7th Anniversary = David Style

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

This is our 7th anniversary but the little man steal's the show every time.  We had horns, banners, and necklaces for all.  Flowers too (thank's mom).

Summer had a special black and white tie cupcake for dessert.

David & I had cookies (chocolate and chocolate chip).

We explained to David that he might not even have existed if we didn't have an anniversary.  That made it automatically a festive occasion for him.  Just a day in the life of the Fetterman family - embracing yet another celebration.  Happy Anniversary Babe!

2nd Place Ice Skating Competition

Ice Skating Competition.  The man loves the ice and has a sense of presence.  

We decided to make a holiday out of this little man's ice skating competition. 

We booked a room in San Francisco the night before (to avoid the Cinco de Mayo traffic).

We realized David had never been on the trolley car before - so what was first on the agenda - the San Francisco Trolley Cars.

Does this street look familiar?  The most crocked street in the world - yes - it is Lombard Street in San Francisco

He loved it.

Check out the Traffic Sign

(snakelike arrow and a speed limit of 5 miles an hour)

The next question:  Where did we go?

Well you probably already guessed it if you know kids and you know San Francisco: 

Ghiradelli Square for ice cream!  Best chocolate anywhere.

It was a family event - not just a kid thing - trust me.

Yes this was the cherry or the topping on a family outing (literally in this case).

But back to the reason we were up there.  The competition was at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Summer and David are waiting for David's turn to come up.  Doesn't hurt to watch in the meantime.  

These folks were good.

This is us just capturing the moment.  

We know how fleeting all this stuff really is and how it is really a moment to enjoy just being a family.   The event (although important in case you are reading this little man) is really only the punctuation in the book of life.  Events are important but you come to realize over time, that they are really just ways of celebrating the love that brings and keeps us all together.

Oh yes - back to the competition.  

David is up.

He did his one foot glide beautifully - very smooth, very long, and very elegant across the ice.

The end result of his complete routine (with swizzle and everything) as well as the competition:  

2nd prize and a trophy.

Way to go little man.

What a day!

David's Violin Recital - May 2012

David's Spring Violin Recital.

This is one busy man.  He had his spring violin recital this evening.  He played Etude.  It is a pretty long piece to play for a 5 year old kid.

Summer and David have been working on it for about 17 days.  That is pretty quick to memorize a new song and play it well, at least according to his teacher.

The recital began with the requisite tuning ritual as you can see below.

Then the man played - not a bad job at all.  Listen if you have a moment or two.

[click here or on the photo above to hear his performance]

Then the kids were showered with flowers - which they richly deserve.

This takes discipline and hard work and persistence. (I am talking about the kids not the parents here - of course if you have ever been in this role - coaching and mentoring and teaching - you know kudos go to Summer and David's teacher as well.  I can only play Twinkle, Twinkle on the violin at this point - so he is way ahead of me.)

The group did a great job and it was a lovely way to spend the evening together as a family.

Lindsay Bauman is David's teacher. As you can see, she is very proud of David tonight.

Not a bad life - this little 5 year old man has.

Checkmate!

Checkmate!  What a drag!

Ok.  He did it.  He got me - checkmate.  Is my ego deflated - no way. 

Just got me to really focus and get him right back with checkmate in 5 moves.  Very mature of me I know but wow - a five year old kid.  I was definitely underestimating the little man.

In a short period of time he has jumped (so to speak) from just capturing pieces to real strategies.  You can see below his move - where he got me.  He was so proud.

If that were not enough, he then gave me a demonstration of how to checkmate another way.  (See video for lecture on his new move.  I am going to brush up a lot.)