where I talk with my inside voice
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...
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...
Since the kids started with Rick Zelle as their piano teacher, this is the first time we’ve been invited to a recital. Josie played I’m Still Standing by Elton John, and did a great job. We are so proud of the kids and their musical abilities. A short video of her performance is included below.
Josie had never been to see a ballet before, so when I was offered complimentary tickets to the St. Louis Ballet at the Touhill, we jumped at the chance. This was a pretty unique performance with three acts in three different musical styles – including one set to Dave Brubeck’s jazz standard Take 5. We both enjoyed the show.
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.
Josie was among 30 high school students in Missouri selected to attend a week-long career camp called Life Science Quest at Mizzou. Each day was spent touring different facilities and labs, along with a couple of visits to off-campus locations, all with the purpose of exposing the students to many different career paths that are available within the College of...
My wonderful family indulges me every year with a day trip somewhere that they might not otherwise have gone. Whether it’s to visit an alpaca farm or to climb around on the trains, they always seem to enjoy themselves. Or they do a good job of faking it. This year it was the AB brewery tour downtown, followed by lunch...
Alas, poor Yorick, even though the Shakespeare Festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary year, we have never been to a performance – until today. I was offered seats through ECF, so we saw a modern reimagination of Hamlet and it was really good. I was getting a little tired by the end – it’s hell getting old – but I...
Just a couple of years after Noah took it, we signed Josie up for the BRAKES defensive driving school. This is a really cool professional driving course that is designed for kids to learn some valuable techniques behind the wheel and, as the name says, Be Responsible and Keep Everyone Safe. She got to learn how to recover from a...
