Figure Skating Show and a visit from Grammy Dee and Pop!

Lots of pictures and lots of catching up!

Adam's parents came to visit on Friday, we were all so excited to see them, it had been a very long time since we got to visit with them (they live in VA). The kids are all over them as soon as they arrive! 

Pop helped Adam come up with the Little Grass Shack that we had to build for the ice skating show which was Sunday May 17th. So they all trooped on over to Lowe's and to the Party store for supplies and by Sunday afternoon it was complete and looked amazing!! Ayla and Avery skated to My Little Grass Shack sung by Lisa Loeb from the Lilo and Stitch 2 soundtrack.

My little boy finally decided he wanted to figure skate a few weeks ago so we ordered him some skates and look at him go!  He's only had them a week and he is skating no problem.  These 3 pictures were snapped during the opening number, skated to Life is a Highway which was the theme of the ice show, hence the cars, stoplights, and street signs in the background. 

The synchro team wearing my handsewn  Pa'u hula shirts! I wish I had gotten a closeup of all of them wearing them.

Pa'u Shirt

E komo mai!  (Means Welcome in Hawaiian).   Adam and I are of course into other cultures, being anthropologists and all, and the Native Hawaiian culture is one where we have an interest and I hope to work in Hawaii someday.  A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to find a kumu hula (hula teacher) right here in Columbia, and I signed up and learned hula.  About 12 of us learned hula from Mamo, as we lovingly call her, until she moved to Africa 2 years ago. Before she moved we had a traditional luau here at my house and the group of gals and I performed on our deck for our friends and family, I think we had at least 60-75 people show up, it was a blast! We had kalua pig, poi, fish, coconut cake, haupia (a coconut gelatin type pudding), fresh pineapples, lots of side dishes, mai tais, the works!  Ever since I started dancing, the kids wanted to learn so I taught them a few hulas, they like Hukilau and can sing all of the words!  For this year's ice show the kids and I decided that they would do an ice skating routine to the song Little Grass Shack and incorporate some hula moves into it.  Turns out that Aybelle's synchronized skating coach picked Hawaiian Roller Coaster ride for them to skate too.  I was so excited that I volunteered to sew the traditional Hawaiian hula tops for the sychro team.  At the time we had 5 girls on the synchro team and now we have 8!  So I got the fabric tonight and dusted off the sewing machine and produced an adorable Pu'a shirt for the girls to wear.  I made 1, now I only have 7 more to go!

 

Disney on Ice with Palmetto Skate Club

We went to Disney on Ice tonight with our fellow members of the Palmetto Figure Skating club.  We had dinner with everyone at Damon's Restaurant and then we al headed over to the Colonial Center for the show.  We got there at 6pm so we were able to "see" Cinderella and Belle!  The kids had fun: (click on the photos to see a larger version).

The show began at 7:00pm and they did a skit with the Cars movie cars, then a performance of Ariel, and one from the Lion King, which was very unique and very cool!

Lion King

My favorite was the second half, which focused on Tinkerbell and the new fairies, they modeled the new movie's theme and in the end the fairies were able to bring Spring to the Mainland. It was really pretty and the skating was great!

Minnie and Mickey were there too!