Notre petite danseuse

Rachel has begun ballet! What a proud moment for a mother. Well, to be quite honest, Rachel has begun what the park district terms "pre-ballet," a class they call Twinkle Toes. (We checked. Her toes really do twinkle after class.) I probably don't need to tell you that she is lo-o-oving it. Nathan and I are banished to the playground outside during class (It's rough, but someone has to play at the park, you know.) and then the teacher calls us all in during the last few minutes to see what they've been working on. The first week we saw an interpretation on "Life Cycle of a Butterfly," and the second week it was chasse steps, also known as "Unicorn Riding." (Does this woman have her finger on the pulse of her audience, or what?) It's a hoot. They did the unicorn riding while holding hands in a circle, and I think the intention was that they would travel around the circle. What actually occurred was that the circle traveled around the room. I don't have any good photos, but I thought you should know about Rachel's new endeavors all the same. I'll post photos when I have some. In the meantime, you can imagine eight little pink leotard-clad preschoolers galumphing around the room yelling "chasse! chasse! chasse!" Yep, if it looks amusing and darling and a little absurd, you've got it.

Michigan Sunsets

We had a marvelous vacation--it was several weeks ago now, but it really was marvelous. (I think my longer absences from the blog are because Rachel doesn't nap anymore. Or do quiet time. And even Nathan's naps have gotten shorter lately. Not a lot of Mommy-time, and when I have it, this is not usually the place I sit.) We spent four days in a cottage--just the four of us.



We went to the beach.



We saw an amazing sand dragon.



We climbed a dune.



We watched a movie. We went for bike rides. We read books.



We took cookies to the beach after dinner to watch the sunset.



We did some amazing stone-skipping--David had several niners!
And we took what is apparently now our traditional vacation photo. Dora, Baby, and Doggy enjoyed the trip, too!