Audrey Clare Lokar

2010-2011 Before and After School Pics

2011-06-03T07:51:00.000-07:00

Annual Comparison Pictures

Emma: 9/2010

Emma: 6/2011

Alena: 9/2010

Alena: 6/2011

Owen: 9/2010

Owen: 6/2011

Hugh: 9/2010

Hugh: 6/2011

Audrey: 9/2010

Audrey: 6/2011

Winter Pics

2011-03-05T07:27:00.000-08:00

Audrey on form

Kathie sparkling (no migraine day!)

Audrey makes her way to the floor, again!

Audrey and Alena at Mill Run E (don't remember why the dots)!

Emma's first travel tourney, they took Silver!

Owen's team took home the gold on Prez day tourney, he lead his team in scoring yet again!

No Hugh, I am not buying you permanent goalie pads...you're a skater!

Alena dancer

Captain Xtreme

2011-01-04T07:53:00.001-08:00

2010-12-25T07:41:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas 2010!

Bro Brian's Christmas Tree topper craftsmanship, its first of many years!

Honestly, Santa didn't bring them everything they asked for, but you can't tell that from the picture!

The "ghosts" of Christmas surround the tree.

Classic Capital Brothers!

Let the carnage begin!

Sisters in Bradley!

Calico treehouse.

Alena's Troll bling!

Emma's Troll bling!

Kathie's serious Troll bling!

Cousins!

Santa Sleigh ride video

2010-12-04T12:38:00.000-08:00

Santa Sleigh Ride

2010-12-04T12:09:00.000-08:00

Video coming (w/ Santa in it!!!!)

V-Ball and Hockey shots

2010-11-14T13:33:00.001-08:00

This week's V-ball tourney and Owen in his Ashburn Xtreme Home uni!

The fan!

Intensity!

The Serve!

Puck pursuit (O is #15)!

The Faceoff

MCM and Halloween

2010-11-06T05:10:00.000-07:00

I ran the Marine Corps Marathon Halloween morning completing my Savageman/MCM double. Needless to say I ate a fair amount of candy that night, although walking the route wasn't easy.

Kids were cute, what can I say, I have great looking kids! And there mom is not too shabby!

Looking back of the starting pack to the front: 30K runners; i finished 1,372 in a respectable 3:32.

My mom and the kids.

Alena and her friend Grace.

2010 Fall

2010-10-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

More Fall pics...

Fall and Birthdays

2010-10-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

Many shots from the past few months....you'll have to go to Facebook for the past year. I found the Blog tiring, but best for bulk uploads of pics. Enjoy.

Alena's first sleepover, w/ special guest: Audrey!

New year, 3 mornings a week!

But it was a rough first week...

Emma growing up (and acting grown up!)

DC Trips

2010-10-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

We are trying to hit DC as many times as we can before we make the move to Big D next year. Here are some pics.

Kiawah Island--2009

2009-08-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

Beach vacation complete. Tomorrow the kids start at St . Joe's: uniforms are complete, supplies are complete and the kids attitudes are great. With all the pressures kids face it is nice to know they will receive an accredited education while being surrounded by the values we hope they embrace through out their lives. None of us is perfect, but you try to give them every advantage. 1st day of school pics will post tomorrow. Here's our time in Kiawah--our 6th year to the Sanctuary--this year was marked by our first fishing trip. We missed you Uncle Mark! Next year we'll meet you at Sea Island, GA--two words to get you there: Shooting....School! Skeet, sporting clays, the full gunning experience followed by cigars on the terrace.

You will notice from the fishing photos, everyone caught a fish, except the photographer! BTW, our first fishing trip was Owen and I one morning...Owen caught an alligator! Yep, an alligator. Shot out from under the dock and grabbed his lure. I got my pliers down to its mouth, but it jerked and snapped the line. Off it went w/ a souvenir impaled in his gums. We were lucky enough to walk across the street to the marsh side to see a family of Dolphins had swum up w/ the rising tide for some inland fishing.

