Back from Stone Harbor and Taiwan
Well, we are all home again and getting back into the routine of school and work. Emma began Kindergarden on Monday -- but since she is still at the Athens Montessori School this was less new than changing schools and because they have three years grouped together in classrooms she is now in the third year in the Purple Room which is one of five Primary classes for 3-6 year olds. She was very excited to start school again and see her teachers.
Today was her first ballet class of the year at the Athens School of Ballet, and she has moved up to a "real" ballet class -- Level IA. The last two years she has been in Pre-Ballet and now she is in Ballet Technique. She is thrilled to be in the big studio and to have Miss Erika again and now assistant teacher. When I peeked in at the end of class Miss Erika was doing the steps behind them as they all looked in the mirror and she was calling out the names of steps to them. It was neat and Emma was following along just fine.
Jim is still jet lagged, but by all accounts he had a marvelous time in Taiwan and learned a great deal and loved the country. He took tons of photos and I haven't even looked at all of yet. I wish he had had more notice so I could have gone with him for part of the time. I was happy to get my Jersey Shore time in though. A Summer doesn't seem complete without going to Stone Harbor. We did all the usual thigns: ate lots of homemade ice cream at Springers, played mini-golf, went to the water park and to the Boardwalk in Wildwood, and ate lobster and fresh local corn on the cob. I also painted pottery for the first time which I really enjoyed. We had good weather for almost all the days so we got to swim and to walk and play on the beach a lot. Emma and I also took a overnight jaunt up to see my Godson Gavin and his family in Princeton. He is 5 months older than Emma and his sister Morgan is 2 years older than that so the kids had a great time playing together and having a sleep over and Wendy and I got to catch up and look at her scrapbooks and scrapbooking stuff -- a new hobby of mine.
Today was her first ballet class of the year at the Athens School of Ballet, and she has moved up to a "real" ballet class -- Level IA. The last two years she has been in Pre-Ballet and now she is in Ballet Technique. She is thrilled to be in the big studio and to have Miss Erika again and now assistant teacher. When I peeked in at the end of class Miss Erika was doing the steps behind them as they all looked in the mirror and she was calling out the names of steps to them. It was neat and Emma was following along just fine.
Jim is still jet lagged, but by all accounts he had a marvelous time in Taiwan and learned a great deal and loved the country. He took tons of photos and I haven't even looked at all of yet. I wish he had had more notice so I could have gone with him for part of the time. I was happy to get my Jersey Shore time in though. A Summer doesn't seem complete without going to Stone Harbor. We did all the usual thigns: ate lots of homemade ice cream at Springers, played mini-golf, went to the water park and to the Boardwalk in Wildwood, and ate lobster and fresh local corn on the cob. I also painted pottery for the first time which I really enjoyed. We had good weather for almost all the days so we got to swim and to walk and play on the beach a lot. Emma and I also took a overnight jaunt up to see my Godson Gavin and his family in Princeton. He is 5 months older than Emma and his sister Morgan is 2 years older than that so the kids had a great time playing together and having a sleep over and Wendy and I got to catch up and look at her scrapbooks and scrapbooking stuff -- a new hobby of mine.
