2010 Doylestown Kids’ Triathlon

Posted on June 7, 2010 by felice

This Sunday, the girls competed in the 2010 Doylestown Kids’ Triathlon at the Fanny Chapman Pool, in Doylestown PA.

The 10,11,12 year-olds had to swim 75 yds (3 lengths), bike 3 miles and run 1 mile, and Gabriella finished in 44:04

The 7,8,9 year-olds had to swim 50 yds (2 lengths), bike 1.75 miles and run a half mile and Elisa finished in 27:33

About 300 boys and girls competed, between 10 and 15 years of age, and we were impressed with the effort everyone made. Mama & Papa were a little ‘hoarse’ from all the cheering … especially for their home team athletes.

Pre-Race TatStar Spangled BannerGabriella Breathing the Breath StrokeGabriella happy to be out or the poolGabriella not happy to be runningIn TransitionGabriella at the end of the ride, bring led back to transitionGabriella at the Finish!Gabriella with the race behind herElisa Pre-RaceElisa in the WaterElisa Taking a Breath and SmilingElisa running to transitionElisa at the end of bikingElisa transitioning to runElisa at the finishElisa with her race behind herThe Proud Father of Two Triathletes

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Edgewood Vocal & Band Concert

Posted on May 29, 2010 by felice

Dance, music, she does it all! Along with the year-end Dance Recital, Gabriella had her 5th grade Chorus performance and Band Concert this month too. She lead the vocal concert off with some metallophone accompaniment and played her trumpet in a solo quartet to the Russian Sailors Dance.

Gabriella on the MetallophoneSongs take Wing

First Chair TrumpetGabriella's SoloThe BAND

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Dance Recital, 2010

Posted on May 29, 2010 by felice

Another year has gone by, the girls are older, taller, and more mature, as you can see in the photos. They had their annual Dance Recital at Villa Victoria for their dance school, the Dance Arts of Yardley. Each performed in two dances: Elisa in “You Belong with Me” (ballet) & “Don’t Stop” (jazz). Gabriella in “PYT” (jazz) & “The Moment” (ballet). The girls sparkled, and it was an enjoyable, if not long, recital (x2)!

Formal Shots:

Elisa PosingElisa Looking GoodGabriella PosingFlash Dance Gabriella

Performance Shots:

Elisa the NerdElisa, the Graceful NerdElisa JazzSassy ElisaHigh Kicky GabriellaStop in the Name of GabriellaGabriella the BallerinaGraceful Gabriella

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Garden Prep … 2010

Posted on May 24, 2010 by felice

Last year our garden was ravaged by a ground hog who devoured our sprouts, beans and zucchini, probably because we started composting, and it was used to a constant supply of food.  This year, we’re hoping for a different outcome!  Papa has constructed a new compost bin (recycled from the girls old play set) and added about 40′ of new fence to an enlarged raised-bed garden. Let’s see what our worthy opponent comes up with this year 🙂

Next up … a new pergola!

Compost BinExtended Garden Arch Nemesis, Agent Ground Hog

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Poetry by Elisa

Posted on May 19, 2010 by felice

We had a meeting with Elisa’s ‘MG’ teachers today, and of course, she’s doing great. They sent us home with her poetry folder, and we’d like to share two of our favorites with you:

What is Confused?

by Elisa Macera

Confused is Sky Blue
The blue of nature
Confused is when you don’t know what to do
When your parents say, “Do this. Do that.”
Your mind says, “AHHHH! What can I do?”
Do you understand?
Or are you confused?

What is Anger?

by Elisa Macera

Anger is red
When sick in bed
Anger is the feeling of shouts
Anger has no doubts
When you are angry you are mad
Maybe a third sad
Anger is when smoke comes out of your ears
That’s just a saying that I hear
Anger is when your cheeks turn red
When you are not fed
When your heart turns thin
And your head starts to spin
What is anger?
Anger is red.