The coolest site was a massive Stingray--the type that has been killing people w/ its tail--jump from the shore we were shelling on, the first time we only saw it hit the water, the second time it leaped out of the water about 3ft in the air and flopped and disappeared. Dolphins showed up as we were leaving the island back to our fishing grounds. The kids fished a solid 3hrs and had a ball. They each caught at least 5 fish. Alena must have caught 10 in the first hour.

Audrey turns 3, sunflowers grow, Ta Da!

2009-08-22T05:34:00.000-07:00

Summer is cruising by. Kids have been back to G-parents for their annual summer trip to camp Kroeckel, plus we enjoyed my Parents' 50th Anniversary party later that week. Kathie and I got a week w/ just Audrey--aaaaahhhhh, those were the days!

Owen and Hugh did Hockey Camps, plus father and son pick-up on Sunday afternoons. But we have had a nice break from all that the last month. Hugh also did a Soccer--Basketball camp that he loved. He is so skinny, thinking hockey may not be his thing.

The girls finished Adventure Camp this week, Emma's 3rd year, Alena's 1st: hiking, survival skills, team ropes course, rafting, rock climbing and more. Alena came back every day so excited, i have never heard her more passionate or articulate, which is what we experienced 3yrs ago from Emma--the confidence kids get from going off on their own and trying new things can not be measured. Alena was most proud that she got higher then Emma on the medium rock face at Elizabeth Furnace State Park and learned to rappel down.

Emma and Alena had a great summer swimming as well. Emma made Divisionals in breast stroke and Alena set PBs in Free and Back every meet until the end of the season.

We celebrated my new job by buying the kids new, bigger bikes as they all had outgrown the ones from 4yrs ago. Can't get them off the bikes...I love bikes right up their w/ them becoming accomplished skiers. I somehow have to get them all on the golf course.

Emma, Alena and Owen got accepted to St. Joseph's Catholic School and after much discussion and prayer we have decided to make the plunge. Not unhappy at all w/ Public School, Hugh will be starting Kindergarten this fall at Mill Run, the kids former school, but we want to give this a try as St. Joseph's is highly acclaimed. It also is 10min from my new office, so I will be driving them every morning which I think will be fun? Audrey starts preschool, our 5th kid to go to St. David's preschool an Episcopalian school or as like to call it "Catholic-Lite" More Old Testament! Less Filling!

We leave for Kiawah Island for our beach vacation, been two years, it's nice to be able to do it even for 5 days. Here are the pics and the vids will be on the YouTube side bar momentarily, enjoy.

New Hair

Birthday Team

"Where my two mitten?"

"I eat it all my bir-ay cay"

We held for the timer!

Blooming Hydragnea

Emma drives the breast stroke

"Me hep momma up dare"

Alena's sunflower seed, planted in May

End of School Year--Begin Summer Break

2009-07-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

It was a busy year and the end of the school year culminated in a flurry of activity: Little Gym graduation for Audrey, Pre-school and Spanish school graduation and Mini-Mites for Hugh, 1st Grade graduation and 1st Travel hockey tourney for Owen, 2nd Grade graduation, Dance Recital and Flag Football Playoffs for Alena, and Elementary School graduation and Snow Swimming Finals for Emma (she continues her plodding along on guitar). Here are the first set of pics:

Ribbon ceremony at Little Gym

The bar. "My bah"
The rock wall. "My rah wall"
So cute, the goggles make her look Chinese.

Helping Dad w/ job search.

Crashed in Mom and Dad's bed.

Got herself dressed in dinosaur costume, the pic i couldn't post b/c it was too blurry was her riding Boo (black lab) w/ this on.

End of School Year--Begin Summer Break (cont.)

2009-07-05T07:44:00.001-07:00

Contrast Pics: How quickly they change, grow, mature!

End of year.

Beginning of year.

End of year.

Beginning of year

End of year.

Beginning of year.

End of year.

Beginning of year.

End of year.

Beginning of year.

End of year.

Beginning of year.

End of School Year--Begin Summer Break (cont.)

