October - December 2014

Jack's Fall season soccer team won their U10 league. Kate and Anna continued in ballet class, and Anna auditioned for the Lafayette Ballet production of the Nutcracker, receiving two roles this year. The Nutcracker performance will be in January. Jack and Anna got a chance to meet Charlie Walker, a retired NASA Astronaut.  In November, we visited Granny and Grandpa for Thanksgiving, and they visited us in December for an early Christmas. Anna and Jack performed in two piano recitals, and Jack started with indoor soccer. Just after Christmas, we all flew to visit Oma and Grandpa Be-bap in Tucson.

Throw-in

Soccer Trophy

2014 Boo at the Zoo

With Astronaut Charlie Walker

Sneering pumpkin, sneering Kate

Anna's Halloween pumpkin

end results of Halloween carving

indoor soccer action

big kick coming

inside Cincinnati Museum Center

part of the 2014 Holiday Train display

receiving Achievement in Music awards after the piano recital

Christmas gift

Christmas morning

getting a ride in Tucson

Reid Park Zoo peacock (keeping the streak alive)

testing out the marimba

kids in a log

photo from the "bone yard" tour

July - September 2014

Late summer included some intensive ballet classes for Anna during July; also, Jack, Anna and Dad ran in the Zoo Run Run 5K.  We met up with our friends Ruth and Kevin with their mom in Washington, DC for lots of tours, museums and exploration.  We started up with school after we returned home.  There aren't too many pictures from late August into early September, in part because Kate fell and broke her left arm on Labor Day weekend.  She spent some time at Riley Children's Hospital in Indy, and she had surgery to place pins in her arms for a few weeks.  She's better now.  While she was hurt, she didn't want pictures with her cast on.  Jack was looking forward to soccer starting, and his team got off to a good start with the first few games at the end of September.

Selfie before the Zoo Run Run

Anna after summer ballet recital

Crossley family at 7th and Indiana in Washington DC

with Kevin and Ruth at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden fountain

TJ with excerpt from the Declaration of Independence

Kate at FDR Memorial

MLK Jr Memorial

In the crowd atop the Lincoln Memorial

White House from the South

lots of trips on the Metro

touching a moon rock at the Air and Space Museum

stand back, we're about to do science!

at the Zoo to see the pandas

fooling around at the zoo

evening after our West Wing tour

more science at the Natural History Museum

on the National Mall (a Mall with no stores? - that took a little explaining)

start of soccer season (we had a chilly September)

April - June 2014

During the spring, Kate had her first ballet recital; she was really excited about this.  Anna continued to dance with the ballet, too, and Jack continued to play soccer.  Dad seems to only get good action pictures during throw-ins.  Thankfully, Jack is very good at those.  Jack got to compete in the Cub Scout council-level Pinewood Derby; his car won one heat, but his combined time was not quite good enough to get to the finals.  We all took a trip to South Dakota to visit Great-grandpa Bill and Great-grandma Sally.  At the end of June, Anna and Jack ran with Mom in the Hyde Park Blast.  This was their first-ever 4-mile race.  Kate did the kids' race, and we've got a video of that.  She was looking for her cheering section, and once she saw us, she took off...

At Purdue's Springfest

Council Pinewood Derby at Tippecanoe Mall

Kate rehearsing for the ballet recital

Throw-in 1 (toes on the ground)

Throw-in 2 (drag the back foot)

Throw-in 3 (over the defender to your teammate)

Ready to go to the recital

Anna before the recital

Don't worry, its a fake snake

The climbing structure inside the South Dakota Children's Museum

Kate's Muffler and Brake Shop (if Kate can't fix it; it ain't broke.)

Jack, Susan and Anna heading towards the finish of the Hyde Park Blast

 

Kate's finish for the Hyde Park Blast Kids' Race

January - March 2014

We started off 2014 at home this year.  Lots of snow this winter and more cold than usual.  We did get in some sledding and some ice skating.  Just after New Year's is when the Lafayette Ballet Company presents the Nutcracker.   This year Anna made her debut as one of Mother Ginger's girls.  We got back to swimming lessons (indoors, of course).  In March, we took a short trip during our Spring Break to St. Louis, where we got to see the Gateway Arch and several museums.  Jack and Anna got to celebrate their birthday on the trip.  Even though Spring started in March, the snow and cold persisted.  We are looking forward to the weather warming up.

Mother Ginger's girls at dress rehearsal

Jack helped by handing out programs for the Nutcracker

With Mother Ginger
(maybe Dad should have cropped the random hand out of the photo)

Kate smiling; notice her new shorter hair style

One of our many major snowstorms (this is right before the final show of the Nutcracker)

Our ballerina extraordinaire after the last show

Kate in her first season of ice skating lessons

Sledding near the Purdue campus

One of our several stops atop Slayter Hill for sledding

Jack at the ice rink

More ice skating class

Swimming lessons are indoors, of course

Jack with his second place pinewood derby car, trophy and half his "pit crew" (the other half took the picture)

Spring break in St. Louis

At the top of the Gateway Arch

Posing near the base of the arch (north side, if you're curious)

The beanstalk climb at the Magic House

at work at the Magic House

Kate considers a career in pet grooming

or, maybe as a bulldozer operator

or, maybe as POTUS

Anna learning about bubbles and surface tension