Video

Valentine’s adventure

Posted in Celebrations, Video on February 17th, 2014 by c-had – Be the first to comment

For Christmas, Jen gave me a Valentine’s Adventure at Terrapin Adventures. This is a special couples event they hold around Valentine's Day. When she signed us up, she didn't realize we would have had three days of serious snow falling. It snowed again the morning of our adventure, but not heavily. It was forecasted to stop around the time we were set to start, but it didn't. Instead, we got a steady dose of light snow throughout our three hours outside.

Jen’s suited up in her helmet and harness, ready to go. I'm especially proud of her for going, as she was not looking forward to being out in the snow and cold.

Valentine's adventure

And here we go. Jen’s up on the first level of the High Ropes Course, ready to go. Guess I need to get up the ladder.

Here we go

Nice work balancing, Jen.

Balance

Here we are, up high on a ropes course as the snow gently falls. Not our typical date, but certainly very fun.

The two of us

Climbing across the cargo net was a serious workout.

Hanging around

You get pretty high up on this course - about 40 feet off the ground. At that height, the wind can make the whole course sway, adding a bit of extra challenge to it.

From above

Jen's just hanging around.

Having fun

Carrying a nice camera around on a high ropes course can be a bit challenging, but Jen gave me a break for a bit of the third level. So, here I am hanging around way up high.

It's me

You have to bend your knees to balance on these platforms 40 feet in the air. A few things to note about this picture:

  1. Despite what it looks like, I don’t really have to pee.
  2. It’s hard to see it’s snowing and windy in this picture, but you can see the streaks of two flakes blowing in front of my coat and my hat blowing
  3. I probably should have double-knotted my left shoe.
Balance

After the High Ropes Course, we went on the Giant Swing. It’s a 40 foot tall swing for multiple people. You’re pulled up by a winch, then chop a rope to swing. The initial drop was a lot more than I was expecting, and it made Jen a bit queasy. I still thought it was fun. I'm not so sure Jen would agree.

Giant Swing

We then moved on to the Zip Line. I don't have any pictures of it, but it is featured in the video below.

Our last stop (after the unpictured zip line) was the tower.

Climbing the tower

We climbed a tiny bit, but we were both tired and our fingers were frozen from being outside for three hours. So, we headed in for some hot chocolate and Hershey’s Kisses.

Pictures are nice, but if you want an idea of what it was really like, video is much better. Here's a taste of the fun.

In addition to the fun activities, they held a raffle for a gift card to Rams Head Tavern and we won! We were up on the second level of the ropes course when they shouted our names.

The plan for the second half of our date was a bit more traditional - dinner out. We headed to RG's BBQ Cafe, a new restaurant that's supposed to be great. Jen had bought a Groupon for it and we were looking forward to checking it out. Sadly, it was closed. It should have been open, so we're not sure why it was closed. Our only guess was that it had to do with the weather.

So, we turned around and headed back to Savage Mill to the Rams Head Tavern. Instead of using the Groupon, we used our newly acquired gift card to get a yummy dinner.

Cherub Choir sisters

Posted in Church, Leah, Molly, Video on February 2nd, 2014 by c-had – 2 Comments

Leah is finally old enough to join the Cherub Choir at church, which means Molly and Leah get to be in choir together until next year when Molly moves up. Today was their first time singing together, and they did great. Leah was a great singer and did great staying focused on what she was supposed to be doing.

Cherub Choir sisters

Here's the whole performance, including two very well sung songs. I think this is the best they've ever done. Must be Leah's influence.

OK, Leah might have briefly acted a bit crazy once or twice.

Minor craziness

Winter Storm Janus fun

Posted in Leah, Molly, Video on January 24th, 2014 by c-had – 2 Comments

Tuesday we were hit hard by Winter Storm Janus. It was a teacher work day, so Molly already had no school. She planned to go over to a nearby friend’s house to play. Little did we know she and Jen would be walking through so much falling snow.

More snow

A few hours later I walked down to walk Molly home. We decided to walk back through the back yards (that’s our porch down on the right). The snow had gotten up to 5 or 6 inches at this point.

Heading home

I chose to walk on the relatively flat ground, but Molly instead chose to walk along the top of the hill. This meant that when she got to our house, she got to run down the hill through the snow. What could be more fun?

Running through the snow

The snow kept falling into the night, which meant the following day was the fourth day off school due to snow in this school year. First task - make a snow angel. Looks like we got a lot of snow this time.

Snow day number 4

Leah made a snowman ruler at school to measure the snow. Looks like we got 8 inches, which is conveniently the maximum length this ruler can measure.

