I got out of bed just before 9:30 today which was delicious after a week of getting up early to exercise and a late night of work last night. Lily was writing and working out while I was stuck in bed. Then we both got ready for the day and readied the harp, house and food for Lydia’s harp recital. I knew she had a recital today, but it was only this morning I connected the dots that this was the recital to pass off her Book 1 for Suzuki. That made me realize what a big deal this was. Lydia was passing a major milestone in her harp! My dad and Suzanne also made it over, as did Lydia’s harp teacher, Annamae. Here are the videos of her performance. She played every Book 1 song by memory, and she did outstanding!
After the recital, my dad and Suzanne left to Andrea’s 60th birthday party, and we all chatted with Annamae. She is such an outstanding teacher and a truly delightful and sweet person. We talked a lot about the next harp we will be needing to buy for Lydia. We may have to buy a mid-sized harp for $10,000 and then upgrade to the full-size $20,000 later, or if her arms are long enough now, we can just buy the $20,000 one now and skip the $10,000 one. Lydia is going to go to Annamae’s house to sit at the different harps and see how her size works with them. I told her to envision herself having long arms when she does that :). We had an incredibly wonderful time chatting with Annamae. She is so fun!
Annamae also gave Lydia a sweet card.
Then I spent two hours trying to fix my gopro which I just used for the first time today with Lydia’s piano recital. I won it at a raffle at Bora Bora. I spent two frustrating hours trying to get it to sync to my phone. In the end, it turns out that I had enabled a setting that prevented me from doing the operation I wanted. The whole experience kindof threw me off, but it was ok. I then played with Ammon for 45 minutes or so and helped get the house ready for the family olympics. Yes, you heard right, THE FAMILY OLYMPICS!!!!!
Lydia organized these Olympics completely herself. She did self-enrichment activities (running a mile, memorizing or writing poems, studying and discussing a scripture etc) to earn $25 grab bags from the summer carnival to buy the equipment. She made a list of events. She planned and visioned everything, and was thrilled to learn Baps and Bapa could come (they came back from Andrea’s party to participate). So here are the first annual Darais Summer Olympics!!
Event 1: Hurdles
We started with the hurldes. I was especially tickled because I was a hurdler in high school. We all took it super seriously (and dad took a harmless tumble) and Mary came away with the gold.
At the end of each event we played Olympic and patriotic music, and had a medal ceremony handing out medals and taking pictures.
Event #2 Sack Races:
In the picture below, you will see Georgia spectating. She felt good today and watched the whole Olympics. We were soooo happy to have her join all of the fun!!
Mary was an amazing sack-racer and ended up getting silver!
Lydia had an amazing performance and got Gold. Ammon also did great, getting bronze. Dad and I really put our hearts into it. Dad had a tumble on his first round, but got his technique down with huge hops.
Here is Clarissa doing her sack race. We had the fold the sack in half so it didn’t swallow her :).
Go Suzanne!
Clarissa is an honorable mention in this ceremony. Ammon got the bronze, though you wouldn’t know it as he is hiding in a sack :).
Event 3: Egg on spoon racing.
Event 4: Three-legged race
This is my favorite video from all the olympic events. Just seeing everyone in the same view trying to walk with three legs makes me so happy. Dad and Suzanne ran away with the gold on this one. Mary and Lily got 2nd, and Ammon and Lydia got bronze. I had so much fun racing with Clarissa!!
Event 5: Small Boat Race
In this event, contestants had to blow their boats to the end of the pond, and then back again. It was a timed race.
Suzanne clocked a solid time with her boat, and amazingly the open-ended cup-boat didn’t sink!
Mary’s milk-jug boat was super speedy and she won first place. Lydia’s capsized in the water because of the adorable sail in it, so she removed that, and scored silver with a solid race. Ammon did a great job with my boat and won bronze!
Event 6: Crockett
Lydia originally had a big-boat race slated, meaning contestants would race inside of a boat they created, but she decided that was maybe not going to work. She replaced it with Crockett.
If I look happy in this picture, maybe it’s because Crockett was my favorite game to compete in because of how competitive it was.
I started off really hot by making it halfway down the field on my first turn. But then it all went downhill for me from there.
First dad and Lydia started gaining on me.
You can see both of their balls ahead of mine in this picture.
I think everyone was having great time!
Lydia was super sneaky! She started out behind, and then made a charge at the end and won first place!!
Lily was also sneaky! She started out behind, but rushed into second place at the end!
Event#7: Long Jump
The long jump was loads of fun. Everyone put in solid jumps, but the big showdown was between Lydia and Mary. They each did six jumps landing at almost exactly the same distance every time (about 5 and 2/3 feet). They finally had a sudden-death face-off and Mary pulled out a jump over 6 feet to take the gold. It was quite a match!!
Event # 8: Trampoline:
The grand finale was everyone’s trampoline routine. We went in order of age.
This is Clarissa’s routine. I call it unbridled joy!
Ammon did a great job on his routine!
Mary had a gold medal performance!
Lydia’s somersaults were outstanding!
Dad and Suzanne also had fun jumping.
And we ended with some group jumping. Video 1. Video 2.
Mary got gold. Lydia got silver and Ammon got Bronze.
After the Olympics we had a delicious Abergene dinner and had a wonderful time all talking. I particularly remember reciting with Lydia our favorite I Love Lucy episodes to everyone. After dinner we did Cold Stone Icecream cake, and then Lily, Georgia and Lydia opened presents from Dad, and Suzanne and others form the Miner family. They are so amazing and sweet to always celebrate our birthdays so well. Lydia got string art for the yard and a great book. Lily got a sephora gift card, a beautiful jewelry dish, money and socks, and Georgia got a beautiful keychain and books. They are so loving and generous! After cake, Lily did some touring of some updates in the house and then we called it a night, put the kids to bed and tidied up.
Some things really stick out to me about this day. First, thank you Lydia so much. You had the vision for this day and did the work to make it happened. It has been one of my favorite days ever as a family, so THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PUTTING THIS TOGETHER!
Also, all of the children are just so much fun to be around and play with. Thank you for being my treasures!
Additionally, when everything was over, Lily and I talked about how loved we felt by my parents. This day would not have been the same at all with out them. Having them come to the harp recital made it extra special, and the olympics had so much extra fun because of their presence. They were so fun and sweet the whole time and really engaged with both the kids and the activities. Thank you!
Also, I’m thrilled that Georgia felt so good today. Her presence also made everything so special and her sweet spirit uplifts everyone.
Lastly, Lydia’s harp recital was a reminder to me of all of the work both Lily and Lydia have put in for four years. It was not easy, but you did it, and I’m so grateful you both stuck with it to build such an amazing gift with Lydia.
What a day! Signing off!