage was beautiful!From there it was off to Boston Common and the Freedom Trail. We walked all over Boston today.


Rowan's favorite part of the Freedom Trail: The Old North Church. Gryphon's: Paul Revere's house
Mark most enjoyed the Old North Church, as well. My favorite was of course the gorgeous graveyards!! I got some beautif. ul photos of headstones

We're off to Concord tomorrow!