2004 - Pictures and Memories

February brought more cold and snow, and Gary's mother came to visit.

In March, we delivered lots and lots of Girl Scout Cookies (250+ boxes) and Rowan began tennis lessons. We skipped the St. Patrick's Day parade this year, but did attend a St. Patty's themed party together.

In April, it was Gary's turn to reach 30.

May began the normal rush of spring activities as school and clubs wound down for another year.

In June, Rowan completed first grade, danced in her third dance recital with Charlotte Klein Dance Centers, finished up with gymnastics for the time being, and began on a cheerleading team. She also began a summer spent at several day camps: Girls' Inc., Girl Scouts, and gymnastics (yay! Giguere's finally has a website to link to in these things :)).

July was full of camps, warm days, and weekends relaxing with the family. This was also the month Heather trained for being a camping leader for Girl Scouts, which included two evening classes, followed by a 24 hour camping trip with all the other leaders away in the woods.

During the first week of August, we all had a week of vacation. We went camping, and visited a waterpark on the coldest day of the summer (really, we were so cold, we only lasted a few hours, even Rowan! Brr). We had a grand time with each other, and the week - as expected - went by way too quickly. Then it was back to work and camp, and preparing for Rowan to start at a new school - Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School, including buying a new wardrobe of uniform clothes. We had an orientation, and she began second grade during the last week of August.

September brought us back to dance, church and Girl Scouts - this year with Heather as a leader in Rowan's troop. Rowan settled in at her new school, loving 2nd grade and her new teacher. We went away on the annual church trip to Ferry Beach, Maine, where it was very cold and pouring rain for most of our stay (it finally got sunny as we were preparing to leave). It was well worth it, though, to have time away from the mad rush at home.

October was full of the usual stuff, plus a few birthday parties, and Rowan began singing in the church kids' choir. She also got to dress up twice - first as a ballet dancing bride for a party (Gary went as an animal catcher, being attacked by rabid stuffed animals), and then on the actual day as a unicorn.

Rowan turned 7 in November, much to our surprise (how DID that happen??). We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving at Grandma's house, and Heather voted - yet again - for the losing Libertarian candidate for president. Someday, maybe...

Finally, December snuck up on all of us and pounced. It was the usual rush of parties, holiday festivities, and gift buying. A highlight was Rowan and Heather attending a local production of The Nutcracker (sure to become a mother-daughter tradition). There was also a snow day thrown in for good measure (Rowan visited Heather at work for a few hours that day). We had Christmas morning at home, afternoon with Grandma, hosted a brief visit by Grandpa and Jody the day after (they were rushing back home to avoid a storm), and then headed to Heather's Grandparents home on Long Island, NY for a few days. We were quite surprised to find almost all of Heather's cousins were also heading for a visit - it was a nice, and unexpected, reunion. We returned home in time for New Year's Eve, where Rowan went to a sleepover at Gigueres, and Heather and Gary decided to skip First (Last) Night festivities in favor of staying in.

Goodbye, 2004!

This picture was taken in the spring, while Heather was playing with black & white film.

Another fooling around with black & white film picture - don't you love how secure Rowan looks wrapped in Daddy's big safe hands?

Rowan's gymnastics center had an informal "competition" for students in May. The kids performed on each apparatus with others at the same level, and were scored on how they did, though the scoring was both generous and not kept as a central part of the event (in other words, it was low-stress for the kids :)). This is Rowan doing a scale on the balance beam.

At the same competition...

After the competition, ribbons were handed out in front of the big flags. Rowan had red ribbons (second place) in 3 events, and a yellow (third) in vaulting. She's a typical female American gymnast, weak on the vault ;)

This is Gary and Rowan in her dance recital costume in our backyard.

Rowan showing off her dance recital costume. She did a tap dance routine to "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows" with her class, and actually did the routine without watching the teacher offstage this year! We weren't so sure about the bright bright yellow costume when we first saw the pictures in the studio, but once all the girls were on stage together, they were pretty darn cute.

In June, Girls' Inc., where Rowan attended an afterschool program all year, they had a year-end event. The girls received awards for various things (Rowan got one for art), and we got to see projects the girls had worked on throughout the year.

As mentioned above (you DID read there, right??), it was cold and miserable at Ferry Beach when we were there in September, but finally it cleared enough to take out the camera. Barely.

Rowan is finally getting tall enough to hug Bear without having to reach up. If you haven't been with us from the start, Bear was a present for her first or second Christmas from Jim that towered over little baby Rowan. Bear stays at Grandma and Jim's house, and has now taken the place of a Christmas tree, with all of Rowan's presents sitting on his lap. This year, she even got a present from Bear! Every family has its quirks. Right???

Heather in a festive mood.

Rowan was fascinated with how many ornaments Great Grandma has for her little foot tall tree, and wanted to examine each. and. every. one. Closely.

Not much to say about this one... Rowan sitting on a bench outside Great Grandma's. It's always nice when it's warm enough not to have to wear a coat in December!

All good things must come to an end, so we finally had to leave New York. There's something delightful about being by the water at sunset that makes me (Heather) feel all fuzzy inside.