Our Little Dancer

I had to wake Rachel up extra early this morning to get ready for her dress rehearsal for her big dance recital later today.  I was a little worried that she would be whiny and fussy since she doesn't like to be woken up from sleep, especially 2 hours before she usually wakes up.  But she did fine.

She is such a sweet sleeper, cuddling her pink blanket.  I had to snap this pic before I woke the sleeping beauty.

We had a tight schedule since I had to get her hair curled and in full costume to be at the auditorium for 8:30.  She was kind of bouncy as I was trying to put curlers in her hair.  We were in her room so she kept trying to reach for a toy or dance around.  It was getting a bit stressful for me trying to curl a moving target.

I suddenly remembered my mom curling my hair when I was little (I now can appreciate what a challenge it is!)  I remembered that she would let me watch TV while she worked on my hair so I scuttled Rachel downstairs and we tried that. Genius!!!  Her head stayed still and looked straight ahead the whole time.  

She felt pretty special with curlers in her hair!  What sass!

She ate breakfast and got her costume on and then we styled her hair.  Whew!  Everything was going fine.  Now just to get to the auditorium.  I'm not familiar with that area of town so I was a little worried about finding it.  But GPS gave me a clear shot there.

We were almost to the auditorium for the dress rehearsal and we were right on time.  I was feeling pretty good.  Then Rachel said from the back seat, "Oh no, this is bad.  This is really bad."  I wish I had gotten a picture of what I saw but I'll just have to say that her pink tights were completely torn up along the front of one leg.  It was very obvious but I figured I could at least turn them around so that the tear was on the back side of her leg instead of the front.  Not ideal but what else could I do?  Who knew I needed to have an extra pair of tights with me!

Fortunately her dance teacher is awesome and prepared for anything so she whipped out an extra pair of tights for Rachel.  I got her changed and on stage just in time for their tap dance rehearsal.  

Since it is just the rehearsal and not the real show, they let moms get right up to the stage to take pictures and videos.

Here is her tap dance performance.  Their teacher is off to the side doing the dance with them to help keep them in step so you'll see them all looking over at her throughout the performance.

(If you are reading this post on email, you will need to click on the title of the post to go to the actual blog post to see the video of her tap dance.)

After the tap dance rehearsal, Rachel was able to come out into the audience and watch some of the other girls perform.  She kicked back and relaxed without a care in the world.

Here is the ballet dance.  I would have liked to have edited out a little practice run at the beginning of this clip but I'm too impatient to wait for Stuart to re-install the software I need to do it so you'll have to watch the whole thing until I can fix it later.

(Again, if you are reading this in email, you'll have to go to the actual blog to see the video.)

Great dancing Rachel!

We made it home and as we were getting out of the car, a florist van drove up.  The lady said she had a delivery for Rachel.  Rachel wasn't quite sure what to think but a little smile started to creep across her face when she realized the flowers were sent from Grandmother and Grandfather C. The lady knelt down and showed Rachel all the pretty pink flowers and the little pink bird in the bouquet.

She even let Rachel be the big girl and sign for the delivery.  Rachel loved that!

Beautiful flowers for a beautiful dancer.

Rachel, you are such a delight in our lives.  We are so proud of you and can't wait to see your big performance on stage this afternoon!

Cavanaugh Flight Museum Homeschool Day

We took a field trip today to Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison for their special Homeschool Day.  In addition to the awesome planes that we usually see, they had some special activities for the kids to enjoy.

We studied this plane last year in school as we learned about the Red Baron.  I wish I had thought to come see it in person at the time we were studying it but it was cool to see it today.

There was a scavenger hunt for the kids to find answers to questions.  There were prizes for winners so Nicholas worked hard on it and read the plane information looking for the answers.

We found this military version of a Piper Cub which I believe is the kind of plane my Dad flew at one time.

We learned about the USS Hornet aircraft carrier that headed to Japan during WWII.  Rachel loved the small scale model that included planes and little bitty people.

We all got excited to see the model of the children's learning center that will be coming to the museum in the near future.  Rachel loved the control tower with the tube slide coming down the side of it.

While Nicholas worked on his scavenger hunt, Rachel pretended to do the same as she drew on the scavenger hunt questions and map.

I liked this cool Air Force plane and tried to get Rachel to pose in front of it for the picture.

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She just crinkled up her face and whined "no".  What a stinker!

