Joey’s violin quartet

Joey and his violin quartet

It’s a bit long, but here is Joey and his violin quartet playing at the music scholarship fundraiser at a local mall.   The kids are all about the same age.   I think they did really well.

Joey playing his violin

Joey playing solo violin

Here’s Joey playing solo on his violin.   He had forgotten his music so was playing by memory.  Hopefully you can understand his few pauses.   He has come a long way in just a year!

Piano Duet–Nicky & Joey

Duet by Nicky and Joey

This is from February but I thought our audience would enjoy hearing a duet played by the boys.

Here is Katie at her last horse show with Jefferson. They ended up with a 4th, 6th & 2nd. Not too shabby considering Jefferson dumped her in the dirt on Saturday's lesson (very unusual for him) and also threw a shoe and we had to get the farrier out pronto. I think Jefferson was telling us he didn't want to work this weekend.....

Plus Katie was the only one in the Prechildren's division, so she had to compete against kids in the Children's Hunter Pony division. Jeffy was the only pony out there with no lead change... (For those non-horsey folks - a pony canters like we "gallop" with one foot always forward. That foot forward has to be the foot that is on the inside of the circle. Katie has to trot Jefferson to get him to switch feet and the other kids could just give the command to the pony and their pony switches feet automatically. This is called having "the correct lead" and is part of what is judged.)

Here is a link.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHMwWL7aW8Q

Krispy Kreme Challenge

On Saturday, Feb 5, Nicky and his friends (fellow cross-country’ers) entered the Krispy Kreme Challenge.   For those who are unfamiliar with the race, one runs 2 miles, eats 1 dozen doughnuts and then runs 2 more miles to the finish line.   You must keep your doughnuts DOWN in order to officially finish the race.   As part of the race festivities, Nicky and his pals dressed up in pink “sofies”, white compression shorts, a t-shirt with “Crème Team” on the back (sleeves cut off), white headband and rainbow socks.   Nicky did finish the race, but I don’t think he wants to see doughnuts again for awhile!

The breast cancer ladies invited the “pink” guys for a photo op.   Too bad Nick’s in the back, but you can see what a festive group they were.

 

It’s a bit fuzzy, but you can see Nicky running in the race.   Sorry, no pictures of him eating the doughnuts, but I’m told the key was to smunch 4 doughnuts together, eat, drink a sip of water and continue on.

Nice job, Nicky!

The Footlocker Race

Nicky and a few of his friends traveled to Charlotte for the Footlocker Freshman Race on Friday, November 26th. We drove to the course to let the boys run it before the actual race the next morning. We then went to check in to our hotel and get the boys checked in for the race.

The freshman race was the second race of the day, and started at 8:30am. We had to get there pretty early to give the boys time to warm up. It was pretty chilly, but it was clear and the sunrise was pretty.

Here are some pictures of Nicky at the starting line and during the race.

Nick ran a 17:14 (PR by 1 second) and finished 36th out of 155 freshman runners. Nick will tell you that he learned a lot during the race and that the course is too flat, and he'd rather have a few hills.

Here are Nick and his buddies after the race.

Nick had a very good season and won the Best New Runner award at the season ending banquet. We're very proud of him!

Now it's on to winter track (which is outdoor here in NC) and then track season.

Updates on Nicky, the XC runner

Okay, I’ve taken a lot of razzing from you all about not posting current updates on Nicky’s XC progress, so here goes!!!!

Nicky’s Varsity team had an undefeated season this year for their conference (PAC-6).  They also took home the trophy and first place for the PAC-6 championship (Oct 19).   Nicky ran Varsity for the PAC-6 championship – his time was 18:12.  It was about 80 degrees.  Here’s a picture of the victory team -

Next up was the Mideast Regional – this occurred on Saturday, Oct 30 at Nicky’s favorite course, the WakeMed Soccer Park (in Cary, NC).  This time it was about 54 degrees – the first time Nicky raced in cool weather.   Nicky blew us and his team AWAY!!!  His time was 17:15 !!!!!!   He came in THIRD of his Varsity team – his coach had this to say:

The race was one of the best ever by a frosh at JHS.

