We had extra fun this year because 3 other 4H kids are in Merritt dance classes so we had some other kids to watch. Its a long 2 hours when we have to wait for Maddie's 5 minutes of performance! The big trick this year was the same as last year. Something called a double balance. Maddie was on top and kept telling us how the girl holding her was stronger than she looked. This is not a statement meant to ease a mother's mind but they aren't that far off the ground so I wasn't too worried!
After they complete that they run down to the end of the mat and leave doing cartwheels, somersaults and round offs. In these shows the kids are constantly moving. There is not a lot of sitting still especially when you are on the floor.
Concentrating right before a cartwheel!
You can see photos of some of the other acts at the Daily Gazette Website.
Here is a video of Maddie's routine. You will need to go to 3:58 minutes or so to see her. Brian wanted to make sure he would not miss it! Of course, we had directions about where to sit but still got in the wrong spot! Then, as usual, a ton of people walked right in front of us so we couldn't see Maddie for a bit but we got most of it!
Maddie has been working on memorizing The Bells by Edgar Allen Poe. She wanted to do a video of it and thought it would be OK during the morning to do it. She did pretty well despite the interruptions! She did better when the camera was off. Our littlest day care buddy thought she needed to join in so we had a little trouble but it still came out pretty cute!
On saturday we met some of our 4H buds at the Pine Bush Discovery Center for a program on Beginning Birding. They had so much fun! It was a great place and I think we will probably go back again.
First we spent time inside with Miss.Erin going over the basics of birding, using binoculars (Maddie explained that binoculars are "the bins") and how to walk in the woods (long shirt, long pants, tucks your pants in your socks, make sure to check for ticks!). When Miss.Erin asked what other parts of their body besides eyes could they use to find birds Maddie piped right up and said "Your Mouth!!! Its gotta be quiet you know.".
They were supposed to be finding the bird in a picture on the wall with the binoculars in that picture!
Then we headed outside for a walk. This was a lot of fun. Maddie found "scat". Miss.Erin said it was from a fox then Maddie took a picture of it just like Poppa. Poppa, after seeing the picture, told us that yes, it was a fox and the fox just had a meal, perhaps a mouse. I will spare you the picture of that one though! My little scientist was quite excited by that, more than seeing the birds I think!
The end of the trail we took looked out toward the Helderbergs and Indian Ladder Farms. It was really pretty and a great place for a group shot.
Gee, which kid is the biggest ham? Hmmmm.....
After the program Miss.Erin took their resident box turtle out of his display cage for some exercise in a kiddie wading pool. He also got a dead mouse to eat! Miss.Erin was going to wait for the kids to leave, thinking it would gross them out too much but they all told her to go ahead, they would love to see it! He ate it in pretty much one gulp, it was very tiny. The turtle is 60 years old they think. The last photo was taken by Maddie.
We had a good time! Maddie loved every minute and it was difficult to get her to leave. We will be going back for sure!
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