Wedding!

2013 was off to an exciting start for our family. In late January and early February we traveled to Hartford, Connecticut, for my youngest brother Peter's wedding. Charlotte and Alexander were both very enthusiastic, not only to welcome Jeannine into our family, and to see their cousins, uncles, and grandparents, but also to attend the first wedding that they would remember.

On the Friday evening we attended the rehearsal, followed by the rehearsal dinner. This was even more of an adventure than expected. On the way to the rehearsal, my nephew Matthew, the ring bearer, fell and needed to go to the hospital for stitches. Fortunately, he is an experienced ring bearer and was fine without the practice, and was able to return in time to join us for dinner.

The brave ring bearer with the bride and groom

It was fun to spend time with family. Here is my oldest brother Andrew with his wife Monica and their children Matthew and Hannah. They also live in Connecticut, far away from us.

The Websters had fun together too!

The children learned many new traditions during the wedding weekend, including receiving gifts from the bride and groom for participating in the wedding. I'm not sure Pillow Pets are a traditional gift, but they reminded the children of our family trip to Disney World in November.

Saturday morning there was much to do to prepare for the wedding. Charlotte enjoyed having her hair professionally styled.

And it looked beautiful!

We all enjoyed dressing up.

Even the boys got to get "fancy"!

Alexander was helped by his godfather, my brother Paul.

The boys went to the church first, where Matthew and Alexander helped seat guests and pass out programs.

Then the girls took the bus to the church with the bride Jeannine.

Charlotte read beautifully!

Pete and Jeannine exchanged their wedding vows.

Mr. and Mrs. Strada

After a trip to City Hall for photos, it was time to party.

The children were introduced together.

The bride and groom shared their first dance.

The girls took their places to catch the bouquet.

And the winner was....!

Charlotte was very happy to see Claire, Matthew and Hannah's cousin from Toronto. Charlotte had gone to Canada for the baby shower when Martha was expecting Claire, but met her for the first time at the wedding.

Tired girls

Dancing the night away

(The video is dark, but the little guy dancing with his back to the camera is Alexander.)

Enjoying the reception with my brother Rob

We all had moves like Jagger.

The kids were both tired after dinner. As long as I kept them on the dance floor, they were into the party. It meant that I wasn't able to socialize as much as I had hoped, but it was fun to watch their moves!

Congratulations to Peti and Jeannine! Thanks for including us in your celebration. We look forward to seeing you again this summer.

All That Jazz

Last year Mr. Rogers taught the students at our school songs from Broadway Musicals. This year his theme was Jazz Standards. We recently enjoyed their performance at the end of the 10 weeks of lessons.

The entire student body sang "What a Wonderful World" while the combined 4th and 5th grade class performed it in sign language.

The third graders sang "Can't Take That Away From Me."

Then they sang "Straighten Up and Fly Right."

The 4th and 5th grade class sang "Cheek to Cheek."

Then they sang "La Vie en Rose" in both French and English.

The students closed the show by all singing "Pennies From Heaven" together.

Lily Cai dance

Charlotte's Lily Cai dance class performed this week in the school cafeteria. The dance was very different from the ones they have learned in the past, so they initially found it difficult. It was lovely, and I'm very proud of how well they did.

Waiting in the wings for their turn to dance.

Winter Camp

This weekend we went to Winter Camp with the Hungarian Scouts. We were in two cabins in Arnold, California, on the edge of the Stanislaus National Forest.

Here are the younger children with their smiling faces...

...and in their scary masks!

Kneading dough for fresh bread.

Here are the older children.

Sledding and tubing at Bear Valley.

Painting masks to scare away the Turks or the Winter.

Hiding in the woods during the number war.

VAPA dancers

For the past few years, Ms. Tretheway has been teaching dance at our school through the VAPA (Visual and Performing Arts) program. This year both kids took the dance classes through the fall semester and had their final performances in December. The theme this year was 20th century dances, with each class dancing to a song from a different decade.

The third grade class danced to Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" from the 1950's. Alexander is in the back left corner with a silver bow tie.

The 4th and 5th grade GATE class danced to Janet Jackson's "Rhythm Nation" from the 1980's. Charlotte is on the right side in a pink baseball cap.

Charlotte enjoyed this program so much that she'll be taking an afterschool dance class with Ms. Tretheway for the next two months.

Second piano recital

Alexander's second piano recital was on December 15th. He has improved so much in the last year. He sometimes gets annoyed when he has to practice, but once he sits down to play he often practices longer than we expect. He really does enjoy it.

This is Alexander with his teacher Isabelle Jotterand.

His first piece was Minuetto by Johann William Hassler. Isabelle chose this piece for him.

Then he played Ode to Joy by Ludwig van Beethoven. Alexander chose this piece himself. He had memorized it, but played from the music because he was nervous.

Sand Castles

Charlotte and her 5th grade class participated in the LEAP Sand Castle Contest this year. The theme was "Leap Year 2012 (things that jump)!" Her team built a series of 4 sand castles: a sleeping child "dreaming of a fantastical menagerie," a rabbit/kangaroo, a shark/frog, and a crocodile/snake.

The plan

This is a view of all of the teams hard at work. Charlotte's team was wearing blue t-shirts, and they are in the top half of the photo.

This is supervisor Alexander who stopped by after his soccer game to inspect Charlotte's progress.

Charlotte and her friends working hard

We returned to Ocean Beach for the end of the contest to see the finished sand castles. The sun came out, the fog burned off, and we enjoyed checking out their creations. Charlotte's team won the prize for "Most Memorable!"

 A close-up shot of the crocodile

 A view of all the sand castles