A Little Bit of Drama

Bridget tried out for a part last week in the Master Arts Theater production of Cinderella and found out she would be playing the part of one of the Cinderellas! She also has a part as one of the stepsisters in a scene. They'll be getting ready for it in a 2 week camp and then they'll do 10 performances so it should be an exciting July for her!

Last week she performed with her middle school orchestra and looked over at me quite dramatically several times. See below.

Netherlands Nuesday 28

Mom, Flower arrangement in Bedum, September 2007

Mother's Day Rocks!

Yesterday, we had some friends over for Mother's Day and John, bless his heart, orchestrated the dinner preparation with the kids. My friend Cathy & I could hang out, play ping pong and have fun for awhile. Hope you all had a happy Mother's Day too!


Me & Cathy Flinstone, John doing dishes in the background :)

Running by the River

Yesterday, I got up at O'dark-thirty with John to go down to the annual Fifth Third Riverbank Run to watch him run in the 25K with 16,000 runners. I saw him at the start and again at the finish line and saw many people I knew in between. You can see him too if you look carefully at the white arrows below:



I caught up with the great runner at the end and got him to pose in front of La Grand Vitesse and the giant water bottle.


John, May 2008, after running 25K

Go Eddie, Go!

May 2008

Edward ran the mile, or the 1600m rather, in the Conference meet yesterday. His time? 5:02! He didn't break 5 as he wanted to, but oh well. We were talking to a friend of his who graduated a few years ago and he told us of his same struggle in a series of his last high school races that ranged between 5:02 and 5:05, and he was finally able to break 5 in college.

He came home from the meet at about 8:45pm, ate supper, put on a tuxedo, and left for the prom. He stopped long enough for me to take his picture though.



All this running around, but now it's Mother's Day weekend. I'm getting up at o'dark-thirty Saturday morning (today) to go watch John at the Riverbank Run 25K. I know a lot of people running, so it should be fun.

Flash Back Friday 69

Edward, pre-school, 1994

Dogwood

Here in Michigan, we're in that precious window of time when the dogwoods and other flowering trees are in bloom, and tomorrow we will be that last precious window of time when Edward runs the mile in a high school track meet. I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Phantom of the Opera

The following is a very dramatic orchestral rendition of the Phantom of the Opera with some very dramatic close-ups of Edward and Maria.


South Christian High School Symphonic Orchestra, May 2008

Netherlands Nuesday 27

Amsterdamcool, Dad, Will & John, Sept. 2007

Brother & Sister Strings

Last evening, Edward & Maria played in their laaaast orchestra concert together, so I lined them up for the pose. The orchestra played 3 pieces and then the symphonic orchestra played 2 more. One of these was an arrangement of music from Phantom of the Opera and the grand finale of Edward's high school orchestra career? Russian Sailor Dance. It was actually a cool piece which contained an outstanding cello part! I took this nice photo of Edward and his cello buddies Liz & Marie looking at their conductor.

At the end, the symphonic orchestra got a standing O. I asked Edward and Maria how that felt. Maria said, "Don't they always do that?" and Edward said he didn't notice.

Masterpieces of Nature

Maria & Friends, photo by Trudy

Tulips and Track

This morning, John & I drove up north to see Edward run the mile in 5:03 at an Invitational. We would love to see him break the 5 minute mark by the end of track season next week!

On the way home, we stopped by Calvin College to see the senior engineering design projects. We talked to all the "Edwards" there about their inventions - that was cool.

Calvin, remaining true to its Dutch heritage, also does tulips very well. I quickly took these photos outside of John's office, but wish I could have spent more time at it as the tulips are gone so fast.

Flash Back Friday 68

Mom & I by Robert Frost's grave, Bennington, Vermont, 1996

Happy Belated B-day to the Queen!

Yesterday at Calvin College

John e-mailed me late yesterday afternoon that he went to a Koninginnedag celebration at Calvin College where they were flying the Dutch flag. They had Dutch pastries and sang Het Wilhelmus, the Dutch National Anthem. The Dutch people celebrate the Queen's birthday on April 30 which was actually Queen Julianna's birthday. When Beatrix became the queen, she wanted to keep it the same day because her birthday is January 31 - not a great day for street celebrations - and to honor her mother.

Het Wilhelmus
Opa would be proud to know that when I played this song, Edward knew what it was since he learned it in 3rd grade.