Me: Last Day of Summer!

It's the last day of the month - and the last day of Summer Vacation! So what better place to have your monthly photo taken, than at the beach? Yep, this is me on the shore of Lake Erie - and this photo was ACTUALLY taken on the last day of the month - just like I'm supposed to do!

Football Season Begins!

School hasn't started yet... but that doesn't mean we don't have football!

I spent the whole game working concessions - so I'm glad Lance snapped this pic that I can share with you!

Happy 3rd Birthday B!!

My 3 year old nephew at his backyard BBQ birthday bash!

Band Camp

How to sum up Band Camp? Well, for E, I'm sure it could be summed up in the sore limbs, sunburn, and cameraderie of her friends. For J, it meant eating hotdogs nearly every night, because I was up serving dinner to the band. For A, it was the week the braces went on - so she spent a lot of time with popsicles and the tv! For me, it was early mornings to fix breakfast, and evenings serving dinner to the band! It was a lot of fun - I did a lot more to help out this year than last year. We have a great group of boosters that were a lot of fun to spend time with and get to know better.

E and her partner Drum Major N, are splitting the show this year - marching half the show, and conducting half the show. The week of band camp was spent learning some intricate drill for the 1st half of the show - so E never made it up onto the podium during camp. She did have special conducting classes, and did spend time at sectionals conducting the different sections on her 2 peices. She also enjoyed playing her mellophone. She says that N is the "super drum major" and that now that she is starting to conduct her peices, she has big shoes to fill!

Here's some pics:

E on her mello during the camp final performance.

E with her mello.

The mellos reflected.

N conducts the camp show.

Tin Grin

One out - the next one in! Just a little over a month after E got her braces off - on went A's! We've already seen huge movement in the eye teeth! I have to confess - I didn't get true "before and after" shots - I was working at Band Camp and J took her! So, the before shot is from a couple weeks before - and the after shot is on Thursday of Band Camp - she'd already had them on for almost 4 days! (But she didn't feel much like smiling the first three days - it was pretty painful for her at first!)

The goal is to have A in and out of these braces before she starts High School! The dentist seems to think we'll make it! Can you imagine her smile any more beautiful than it already is?

Waldenwoods

We snuck in one last summer trip to WWoods! I didn't take many photos - but we celebrated my nephew Kyle's graduation from EMU, and we mourned the loss of J's Great Uncle J, and we celebrated my dad's 75th birthday!

Here's one of the few photos I did take over that weekend:

A, and my neice J, catching tiny minnows at the beach! We had a great time - Aunt J ran some errands and picked up the twins from camp while we hung out at the beach!

National Showcase - Day 3

We came OH SO CLOSE to a repeat! You can't really complain about a silver medal in the final round - and J.J. who won the title did a great rendition of "Make Em Laugh" from Singing in the Rain!! This is quite a medals stand here - J.J. is the 2008 National Showcase Teen Light Champion, E.G. with the Silver is the 2007 National Showcase Teen Light Champion, O.D. with the Bronze is the 2008 National Showcase Teen Dramatic Champion, and K.C. is the 2007 National Showcase PreJuvenile Light Champion! And O.D. and K. C. are the 2008 Teen Duet Champs!! That's one powerhouse group of skaters!!!

K.C. and O.D. on their victory lap, after winning the Bronze in the Duet Parade of Champions!!

E, with new and old friends at the conclusion of the events! M was the Teen Extemp Champion this year, and of course J.J., and then E.F. who won the Bronze for PreJuv Dramatic!

E with her fabulous coach Lisa!!! Every one of Lisa's students is bringing home one or more National Showcase Medals in 2008!! We mean it when we say she is the world's greatest coach!!

For BRB Folks looking for other results:

Preliminary Light Final Round- E.H. - 2nd and M.A. 7th
Preliminary Dramatic Final Round - M.C. - 7th
Teen Light Final Round - E.G. - 2nd and K.C. 4th
Duet Parade of Champs - K.C. and O. -3rd

Final Medals Tally:

2 Gold
3 Silver (4 if you count our adopted E.H.)
5 Bronze (6 if you count E.H.)
3 Pewter
Total Medal Count - 13/15 if you count E.H.!!

It was another great year for BRB at National Showcase!

National Showcase Day 2

M. & E. in the classic argument pose after their duet flight!

The duet medals stand... the judges didn't quite get our $10K idea. Bummer - but K. & O. took 1st, and new friends from Aspen, CO took 2nd... and M. & E. still get to take home Bronze Medals!

