Spring??

Sparring!!

Kat (finally) got to move up to the junior black belt club. Today was her second class. It's a whole new level (which is good cause she was pretty bored in the champions) that is very challenging. Today they really sparred. Awesome to watch. Esp the big kid black belts sparring w/ the master.

Talent show

Unfortunately, I was holding the phone, AND it was wrongly seated in the case, which I believe obscured the mics.  SO it's pretty hard to hear.  And likely to watch, despite scoring a temporary seat in the front row!  Sorry about that!  One of the other parents was filming with a real camera next to me......I'll see if I can get his video and replace this.  Maybe they're not totally washed out in his version!

Kat's recital

I think it's time to retire my camera for video.  Not only does it crap out at 1:50, but the quality is sketchy.  Pretty sure the iphone does a better job!  She, however, did a great job!!!

Skiing in Killington

Skiing

Well, I guess it was technically a blizzard yesterday. I never saw limited visibility. But, the good news was 12" of snow at KB! It was in the mid-teens out there, but Kat and I got out there for 2 hours. She's getting more & more comfortable on skis. And 2 days of lessons at Killington this weekend will move her along a great deal. And while it's supposed to be cold most of the next week, so we may get out here again next week. We're fitting a couple of seasons' worth of skiing into a few weeks!!

3pm blizzard shot

Well, I just read on Buffalo News.com that it is officially a blizzard. However it has yet to look like it from here. But apparently we had the sustained winds, which I hardly heard, the snowfall, and the blowing snow and limited visibility, I guess, that qualifies it for a blizzard! Of course, I haven't been outside. But still, can usually hear howling winds indoors and have heard just a few gusts. Oh well. Still hoping for more action!!

2pm blizzard

Well, still on the lame side. I did hear thunder once and heard some good winds once or twice, but....

Blizzard at 1pm

Still not as advertised......

Blizzard at noon

A bit underwhelming so far. But I have hope...

Blizzard at 11

10am blizzard

Blizzard at 9am

Blizzard at 7:55am

Here's what we have so far. It's supposed to turn ugly shortly. Everything's closed. Except colleges. Apparently no superintendent wants all the kids to get to school easily, only to have a foot or more of snow fall before dismissal time...

More skiing!

Apparently, we're getting an entire season ( or 2) in in just a few short weeks.

We went to buffalo ski club today with friends. And you can see Nilam as the mama duck leading the munchkins down the hill. And the kids spent a lot of time on the training hill. There was a little jump that was a big hit! Kat did great. She started to add some turns to her snowplow and also, much more importantly, has started looking around her to keep an eye on other skiers.

We can't believe the progress she's made in less than a week. And it was a beautiful day out there, with great conditions. We had a great time out there.

Kat on the big hill

Well, we're finally getting Kat skiing. Turns out KB has their big sale on Saturday w/ the best prices of the season. And so we're going to buy our season passes (that we can use for the balance of this year, which looks to be at least a few more week of decent conditions.). And if we buy ours, hers will be free (as it's free for 6 and under--the age at time of purchase). If we waited till fall, prices would be higher, we wouldn't get free skiing all spring and would have to pony up for hers as she'd be 7!

Anyway, so we got out today and after a few runs of follow the leader on the bunny hill, I decided it was time to make the move to the big hill. I didn't want to wait till her legs were shot and set her up for failure.

She did great!! It was a very long hill in comparison to the bunny hill. She fell several times. She took each of us out at least once--though for me it was while trying to get her back up and heading in the right direction. Most of her falls were stops/falls. And even when she lost it and was crying and spazzing out, she recovered and maintained her snowplow down the hill. Most impressive, even at the end, on the steepest part of the hill, when her legs must have been screaming, she did the best, most controlled snowplow we'd seen yet! And though she didn't want to go back up to the big hill, she then went back to the bunny hill for many more runs.

I think we have a skier!!

Kat skiing

This is Kat doing the whole bunny hill at kb. And, most important, I think, is that this was AFTER she did a run all the way down the big hill. Which I expected would kick her but and make her ready to go home, but no, she wanted to get back to the bunny hill!!

Florida Wrap up

Well, we had a great time!  We got up at 4 am in Jacksonville today.  Flights were smooth and uneventful.  And, when we arrived in Buffalo, we ran into Ryan Miller, Johan Enroth (Sabres goalies who happened to be on competing teams in the Olympics in Russia--only one brought back a medal!!) and another player.  And Ryan Miller's french bull dog "Puck" was there.  He hadn't seen him for a while and Kat was all over the adorable pup wearing a Miller jersey!  No pics, as my phone was still full.  Anyway, it was pretty cool and they looked like they'd been traveling all night.  So we didn't discuss what went wrong in Russia......

So, back to Florida.  We saw everyone, nearly and it seems did everything!!  We had three 80 degree days.  Before we lost the sun entirely.  But that's ok.  We thoroughly enjoyed SeaWorld.  Kat & Dan got splashed by a killer whale's tail.  We fed sea lions & seals.  Saw the dolphin/diver/bird show and the sea lion show.  And the Pets Ahoy show, which is always entertaining.

Busch Gardens was good.  Sea World was better, but we had fun.  Of course, the river ride we all wanted to ride was closed. But we rode the bumper cars w/ grandpa & Grandma.  Kat enjoyed that and also the wild mouse, or whatever they called it.  Dan, Kat & I rode the Tanganika Tidal Wave several times and got good & wet!  And Kat got to feed a baby kangaroo (wallaby?) which was a fave!

Then it was time to swim with the manatees.  Which I highly recommend to everyone.  Even though it was overcast, windy, storms on the horizon and it was cool and highly unlikely that we'd see the manatees, much less swim with them.  But, our fearless captain found us some and we did get in to swim with them!  And even though the turbidity of the water was significant and visibility was about 10 feet.  Or less.  So even though we were often right on top of them, we couldn't always tell where they were.  Check out the videos.  I apologize for the shakiness, but I think they're still pretty cool when the manatees come up.  I think the camera could see them better than we could!

On Saturday, we went to Aunt Norma's where almost all of the Florida family (& Mel & Greg as well) came out for a day of hanging out and dinner.  We got to catch up with the southern branches of the family and Kat played with her little cousins that she met last year in NC.

After a boatride Sunday, 5 of the FL branch, mom & Dad & Mel & Greg and us all went to check out St Augustine.  Unfortunately, it was raining most of the time.  But we had fun, until Kat had an epic melt-down that resulted in her huddling underneath her rain poncho up against the building, looking like a homeless person.  It was all we could do to to not get her a cup.........  We were all nearby, but she wasn't having any of us, so we kept our distance.  And some nice lady actually asked her if she needed help, if she was lost, etc.....Another proud parenting moment!

That sums up the bulk of it.  It was a whirlwind.  We had a great time, saw & did a great deal and left FL absolutely exhausted!!!  I can't wait to go to bed.  And to go back to bed after putting Kat on the bus tomorrow!!!!!

The up-close pics of the manatees are not mine, but are stock pics from the tour guide.  Videos are mine.

Cousins and drunken pirates

siblings & spouses

Cousins

siblings

She wanted to take him home!

brown water snake

street urchin?  or a munchkin who. has. had. enough.

More Florida two

Florida !

Ok. The walrus was definitely not seen from mom & dad's boat. But the snake and the alligators were!