Dress rehearsal Pics

Here are a few pictures from the dress rehearsal for Coppelia this morning...

Break a leg, Paige

Today is Paige's big day - what she has been working hard for the past two and a half months, she is dancing in Coppelia tonight.

She has dress rehearsal from 9-2, and then I will have to have her back at the theater for her call at 5:30.  The performance is at 7:00.

I can't wait to see her dance...and I will try to take pictures at the rehearsal this morning.

Gonna soak up the sun.....

Clay had a few friends over yesterday to celebrate the end of school and the beginning of summer vacation...

Clay and Connor pick out some tunes

Brooke supervises Clay's grilling technique

Clay grills hotdogs

Tim waits for the kids to clamber aboard

It's a tough life Clay has, isn't it?

"Bye Mom.  You can stop taking pictures now..."

"Nope.  Don't wanna stop.  I'm not done yet."

Getting ready to toss the tube in...

Hmmm.  Maybe not...it appears the tube needed a bit more air...

Trying again...

In the meantime, Lucy found another lizard...

...and Paige and her friends had the pool to themselves!

Then it was their turn to go tubing!

They waved at a helicopter...

...and jumped in the lake

Later that afternoon, after everyone left, we saw...

Hmmm...looks like someone around here will be getting some work done on a dock

See that tiny little speck in the middle of the photo?

That's a gator trolling for shad in the middle of the lake.

Clay doing his favorite activity

Which is really kind of a misnomer, because there is really nothing "active" about it at all.

The boat is resting, the life jackets are drying out...waiting for tomorrow.

SUMMER!

Today is the first day of summer vacation. It was absolutely heavenly to sleep until 8:00 this morning...it's amazing how rested and serene you can feel after (finally) getting a good night's sleep.

Our plans for the day include:

* Clay is having a pool party to celebrate being out of school

* Last night, while Tim was picking Paige up from rehearsal, Clay made pizza for dinner (from scratch, yummy!) and homemade cookies for the party.  He tried this recipe for malted milk chocolate chip cookies and they are delicious!

*  Paige has Coppelia rehearsal again - the last rehearsal before tomorrow night's dress rehearsal, Saturday morning's technical rehearsal, and then the performance Saturday night.  She is quite excited, and Tim and I are excited to get to see her dance again.

*   More delightfully fun emails with the teacher from hell, as she prevaricates and makes excuses and I have been cc-ing Clay's guidance counselor, two of the vice principals, as well as the principal.  I don't think it will accomplish anything, but the gloves are off as far as I am concerned - Clay is DONE with that woman and she can no longer bully him in class.  She absolutely infuriates me.

*  Although the next several days are very busy, Clay leaves for camp on Sunday and then we have absolutely nothing scheduled for next week...no ballet, no math tutor, no anything.  That's when the vacation will really begin!

I will try to get some pictures of the pool party, and Clay's preparations for it, him cooking the hotdogs on the grill, etc.  Knowing his attitude towards the paparazzi though, I wouldn't expect much!

Death of a camera

I thought my camera died.  I was so afraid that my faithful, handy, nifty point and shoot camera

Which has been my faithful companion for many years, had given up.

It's been acting up for a while now - the zoom has been temperamental, the auto-focus has been sickly, and I have been "babying" my faithful camera.

But this morning, when I tried to get a picture of Clay (last day of school), or the sunrise (glorious), or the dog (lying on the floor with all four feet sticking up in the air)...THIS is what I got:

Uh Oh.

I fiddled with it, I took the battery out and then back in, and still nothing.

It was dead.

I was so sad.

I still have my tiny little camera which I carry in my purse so I can always have one handy - but it doesn't have a zoom, and I NEED a zoom.

But then I realized that I hadn't tried switching the memory card, so I tried that.

Whew.  The memory card is dead, not the camera.

I have been wanting a new camera for a while now.  I really want an SLR, with a really, really, really big zoom.  But...Clay is going to camp, Paige is doing two weeks of a ballet summer intensive, Clay is going to Nationals for Taekwondo, my brakes on the van need work, the a/c in Tim's car needs work...and there isn't money for a new camera.

But I think I can manage to scrounge up the money for a new SD card.

I can't tell you how relieved I am that my camera is still alive and kicking, even with the temperamental little issues it's been having lately.  I can't imagine life without a camera.  I REALLY can't imagine trying to blog without a camera!!

I did lose a bunch of pictures I took the other day, like the ones of Clay cracking himself up over the cherry that looked like a butt.  Then the ones of Tim eating the cherry that looked like a butt.  The ones of Clay looking sad that Tim had eaten the cherry that looked like a butt.  Clay was going to write a whole blog about the butt cherry (teenage boy humor), but alas, without the pictures I suppose you won't be subjected to get to read an entire post about how funny a cherry that looks like a butt is.  

You're welcome.

I did manage to save these...

Those kitties LOVE the treadmill.  It is their FAVORITE napping spot.  I wonder if it is because it is such a quiet, peaceful spot?  I wonder if that means I should, perhaps, try using it a wee bit more so it is NOT such a quiet, peaceful spot?  Hmmm?

A dragonfly on an agapanthus bud...

Agapanthus blooming...

...and a hibiscus...

Yes, I am very relieved that my camera is still working.  But I will share a little secret with you...I am dreaming about a new camera.  I have high hopes for my birthday, or Christmas, or if we ever sell the house, or just...some day.

I have been dreaming about one of these...

I have serious zoom envy.

But then I read about this...

Sony has a new SLR camera which does everything the "big boys" do - but it's tiny!  Hmmm....

Well, it appears that I will have plenty of time to do my homework and research which one I should be dreaming about.