where I talk with my inside voice
I took the family to the St. Louis Airshow this weekend. This was a good year to go because the Blue Angels were performing and in addition to all of the other aircraft they had on static display, the C-17 was there. It was hot and crowded, but not unbearable, and the kids enjoyed seeing all of the planes flying....
I took today off work to extend the already long weekend, and I took the kids on a staycation trip downtown. We made a quick stop at the Scott Joplin House and then headed down to the Arch grounds. On our way from the parking garage, we also stopped at the marker where Fort San Carlos is thought to have...
Noah took the written portion of his driver’s test and passed on his first try! That means we now begin many hours of practice driving so he can develop his skills before the driving portion. This is a new chapter and I’m very proud of him.
For Christmas, Grandma Linda gave us tickets to see the Beyond Van Gogh exhibit here in St. Louis. It was a really cool way to experience his artwork and learn a bit about his troubled life.
Once again, I missed a couple of years, but our “annual” Christmas Card video made its appearance out on the public site too. Since I’m no longer on Facebook, I’m hosting these on my site again, with the biggest benefit being that the copyright nazis can’t shut me down. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Because I had extra vacation this year, I decided to take off the entire week of Thanksgiving. We wrapped up the week by resuming our annual pilgrimage to Meert Tree Farm because we need a little Christmas NOW!
Noah just returned from two weeks at Philmont Scout Ranch. I am very proud of him for this accomplishment. He had to spend several months in advance going on practice hikes and conditioning himself for the physical challenges. It was an incredible trip and he had a great time. I was happy he got to go (despite COVID), but we...
That’s the look. That’s why parents enjoy Christmas morning so much. On its initial release date Aug 1, the new Lego Grand Piano set sold out within minutes. It took me several weeks of monitoring Lego’s web site and two trips to the Lego store to get one, but it was all worth it to see that look. Can’t wait...
We bought Minecraft for Noah in 2013, not knowing what an impact it would have on our lives. That first Christmas, I remember we spent an entire day playing it, and that eventually became an annual tradition that all four of us engaged in. Yesterday, we continued the tradition – although not for the entire day – with Josie, Noah...
It’s not the greatest photo, but I wanted some proof that we saw it, and all I had was my cell phone. It’s somewhat surprising I could get any image at all. If you have a telescope, you already know how unusual it is to be able to see two planets in the same field of view, but to have...
Two weeks ago we braved the pandemic to visit Jackson Pianos downtown and let the kids try out some of their refurbished instruments. Coincidentally, they had a 1988 Yamaha upright there that the kids both liked and it was big enough that Noah could actually fit under it. I wrote them a check and we headed home. A few days...
Pea Ridge National Park is a Civil War battlefield in northern Arkansas, not too far from Branson. We wound up taking Noah’s troop there for a weekend campout because our original plans fell through. I had agreed to organize the Feb campout, which is always scheduled over President’s Day weekend and usually includes a visit to some patriotic landmark like...
Foul weather prevented us from going to cut a tree this year, for the first time in a long time. But the kids put up the artificial tree and they did a great job decorating it, so it didn’t really matter that much. We also didn’t go to the symphony this year, which I now regret, so I’ll plan on...
The kids wanted to make some extra money, so they asked me if they could go around asking the neighbors if they could rake their leaves. I said sure. I even drove them up to Ace Hardware to buy some equipment (a new rake and bear claws) and the paper bags for yard waste. They spent the day walking the...
There are a lot of reason why I love that we homeschool. Here’s another. I gave the kids a project this year – to plan our fall vacation. I drew a circle on the map around St. Louis that represented how far we could drive in 4-5 hours. I told them we could go anywhere inside that circle (which included...
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