Ella and the Nutracker at the Ritz Carlton

On Monday afternoon, Ella and a friend of hers, and the two mums of course, went to a fancy afternoon tea and performance of the Nutcracker Ballet at the Ritz Carlton.

It was great... she loved it, and thought the ballerinas were magical princesses. She got a nutcracker of her very own, and she calls it my 'soldier'.

She sat up sipping hot chocolate from a china cup and was a very good girl.

We are going to make it an annual event.

Ella and the Christmas Reindeer

Ella went to a party this afternoon, and had to pose in front of the reindeer in the front yard. She always wears her leopard skin coat to such events.

Ethan Formula 1 Training

Ethan seems to be taking to cars very early. He set a new lap time across the loungeroom this afternoon and will be working on his form in the coming season.

First Snow

The first snow came early this year! First week of December and we have already had 5 inches. They are predicting lots this year, and although Ella loves it, that driveway seems awfully long when you have to shovel it!

Crazy Kids

Ella and Ethan are constant source of amusement, and the funny thing now is how they interact with each other. One always trying to outdo what the other one did. Here are a few photos from this morning...

It's Fall

It's fall and there are leaves everywhere. Good thing about crinkly leaves is that they are an instant plaything. Ethan loves them and always makes a point of carrying a few around with him. I have had to draw the line at letting him take them to bed with him, but we have a few up on the wall where he can look at them.

Coolest Carved Pumpkins

And as well as the coolest little kids, we had the coolest, scariest jack o lanterns!

Halloween Night

We had a great time on Halloween night... Ella was a purple Dragon and Ethan upgraded to a skeleton.. more candy than could possibly be consumed without a major kid sugar meltdown was collected... it might mysteriously disappear tomorrow

Halloween - Ethan and Pumpkins

Ethan did a practice run on costuming before the big day. He trialled a bumble bee but found it a little un-manly. So he only stuck with it for pumpkin decorating...

Ella's 4th Birthday Party

Ella had a fantastic time at her birthday party thanks to her mom's great planning abilities. Festivities included her favorites: a jumping castle, a piñata, cake, balloons, and good friends.

This was our first successful piñata ever. Every kid got a several chances to give the beast (a pink unicorn) a good whack. In the end, the rope attachment failed and the poor thing dropped the ground where it was immediately set upon by ravenous children. A cascade of multi-colored jellybeans exploded from the color-tissue festooned cacass to the delight of all.

Now that Ella is officially a 'big girl' at 4 years old, she now looks after her little brother Ethan to keep him from getting into things. This has its pros and cons...! :)

Paul finishes Reston Olympic Triathlon

Finally fulfilling my long time goal...I completed my first Olympic distance triathlon this September in under 3 hours.

The distances were 1.5k swim, 40k cycle, and a 10k run.

Previously, I had completed shorter sprint distances, so this was a real milestone for me. With the inspiration of one under my belt, I'm setting my sites on next year's tri-calendar to improve my performance.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Kavitz family blog. As you know, we've been struggling to keep our web site up to date. While we have a world of excuses, and none very good, it basically comes down to time. We thought that with this tool, it should be easier to post our latest and greatest. Let us know what you think.

Here is a photo of the local stream down the hill, Difficult Run, where Ella enjoys catching crawdads.