I Got a Bee in My Bonnet: June 2009

Sunday, June 28, 2009

MKDS Dance Recital...June 26 & 27

Camryn danced in her 5th recital with Ms. Karen's Dance Studio on Friday and Saturday....wow, that is hard to believe. It is amazing how far she has come since that first dance class. She is now doing her second year of a solo, a duet, and two large group dances. I had the opportunity to get her ready for Friday night's performance because Andrea would not have had time when she got off at 5 PM. When I look at these pictures of her in full makeup, it takes my breathe away at how beautiful she is...(I can say that because I am her Nanna) and how grown up she is. When I watched her dance on stage Friday night in her large group tap and then later in her solo, I was amazed at how much older she is looking. She is an amazing little dancer and I feel we will see great things out of her for many years to come. We have been approached by one of the teachers at the studio about putting her in another solo next year. This teacher (Ms. Kristen Sadler) does most of the lyrical choreography and has choreographed and danced with a company in New York. She was basically saying she would love the opportunity to work with Camryn. Talk about making a Momma and Nanna's hearts swell with admiration and yes, pride...it sure did. We have talked it over and plan to let her do a lyrical solo next year. This style dance will enhance her technical abilities and will strengthen her core for all dances. Camryn has always wanted to do a lyrical dance and in fact according to her mother, makes up lyrical dances in her room all the time. So it should be an exciting year for her next year.

I have to share a little funny about Camryn. She was talking with our friend Hannah (who is also a dancer at MKDS) at the pool the other day about the recital and Hannah told me that Camryn said, "Yeah, I am pretty confident about getting lots of points on my solo at the recital because I have added a back-bend walk-over to my routine."

Hannah told her that they do not give points at recital, just at the competitions.

To which Camryn replied in a disappointed tone, "Well, they could at least say something nice about it when I do it." LOL She has not quite got the whole concept of competitions yet.

She asked me the other day what the National Competitions were. I told her that it was when lots of dancers come from all over to do their dances and this is the time to try to do your very best. She thought for a minute and then said, "So, I need to do the best I can so I will get lots of points and maybe win something." I said, "Yeah, that is it." She said, "Well, I will just try my best and that is all I can do." I said, "Exactly! That is all we want you to do."

We have purposely not talked about what competitions are so she will not put pressure on herself to win. We want her to continue to enjoy dancing and not feel that she has to score a certain amount to win! So, far she has done very well and has been totally oblivious to how she has done.
This is her large group tap costume. The dance is "We Rock!"

Striking a pose for me.

And again....

A closer view

Such a pretty smile!

I love this one even though it is a little blurry.

This is her Hip Hop large group costume. They dance to "Boom! Shake the Room!"

Here she is in her hip-hop costume...no lipstick

And another shot...look at that little belly.

Camryn did awesome on all her dances at the recital. It was so much fun to watch her because she loves what she is doing. We are really looking forward to the National Competition in Dallas/Arlington on July 5-10. Should be a great week for MKDS dancers!

Monday, June 22, 2009

PA Trip cont'd

Our second day on the road...at a rest stop eating somewhere in Virginia, I think.

Any way it was nice and cool there.

On the road again...this is the Shennandoah River...it took us 45 minutes to go about 3 miles at this spot on the trip. Norman was not a happy camper. We decided to look for a different route to take home to avoid this delay.

Finally crossing into Pennsylvania!!!

I had Googled our trip for directions and they were great...right up until the last 3 miles. Actually, the directions were not at fault...a road sign had gotten turned so it threw us off. We drove around up and down country roads for a good 30 minutes with me calling Jim and Phyllis' number every few minutes before we finally got Phyllis to answer the phone and give us directions. Anyway, as we topped the hill we saw Aunt Claudia and Jim standing near the road with waving arms and smiles on their faces! What a great sight!

Aunt Willa Dean thought she would never get to see Aunt Claudia again when she moved from Benton, so this was a sweet reunion of sisters.

Hugs for Mother

And Daddy is moving in position to get his hug!

Another sweet reunion for baby brother and his oldest living sister.