2009-07-05T07:39:00.001-07:00

4th of July set:

Carnage at the fire pit.

1st time toes. "I got my new toee"

The queen.
The only first base I made it too.

End of School Year--Begin Summer Break (cont.)

2009-07-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

Emma set:

Graduation dress. "You look pretty in your fancy dress...."

Emma and friends.

Last day.

Graduation cake for Ms Page's 5th grade class.

End of School Year--Begin Summer Break (cont.)

2009-07-05T07:20:00.001-07:00

Alena set:

Graduation party.
Flashdance!
Vogue, strike a pose!

Graduation.

Citizenship Award!

End of School Year--Begin Summer Break (cont.)

2009-07-05T07:12:00.001-07:00

Owen Set:

1st line D.
Graduation party.
Last day.
Graduation.

Off to Princeton (where he was born).

End of School Year--Begin Summer Break (cont.)

2009-07-05T07:06:00.000-07:00

Hugh set:

Graduation from St Davids.

Rascal.

Spanish graduation (i have yet to hear actual Spanish spoken by him other than what he makes up).

Unfortunately, they don't have goalies in Mini-mites, but he was ready.

Graduation cupcakes w/ sis.

Hugh Mini-Mites

2009-03-21T08:07:00.000-07:00

Hugh started hockey and is loving it. He cries at the end of every session about leaving the ice. I am having so much fun just letting him skate around at the Caps training center after pre-school. I do need to get a real job someday, but this is too good for the soul and I wouldn't trade any amount of financial success for this year w/ my Family.

To quote Caddyshack: "the good Lord would never ruin the best round of myyyyyy life!"

Our life in fast twitch

2009-02-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

2002-2009

Back to Audrey

2009-02-08T08:06:00.001-08:00

Things Audrey loves. The latest is the new Nickleback and "piggy, piggy" ride.

Emma had a swim meet, she swam three events. She swam hard and had fun--she needs to start some stroke work to get her freestyle more consistent. Owen's team had another close game after getting down 6-1, they fought back to w/in 2, but lost 12-7. Owen played his 4th straight game on D and probably skated his best total game on D, he just needs to stay on his man when going behind our net, we had a couple of wrap-arounds get through.

Red Wings visit the Caps at Verizon Center

2009-01-31T13:15:00.000-08:00

Let's get it on!

Well, it wasn't the result we wanted, but fun nonetheless. No other fan base shows up like Red Wing fans. We of course made up 1/3 of them. Ovechkin, like he does when we are rooting for him, took over the 3rd period, even though the Wings dominated play, and scored two goals to lead the Caps to a 4-2 victory over the Wings.

Warm up skate

the Captain

Stretch

Jail-break drill

The cutest Wing fans!

Been a long time since we rock and rolled!

2009-01-29T17:31:00.000-08:00

Quoting Led Zepplin to start a family blog, but boy I didn't realize I hadn't posted any pics from Christmas. WEAK! It was a fantastic holiday, the Lord blessed us w/ good health and good spirits. We have made some new friends through hockey and kids' school and Businesselite is cruising along w/ real progress these past two months. Anyway there are a few pics from Christmas. The rest are life as it happens. And some video of Alena's gymnastics.

Alena finished her first session of Gymnastics and continues to do well w/ her Jazz dance. She is very disciplined w/ her school work and is simply our little sweetheart--although she has her moments. Emma is swimming her tail off. Owen is obsessed w/ hockey and he and Hugh are skating like demons. Audrey is talking (demanding "I do, me do, I do") a bluestreak and couldn't be a more spirited and happy child. We love her so much we still can't believe she is ours.

