where I talk with my inside voice
We just returned from our Nordic Odyssey to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It was quite a trip, with both highs and lows, but we survived and we had a good time overall. Dixie sprained her ankle, and banged up her knee, when she took a fall at the train station on Day 3 of the trip. And we missed our...
This tradition of organizing movie night excursions for my coworkers goes back 30 years at this point. But, with the exception of a movie night reunion with the old crowd back in 2023 (to see The Marvels), it’s been quite a while since this was a regular occurrence. I’m hoping to revive the tradition now that I’m on MQ-25. Tonight...
Tonight, our ECF chapter was invited to a reception at the St. Louis Zoo to celebrate the WildCare Park donors. ECF has given $150,000 so far towards the upcoming opening of this unique safari attraction in North County. Dixie and I went, along with a few others from the committee. We had some good food and listened to some good...
Last weekend, Dixie and I attended the Blue-Tie Gala for Duo Dogs (photo below), and tonight, we went downtown to the Fete du Feather at the Hyatt. I had already bought tickets for tonight’s event a couple of months ago, and then Boeing offered us two seats at the Duo Dogs event, so we’ve been quite the social butterflies this...
Because of my volunteering, I was rewarded with the Boeing box seats at the Fox for a performance of The Phantom of the Opera. Because Noah wasn’t home, Josie invited her friend Selby to join us. This production has updated the set, but it is still impressive. I couldn’t resist snapping an illegal photo of my favorite number (“Masquerade”).
This year’s video Christmas Card doesn’t feature as much of Noah since he wasn’t around, but it was still a good year and we had a good time as a family when we were together. I am so proud of both of the kids and their accomplishments.
It wasn’t clear to me when I ordered the tickets back in July that Noah wouldn’t be home in time to go see our annual SLSO concert. He got home the day after. But it was okay, because Grandma Linda took his place, and she had never seen the symphony before. It was a such a good show, with just...
The Missouri Botanical Garden hosts a huge Christmas light exhibition every year, but this is the first time we’ve ever gone. Laura invited us to join her and Jane to go see it, and we’re so glad we did. It was so pretty and the lights are really impressive. There was also a model train exhibit in one of the...
The whole trip isn’t booked yet, but last week I was able to get my tickets to the LEGO House Fan Tour and today I booked our flight to Billund. This is part of a larger Scandinavian tour next summer for Dixie and I (no kids this time). We are taking a bus tour of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, which...
As per usual, we hosted the family for Thanksgiving, although the crowd wasn’t as big as some years because Laura didn’t come in town, we still had a good time and plenty of Dixie’s great food! We also corrected our mistakes from last year with the new smoker and the turkey was much better. There are a couple photos in...
Our beautiful daughter is a senior this year, and she continued the annual tradition of attending the homeschool homecoming dance. Dixie and I volunteered this time to chaperone because they were looking for extra help. Josie had fun and we did too – the kids were pretty well-behaved and the music was good. We’re gonna miss this.
We visited Noah for Parent’s Weekend and had lunch in Columbia at a nice BBQ place called COMO Smoke and Fire. Then we took a little trip to Boonville to take a tour of Warm Springs Ranch. It was pretty hot all day, but we still enjoyed seeing the horses and petting the yearlings. If you grew up in St....
Noah came home this weekend and so we had our traditional Labor Day cookout on Saturday night. I forgot to take any pictures, but we did have an exciting visit from a juvenile hawk of some kind that I caught on the surveillance camera. He thought Selena looked tasty, and if Dixie hadn’t scared him off by screaming, it might...
With Noah away at school, the three of us attended our first performance at Stages St. Louis at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center. This was a pre-Broadway musical that imagines Jane Austen’s creative process while writing Pride and Prejudice. It was a really good show, and well-performed, although Josie and I agreed that none of the songs is particularly memorable....
Jane turned 80 this month, so we couldn’t let that milestone pass without a celebration. Laura organized lunch at The Boathouse in Forest Park, and she also paid Josie to digitize all of the Zyk family 8mm film. Lunch was yummy, and we all had a good time.
Tonight was our last show at The Muny this summer. I agreed to split the cost of Linda’s season tickets, and we ended up trading in a couple of shows that we weren’t really interested in, so more of us could attend. The sets and costumes were really good (especially the balcony scene) and the actress playing Eva Perone had...
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