He was 58th of about 150 guys.  And Nana & Grandpa Z were there to watch him race!   It was super!

Here’s a picture of Nicky and his teammates (#1 & 2 on Varsity) near the finish line – like the smile???

So now, XC at Jordan is over, but Nicky has signed up to run the Foot Locker South race on Sat, Nov 27.   He is training on his own (with some guidance from the coach).   The Foot Locker race is in Charlotte NC, about 2.5 hours away.  

So, that’s the update.  Will keep you updated as to the results of the Foot Locker race – Good Luck, Nicky!!!

Maddy's debut as a cheerleader!














And for those of you interested, her middle school, Penndale, SOUNDLY won the game. I think Craig was reliving his old High School glory days on the field! :)

Another Nicky XC Update

Well, Nicky posted another Personal Best this Saturday (Oct 25) at the Greensboro Invitational at Hagan Stone Park.   Out of 319 boys who ran in his race, Nicky came in 4th with a 9 second faster time of 18:17.   He was the first JV Jordan runner to cross the line.  Will this boy ever stop running faster?   Here are some pictures – enjoy!

Look for him one row back…

How’s that for a coupla misfits watching the race??!!

 

Approaching the finish line…

 

The Jordan Falcons were missing one of their better runners on Saturday so they came in 4th but Walter believes that if he had been there, the team would have come in 2nd.   (XC scoring is pretty weird – ask Walter if you’re interested.)

Nicky’s off for a week then he has the Durham City/County championships next Tuesday.   We’ll let you know how he does!

Amy

Nicky, the Cross-Country Runner Extraordinaire!

The XC team participated in the Wilmington, NC, invitational event last weekend.   There were 30-some teams involved and in Nicky’s event, about 200 runners.   Nicky is the 8th best runner on the team (out of about 24 runners).   This puts him at the top of the JV runners.  However, that weekend one of the Varsity runners was unable to attend.  Soooo, Nicky was invited to run with the Varsity runners!   He ran a personal best for the 5K – 18.32 minutes.  To top it off, Grandpa Swanson & Grandma Jane came up from Myrtle Beach to watch!   Here are some photos from the meet -

The start – check out all those runners!

 

Running…

Grandpa & Grandma congratulate the runner!

It was a great weekend for the family!

Amy

Hi everyone,

I made a little video birthday card for Maddy's 13th. She said I could post it here, so here it is.

13 years old! Can you believe it!? These girls are growing up way to fast for old Grandpa.

Hope you enjoy the video. The quality of the upload, compared to her DVD, has definitely suffered, but you can get the idea.

Grandpa L.

Camping Vacation 2010

This year, the Kreiling/Little family headed to New England for two weeks of camping fun.   We headed to New Hampshire (Mt. Washington area), then to Boston (Freedom Trail, here we come!), then to The Forks, Maine for white river rafting and then to Rockland, Maine for the annual Lobster Festival (lobster for lunch AND dinner, anyone?)

This year was also the year that we kicked the two oldest kids out of the camper and into a tent -

they seemed to enjoy camping in a tent and we certainly enjoyed the extra room in the camper!

Our trip to New Hampshire centered around climbing Mt. Washington – Kate & I hang out at the camper when the rest of the crew is climbing!   We enjoy our quiet time!   Here are some pics from the great climb -

Our foray into Boston was okay.  We followed the Freedom Trail until everyone got bored (what does that say about us???)  The highlight of the trip was probably eating cannoli from Mike’s Pastry shop.   We relaxed on the Boston Commons and had quite a treat!

We also made a stop in Plymouth to see the Mayflower II and the Plymouth Rock.  Had a great dinner at the Wayfarer along the wharf.

