Oliver! Production

Instead of soccer this fall Jacqueline joined the Bay Area educational theater company's production of Oliver!  We knew this was going to be a big commitment for the whole family but we were all excited to see Jacqueline get to start a new sport.

 First there was set construction.  While Bob did the lion share of this activity, Jacqueline and Ashton (and even Sofia) pitched in to help.

There were several activities including a "twins' day where Jacqueline and her friend made it into the winners circle (notice the matching casts).

 Once we got to the big stage there was both the intense "tech week" as well as the full stage and props to work with.  Everyone was very excited (and a bit tired).

 Of course, there might have been some electronics in the in between times.

 She had several scenes at the top of the bridge, again, not the best iphone shots.

 She had a professional head shot and a bio.

 and she even had fans.

 both friends and family members.

 By the 8th show mom started getting pretty proficient with the stage makeup.

 but the best show was the last oen where there were more flowers and BFFs coming to see all the hard work.  Well done our pick-pocket!

Fall [soft] ball

 There is a fall softball league that helps the girls get more practice in the off season.  Bob helped to coach this league and Ashton enjoyed playing with many of the girls from her all star league.

 I didn't get to see many of the games due to overlap with the rest of the schedule but the games I did get to showed a real improvement in the skills of the girls.  They are now really confident stealing bases and fielding plays.

 And the best part of the season was winning the championship trophy.

Volleyball

Since she didn't have enough going on this fall, Ashton decided to give Volleyball a try as well.  While calling this logistically complicated is an understatement, mom was really happy for her get a chance to play volleyball as I loved the sport when I was a teen.

 Watching elementary volleyball for the first time I had a few observations

1. The games are very short -- if you are 15 minutes late you are likely to have missed a good %age of the game.

 2. They smartly have a good amount of flexibility on where the girls can serve the ball.  This really impressed me as it gave the game less waiting and helped the girls build skills at the same time.

 3. It's super hard to get a decent photo with an iPhone.  Both because the light is bad and the zoom is really grainy.

Ashton loved the sport and was able to develop some good confidence and skills in the short season.  This was especially nice since she was one of the only fifth graders who had never played before.