Rachel was fascinated with the pilot mannequin.

There was a panel of pilots who talked to the kids about how they got interested in flying and a little about their jobs.  One was airline pilot, one was a private instructor, and the other was a corporate pilot.  They answered questions from the kids after they talked.

Nicholas liked the Sherman tank.

We got to climb onboard a "deuce 1/2" military vehicle and go for a ride around the airport.

On the ride we saw the control tower.

The kids had fun looking at all the cool planes that we drove past.

We hopped on a shuttle to check out another hangar.  I think the kids enjoyed the shuttle ride as much as they did seeing the planes.

 In the south hangar, we saw the oldest known B-24 in existence....

...and some bombs!

Rachel wasn't as impressed with the bombs.  She preferred to use the open space near the door to fly around like an airplane.

I loved seeing one or more American flags in each hangar that we visited.

Rachel enjoyed "taking care" of the smallest friend that was with us.  She kept her arm around him as he walked "to catch him if he fell down".

Everyone seemed to enjoy playing with this demonstration of how a prop spins.

One of the mechanics talked to us a little about this plane engine and let the kids take some parts off an on.

They had a wrench attached to the display and certain pieces were removable while others were apparently welded on to keep kids from totally dismantling the engine.  Great idea.

Even Rachel really enjoyed this.  I think I'd like to set up a little activity for her that has a board with holes, some nuts and bolts, and a few wrenches so she can practice.  She enjoys it but it is also good exercises for muscle development in her hands as well as hand-eye coordination. 

This was an experimental shot looking at Nicholas through a piece on the top of the engine.

Nicholas and Granddad have matching Flying Tigers P-40 Warhawk t-shirts from an earlier visit to Cavanaugh several years ago.  Nicholas made sure to wear his shirt today and got excited when he found the actual plane in one of the hangars!

I enjoyed watching Nicholas laugh and run around with his friends.

And then there was some wrestling.  Believe it or not, Nicholas is in this pile somewhere.  I could hear his giggles as he was wiggling out to escape. Boys will be boys :)

I personally loved finding the Sopwith Camel replica which was the plane used to shoot down the Red Baron in WWII.

Nicholas found this cute model of a Pan Am airliner that shows cut outs into the cockpit and cabin areas.

We also stopped at the paper airplane table.  There were instructions and supplies for making several different styles of planes.  

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Nicholas made some of them but then made a few of his own design.

There was a board with two holes in it for kids to throw their paper airplanes through to score points.  Rachel and her friend posed in the holes for this pic. How cute!

We had a great time visiting the Cavanaugh Flight Museum for Homeschool Day.  Both of my kids enjoyed looking at the historic planes as well as participating in the special school activities.

The Cavanaugh Flight Museum is located at 4572 Claire Chennault in Addison, Tx.  They are open Mon - Sat 9:00 - 5:00 and Sun 11:00 - 5:00.  Prices: adults $10, seniors/military $7, children 4 and up $5.00, children 3 and under free.  For more information, please call 972-380-8800 or visit the Cavanaugh Flight Museum website.

Cub Scout Rocket Academy

Our local scout council held a full day Rocket Academy for the boys (and dads!).  Stuart and Nicholas were pretty excited about going.  The boys started off with shooting some pre-made pressurized rockets with some type of air pump. 

They also shot some rubber band guns.  While I don't see the connection between the rubber band guns and rocket academy,  I can tell you that after talking with Nicholas and one of the other scouts, these guns were close to the best part of the day.  They loved them!

If one gun is good, then two must be better!

There were also live critters to examine and touch like this king snake!

Rocket Academy was held at Sid Richardson Scout Ranch.  They have their own special grace that they say before meals.

Finally it was time for the boys to build their own rocket.

The rockets were marked with identification so you would know which was yours and then they were lined up in a row on a table.

A short distance behind the rockets was another table where the rocket builders waited for the command to hit the button to launch their rockets.  There were 18 stations and rockets went off one after another down the line.

Stuart didn't put enough wadding in his rocket which caused the streamer to catch fire and burn up.  So in addition to his rocket falling back to earth quickly, he also lost the marker to help him identify it.   But I think he figured it out since he may have been the only one without a streamer :)

Nicholas is quite proud of his own rocket!

After a long day building, running, and playing, Nicholas snoozed a little on his way home.  Although he still denies that he was asleep.  He was just "resting" for a moment.