Daddy-Anika time

• Popcorn from the air popper: $1
• Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone on Blu-Ray - $9
• Cheeseburgers, fries and shake @ In-And-Out - $12
• Saturday afternoon date with my oldest daughter - priceless

Test Drive

Test driving a Bike Friday Triple. Based upon the Logan ladies' reaction, one of these may be in our future. Thanks to the Berkeley family who let some strangers take their treasure out for a spin.

Anika's 2nd Recital: Perpetual Motion

Anika's Recital, 30 April 2011

Anika rides!

Anika's first ride without training wheels

Christmas 2010

The rainbow fairies, in new dresses made by Jennifer.

Rayna clutches a doll crocheted for her by Anika, who worked on it for months.

Favorite Photos of 2010

Some of our favorite photos of 2010.

Anika's First Guitar Recital

Anika performs Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Theme at the Longay Conservatory of Guitar (Oct 16, 2010).

This was after 20 weekly lessons and daily practice with Dad (who also fingers a mean Twinkle). Accompanying is Chris Mallett, her Suzuki guitar teacher.

Some subtleties of the performance for those unfamiliar with the Suzuki method:

• Good posture: tall back and straight wrist
• Dynamics: piano (soft) to forte (loud)
• Color changes: Creating differences in tone by varying position of the right hand
• Tempo: Steady pacing of the melody and followed the teacher's cues for a ritardando at the end.
• Confidence: Repetition of the process of bowing, sitting properly, preparing to play and emphasis on high standards of performance during practice gave our daughter the confidence to perform in front of a good sized audience.