heyMamas

Thriller

      

My little dancing camper:

Your summer camp dance class put on a hip hop recital at the end of camp in dedication to Michael Jackson, the infamous King of Pop.  I laugh every time I hear your say that phrase and every time you start to do the Thriller dance.  

I grew up doing that dance.  My sisters and I knew every last step and would jump to our feet the second the video would start to play on MTV, and now seeing you do it gives me a chance to take in how far I have come.  How many years have passed and how some things never seem to lose their luster.  

Not even in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that twenty-seven years later my six year old daughter would have just as much fun dancing to Thriller as I did so many years ago.  

The end of June saw the passing of Michael Jackson and during your recital you danced to a few of his songs and did his famous dance steps.  I can’t remember if I have ever written here before about your ability to move but you are some little dancer. 

I don’t know where your learned half of your moves, but man you know how to dance.  Some would say back in the day your Mama could also bust some moves on the dance floor but I won’t elaborate on that as I can already see your Daddy now, laughing hysterically at the mere thought of Mommy  dancing. 

Whenever we watch TV and we see back up dancers, Belle and I always tell you that you could be doing that in a few years if you work really hard.  I may stop saying that though because when we told you that just last night, you wanted to know why you couldn’t be more than just the back up dancer but that you wanted to be the singer as well.  

I back pedaled in my mind and decided maybe suggesting back up dancer was not quite the message I wanted to send to my young developing daughter so I quickly responded and said that you could be anything you put your mind too.  And based on what I have seen in the last six years I am confident that you will do just that.

I look forward to the many dance steps in your future.

 

Love always,

Mama

So perfect even the sand failed to bother

                

Today we went to Point Lookout and visited a good friend of mine from work.  She has been living in this very exclusive tight knit beach community for about two years and talks about it alot but I had never been there.

Well I went there today and I am head over heels for this place.  In my opinion this place blows the Hampton's away.  It certainly depends on what you like in a beach house, whether its the location, the restaurants, the scene, whatever it may be, for me this place is it. 

The community which is made up of nothing more than a few square blocks in either direction has its own private beach.  The reason it is so exclusive is because once people have a house in their family they never give it up and today I learned why. 

The streets are practically empty and everyone has to walk to the beach because there is no parking available.  Kids can ride their bikes out in the street without the fear of a car running over them because the speed limit is  15 miles per hour. 

Anyway the place is magical and I am going to do my best to try to rent a place there next summer even if I have to dip into the college savings...just kidding...I think.

 

                

 

Belle and Lily were so awesome in the water considering this was only the second time they had been to a real beach, not a bay, but a real beach with real breaking waves.  Drew and I had big plans at the beginning of the summer to take the girls to a real beach so they could see and experience the waves first hand. 

We went to Lido Beach which is a public beach along the same strip as Point Lookout.  We got all geared up, lugged all the chairs, blankets and umbrellas to the beach and went down to the water.  The girls were so excited but held onto our hands for dear life.   They were definitely a little suspect of the water and how hard and fast it came at them. 

Every time we tried to walk away they would beg us to come back to the water's edge as they needed us there to even just play in the shallow waves.  After the initial excitement wore off for us, we were thinking this was going to be a rather long day.

At some point we noticed that the wind was blowing about 100 miles an hour.  When we would look back at our stuff from the water we couldn't even see it.  We figured we had just moved down too far with the current until we made our way back to that spot and could barely see our things poking through.  The wind had blown so much sand that our stuff was completely covered.  I think we chased my hat down the beach about six times at which point we decided it was time to pack it in.

So today was our brave venture back to the beach and it was simply the greatest day.  Thanks Liza!

                   

For my perfect little pea

            

To my illustrious shining star Belle:

Last Thursday which was the day before camp ended or more specifically the thirty-ninth day of camp, your theatre group put on a production of The Princess and the Pea.  Your first four weeks of camp were comprised of swimming, soccer, tennis, softball and many other sport-related activities. 

The last four weeks I signed you up for the theatre group which spends the entire morning and early afternoon in the theatre and turns out a full fledged production in seventeen short days.  You contributed to all stages of designing and performing the production.

Each day I would ask you what your favorite part of theatre was that day.  And everyday I would get nothing.  I am sure many parents can relate to this, or maybe its just me but all I know is sometimes when I put questions to you and your sister I usually come up with a big nothing.

I have learned or read somewhere that the best way to get information is to ask your children very specific pointed questions.  So each day I would try to do just that.  "What songs did you sing today?"  "What dances did you practice?"  "Do you know all of your lines yet?" 

I gave up after a while because even with these specific pointed questions, I would still come up short on usable information.    

So I just went with it and figured it you weren't complaining then it couldn't be that bad.  I was sometimes just happy that you were not out on the fields running around but locked in a cool air conditioned theatre.

On rare occasions you would showcase some of the dance moves or sing some of the verses from the songs in the play.  But those times were few and far between.  I feel like we practiced for that first audition and then fast forwarded three weeks to the production.  I guess in between those three weeks we were sort of busy packing up our house and moving, but it all seemed to slip by so quickly.

So the day of the performance Dad and I along with Grandmom, Lily and Annie came to the auditorium to see your wonderful performance.  You were Minstrel #4 and did a ton of singing and dancing throughout the entire play.

Dad and I were shocked.  Shocked at how our non-committal, can't be bothered party girl turned that STAGE OUT!  I mean you were singing and dancing and smiling from ear to ear.  Might I go so far as to say,  you were the only one on that stage that could muster up a smile in addition to singing. 

You were unbelievable and we have always known you to be quite the actress, but we were more convinced than ever that you belonged up on that stage based on what we were seeing.

For all the times growing up that I wished I could have been in my school play but never had the courage to try and waited until I was in my early twenties to pursue acting seriously, you did it! 

You had courage and poise and presence.  You were plugged into that role, to your reality in that moment and you were the best Minstrel girl on that stage.  You morphed into an alternate version of yourself.  A little performer fully committed to what you were doing, intense and in the moment. 

You were even giving some stage direction to some of the other kids that were floating away from their marks on stage.  And of course the one thing that they asked the children not to do, wave at their parents, you did and did it quite nicely.  Or as my Dad likes to say, you did it with panache.

The moment you exhibited this panache came as you were exiting stage left and you stopped right where you were, paused for a moment and waved directly at us.  That's the Belle we know and love.

For an hour and fifteen minutes you kids danced and sang your hearts out. Not one break in the action and all of this was done in seventeen days, truly amazing.

Dad and I were so taken with your presence and your star certainly shined that day in that auditorium.  After the play we met you backstage and brought you the flowers that you were considerate enough to remind us not to forget about.

You were a natural on that stage.  That is a true gift and I hope you nurture it and follow wherever it may lead you.  And always know my little star, that I will be watching you every step of the way.

Love always,

Mama

Beyond vulgar, I warn you

I am utterly speechless as I look at this photo and it is a good thing that the girls do not make a daily habit of looking through my blog because I think it would freak them out so badly they would be scarred for life.  Actually on second thought not Belle, Belle would laugh that one eye closed looking like a pirate belly laugh that can go on for hours.

 

My utter disgust turned to laughter when Drew shared this video with me and I was able to forget all about that big ugly tree. 

  

Loving

 

    that Lily told me I always make everything better,

    Belle promised she would never leave me,

    and Drew took the recycling out three days early.