Lions & Tamers

A few weeks ago, Amy danced in a performance with Dance Velocity, her dance school where she takes Jazz and Contemporary classes. Maybe you can tell from the picture above that Amy was a lion. She danced in 5 different pieces and with all the costume changes it was quite a production.

Recital season is upon us!

Three more shows in June - so May will be a month of preparation.

More photos to come.

Weekend Away

What a weekend! It started out to be just another 3 day trip to Portland with a few noteworthy objectives:

1 - to do something fun on Amy's Spring Break
2 - to shop at a REAL mall, something that Bend is lacking.
3 - to visit with Nan and meet her boyfriend, Jason.
4 - to get Amy to an audition for the Oregon Ballet Theater's Summer Intensive.

So, on Friday we drove over the mountains and directly to the Washington Square Mall in Portland and Amy shopped to her hearts content. We even had a chance to "play" with the ipad 2 and the iphone at the Apple store. FUN! We checked into our hotel and promptly went over to IKEA for a delicious dinner of Swedish Meatballs and Gravlax (smoked salmom) mmmmmmmmm! I should note, that Amy, the vegetarian, had a veggie wrap!

On Saturday we decided to motor to the coast since we were so close and we hadn't seen the ocean since last February. We had made plans with Nan to get together for dinner so we had the whole day to explore a part of the coast we hadn't been to before. First stop - Seaside -



Amy needed to stretch her legs after an hour in the car! ;)





Next stop was Astoria, where the Columbia River meets the ocean. We took a bit of time to look at a shipwreck from 1906 - very cool!





Then, it was back to Portland to keep our date with Nan & Jason. Little did we suspect that they had some very exciting news to share with us. It wasn't until we were seated with our food and eating/conversing that I noticed a bit of sparkle on Nancy's left ring finger. I had told her when they first came in that she was glowing and looked so beautiful - now we knew why! Instead of meeting Jason, the boyfriend we met Jason, the fiance! They were barely 24 hours into their engagement - What a privilege to hear the whole story - in person! The Lord has truly brought them together in a special way and we are so very happy for them!


On Sunday, Amy was supposed to have her audition but she decided that she did not want to go thru the stress of another audition - so instead we went to church at Imago Dei, bought fresh veggies at an Asian grocery store and came home over the very snowy mountain pass.

Amy returned to school on Monday and Dan & I went skiing. Sounds fair to me! Mt. Bachelor had 12" of new powder Sunday night and it was a great day on the mountain. Pretty nice way to finish the weekend and/or start a new week! Which ever way you want to look at it.

It was a memorable weekend, to say the least!

By way of updating you on the latest here in Oregon, I'll excerpt an email between Dan and our brother-in-law, Marty Benoit.

Our nephew, Jeremy, is spending his Junior spring semester in Sweden at Lulea University of Technology. His Dad (Marty) sent us this link to a Swedish TV show looking for Swedish-Americans interested in reseaching their ancestry. (Similar to the TV show here - NBC's "Who do You Think You Are?") In the process of checking out their website Dan ran across this comment - seeking "outgoing Americans with Swedish ancestry" that seems like an oxymoron. Shouldn't be more than a dozen or so.."

Most of us are not very outgoing, just big and dumb! Actually Nancy got some lutefisk for me for Valentine's Day so we had lutefisk that night. Normally it is a Christmas "delicacy", but I enjoyed it on V-Day. It keeps me in the Scandinavian club for another year.

It is going okay here. We had spring-like conditions in January, and then winter set in about two weeks ago. We hadn't had any snow on the ground for weeks and then we woke up to 10" on the ground 2 weeks ago ... and it hadn't been predicted so it was quite a surprise. School was canceled for the 6th time in 20 years. Then we got stuck with another 5-6" of unpredicted snow a few days later. Then it got cold. We seem to have turned the corner now in that snow gets predicted and doesn't materialize.

We motored to Spokane for a ballet audition a couple weeks ago. There is a whole lot of nuthin' in the 375 miles between here and there, with maybe the exception of the Columbia River which is quite scenic. This past weekend we went to another audition in Portland, which we did in a day trip. It is dicey crossing mountain passes in winter but we lucked out and did not hit anything nasty other than snow covered roads in the mountains. Chains are often mandatory (unless you have studded tires, which I refuse to do) so I was happy to not have to contend with putting on chains. Amy did not get accepted from the Spokane audition, which was actually for a summer camp thing in Seattle with the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Their acceptance rate is 30% so we were not surprised, and I was just as happy that she did not get in since Seattle is quite a long ways away for a 14-year old to spend a month or so. Don't know about Portland yet. Be that as it may, we have been tentatively planning on taking her to a week long camp in Long Beach, CA in August and then maybe another week in Eugene. With all this ballet stuff in the air, it is essentially impossible to make summer vacation plans.