Measuring

Then it was time for some sledding. For some odd reason, Leah decided she was scared of sledding (despite having done it many times before). She did sled down twice with me, and admitted that it was really fun and only a little bit scary, but still refused to sled any more. Molly, on the other hand, was happy to sled over and over again.

Later that day, Molly headed back out to sled with some other kids while Leah was sleeping. She was happy to find her friend Ariana to play with.

More sledding

There were lots of other kids there as well. This is the back yard a few houses down from us.

Lots of kids

Despite not looking very fancy, these sleds can really move.

Go Molly

She’s moving too fast for my camera here as she starts to stop at the bottom of the hill.

Too fast for me

Unfortunately the fun had to end. Thursday sent Molly and Leah back to school (though after a 2 hour delay), which meant no more playing in the snow. The snow's not going anywhere right now, though, as it's been incredibly cold with temperatures starting the day around 5° and rarely getting above 15°. We're forecasted for a bit more snow tomorrow, so there may be more fun winter play to come.

Tap and jazz class

Posted in Molly, Video on December 8th, 2013 by c-had – 2 Comments

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Molly's been doing ballet for several years, but this year she added a tap and jazz class. For their last class of the year, they invited parents and siblings to come see what they did in class. Molly's come a long way on all the skills and seems to especially love tap. She does a great job taking her turn, but I enjoy her "waiting patiently" for the others much more. Also, make sure you watch all the way to the end or you'll miss something (or someone).

In addition to the video, here are a couple of pictures from the class:

Jazz

Jazz

Tap

Tap

Our drama queen

Posted in Molly, Video on December 7th, 2013 by c-had – 2 Comments

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Molly's been taking a drama class after school and we were invited to their last class to see what they've done. They've been working on a bunch of scenes from Disney theater productions. It included both musical numbers and dialogue. Molly had a great time, and we've been singing Disney songs ever since.

In addition to the video, here are a few snaps from some of the other dance numbers:

Drama show
Still dancing
Dancing
Dancing and singing

Preschool Halloween singing

Posted in Leah, Video on November 3rd, 2013 by c-had – Be the first to comment

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Leah's preschool class learned some Halloween songs, just as Molly did 3 years ago. Leah was excited to show off her songs for us.

More subtle than Pepto-Bismol pink

Posted in Leah, Molly, Video on July 26th, 2013 by c-had – 3 Comments

When we started looking for a house, the girls had only a couple of requests. First, they wanted to share a room and have bunk beds. Secondly, they wanted that room to be pink. They already got their bunk beds, but their room was a very boring neutral color. So, as we got ready to paint a bunch of rooms in our new house, we knew the first one to tackle would be theirs.

The girls wanted pink, but Jen was not up for in-your-face Pepto-Bismol pink. So, Jen found this very pale shade of pink called anemone from Sherwin Williams. Since it was their room, the girls both helped with the painting.

Anemone
Molly too

They painted for a little bit at the start, but then they got tired. I figured that might be all they did, but they proved me wrong. After a bit of a break, the girls returned with renewed spirits saying they wanted to paint some more.

Happy workers

They even livened things up with an impromptu song.


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Here's the finished room. The girls love that it's pink, and Jen loves that it's a bit more subtle than your average pink room.

Finished product

Vacation Bible School

Posted in Church, Leah, Molly, Video on July 25th, 2013 by c-had – 2 Comments

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Molly and Leah were both able to participate VBS this year. They had a great week at Kingdom Rock, where kids stand strong for God! Jen taught Leah's preschool class, while Molly moved up to the Elementary group, finally getting to fully participate in all the awesomeness of VBS. Per tradition, the kids sang a couple of their songs in church the Sunday following VBS for your and my enjoyment.

Ballet recital

Posted in Leah, Molly, Video on June 16th, 2013 by c-had – 1 Comment

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The girls had their ballet recital yesterday. They won't let me shoot video in the actual performance, but I was able to shoot the dress rehearsal the day before. It ended up being a good thing, as Leah was in a bad mood for the actual performance and refused to do much of her dance. Ah, 3 year olds.

Kindergarten promotion

Posted in Molly, School, Video on June 15th, 2013 by c-had – Be the first to comment

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Molly had a kindergarten promotion ceremony at school to show everyone how much they learned this year. Molly was selected to be one of the three kids to introduce the ceremony, which she was very excited about. The classes sang a couple songs each, and then all five classed joined together for the grand finale. The house was packed, and the kids did great.