daddy-daughter dance!

One of the kindergarten moms - Courtney, mother of Liesl's friend Campbell - had the brilliant idea to set up a daddy-daughter dance following a group viewing of the new Beauty and the Beast movie. They would see B&B waltz on screen and then learn a waltz together. She worked with Arthur Murray dance studio to set it up for Monday night, and it was fabulous. (Moms were not invited to the dancing portion, so I went to my own jazz class and waited for photos.) The dance instructors dressed up as Beauty and the Beast and taught the couples a very simple routine of box steps and twirls. My favorite thing is that the girls look so delighted and happy, and all these lovely fathers showed up to dance for an hour. So sweet.

Nora's birthday party

Nora celebrated her 6th birthday on Saturday with a dress-up costume party at a local photo studio. It was perfectly girly - fun performing, fun dressing up, fun dancing - Liesl was thrilled. (Nora's mom Elena said she was a total ham the whole time.) They sent out copies of the professional photos afterwards and they're fantastic.

baseball season begins

Today was opening day for the spring baseball season - Sebastian playing AAA baseball, Liesl in T-ball. Both had games at Alpenrose, a sweet little stadium that hosts Little League events.

Sebastian pitched two innings, played shortstop, and then first base. He struck out once, walked once, stole a couple of bases, and scored. But I was most proud of the moment when he was pitching and the batter hit a one-hopper straight at him that bounced into his shin. He grabbed the ball and threw the runner out at first before he fell down to grab his hurt shin and cry a little. It was great to see that competitive grit - and he came back to pitch the next inning too.

Sebastian pitching from B. Avery on Vimeo.


Liesl too was outstanding in her first baseball game - hit it right off the tee, ran hard at first base, managed to field some grounders and throw the ball - it was great. There were various teammates who got a little confused out there about where to run, where to throw, what to do... but it was all pretty awesome to watch.

 

Clip1 from B. Avery on Vimeo.

 

Clip2 from B. Avery on Vimeo.

Cannon Beach

On Friday, we drove out to Cannon Beach for the day - it was partly sunny, mid-50's, and not too windy - an altogether perfect day on the Oregon coast. Anne and Camille met us there and we enjoyed all of our favorite pursuits: flying the kite, digging in the sand, jumping waves, running down the dunes, eating fish and chips at Tom's, and getting saltwater taffy at the candy shop.