Tonight we went to a high school to hear about their programs for entering 9th graders. I don't know the story in NY, but here it seems to be common to attend a school outside of one's district. The school that we went to tonight is not in our district, but we wanted to check it out since they have an International Baccalaureate program that sounds enticing. I was sold on it so we will see what happens.

We have not gone skiing for a couple weeks. We wait for nice days when we have time, and they do not arise that often. Last week the top of the mountain had 80 mph winds with 98 mph gusts at the top of the mountain. It is really weird because some of the other lifts on the lower part of the mountain had only 10-20 mph breezes. Today was windy here so I thought for sure the top of the mountain would be blowing away. Would you believe 2 mph "wind" at the top! However, a couple of the lower mountain lifts were closed since the wind was blowing 40-50 mph on the lower mountain. Really strange things happen at high elevations.

Happy Birthday, Dan!

Since Dan's birthday comes at the beginning of each new year it seems appropriate to look back on the past year at the highlights of his year. I asked him, just now, what he would pick as THE best moment of the year! Can you guess??

Was it our day in Eugene joining together at Autzen Stadium with 60,000+ rabid fans watching the DUCKS beat the Huskies?



Or could it be standing atop South Sister on a glorious July day with views up into Washington State?



Maybe it was spending time with his brother, George, and sister, Bernie, in Minnesota this past summer?



Oh wait, it has to be watching me learn to ski last winter! He never - in a million years - thought that would ever happen!! ;o)



Well, even I guess wrong. He chose our day, in August, when we trekked up the Broken Top trail. He had done it our first summer here and raved about the views and the wildflowers...
It was just as glorious as he had described and he enjoyed showing to me and sharing the experience with me. What a terrific guy. I am truly blessed to have him in my life!


Happy Birthday, Dan! I'm looking forward to what 2011 brings us!

Andrea & Penelope

Over the past few months I have been privileged to get to know two 2nd grade girls at our local elementary school. This is my 2nd year reading with the SMART program. As reading has always been one of my passions this is a wonderful way to contribute and possibly pass on that love to others.

Andrea comes from a home where Spanish is the only language spoken. She has a focus and perseverance about her that I so admire. I soon learned not to prompt her when she struggled for a word. She would shake her head as if to say - I don't need help! I could see her mouth working to sound out the word. Now I bite my tongue and wait till she asks for help - which isn't very often. I don't get to hear her voice unless she is reading - I greet her and ask questions but all I get are smiles and nods. She makes me smile. She truly is delightful!

Penelope is tall for her age and very stylish in her manor of dress and hairstyle. She frequently wears sparkly things, jewelry, hair bows, etc. She also has a sparking personality. I sometimes struggle to get her to read as she prefers to chat. She has commented twice that I smell like her Grandma. I was slightly insulted the first time and did not respond. But when she said it again just before the Christmas break, I asked if that was a good thing and her response was heart warming. She said, with a big smile, "Oh yes, I love going to my Grandmas house!" and launched into a story once again.

So, I hope that I am helping each of these girls to advance their school work. They sure do help me - I always leave the school with a smile!

The Story of LEON

It's time to dedecorate for Christmas. That means putting LEON away for another year. LEON came to us about 10 years ago from Dan's sister, Bernie. She sent it along with that years Christmas gifts in a box with a note on the outside. Bernie wrote "Dan, remember how you used to torture Mother with "LEON"?
When recounting stories from his childhood, Dan often says that he should have been taken out and shot. I think he was really just your average little boy growing up in rural Minnesota - part prankster - part cutiepie. Anyway, every Christmas his Mom would put out this adorable set of angel candle holders and little Danny would rearrange the letters from NOEL to LEON driving his Mother crazy! Such fun!
We just love LEON - so sad to put her away for another 11 months.

Happy 2011

It was a Nutcracker Weekend 12/4 & 5

Here are 2 slide shows of Amy's performances in The Nutcracker this past weekend. It was a busy fun time and Amy didn't want it to end. She is already looking forward to next year and wondering which roles she will have. Sorry if you're tired of slide shows - it seems to be the nicest way to get all the pictures to you. Hope you enjoy! Customize a slideshow design

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