In February, I took a trip to Philadelphia for work. The morning I left, Marina left me the best note ever. Here it is.
Naturally, after a note like that, I got her a present. A stuffed eagle she promptly named Liberty. Here are a few shots of Philadelphia. I had not been there since I was about 6 years old, so it was fun to explore a bit in the off hours I had.
Liberty Bell
Independence Hall
City Hall - designed after the Louvre, so I had to take a picture for Marina.
Joan of Arc. There is a statue just like this in Paris, which was one of my favorites. Very cool to see it again.
Where the Declaration of Independence was signed.
More Paris-inspired buildings.
Grandma Paul got this beautiful dress for Marina. What a cutie!
One of Marina's Creations. Pretend you can't see the messy closet, please.
Lincoln received a citizenship award at school. The award was for courage, and Lincoln said it was because he had the courage to be himself. Lincoln's teacher told us that one of the reasons is that he is such a good friend to all the other kids in the class. One of his classmates has a learning disability, and he always requests Lincoln to help explain things to him. Lincoln is such a great kid!
Lincoln also had a chance to do a Pinewood Derby car - but this is the last year he will be able too (next year he will be too old). This is the Silver Bullet, which lived up to its name. Lincoln did not win the tournament, but that car had a consistently fast time - right around 2.9 seconds - every time.
Then the kids got to eat mini Pinewood Derby cars.
Marina has been feeling left out at school, because she was the only one in her class who had lost no teeth. Well, that situation quickly reversed itself one night when Marina discovered a loose tooth. It was very upsetting to her. Marina wanted it out, but she was afraid it would hurt if she or I pulled it. She cried for a long time (it was bedtime, so it seemed so much worse), but finally reconciled herself to waiting until the tooth was ready to come out on its own.
The next morning when Marina was eating her cereal, it just fell right out and she just picked it right out of her mouth. Whew! The tooth fairy visited and gave her $5 (the first tooth is worth more than the other teeth), which she promptly exchanged for a little stuffed zebra with green eyes. The new friend is named Zig Zag, and it has usurped Liberty (the eagle)'s place as her favorite friend. Hooray for the tooth fairy!
We also took a quick trip to Salt Lake with some friends of ours to see the musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Here are some of the kids behaving themselves very well in the theater.
After the show, we got to go backstage and see some of the stuff from the show. We even got to meet Chitty herself!
Marina and Chitty
The Pauls and The Greeners with the cars from the show
Easter has arrived, and the Easter Bunny was good to us too. At grandma's house, Marina made a little cupcake Easter bunny (she got bored with it before the bunny had ears and after one of its eyes fell out).
Then there was an Easter Egg hunt with the cousins. Marina's cousin Ella was not happy about stopping the search for eggs to have her photo taken. Marina humored me.
Marina's Easter Dress
Last but not least, Lincoln and Marina have been very busy with rehearsals for The Wizard of Oz. Marina is a munchkin, and Lincoln is a flying monkey. The munchkins performed one of their songs for a volunteer event earlier this month, so here is a sneak peek of the show. The performances are April 10-15, and I will post more photos as soon as I get them.
