Hey, this is Mara. Dad told me to write a blog to update all people on my dancing. First of all, for those of you who don’t already know, I got my first pair of pointe shoes in February. Secondly, I was at the highest level at my ballet school in California. Also, that a month ago I was cast in BRAVA’s Nutcracker.

Pointe shoes are a pretty simple concept. They are ballet shoes designed so you can stand, literally, on your toes. Or, in other words, alot of pain. When you first start dancing on pointe, all you really do is go up, and come down. As you advance the more complicated the steps on pointe become. After about four months in the beginning class, I moved to the next one. And a couple of months after that, I moved on to the last level. The ultimate goal of pointe work is to be able to do 32 fuete turns en pointe. (If you don’t know what those are, google it.)

My ballet school had six levels, six being the most advanced. I started in level three and after two years, I was in level six. Mind, you that moving that quickly isn’t very common. I spent the first six months in level three, relearning the basics. After that, I was in level four for about four months. Level five is where a lot of dancers at the studio stay, or they quit. After only four months in that class, I was promoted to level 5/6. This meant that I took both classes for five and classes for six. After about four months I dropped level five, and I was on top of the world. That is where I left off.

Nutcracker is a famous ballet with music composed by Tchaikovsky. 2010 was the second year I was in it, however, it was with a new company. And by new, I mean new. New costumes, dancers, stage, choreography, and director. I was cast as a Courtier Lady and as part of the corpse de ballet for Waltz of the Flowers. In the end I had very sore feet and I was very tired. I had a total of (I think) ten people come to see me dance. It all worked out great and I got to wear an amazing costume.

All in all, my dancing experience in California has been great. I would like to thanks my parents for all the time and effort they put in to get me there, back, and fed. And I would like for all of you to have the opportunity to see me dance, sometime.

Love Mara

This past weekend we celebrated, with a couple of friends, Micah’s achievement on making it to the two year mark. Despite the fairly hot weather, a barbeque was in order with Gaynor once again directing the menu and doing most of the food preparation. Needless to say, the food was excellent. We also supplemented Gaynor’s food with a 3 foot long burrito we picked up from a local restaurant. We were wondering how best to eat such a thing but it soon became obvious (disappointingly, we merely cut it up).

Micah — despite cutting his back molars at the moment — had a great time. Many of the children stayed to play a bit longer, helping to make up for his two big brothers who were unable to make it. I know he’s missing them but they both seem to be having a great time where they are at the moment.

We were recently asked to help a local club, in which the girls participate, with gaining sponsorship. While I certainly applaud Pepsi’s philanthropy, the irony of a soft drink company sponsoring health initiatives — like the 100 Mile Club Ariana and Bryna both run in — seems to be ignoring the elephant in the room. Better to give than not I suppose.

By the way, Ari and Bryna have both managed to run well over 100 miles this academic year. Both were the first girls in their grades to reach that level and Bryna is the current overall leader in her year level. She does it by keeping up with Ariana.

There are many wonderful things about Australia. I like Australia because it has kangaroos. I like kangaroos because it can jump fast and far. I like Australia because it has koalas. I like koalas because they sleep a long time like my sister[1]. I like going to the beach. I like going to the beach because I can get wet in the sea. All in all, I like Australia.

[1] Editor’s Note: Mara is the sister in question.

In the past we’ve gone to some lengths to keep the children at the same school, mostly for stability while other things changed. However, circumstances change and now, with the children stretching across age group boundaries, we find ourselves with children going to four different schools this academic year.

Bryna and Ariana are in the first and fifth grades respectively at the local elementary (primary, Gründschule) school. Bryna’s reading has come along in leaps and bounds over the summer and she is enthusiastically reading everything she can get her hands on. Ariana will continue to do well in all areas I’m sure as last year’s report card was very good.

Mara has just begun her second, and final, year at the middle school, also called junior high school. She has virtually all the same teachers that Elijah had last year and Joshua had the year before that. Hopefully the teachers won’t suffer from Glass burnout. One of her favourite subjects is Honors Choir. Given my Australian education history, I’ve always thought of choir as an extra-curricular activity rather than an actual subject but they have a different point of view here.

Elijah, meanwhile, will be going to high school proper. It’s a big school (around 4000 students I believe) but seems to have decent teachers and a reasonable curriculum. He is looking forward to the sporting aspects and has intentions on trying out for the track team. I don’t think he’ll find the academic side too taxing, though he’ll still need to put in a consistent effort.

Finally, Joshua will be attending another high school — after his first (freshman) year at the high school Elijah will be attending — that is much smaller (around 400-500 students) and is located on the same campus as a community college. This high school, known as a middle college high school, allows and, in fact, encourages the students to take college courses in place of high school subjects. The student then receives a double credit both towards their high school completion and towards actual college. For high school, because it is equivalent or above the high school subject requirement and for college because, well it actually is a college course. This way a student who applies themselves and takes a fair few college courses can complete a two-year Associate’s degree, which can then transfer as the first two years of four year Bachelor’s degree — at least here in the US. We think the school and the academic challenges will suit Joshua well. The main motivation, however, for having Joshua attend there and take as many college courses as possible is to help his standing should we move back to Australia before he has completed high school. Essentially, we’d like him to be as close to an Australian or German standard as possible and that should keep his options open as to where he might attend university — be that Australia, here in the US or even back in Germany.

So lots of running around, I expect, and keeping on top of the information that’ll come from all the schools will require some diligence. But all over I believe it should be an interesting academic year.

Amazingly, one year has passed since we welcomed Micah into the family. And while the year has appeared to fly by it’s easy to see how long it really is by looking at the progress Micah has made. Apart from having his older brothers and sisters (usually) at his beck and call, he has also charmed quite a few friends of the family. Probably something about those blue eyes and easy grin …

So we celebrated his successful completion of his first year on the planet with the usual gift-giving and a family dinner, the menu being a favourite of the celebratee. Gifts included a ride-on car — he has very strong legs — and a mini basketball. He loves to throw the ball and chase it. A fairly good arm too.

The menu was chosen by Gaynor which she based on careful observation of the speed with which he wolfed down certain foods. Consequently, we enjoyed a lovely dinner of chicken drumsticks and corn on the cob. Of course, Gaynor’s now-traditional, Year One Gateaux was a particular treat.