 

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Race for the Cure (part II)

Posted on May 9, 2010 by felice

Today, Gabriella, her Mom, and a small group from school, ran in Philly’s Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. As you already know, a classmate of Gabriella’s, Katelyn, lost her mother to breast cancer this year, and Gabriella was very committed in showing her support for her, and the cause, by running this race.  She’s been training with her mother for the past few months, and today they ran together, with some 40,000 others, along the streets of Philadelphia … finishing in just over 36 minutes (5k). We all had to get up very early (5:30am) to make it to the race on time, so after suffering the cold, and the run, by 9:00am, everyone was already wiped. Thanks again to all who donated, and encouraged Gabriella in this endeavor … you’ll hear from her, and Elisa, again next year 🙂

The Kristen KrusadersArt MuseumHeads in the CrowdIn the Thick of it.Let the Race BeginElisa, and that's no BULLArt Museum StepsThe Temple Marching BandKristen & Mrs. DrotarThe Finish Line

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Boston Tea Party

Posted on May 8, 2010 by admin

Honor Turner, Boston Tea Party
On Friday, May 7, Gabriella’s class performed a short play about the Boston Tea Party – for all you Belgians, it was an important event in the history of our country. Gabriella played the role of Honor Turner (a fictional character as far as I can make out). Who, along with a group of woman, forcibly take the keys from Mr. Boylston in order to “steal” all of the coffee in his warehouse.

Gabriella had one of the best costumes, which in fact, was a costume that her Oma made for
her mother, when she was 17 – and yes, it was a little long, but Gabriella pretty much fit into a dress that Mama wore at 17!

Boston Tea PartyBoston Tea PartyBoston Tea PartyBoston Tea Party - the cast

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Music Recital | April 18, 2010

Posted on April 19, 2010 by felice

On Sunday, Joke, and her piano students, as well as Gabriella, gave their annual recital for parents & grandparents. Everyone did an excellent job and it was a great performance by all. The “after party” was just as enjoyable.

Recital PerformersElisa at the PianoGabriella at the guitar

View videos of Elisa & Gabriella performing:
Elisa at the Piano
Elisa playing the piano

Gabriella at the guitar
Gabriella playing the guitar


 

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Stephen Hawking

Posted on April 18, 2010 by felice

Voracious AppetiteNo, not the real Stephen Hawking, but the Turtle version.  Stephen is the school pet for the girls MG class, and every weekend, some lucky child, and his/her parents, get the opportunity of taking him home. He’s a 3-legged turtle, and somewhat ‘mobily challenged,’ like his namesake.  Never having a turtle before, we were surprised at how much personality they can have. We’ve learned that Stephen likes his food still wiggling … lettuce and banana didn’t appeal to him like a live, freshly harvested, worm from the garden.  When presented with fresh meat, he wasted no time to gobble up as many worms as he could, only stopping to chew and swallow, once as many as he could fit, were stuffed into is mouth.Stephen sunning himself

He explored quite a bit of the kitchen and family room, sunning himself in the former, but spending most of his time in the shadows of the latter. Kuzco was intrigued with our house guest as well, but never seemed threatened or ready to pounce. I have chosen to refrain from posting photos of Stephen’s bath and ‘toilet’ but that was fun for the girls to experience as well 🙂

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Father & Son

Posted on April 18, 2010 by felice

A Gift of GenerationsI know this site is mostly about “the girls” but this one is about the Macera Men. Papa and Nonno pose in front of the wisteria tree/vine that they planted soon after we moved into our house here in Yardley. It was created from Nonno’s tree, grown from seed, some 40 years ago (Papa has ‘fond’ memories as a child of crawling under the bee-infested tree to retrieve the balls that rolled under it 🙂 ). That tree is now some 15 feet tall, with it’s vine traveling up the neighboring pine tree 50+ feet into the air. Our tree is still into it’s infancy, but Nonno & Papa built a trellis for it 2 years ago, and prepared it this spring for it to move onto the soon-to-be constructed (Papa hopes) pergola.

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