Yesterday, Marc, Claudia and I participated in Bubba 101 - an introduction to Tennis. The event took place at the Pelham Raquet Club and followed a women's doubles tournament championship game. Claudia was able to see some really good ladies play some serious tennis. She was cheering like you knew just what was going on. After the championship game, Bubba, from the Rick and Bubba Show, came out and welcomed everyone to the clinic. He gave a quick talk about how he has become so involved in tennis and how it has helped him lose weight, lower his cholesterol, and just have fun and meet new people. We then broke up into groups with different tennis pros from around town. Claudia went off on her own with all the other kids who were of course older than her. She was the only 4 year old. I was worried she would be nervous by herself, but she just took off running with her tennis pro, Rusty Wilkes. He happens to be the pro that gave Bubba his first lesson. Marc and I stayed together in a group with our tennis pro, Greg Howe. We were in a group of 9 people and learned the basic forehand and backhand and went through drills of hitting back and forth with our other group members. Marc was the power hitter and kept being told to hit a little softer. But before you knew it, he had a really good even stroke going. I didn't get to watch Claudia. I could see her from a distance. She said she got to hit the ball once, and that they played a game called keep the ball out of jail. I'm not sure how that worked. But she had a great time and is ready to take real lessons. My favorite line was "can I have my birthday party here?" So, I would say she liked it. We are signing up for private family lessons. Our main goal is for all of us to just get some good exercise. But, with our competitive personalities, Marc and I may be playing in a league before you know it. I'm sure it will be entertaining to say the least. We are heading back to the courts today to hit around a little. Come join us sometime.

Later this morning we finally got everyone bundled up and ventured out to play in the snow. Marc and Claudia played with the neighbors, building a snowman and sledding down the hill across the street. Then Marc and Claudia made snow angels and threw snowballs at the window while I watched. I did take Kayleigh out for a quick photo of her first snow. The wind was blowing a good bit and even though we had her covered - she did not like it. So we went in pretty quickly.

We also collected snow in a bowl and made snow ice cream. My dad always made the best snow ice cream when we were little. Claudia loved it! The snow has almost completely melted now and Claudia is asleep on the floor in front of the fire. She is so precious when she sleeps. What a wonderful morning it was - just hate it had to end so quickly.