Another trip to NYC - La Bayadere

Last weekend, Peter's first whole weekend home from CSU, we took a trip to NYC to see American Ballet Theatre's La Bayadere.  We hit no traffic so arrived with plenty of time to check out a farmer's market near Lincoln Center.  We bought some lavender from Long Island and some apple cider from upstate NY, but most of the time was spent selecting mini-pies...

Peter and Anna humored me and let me take their photo in front of the fountain, which was actually a nice place to be in the heat of the day...

The performance itself was a mixed bag.  We specifically went to see Julie Kent as Nikiya, but she had clearly not bounced back from having a baby last year.  Jose Manuel Carreno as Solor, however, was fantastic, as was the corp member, Hee Seo, who played Gamzatti.  We're thinking she'll move up in rank to a soloist soon.

We went to Josephina's for dinner (our usual)....

Peter noticed we had 2 salts but no pepper on the table, so he "encouraged" Anna to trade one of our salts for the pepper on an adjacent table...

The waiter apparently saw this, because the next time he walked by, he very casually took the extra salt off that table, and put it back on ours...

Peter and Anna thought this was hysterical.  We had a great, LONG day, but at least Peter and Anna had a restful car-ride home...

Trip to the NY Botanical Garden

Last weekend was Anna's final performance with Amherst Ballet, and it couldn't have been in a more beautiful location with more gorgeous weather!  The dancers were invited to the New York Botanical Garden to perform excerpts from the Emily Dickinson Ballet on an open stage in front of the conservatory as part of the Garden's month-long celebration of Emily Dickinson's garden and poetry.  In life, Emily Dickinson was known as a wonderful gardener; her poems were only published after her death.

Anna and I arrived a few hours early so we could enjoy the gardens before a grueling schedule of rehearsals and performances.  Here she is relaxing in a tree...

 

Anna enjoyed photographing the flowers, especially all the peonies.  This type was her favorite.  She thought they looked like enormous daisies!

And here is another of her favorite flowers, foxgloves....

The Garden is enjoyed by a lot of wildlife, and there were birds, squirrels, chipmunks and bunnies everywhere.  Here is a baby bunny under a boxwood hedge...

Those photos were all from Friday.  Anna's performances were on Saturday and Sunday.  Here is Anna in her role as young Lavinia (Emily's sister).  Isn't the setting beautiful?

Between performances, the dancers handed out brochures about the ballet (not Anna's favorite thing to do), and some, including Anna, got to teach Creative Movement classes in the Children's Garden.  She liked working with the kids very much.  One of the little visitors who took a class was Anna's cousin, here in a photo with Grandmom...

I "kidnapped" Anna on Sunday during a time she was supposed to hand out brochures, and we went up to the Rock Garden.  This was our favorite part of the Botanical Garden.  There was a beautiful waterfall, which also happens to be on the postcard Anna bought, looking exactly like this...

But the highlight of the Rock Garden was definitely all the little green lizards running around.  Anna spent a lot of time photographing them.  See the little guy in the middle of the photo?

The Botanical Garden is truly an oasis of calm and beauty in the middle of the City.  We are very glad that Grandmom, Elise and Annelise were able to share such a beautiful weekend with us!  Here is a photo of the cousins, looking very happy to be hanging out together...

And a final photo of Anna, after all her performances were done...

Anna is 11!

Yesterday the little Boo Bear turned 11!  It was a long day, starting with presents and a birthday breakfast out at Sylvester's in the morning, followed by a surprise trip to the nursery for Anna to pick out some butterfly bushes for her garden, then ballet rehearsals in the afternoon and a performance in the evening, and ending with her birthday cake at 10:30 pm, after removing her makeup!

Here are some photos of Anna's special day...

Crash was very interested in Anna opening her presents...

Anna was happy to get some little additions to her doll house...

But here she is wearing her favorite present (from her Dad, of course)...

And finally, at the end of her long day, it was time for cake.  She looks so tired...

But Anna really perked up when Peter called to wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!