October Snapshots

Kids activities:

• E has the most stuff. Weekly violin lessons and Young Musician Orchestra rehearsals. At school, he has cross country (although the season is over this week), Honor Strings, and French Club. He also helps out at Hebrew School.
• H has piano lessons and she is doing rock climbing once a week. She is also in French Club. She started taking lessons to prepare for her Bat Mitzvah.
• C has piano lessons and is doing soccer. (Need to find something else for her to do, sports-wise, for winter months). Plus, Hebrew School.

Parent activities:

• Work, occasional walks, reading, TV shows, updating the mud room (painting, new furniture, etc).

Fun stuff: 

• Hilary Hanh concert with E and my mom, followed by chocolate treats. 
• E and H went to a local scare-park (Bates Motel). They went on different days, with different groups of friends. E (who is 14) said “not scary at all!” but had fun hanging out wit his friends. H (she is 12) said that she had her eyes closed most of the time (and got around by holding someone’s hand or getting piggy-back rides*) but had fun with her friends.
• We are going to Washington DC with my parents this weekend.
• E had friends over for dinner and sleepover.
• We went on a very nice hike last weekend! Miracle of miracles – no one complained!
• Family bike ride two weekends ago. There was some complaining from kids (too many hills… too tired… too bored… not going fast enough…) but we survived.
• A walk at a local arboretum with friends (and their kids). The kids got lost (or the parents got lost, depending on who asked), but it all worked out. One of the kids borrowed a phone from the person at the entrance check-in and called to tell us where they were. (E, the oldest, wasn’t there because he was planting trees somewhere else with his friends).

Not good stuff:

• A neighbor and a friend was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer.
• I need a biopsy.
• My parents are depressed (because of health stuff).
• War in Ukraine
• Politics

Good stuff:

• We are alive.
• There are lots of books at the library.
• Fall colors are beautiful.
• I can go walking in the park.
• There are exciting concerts coming up (Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos! Shchedrin’s version of Carmen! Peer Gynt performance for kids!)
• Our local theater is doing Sound of Music
• I can hang out with my parents during E’s YMO rehearsal.

*H is very small for her age.