What we are most proud of recently is we got the 4 older ones on skis two weeks ago on a trip to SkiRoundtop. We went w/ another family who have 3 boys. Hugh is in Spanish and skates w/ their youngest, Owen plays hockey against their middle. The weather that weekend was cold, colder and coldest! 1* when we started out, 7* for a high Day 1 and sub-0 windchills. But they never complained and skied all day both days. By the end of Day 1 all had been on a chairlift and down a full green. The three older ones were on blue by Day 2 and managing very well. I love skiing but haven't found the opportunity since we have lived here to get them on the slope, always something going on. Audrey played in the lodge w. Kathie and her friend Barbara. Next time the mom's hit the slopes. The kids got the whole apres ski experience w/ the hot tub afterwards. Hugh liked the "magic carpet" and bunny hill and was content there as long as Kath or I could watch him cruise. Why no pics? When are hands are less full and the weather less cold!

The following weekend (this past one), I loaded up the 3 older kids and a friend of Owen's and we headed to SkiWhitetail. These are all places I had never been. These Mts (uhhh hills) are about 1500 to 2000ft, the longest run might be a mile long w/ 600ft + of vertical drop. Something i have learned about the entire Appalachian range while Mt Biking it is that all trails are cut on the sides of these steep, long mountains. These older Mts run diagonally as opposed to the jagged, rocky ranges out west. If you have ever driven across PA you know how disruptive these angular Mt ranges can be to a highway that wants to go in a straight line. So you generally bike up many switchbacks avg about 20% grade. Usually the trail tops out and you can ride the ridgeback of the Mt. Whereas in the Rockies, the trails might be longer and at greater elevation but they don't always have the steep grade b/c you aren't going straight up. Well, the ski resorts are no different so they can pack a lot of trail onto a 1500ft Mt. Each as about 20 runs w/ some legit black diamond.
In fact, we dropped down a "chute" that had at least 10ft of float before you hit snow and it wasn't powder, it was hit, cut through the ice and kill speed before you hit the bumps. It was over quick but no less technical than what you can get in Colorado.

Well, at Whitetail, we had another beautiful sunny morning. Got there around 8am, it's only an hour away and were on the slopes by 9am. The kids loaded up on the lift and we were off, Emma, Owen and Aidan together and Alena w/ me. To see the kids, (not suprising Owen, w/ 4hrs of skating a week) get how to carve their skis was really gratifying. I loved skiing when i got the hang of it (ages 10-16), but then took about 20yrs off to do other things. When i got back to it 4yrs ago I swore I would get our kids out. Well it took an invite from our friends the Robbins to make it happen (Aidan is a Robbins, has been skiing since four and has migrated swiftly to boarding--he and I could have skied anything together, a really good little athlete).

Emma and Owen didn't like following me down and practicing turns, in fact only Alena paid attention to her ski instructor from Roundtop. Was she as fast down? No. Was she as aggressive w/ her turns? No. But after an hour following me down the greens. We all headed over to the blues. At this point it was really busy. I get the kids off the lift and to the start of our trail. I had skied this quickly by myself and had two options to get down, one included going through some moguls, the other down a black diamond. Emma and Owen who had handled blue at Roundtop, were surprised by the narrowness and steepness of this hill, they got way too much speed right away and crashed. Who made it down unscathed other than getting cut off by a boarder? You got it, my slow steady carver of turns...Alena! God bless her in her all pink out fit. She focused on the fall line and carved turns down it the whole way. Going faster than she had before, but totally in control. In the meantime, it was Owen's up, but Emma's down, no wait, Owen's down and Emma's up, all they way down.

To conclude, Alena skied the blues a couple more times while Emma and Owen went back to green to get their legs under them. Owen did a blue again w/ me and both he and Alena made it down their first black, a steep wall of ice called Drop-in. They both fell, but they got up and carved it down. Emma was happy just cruising, so i let her go, no reason to force at this point and I was glad to see her working turns as she learned a lesson watching her little sister.

We don't often brag on Alena, mainly b/c she is quiet, sweet, loving and really easy. If all she had in life was stuffed animals to play w/ she is content. Well no more, I got me a skier(s) and that has me more excited than any activity or sport they could do. Skiing like cycling is freedom. You, your equipment, your senses, the outdoors in a sweet mix of thrill and relaxation. Now to get the three labs on the chairlift.

Audrey is next, no worries there, she is all athlete and coordination. My worry w/ her is downhill racer!!!