Extemporaneous Medals - for those who don't know - These gals all got locked in a room together for 45 minutes to listen to and choreograph a program to a 1 minute peice of music. In this case, it was Somewhere Over the Rainbow. E's goal was to finish 6th or higher - and she was over the moon to get the Bronze Medal, and TWO 1st place ordinals!! She really did a great job!

For BRB folks looking for other results:
Prelim Extemp: M. E. got the Pewter Medal (4th) and M. A. 8th, and E. H. 9th.
PreJuv Light B: E.F. 8th
Prelim Light B: M. C. 7th
Prelim Light C: M. A. got the Silver Medal (2nd); E. H. the Bronze (3rd) and M. E. 6th.

Skating in Final Rounds tomorrow:
M.A. and E.H. - Preliminary Light
M. C. - Preliminary Dramatic
E.G. and K.C. - Teen Light
K.C. with O. - Duet Parade of Champs

National Showcase - 1st Update

I know that many of you are anxiously awaiting our updates from National Showcase! We drove 13 1/2 hours on Tuesday with 4 Teens in the van - singing Hairspray in 3-part harmony (talented kids!)

Wednesday was spent PRACTICING - between the six skaters from our club - plus the one we've adopted from our neighboring club - we had practice ice from 9am to 10pm! Then it was to bed to rest, and up again this morning for our first day of events!
My E, our "adopted" club member E.H., and M with the ice as a backdrop before the days events start.

The "Teen Dramatic" Group B Initial Round Awards Stand. The judges did not favor us in this flight - E & K finished 8th and 9th - out of 9. Total Bummer - but as you can see - they were great sports about it!

The "Teen Light" Group B Awards Stand. The judges LIKED US this time!!! E & K topped the medal stand this time around - 1st and 2nd! (We like this placement a LOT better!)

Our club's medal winners for today check out their medals! Our friend E.F. took 3rd in the Final Round of PreJuvenile Dramatic with her amazing Hula Hoop/Cirque deSoleil number!

Our fabulous coach and all her students gather on the medals stand at the end of Day 1! Lots more events to skate tomorrow - and we definitely have some skaters in the Final Rounds on Saturday now! Hooray!

Friends from our club gather for a happy photo!!

Enough with the Camera MOM!

"Would you like to take a picture of my scratching my nose?"

Hmmm... do ya think that maybe the fact that I took about 180+ photos in about a 2 hour period tonight might have gotten a little under her skin? Having fun playing with the new camera and it's settings.... And I had great subjects tonight - we had an impromptu BBQ at my seester's house, and all the cousin's (except E who is at Dance Camp) were there! So I shot a blue million photos. Apparantly one too many of A!

Iolanthe - Gilbert & Sullivan

They may have written their Operetta's over 100 years ago - but their humor has survived the test of time! Tonight was A's final performance after 3 weeks of Operetta Camp down at the Opera House. She was cast as Celia, one of the supporting roles. Although supporting - A's solo was the first of the show! How cool is that?

Celia, singing about life as a fairy.

The fairies Celia, Leila & Iolanthe make fun of the Peers.

I call the above photos "Giddy Fairies 1" and "Giddy Fairies 2". A is on the far right.

It wouldn't be Gilbert & Sullivan without a happy ending, and with everyone paired off! The above photos are from the finale song!

A Cast Photo

Goofy A, at the afterglow! No smiling photo - because the camera memory card filled up with this lovely photo!

Joy - I took all these with the Rebel on ISO 1600 with no flash. I think I'm keeping it! I'll call you - Don't cash the check until I make sure John has covered it!!! I still have lots to learn - and I think that with a little more know how - I can get even better photos than these... but I was a very happy photographer tonight!!

Me - July 30 (OK, August 1st)

So, my computer reminded me ALL DAY on the 30th to go take my photo and blog it - but it was such a crazy day, with getting E ready for dance camp, and her National Showcase send-off - that I never had a chance to get the photo. But TODAY - I had time, before we left for A's performance, to go outside and play a little with the Rebel. I'm still learning a lot about this camera. I've been reading up on ISO's and Apertures and Shutter Speed and all that. But on a whim, I put the camera in the Portrait Mode for dummies - it did all those things I'd been reading about! I'm sure I can learn to tweak it more - but I was happy with this result.

July has just flown by - and August won't go any slower! Before I know it - the kids will be back in school!