Not so Tricky...

Maddy looked especially beautiful at her dance recital (she's on the far left - second one in)...great job Maddy!

Maddy's Dance Recital

Maddy and Mya did such a fantastic job at their first dance recital at USF with the New Tampa Dance Theatre this weekend!

Cameras were strictly forbidden at the event but as you know I'm not exactly the 'rule-following' type so I managed to grab a couple of little videos of Maddy doing her 'thang'...

Now if you failed to recognize her, don't feel bad because nor did I  :(. Just when exactly did she grow into a beautiful young woman? Was I in the restroom or something? You may find the next clip less emotional. It's Mike showing us last night that 'he can do tap too.' Yeah right Mike...

We Thrilled The World!

Mike, Madison and I had a fantastic night at the world record breaking attempt of the largest synchronized Thriller dance! Last year there were over 23,000 dancers in 77 cities and 32 countries. They are still validating this year's numbers so we don't know if we broke the record yet. Mike didn't dance with us but came along to the pier in St. Pete to show his support. I guess he was a bit sick of the endless reahearsing because the night before he said "if I never hear that song again - I'll be OK with it" :) Anyway, we had a great time and met some really friendly people - all for a great cause too with proceeds going to Susan G. Komen. I can honestly say it was one of the most fun things I've ever been a part of and we'll definitely do it again next year - let me know if any of you are interested in helping me set up a "Thrill Tampa" flesh mob...:)

Getting ready - look at Mike in the kitchen behind me on this pic :)

Liquid latex is really nasty stuff! But everyone loved the safety pins in Maddy's face...

We had a two hour rehearsal when we arrived...

We grabbed a snack and  the baby and the pelican outside the store weren't quite sure what to make of Maddy!

Some other zombies...

Maddy doing her thing...

For those of you who are interested - I've attached Mike's video of the event. Maddy is on the far right in the spooky pink dress and I am on the left with the black top and green pants next to the guy dressed as MJ and sometimes behind the tall guy with the white shirt...enjoy...:)

Clare and Maddy doing Thriller!

Thrill the World!!

Madison and I have signed up to take part in this year's "Thrill the World!" It is an international world record breaking attempt, in which participants simultaneously perform the zombie dance from Michael Jackson's "Thriller." Dancers perform at exactly the same time throughout the world and this year over 32 countries are expected to participate. Our local venue is in St. Petersburg on the pier and the small registration fee ($2 for children and $5 for adults) will be donated to the Susan G. Komen foundation.

If you are as excited as I am about the idea of dancing in the streets dressed up as a zombie and getting into the Guiness Book of World Records (which has always been a lifetime goal of mine), go to http://www.thrilltheworld.com/ to find a local event or even start a new one! to learn the dance, the St. Pete website has kindly sifted through the youtubes and put them in order here. Out of the 23 thousand people who did it last year, more than half of them were 'first time' dancers. This could be you...

Maddy's fashion summer camp adventure!

Maddy and Mya had a blast at their "Fashion Forward" summer camp at the dance studio! They learned about make up and hair, designing clothes, photography poses, walking on the catwalk and some new dance moves too! They picked out their own theme (Spring fashion), selected all of their own clothes, and put together the most adorable little show for the parents at the end of the week to show us their catwalk moves. They absolutely lit up the room and you could tell they felt like superstars. You would have never known how nervous they were. Too cute :)

Maddy and Mya's Dance Recital!

Our girls did such a beautiful job at their annual dance recital tonight. Mya and Maddy we are so proud of you!

Here is clip from the dress rehearsal...

Madison and Mya's Dance Recital

The girls did a beautiful job with their recital again this year. Jen and I were so proud of our Rockin' Robins and Ballerina Princesses...

CONGRATULATIONS GIRLS!!!

The Nutcracker

Jen and I took the girls to see the Orlando ballet perform the Nutcracker at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. It was a beautiful day. Here are our beautiful girls dancing...

Happy Halloween

We are so excited about Halloween being on a Friday this year. No work/school the next day! We had Maddy's dance party last week (Maddy and Mya are on the right) and carved the pumpkins tonight. Mike made his traditional pumpkin seeds and we've all eaten way too many! Looking forward to the big night tomorrow...Happy Halloween!

Dance Recital 2008

Last Sunday was the big night for the dance recital. Maddy, Mya and I had a great time on stage and the show was awesome! Thank you to everyone for your kind donations to the Joshua House!

















A big THANK YOU to our fantastic cinematographer, Mr. Richard Simard Snr.!!!

Proud to be an American and more...!

Wow! What a busy month! We had a big party on my birthday to celebrate my becoming an American on the 13th. We had Gail here, American and British food, a traditional British pub quiz and a special guest performance from 'Oldplay' (Jen on bass, Rich on drums, me on guitar and Mike on vocals). It was hilarious! The ceremony was on that Tuesday and I took my oath with 505 people, representing 77 different nations, at the convention center downtown. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries so no pictures: (. It was really very moving and I feel very lucky to finally be an American! Thank you so much for my congratulatory gifts and wishes!
Gail's visit was really nice as always. We got to go fishing, shopping and spent a day at the spa in Hyde Park which was a real treat. As ever I feel refocussed and reenergized after the visit!



Last weekend we went to St. Augustine, the oldest town in the United States. We saw the beach, the lighthouse, Spanish fort, oldest pharmacy and school in the country and Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum (which was my personal favorite - not very 'highbrow' I know). It's a great place to visit for a long weekend - some of the B & Bs look really cool and the little cafes and specialty stores downtown are great.


As the month ends, Madison and I are practising for our dance recital next week. I have raised over $400 for Joshua House so far - thank you to everyone for your generosity and wish us luck!
Clare "proud to be an American" Early!

Maddie and the Breakdancer

Madison had a breakdancing class this week. She did really well. This is Alex posing for his 'international' audience. I made him stay like this for three shots! You can see Maddy in the back pretending not to be impressed...

Congratulations Mya on your first recital!

Maddy's 'Car Wash' dance performance!

Dancing and graduating with a broken arm :(

Things didn't exactly go to plan this week. They were looking fine when the dance costume arrived and it fitted perfectly. Maddy looked adorable in it and was really looking forward to her first dance recital!

All she was worried about was if she forgot her steps...

So she practiced very hard...

And then with less than a week to go I arrived at daycare and Maddy had just fallen really hard on her arm. The doctor said it wasn't broken and to keep it in the sling for just a day or two "so that she doesn't get too accustomed to all of the extra attention."

We had a call back from the doctors two days later (and on Maddy's first day out of the sling) to say that they had taken a 'second level' check of her X-rays and her arm was indeed broken! We asked if it was OK for her to get through her day care graduation before we took her to the hospital since it was just an hour later and she had been so excited. They said that was fine and we told her not to move it...

Then the cast went on. We were so proud of Maddy that she decided to do the recital anyway! One of the other girls in Maddy's dance piece broke her leg too (there were only 6 of them!) so they looked pretty hysterical on stage doing the best they could to Crocodile Rock :)

Mya came to show her support - we couldn't have been more proud of our little trooper!!

Congratulations Madison!