Skiing, Day Four

Of all the days on our trip, the last day of skiing was The. Absolute. Best. Seriously. The conditions were perfect, the weather was beautiful, the trails were groomed. And we were ready to hit it. And, baby, hit it we did.

We played hard and long. If this day didn't make up for the travesty at Vail, nothing would. 32,130 vertical feet, 24 lifts, on the slopes from 8:30 am to 4 pm with only 45 minutes in breaks. It ROCKED!!!!

We also got some good pro pics :)

We celebrated the end of a great week of skiing at Empire Burger. I got nachos, but Mike enjoyed his burger.  We continued the t-shirt hunt and made our purchases. We ended up getting Connor's shirt at The Shirt Mine. It is close to the one below, except we got him red instead of tie dye.

We got Fiona a shirt at Breck Kidz. I can't find a pic (we forgot to take one), but it is pink and says "Ski like a girl... You Wish!"

We also got shirts for ourselves... I got this one

And Mike's:

 All in all, we had a super time! Thursday was the day!!

So, that wraps up the skiing recaps, but there is more to come! Up next will be adventures from the last day of our trip. Then a trip recap, followed by a gadgets and gear post. Stay tuned!

Public Speaking

As adults, many of us have experienced the joys of public speaking. Mike regularly speaks in front of groups that may have as many as 200 people. I occasionally give talks in front of groups of 20-30 people (or in rare cases a couple hundred). I still remember a college class that required speaking in front of the class of 15 students and the difficulty some of my classmates had screwing up the courage to present.

At Connor and Fiona's schools, Dexter and Southfield, public speaking is a regular part of the curriculum beginning in kindergarten. Events are attended by several other grades, as well as parents and other family members.

Fiona had her annual public speaking on February 28. She was all ready to go, looking very public speaking worthy.

Her class talked about the moon. There was a program made specifically for their presentation that included a bibliography on the back page.

Fiona did a spectacular job. She delivered her lines very clearly, made excellent eye contact and hit the points for her positions on speaking. You can see a video here. The video is below.

Connor had his public speaking the following day. As luck would have it, that was Leap Day. So that was the topic of their talk. He looked very good in his school clothes despite having to deal with his sling.

The art teacher created a impressive collage for the event (Fiona's speech also had a collage -- of Goodnight Moon; Connor had a program, also, I just didn't care for the art).

Connor spoke very clearly and delivered his lines with perfection. We were all very pleased. You can see a video of his speech here. The video is below.

I am so excited for them to have the opportunity to develop strong public speaking skills that will serve them for a lifetime. Good job, guys!