by Papa K on December 29, 2016
With Lauren fast approaching 4 years old, she’s started talking more and more about wanting to ride a “real” bike like her big sister – with pedals and everything. (Spoiler alert: she’s going to be very excited when she sees what Grandma and Papa Boston got her for her birthday 🙂
The family across the street had a Paw Patrol bike for their son and all week Lauren has been eyeing it enviously. With her older sister and cousins headed to the track for some running, we decided to walk over and ask if we could borrow for a spin. They had a balance bike too (just like her red one at home), but Lauren was emphatic that she wanted to give this whole “pedals, no training wheels” thing a shot. I was game too, so we loaded the bike in the car and headed over to the track.
Our little bike rider and a very proud daddy!
Well, I think its safe to say that Lauren’s time on the balance bike paid off because I barely needed to do anything before she was up and riding without any help from me. It took her a few minutes to get the pedaling motion down and she still felt the need to stop every once in awhile, but her balance was great and within about 10 minutes she was pedaling like demon all around the track. (BTW – track was an awesome place to do some bike riding practice!)
Here’s a video pretty early on in our practice session…
And then a short while after that she was already off on her own…
Very proud of our little girl! She’ll be burning up the streets in SF when we get home for sure…
(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)
by Papa K on December 24, 2016
With Lauren fast approaching four, we are now in the sweet spot for Santa visits. No one is scared and every one is looking forward to him stopping bye for a quick hello while on his rounds. This afternoon the girls were playing around the house when all of a sudden there was a knock at the door…
Maile, in particular, was very concerned because Papa Cal had been running errands the past couple of years when Santa came by to visit. Luckily, this year he was in the house and got to say his hellos!
Katie and Santa
Emily and Santa
Maile and Santa
Lauren and Santa
One last group shot before Santa was off to visit some other children...
Merry Christmas (and Happy Hannukah too!)
(Click here for the video.)
by Papa K on December 18, 2016
Lauren and Mommy arrived on Kauai on Friday (Maile and I followed today – more on the delay a bit later – we stayed behind for a performance Maile did with her choir.)
I think this video perfectly captures how we feel about being back on Kauai…
(And yes, she did that many, many times!)
(Click here for the video.)
by Papa K on December 13, 2016
At school, Maile has started learning about poetry. It’s been fun hearing about her explorations of this new literary style. She seems to really love it.
Tonight she came home from school with a little piece of paper with her “Christmas” poem written on it. It kind of blew us away.
Maile's Christmas poem
I smell the christmas tree
it is lovely and some times
even pineconey
I feel the warm hugs and the
nice cool air
I see the tree and oh my gosh
could that really be so much presents
I hear the Jingeling of Santa’s bells
I taste the ginger bread house and
the lovely cookies
I love christmas it is so much fun
And, of course, Maile being Maile, she wanted to perform it as well…
’tis the season 🙂
(Click here for the video.)
The program for Lauren's performance
This morning it was Lauren’s turn to show all the dancing she’s been learning at school this fall! I was lucky enough to be able to attend and had a blast. Lauren definitely enjoys being up on stage and did a great job with all the steps she’s learned.
There were lots of laughs and smiles, some tears – but all in all good times. In the newsletter they send each day they captured what the kids said when they asked them about the day:
“Lauren: I like my daddy coming to watch me. I dance with my daddy.”
Yep, that made my day 🙂
(Click here for the video.)
Never one to miss out on the opportunity to perform a bit, Maile spent time after school this fall taking dance classes with Miss Angela and the PKS “Dance Team”. (I have to admit, I don’t really understand how she keeps all the steps straight between the different dance classes she takes!)
Maile & the PKS Dance Team
Last week, they had their end of fall performance and Christine and I were able to attend. These videos are always a bit longer, but figure I’d post, as I know the Grandmas eat them up!
(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)
