Long Weekend

On Friday, Abbie had her Spring Ballet Performance titled "Come with Me to the Emerald City." Her group had one number; they were the Lollipop Guild. Her group did really well. She struggles just a tiny bit with being nervous, but I told that she was veteran now - this being her fourth recital. Every time I think I'm going to change ballet companies (I have a whole list of complaints that I ignore most of the year, but all of it starts getting under my skin by the end of spring), I change my mind when I see the Spring Performance. The teachers choreograph the whole thing from scratch - from the handmade costumes to the sets to the dance routines. The first part of the recital was a shortened version of The Wizard of Oz. After the intermission, the older girls did numbers to songs from The Wiz and Wicked. It was a great performance.
At the ballet company that Abbie goes to: there are several things that influence whether you get a good part in a performance: 1) how well you dance (obviously), 2) how many classes you attend, 3) how many extra classes and workshops and summer classes you take, 4) how much money your parents donate to the foundation, 5) how much your parents volunteer for productions, costumes, set design, website maintenance, cleaning the studio, and a host of other duties, 6) how well the dancer adheres to the dress code, 7) whether the dancer wears a bun to every class, and much more. For a while, I was immune to all these spoken and unspoken prerequisites, but if Abbie chooses to pursue ballet long term, I can see that I am going to have to "pony up." This year, I've already given in some - I took brownies and soda to the reception after the performance and I made small donation of the foundation. After the recital, Abbie went to sleepover at the neighbor's house. I bought her her first sleeping bag for this event so she was really excited.
On Saturday, we drove to Greeneville to Horse Creek where my mom was camping. I love, love going to Horse Creek. My brother, sister-in-law, and niece were already there. My niece, Haley, had brought her new, fluffy, white kitten with her - THAT got me sidetracked for a while. I HAD to play with that sweet thing! Then we went fishing (only kids and seniors are allowed to fish since this is a National Park). Abbie loved it. She and Haley caught several trout that my brother cleaned and grilled. My brother taught Paul how to clean a fish and he enjoyed learning how to do it. Back at the campsite, cicadas were finishing the last of their metamorphasis process - it was interesting to watch. Abbie and Haley ran all around the campsite collecting the hard cicada shells that were stuck to the trees and bushes. Unfortunately for the cicadas, my brother collected them to use for bait. Ah well, I guess that is the circle of life because the trout loved them! Later, we went on a long hike. I think this was the furtherest I've ever gone back into the mountains at this site. We were late getting back for supper. Outside the forest, it was a really warm day, but inside the dense canopy, it was cool so we kept a nice fire going. I think playing in the fire is one of Paul's favorite activities. Throughout the day, we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, played cards, and sat around the fire talking. We left around 9:00 because we don't have a tent anymore. We are seriously thinking about buying a small teardrop camper. I hope we can find one! We drove to 2 RV places this weekend, but they didn't have any. I'm going to call on Tuesday and see when they expect to get some.
On Sunday, we skipped church. We made lunch plans with Paul's friend, Stephen and his family. After lunch, we went to Winged Deer Park to the marina area where there is a new playground. Abbie and Stephen's daughter, Addison, enjoyed wading at the boat ramp. After that, we were ready for ice cream and went to the Marble Slab. We stayed there for two hours talking. Abbie and Addison loved playing in the water fountain. They found two small snails and spent the majority of the time creating a snail habitat.
On Monday, we stuck around the house doing yardwork. I vacuumed and washed my car. Abbie loves to help with that. Paul spread some mulch and trimmed a big hedge along the back of the house. We had a picnic outside for lunch and dinner. There is a meatloaf that I make that I really like so I decided why not use the same recipe for hamburgers. So we tried it on the grill, and they were nice and flavorful. Paul tried out his new electronic grilling fork that he got for Christmas.
Abbie has 3-1/2 days of school left. Here comes summer!