Dance recital

 Here are some pictures of Samantha's dance recital back in June.  It was really fun.  Most of the picture are of her ballet piece.  All of the classes did a ballet dance to a beatles song and then they all came together at the end for a really stunning first half finale.  The recital was pretty long, about 3 or 4 hours (no joke!).  Samantha had to leave school early so she could be on stage to rehearse early.  It was pretty crazy, but there were really some great pieces there.  She really loved dancing and the recital.  It was a pretty long weekend though. 

 Here are all of the younger dancers at the dress rehearsal 1st haf finale.  In the real show there were a few other classes that joined.

 Posing in the front yard.

The only picture I have of the dance "vogue/poker face"  It was their jazz dance and was really fun.  Can't believe I didn't take a close up of her.  It was my favorite outfit. 

Samantha with some of her fellow dancers.  She definately wants to do it again!

So  for our Stoker reunion this year we went to Maine!  It was beautiful (but soggy).  The whole family was together.  That was the first time we were all together since Maia was married.  It was pretty crazy.  Usually Danny is the one missing.  He just got back from Egypt and we were able to convince him to come visit for a whole week.  

We began our reunion in Acadia National Park in Maine.  Unfortuantely the day we left it was raining cats and dogs, and Joey had a mysterious rash all over his body.  Justin was pretty sure it was poison ivy, but just to be safe he took him to the doctor and we met up a little later.  After a 7 hour car ride we got out in Acadia and the rain was just pouring.  All of the food was in the car Justin was driving.  We hurriedly put up the tent and decided to go out to eat and get dry.  We went to the Lazy lobster and had pizza and lobster.  The owners were super nice and let us linger until the rain let up a bit.  Justin and Joey and mom met us there.  That night was soooo rainy.  Fortunately some friends had lent us some cots and we had the boys sleep in the van so no one was on the ground because when we woke up there were puddles all over the tent.  We had to take our bedding to the laundromat so we could use it the next day.

Besides the rain, Acadia was beautiful.  We had a great time hiking, rock climbing and looking at tidal pools. It's just too bad that it rained so much.  After Acadia, we went to Fort Knox which was about an hour away.  It is an unfinished army fort.  It was really quite extensive and impressive.  The kids spent a good afternoon wandering through the corridors there.  After that we went to Rockland and spent the morning swimming in the hotel pool and the afternoon exploring the museum of transportation which was pretty neat.  Friday night Justin and the kids came home to Connecticut along with Maia and Kendall and Brigham.   I stayed with mom, dad, Matt, Colleen and Danny and spent Saturday on the freedom trail.  It was great, and fun not to have to chase kids around all day.  Justin was a true gem and cooked and cleaned while we were gone.  It was a great trip with the family.

Me, Kate, Justin, Michelle, Samantha, Nathan, Joey and John searching tidal pools and climbing rocks.

Joey, John, Samantha, Nathan, Justin, Kate, Megan and Michelle in the background.