Nationals - Day 5

Sheena's Academy got a double platinum medal for their big group number, and everybody was in a celebratory mood at the group dinner that night.

Nationals - Days 3 and 4

It was a busy two days for Katharine and her teammates at Nationals.

They were all putting out great efforts, and bringing in some of their highest scores.

Katharine grabbed a Gold for her solo, placing fourth overall.

Their Trio got Platinum, and the 'Mr. Postman' tap number got Double Platinum. 

Some of the bigger group production numbers are scheduled for the weekend.

But despite all of the awards, Katharine couldn't stop talking about her time at the Rainforest Cafe more than anything else.

Nationals - Day 2

Katharine didn't dance on the first day, and Iria didn't take many pictures.

It is kind of like the calm before the storm.

Here are some nice and calm Galveston morning pics from the window (they are all renting and sharing a condo for a week).

Katharine at the dance hall, getting ready to cheer on some of her friends.

Lego Convention

I took the kids to a Lego convention last Sunday, where we saw a lot of great builds and where I was coaxed into buying them each a mini-figure whose heads/arms/legs/body will soon be put to use in their 'franken-figure' factory (except for Katharine, who actually keeps her Legos intact).

But creativity can be expressed in many ways, and this show had it's share of interesting mixing and matching going on.

Here are the kids, posed in front of their favorite exhibits.

Lennon loved the wall of mini-figures.

Lego Friends for Keira (yep, their blatant and somewhat sexist market grab for young girls worked on her).

Lukas loved this castle, mainly because Indiana Jones was scaling it.

Katharine dug this amazingly lush rendition of the Shire.

The huge beach landing build was my favorite.

Paper Dancers

Both Katharine and Claire were crafting up some dance group portraits before leaving on their trip.

Katharine's paper dolls and tags:

Claire's sketch:

Nationals - Day 1

Here are some pictures that Iria sent over to me from their first day of their Nationals trip.

This was around 1/4 of the luggage packed between all of the girls and Moms. They departed in two big SUV's, stuffed to the brim.

Road Trip silliness.

Lunch at Ruggles.

I hope Katharine ate a little more of her pizza- that place looked a bit expensive.

Entering Galveston. 

The competition runs from Wednesday morning through late Sunday night.

Iria and Katharine will not be back until Monday.

The girls visited the beach as the sun was going down.

And then proceeded to go into silly slumber party mode.

Looks fun so far!

Katharine and Maya

We hung out with Jeramy and Maya today, as she gets ready to embark on a month-long trip to Europe with her Mom next week.

We just booked our own family trip to Europe, from December 15 through January 11th. 

It is a pretty long trip, but when you have to buy seven intercontinental plane tickets you better make it worthwhile :)

Pictures courtesy of Jeramy's iphone.

Happy Birthday to me

I turned 45 today.

Yikes!

Random Erik facts:

I recently moved over into concept art from level design at Gearbox

Favorite foods: Wholefoods whole wheat pretzels, vegetable soup, watermelon, pork chops, Red Hot Blue chips, asparagus, orange mango smoothies

Currently re-reading Stephen King's 'The Stand"

I've lost 20 pounds this Spring (no special diet, just eating better and exercising)

Currently playing (and enjoying) 'The Last of Us'

I love to watch my kids play soccer and baseball games

I love to watch my kids dance, but less so other kids

I need a vacation

Speaking of that, I still want to travel to Ireland and Iceland
I hate flies, and will hunt them down if one is buzzing around the house
I like to grill, but have no interest in cooking beyond that
Speaking of that, my palette is rather limited (I could eat pasta and sauce every night if need be)
When I have nothing to do I'll play a video game
nytimes.com is my most frequented website
I like to drink socially, but never drink when I'm just with the wife and kids
I don't like camping
I don't get enough sleep
If I ever retire, I would like to do so in Europe
I don't like getting up early, but am pretty good at it
I'm a fan of the Boston Red Sox, Miami Dolphins, and FC Dallas
I don't like hockey
I am horrible at remembering names
I have really good reflexes, and can often catch stuff that I drop
My favorite musician is Leonard Cohen
Most of the time when I work I wear my noise canceling headphones but don't play any music
I hate talking on the phone (but need to call my brother more)
I prefer mountains to beaches, and cities to suburbs
I bought myself a Belstaff man-bag for my birthday
I love my job

Recitals- Day Two

Saturday was the last day of recitals.

Katharine was there for 12 hours and danced in all of the shows. 

Lukas danced in the final show.

All in all there were a lot of great performances. I always love to see my kids up there, and the preschool-age dance routines are always amusing...

Here are some group pics:

And who was that photo-bombing the previous picture?

Miss Gwen!

Lego High School

The kids built this today, and dragged me upstairs to show it off right after I walked through the door.

Saturday Swag

Lukas got two awards this past Saturday.

First off was one of the game balls from his Little League game, where he went 2 for 2 as the Phillies handed the division's only unbeaten team their first loss (14-2).

Next up was his "Five Year Award" from Sheena's Dance Academy, followed by a great dance performance on his part.

Great job, Lukas!

Farewell to the Grandparents

My Mon and Dad are headed home after a five day visit.

We will definitely miss them (especially the Grand kids).

Father's Day

It was great being able to celebrate Father's Day with my awesome Dad, who has both mentored and supported me throughout my entire life. 

I really love the guy, despite him passing down his hairline to me :)

And it looks like he is doing ok as a Grandpa as well.