Our 8th Anniversary on the Bay!

The other exciting event this week was our 8th wedding anniversary. It was on Friday the 20th but since Mattie had a performance that night, we squeezed it in on Thursday night the 19th. My mom came down and watched the kids while we went on a 2 1/2 hr. dinner dance cruise around San Francisco Bay. It was amazing! We had perfect weather, great food and music, and had a rare up-close glimpse of Alcatraz, Angel Island, the San Francisco shoreline, and even a trip under the Golden Gate Bridge-amazing-it was so much fun!

 

Mattie's Dance Performances

This week was the long anticipated rehearsal and performance week for Mattie's ballet and tap classes that she takes at a small local dance studio. Her teacher is great-she's a former dancer/performer and "Raiderette"-she owns the place herself and teaches all the classes. At the end of the year they do a big show at the beautiful Maritime Academy here in Vallejo right on the water beneath the Carquinez bridge. So here are the pictures of Mattie doing both her ballet and tap routines and in her costumes. It was a long week of rehearsals but a great "real-life" performing experience for the kids. 

 

Mattie's story contest

Believe it or not, I'm finally updating our blog! We've been so busy with the end of the school year and after this week it will all be over as Mattie has her ballet and tap performances on Fri. and Sat. nights (the 20th and 21st). But, we will tell more about that and post pictures after the weekend. Our most recent event we want to share is Mattie's awards ceremony for the Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators contest. We submitted her original story called "Sarah Saves the Horses" with illustrations back in March. Out of over 200 first graders throughout the Bay Area, Mattie won 3rd place! And coincidentally, Mattie's best friend from church who homeschools, too, won 1st place for 1st grade. The girls were excited but I think us moms were more excited they were. We attended the awards ceremony on Saturday June 7 at the KQED television station in San Francisco. They had a catered lunch for us and read all of the winning stories (K-3 grades). They were all awarded with Reading Rainbow backpacks, DVD's, books, and tickets to local kids museums and parks. We had such a fun time and it was a great experience for Mattie. We are going to try and scan Mattie's story and post it on the blog so you all can see it. Until next time...which will hopefully be soon.