Family Vacation from Ballet

For the first time in five years,

our family took

an extended family vacation

during a season of ballet.

While the kids

had ten (10) days

of no ballet,

a costume project

did make it into the car.

On the first day of vacation,

five hours of the twelve hour drive-

in between navigation duties- 

were spent taking off beads

from a couple of costumes

in order to reuse some

 of them in the beading rework

for the costumes.

My husband patiently helped remove

the remaining beads

while sitting

at Nutcracker rehearsal

the day after returning from vacation.

My son had thought

that he would have time

to do some stretching exercises

during vacation.

Alas,

this was a twelve hour a day,

go all day at full steam

vacation.

Of the six days

at Disney World, Florida-

two days were spent at EPCOT;

a midnight swim

and getting up very early

the next morning;

two days at Magic Kingdom;

a day in torrential rains

and at Downtown Disney;

a half of day of packing

and leaving.

Then a quick trip to put our feet

in the Atlantic Ocean

before continuing on toward

Savannah, Georgia.

A day in Savannah

included a Girl Scout Pilgrimage

to Juliette Gordon Low's Birthplace

and the Birthplace of Girl Scouts

in order to celebrate

100 years of Girl Scouts USA

and ten years of my daughter

being a Girl Scout,

as well as, my ten years

as a Girl Scout Leader.

A day in Atlanta

included the High Museum of Art

and a quick drive around

the Capitol building.

(On the way to Disney World,

there was a quick stop around

the Capitol building

in Tallahassee, Florida.)

The only ballet that was done

during this trip was a quick,

and a little reluctant,

pose in the Canadian area

at EPCOT

for our ballet family friends

who live in our hometown

but are originally from Canada.

(They gave us great advise from

their Disney World experiences.)

It has been a month since

we started out on our vacation;

reality is just now starting

to impose on my

vacation euphoria-

there is soooo much

to get done before

Nutcracker performances.

Family Memories

made outside of ballet,

imagine that....

Seasons of Ballet Details- Summer

"Summer
Summer Intensives"

Summer activities for our family use to include finishing up baseball season, swim team, and visiting grandparents.

Then it was a day/week/two weeks of Ballet Summer Intensive, Scout summer camps, swim team, and visiting grandparents.

Two years ago, my son received a scholarship for a two week Summer Intensive; we spent two weeks driving just over two hours one way between the grandparents' house and the Summer Intensive.

As a result of the Summer Intensive's Performance date change, my annual summer meeting for my state women's club board was missed.

However, we did drive another hour and a half out of our way to say that we got an hour before sunset beach trip and a very nice Japanese dinner.

Last year, my son had three scholarships and one partial scholarship for Summer Intensives.

This meant nine weeks of six hours of ballet, dance, and stretching/fitness classes.

We started in our hometown for two weeks; followed by four weeks driving twenty minutes one way from his grandparents' home; dropping him off with strangers (now friends) for a week two hours away; and then hometown again for two more weeks.

Improvement was definitely noticed after both summers, but most noticeable after this last one.

My son now has friends all over the world, in this country, as well as, professional dance contacts for his future as a ballet professional.

A favorite part of my summer was meeting a former Soviet ballet dancer who studied under Pushkin at the Kirov Ballet.

He told stories of traveling between the former East and West Germany before they put up the Berlin Wall. (The history buff in me loved the stories.)

Best of all, he was able to point out small things to change in one's body that makes ballet easier; my son was able to comprehend about two weeks later (his learning curve for permanent changes) and I also use the techniques in both ballet and life.

So, nine weeks of traveling for Ballet Intensives and back and forth to my daughter's Girl Scout camp, did not leave any vacation time for the family.

[Pictures will be included at a later date]