(as you can see, Walter was very impressed!)   Here the kids are looking at the Plymouth Rock -

After Boston, we hit The Forks, Maine for some white river rafting along the Kennebec River.   We even hit a few Class IV rapids.  It was both scary and exhilarating!   Look for pictures at a later date.

Craig joined us for Boston and The Forks.   Here’s a picture of him to prove that he joined us!  He’s making us a hearty pancake breakfast -

Finally, we headed to Rockland, Maine, to sightsee and visit the annual Lobster Festival.   As you can imagine, Walter was in heaven! 

We were at the festival almost the entire day – Maine blueberries for breakfast, Lobster and blueberry cobbler for lunch and lobster for dinner.   Yummm!

Finally, the annual picture of the kids on the camper.

8th Grade Promotion Ceremony

Just a quick post about Nicky’s promotion ceremony…   It was held this morning at his middle school.   After 10 June, the last day of school for the boys, Nicky is officially a high school student! 

Nicky was awarded a certificate for the highest GPA in Science in his class.   Congrats, Nicky!

Here’s a little picture of the family at the promotion ceremony – thanks, Tante Eva, for taking it!

-Amy

The Spring Piano Recital

For Viki we recorded the boys’ spring piano recital.   The videos are on YouTube;  I hope I get these links correct!   For some reason, the names got messed up. 

This is Joey playing his song -  Sonatina in C Major, Allegro by Clementi.

 

This is Nicky playing My Time Machine by Timothy Brown.

And THIS is the duet – Straw Hat Strut.

Enjoy!   Amy

8th Grade Formal Dance

On Friday, May 21, the 8th graders had their formal dance.  The theme was Aloha.  Nicky’s date was Jenny.   Here are some pictures from before the dance.   Enjoy!

The corsage and entry ticket.   All students had to have 4 teachers and their parent sign the permission form.

Getting ready!

The young couples… from left to right – Nicky, Jenny, Colin, Hope, Cody and Lauren.

The formal picture!

According to Nicky, he had a BLAST!!! 

*sniff*  they grow up so fast!!!!

The newest addition to the family!

Jefferson is visiting for a two week trial. I am guessing he is not going back..... At least we are just leasing him, so I won't need to keep him in the backyard when Katie leaves for college! :)
















Unfortunately, it was raining so there was no riding today. We will have to see how he does when she gets on him. But even I have to admit that he seems like a big sweetie.

The last lap of that great mile race

Here’s the last lap from the mile race that Nicky ran at the Durham County District track meet.   Nicky came in third – as the video shows, almost second (6/100th of a second out of 2nd place!!!)

The young man in first place is Michael;  the second place winner is Ramel.  Both are teammates of Nicky’s and all were proud winners at this year’s meet.

Nicky’s boys track team won the District championship – here’s a neat picture of Nicky.

To complete his track meet, Nicky placed 5th in the 800 (2 laps around the track) race.   Very cool!

Here are some pictures of our spring break. We started by stopping in at the Kreilings' to enjoy a weekend and then we headed to Jax to spend the rest of the week with our old neighbors. It was a great trip - good weather and spending time with awesome family and friends - can't beat that! (Well maybe if you could throw some camping in.....)


Walter and I heading out to run our 1/2 marathon. We both finished and I finished faster than I anticipated, so all was good. Except for the fact that it was VERY cold and Uncle Walter was not waiting for me at the finish line, nor our designated meeting spot. Gee whiz - I run all that dang time and then have to stand in the cold and try to find him......









When Katie was riding in FL, she was lucky enough to ride her trainer's trusty steed when she was a child, Sketch. We spent an afternoon visiting with Katie's old trainer and Sketch. Sketch just celebrated his 28th birthday and Katie brought him his favorite treat - Little Debbie Oatmeal Cakes! Yummy! :) Although it was hard to get a picture of Katie and just Sketch - with a box of oatmeal cookies in her hand, she quickly became very popular in the pasture.







A picture of the kids in their Easter duds!