Merry Christmas 2023
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.
Tagged: Josie
Holiday Concert
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!
Sister Behind the Wheel
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.
Thanksgiving 2023
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!
Homecoming 2023
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.
Memphis 2023
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.
Great Lakes 2023
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.
Jesus Christ Superstar
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.
Pottery Class
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...
Disagreement With Gravity
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.
Happy Birthday Josie!
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!
Merry Christmas 2022
Once again, here is our video Christmas card to all of our friends and family.
Christmas Concert 2022
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...
Ugly Christmas Tree
When we went to Meert Tree Farm last year to get our tree, Josie saw this ugly little bush and fell in love with it. It took me a year to adjust to the idea, but when we went back today, it was still there (no surprise). Dixie and Josie both think it’s adorable. My only requirement was a red...
Haunted Garage 2022
The kids wanted to set up the garage again this year for Halloween, and this time I posted a short video clip on Nextdoor to try to advertise and generate a bigger crowd than we had last year. I guess it worked – we had more than last year, but still not a ton. We still had fun.
Homecoming
Although they both said no when Dixie first asked them if they wanted to go, I managed to talk them into it, and in the end they were both glad they went. Dixie and I volunteered to chaperone, and spent the whole night sitting in the hallway watching the endless procession of girls headed to the bathroom, but it was...
