where I talk with my inside voice
Tonight we went to see Les Miserables at the Muny. Grandma Linda shared a few of her season tickets with us this year because this is their last year going (we might have to buy their seats for next season!). It was a really good show.
We just got back from our 12-day roadtrip out west – with overnight stops in Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, Bryce Canyon and Flagstaff. We drove over 2,000 miles, ate some great food, and made some great memories. Some photos from the trip are available in my album, and check out the short video below.
We took advantage of the nice weather today and went to the Minifig Shop, had lunch at Dewey’s Pizza, and then spent the afternoon at the zoo. I’m not going to have too many more opportunities like this. Have to grab them while I can.
This was a crazy busy year, but maybe I feel that way every year. Noah and Josie had big milestones this year, and we went on two family road trips. I tried to capture the highlights in our annual video above.
The SLSO is temporarily performing out of the Stifel Theater downtown while Powell Hall is being renovated, but we maintained our annual tradition to see their Christmas Concert. This year included a couple of notable pieces – Charleston Christmas (Stephenson) and Tom Lehrer’s Hannukah in Santa Monica!
Josie took the written test today and passed on her first try! Time to start practicing and logging her 40 hours behind the wheel. I’m proud of my little girl.
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!
I was happy to see that the kids enjoyed last year’s homecoming enough to repeat the experience this year. They had more of their friends attend this year, so they really had fun. I guess next year we’ll be going to Mizzou’s homecoming. I’m looking forward to that.
We took the kids to Memphis for a long weekend and stayed right down on Beale Street. It was a nice little getaway and we saw some cool stuff and ate some great food. Photos are now up in my album and check out the video below.
We just got back from our loop around the Great Lakes. We drove 1,600 miles, with stops in Mackinac Island, Ottawa, Montreal, and Niagara Falls, among others. We took almost 2,000 photos, some of which are now in my photo album. We saw a lot of stuff and made some great memories. See the video below.
The musical Jesus Christ Superstar is currently touring to celebrate its 50th anniversary and it made a stop at the Fox, so I took the kids to see it. They really liked it, and now I’m hearing the songs coming out of Alexa.
As part of art this year, I signed us all up for a six-week pottery class at Lamplight Studio in Overland. We had a good time learning to throw pots on the wheel as well as hand-building some other creations. The kids had fun and now we have a bunch of candy dishes that need to be filled up with...
Josie’s rock-climbing class just happened to be on her birthday this week, so I went along to get some photos of her bouldering. She’s really enjoying this hobby, and getting better every week.
For her birthday this year, Josie chose to return to the Mastermind Escape Room in St. Charles. We had to find the Mona Lisa in DaVinci’s workshop and we completed it with 13 minutes to spare! Way to go, Pipes family!
Once again, here is our video Christmas card to all of our friends and family.
We missed a couple of years due to COVID, but we headed down to Powell Hall today to see and hear the SLSO and get into the Christmas spirit. They were pretty heavy on the jazz this year, which is okay, but sometimes I just want to hear the traditional arrangements. Still a great show and they played for almost...