Time to take a look around. They had a 10 acre place with a huge red barn that had lots of country charm. They have 4 horses, a mule and a goat.

Phyllis's horse Beauty giving her a nudge in appreciation of the belly rub.

Daddy, Norman and Jim talking it over at the fence.

This was our view from the front porch..two swans on the pond across the road.

This is Phyllis and Jim's house...such a sweet peaceful place.

Here is where we spent most of our first day just talking, laughing and catching up...

out on the front porch in the nice cool breeze. Temp was in the 70's. Aunt Claudia said she had prayed for the weather to be cool while we were there...and God sure anwered her prayers!

Mother and Daddy enjoying the peaceful porch and the swing.

Aunt Claudia and Aunt Willa Dean in the glider on the porch...

(she is not asleep...just caught her with her eyes closed.)

This is where the men sat and talked while we women were on the porch.

We also spent a lot of time in the living room looking through the Curtis Family scrapbook and remembering old stories and funny tales. I thought I had heard all of them over the years, but alas they came up with some new ones that I had never heard shared. Oh my goodness, at the laughing and sometimes crying that went on in that room.

Tuesday, Dick and Debbie came to eat with us. Jim grilled T-bones for everyone.

They were yummy!

After dinner we sat around the table and heard more stories and enjoyed more laughter!

The next day we headed up to Dick and Deb's in Etters, PA for the afternoon and evening. In this picture we are enjoying some great homemade soup and cornbread...and it rained while we were there and was even a little chilly. We also got to see deer feeding in their back yard.

Here we are watching the Razorbacks in the college world series...at least some of us were watching...Aunt Claudia was "resting her eyes."

The crew in their kitchen before we left for the evening.

The last remaining children of the Curtis clan...only 3 left of the 14 kids. Aunt Claudia, who just turned 88, Aunt Willa Dean who is 79 and Daddy, who is 82 almost 83.

Norman and Jim listening to the stories being told.

This is the morning we left...it was very hard to leave, because at the ages they all are, the thought most prevalent in their minds was "this could be the last time we will see one another on this earth." There were some tears, lots of hugs and lots and lots of kisses.

Thankfully, we are encouraged by the fact that they each know Jesus as their Savior and even though "we may never meet again this side of Heaven, we will meet on that beautiful shore"...someday.

This was a wonderful trip. I am so glad we got the privilege of taking Mother, Daddy and Aunt Willa Dean to see Aunt Claudia. And Praise the Lord, no one got sick, we had no accidents, Renee's suburban ran beautifully and Norman did a wonderful job of driving. Of course he had excellent guidance by his trip navigator who sat right behind him feeding him the directions, exits, and rest stops all along the way! Maybe if everyone stays healthy we can make the trip again next summer!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Trip to PA with the Golden Agers...first day

We began our trip to PA for our visit with Aunt Claudia at 8 AM this morning. We departed with all on board in good spirits and in great frames of mind...ready for a good trip. We had a great day for traveling...partially cloudy with sunshine and a little haziness. Norman did all the driving with Daddy riding shotgun. Mother and I sat in the seats behind Norman and Daddy and Aunt Willa Dean sat in the middle on the back seat. We talked for a while, then listened to Dennis Swanberg which brought quite a few laughs. Then we played several of the Gaither Homecoming CD's singing along the way. Around 11 AM Aunt Willa Dean asked the driver if we would be eating soon. We pulled out the snacks which helped to hold us over until we found a good place to stop. We stopped at a beautiful roadside park to have our lunch consisting of sliced ham, potato salad, cheese, crackers and chips.

As we continuted on the trip Norman, Daddy and Aunt Willa Dean were interested in listening to the Razorbacks Baseball game. However, we were not able to find any stations airing the game on the radio. So, we had to rely on Blake and also Vicki to send us the score. Everyone was excited to get the message that they won their game 10-6.

We had set our first days destination as Knoxville, TN and planned to drive on in the rest of the way tomorrow. We felt that going much farther would tire out our passengers too much. We arrived in Knoxville at 6:15 EST, unloaded our bags, freshened up and went out to eat at Famous Dave's Barbeque where we all ate way too much.
Here are some of the pictures taken along our way.