Happy Birthday, Cousin Jack!

A couple of different birthday wishes for Eliza's favorite cousin who is 6!!! Where has the time gone?

So...I posted these and for some reason the tail ends of the videos are getting cut off (and the sound is a bit out of sync - mysterious). Our apologies, especially to Jack who should know that Eliza can't wait to see him in July!


Et en francais!

Vive la Revolution!

All she needs is one of those red liberty caps!

Allons enfants de la Patrie,	Arise, children of the Fatherland,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !	The day of glory has arrived!
Contre nous de la tyrannie,	Against us, tyranny's
L'étendard sanglant est levé, (bis)	Bloody banner is raised, (repeat)
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes	Do you hear, in the countryside,
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?	The howling of those ferocious soldiers?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras	They're coming right into your arms
Égorger vos fils et vos compagnes !	To slit the throats of your sons and consorts!
Aux armes, citoyens,	To arms, citizens,
Formez vos bataillons,	Form your battalions,
Marchons, marchons !	Let's march, let's march!
Qu'un sang impur	Let impure blood
Abreuve nos sillons !

New Bike!

So, for starters, I'm not sure if the video functionality on Blogger is working all that well these days. There are videos in this post, as well as the one below (from October!) - if you can't see them, try clicking on the title of the post itself and then see if the video will play. I don't know what's up.

Anyway...big day for Eliza on Sunday. She got her first big girl bike!!! Obviously the training wheels are still on - since we're still trying to master pedaling, actually balancing on the bike seems like a bit much to ask right now. But she couldn't be more thrilled and now we just need the weather to warm up so we can go out every day.

Here are a couple of stills.


A quick interview with the lucky girl...


And she's off! Or maybe not.


And she's off! For real this time.

Indoctrination

As usual, I am behind on my blog posts and I promise I'll put up some pictures soon from the fabulous 4th birthday extravaganza. In the meantime, we are all adjusting well to life in Indiana...as this video should attest. Sorry, Bears fans!

Indiana Wants Us

So, we have made it to Indiana (for those of you who don't get the title reference, here it is, in a super cheesy video)! We came down on Thursday late afternoon, after a challenging week of packing, loading, etc... (and we wouldn't have made it through without Aunt Mary, whose praises we can't sing enough!). We're still in corporate housing for the moment - scheduled to close in a couple of weeks and then move. But even though we're just in temporary housing, we've packed in a quite a lot of activities already and here they are for your amusement.

First off, this is actually back in Chicago, in the July 4th parade at her school and it just cracks me up. Hopefully you all feel the same!

Also in Chicago (Evanston, actually), but I thought it was a lovely picture.
And now here we are. On Friday, her new school (the International School of Indiana, where she is in the pre-K French immersion program) held a "picnic" for the new families. By picnic, they meant bring your own food and sit in the gym to eat it, but it was still fun!
The better part came after we ate, when everyone went outside for a photo op for the school fundraiser: grape stomping!
Apparently, the grapes were really, REALLY cold.
On Sunday, we headed to downtown Indy, which is lovely, to take in an Indianapolis Indians game (appropriately they were playing Syracuse - I didn't know who to root for!). Lots to look at.
Especially the mascot, Rowdie. As you can see, she is very shy.
New BFF's.
Then Daddy took her to the gift shop where she picked out this hat. Click on the picture to enlarge so you can really experience it in its full glory. It's special. And Dippin' Dots, of course. This after a tub of popcorn and lemonade.
Which brings us to today, the first day of school! She was a little nervous, but when we got there and she saw all the kids in uniforms like hers, she got really excited and started dancing around like crazy.
Another mascot sighting, this time the Griffin of the ISI. It's like she goes to Hogwarts! With her are future classmates Miko and Montgomery. Eliza and Miko had the same Disney princess backpack, which thrilled both of them to no end.
Standing still briefly for a pic w/Daddy-O.
And one with Mom.
On the way into the building, all the kids got to ring the bell as part of the first day ceremony.
And here is her spot at one of the tables in Monsieur Robby's class.
I will try to take more pictures as we settle in and get them posted. For now, it's off to do some laundry! Hope everyone is staying cool and having a great summer.

Ballet Recital

Yeah, yeah, this was almost two months ago. Doesn't change how cute it all is, even after all this time.


And some video from the rehearsal (the performance was exactly the same).

Mexico addendum

I realized I forgot to mention a couple of things in yesterday's post...

First, definitely check the Facebook photos. In addition to more dolphin pics, you can see more shots of Ixtapa, our fabulous cooking class, AND me on a TRAPEZE! That's right. Trapeze.

Also, there was an earthquake while we were there. It was 12:15 AM on Wednesday morning (Wednesday was quite a day - earthquake, dolphins, and trapeze all in one day!). Eliza did not wake up, but Mac and I did since our whole room was shaking and there was definitely some noise along with the shaking. We found out the next day it was a 5.1, located about 50 miles away. No damage, but still legit and really, really scary!