School play

 Max's class put on an updated version of Snow White...they did an impressive job!  And they are just so cute.  Max was the huntsman:

 Grandpa thought he looked a little like Bob Dylan.

 The Wicked Witch menacing Snow White.

 The really cute dwarves.

 The guards putting Snow White in her coffin.

A very serious guard.

We were glad Grandma and Grandpa got to see the play and the school.  The kids have really loved this school.  They're not too excited to go back to school at home.  :-(

Tivoli!

Sorry for no Paris pics yet, but here are some snaps of our visit to the Tivoli Gardens and amusement park.  Grandma and Grandpa are here!  We were taken with how beautiful the gardens are. The rides were a blast!!

Tivoli is as much botanical garden as amusement park, with beautiful flowers and buildings everywhere.  Apparently, it is one of the oldest amusement parks in the world.

If you look closely, you can see Maggie and Grandma here.

 Grandma and Grandpa went on the scariest rides with the kids.

Max went from the little roller coaster...

  ...to a big one!  A big step!

 We finished off the evening by dining in a pirate ship!  How cool is that?

 The evening lights coming on at Tivoli...a beautiful place and a really fun day.

For your amusement...on the side of a tour bus...this is what a tour bus is often called.  Hee hee!

Pics from Christmastime

We have a picture somewhere of my dad with M4 in almost exactly the same position as this: A pretty cute pic of this trio:

M4 and some new Playmobile dinosaurs that like to eat Wampas:

M3 enjoying her big present (of course, I'm already worrying about her damaging her hearing. Thanks, Santa!!):

Said Wampa and a happy boy:

Little fish

Here's our little fish in her 50 freestyle event last Saturday. Grampa brought his cool mini digital video cam. Thanks, Grampa! She got first in her heat but fourth out of 13 overall. In her 50 backstroke, she got second overall out of 11. She is in the lane just to the right of the cone.

Happy Halloween!

Here are our little historical characters. And a big thank you to Grandma and Grandpa who helped with costume issues, the small Halloween lunch/party the kids had (I don't think I'll do that again! I'm just not one of those moms who can whip up a kiddie party like a batch of cupcakes...I was frakkin' wiped out even with my parents' help!), and trick-or-treating escort. It was a gorgeous, gorgeous day for Halloween!

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

Today is my dad's birthday, oh he of the first wave of baby boomers. On top of being a most awesome grandpa, my dad has always been there for me in too many ways to count, so here is one example: In a single day, he drove me and my stuff to Madison, WI (10 hours), unloaded said stuff to a second floor apartment (??? hours and surely some skinned knuckles), drove to Chicago (2 hours), flew back home and went to work the next day. What was that?? A 39 hour day??!! Thank you, Dad, for your big heart, your generosity, your good advice, and your scarred hands! Happy birthday and here's to logging many more miles on the bike and rockin' Social Security, all at the same time!