• Feather

    Last Saturday afternoon we visited the aquarium. Surprise! It was National Bird Day, and there was a special hands-on display near the entrance with fun artifacts to examine up close, like bird skulls and wings, eagle claws, feathers under a microscope, and a fun basket of tail feathers to examine…

  • At the Top of the Hill

    I’m excited that my best hiking buddy is back in commission! Her broken ankle has been slow to heal, (she’s working with a physical therapist to build strength back) but she’s been cleared for longer walks now, and that is great thing, because she’s almost always up for a hike…

  • Learned in December

    I learned the meaning of the word “Ersatz.” (An inferior, not genuine substitute) I learned that just walking into a university library inspires me so much to WANT to learn. I do love learning, and all those bookshelves are filled with so many delicious books. Plus, university libraries are so…

  • Bentleyville

    Bentleyville, a massive, crowded Christmas light display that is an annual tradition here, is not always my favorite, but this year I brought four hopping kidlets who were happy to be there, eat snacks, and have a great time. (The Devious Snail elected to stay home). We went the day…

  • Orchestra at the Shopping Mall

    Last Saturday the chamber orchestra from The Banana’s middle school treated holiday shoppers at the mall to some Christmas music. YaYa came along with our host daughter to watch the orchestra play Christmas carols, and then we headed to a store to look at earrings before lunch and a little…

  • Gingerbread House

    Last Thursday afternoon Mr. Trouble on Feet’s third grade class was making gingerbread houses. Parents were invited to join the mayhem to help their favorite student. At first I was not planning on going because we were having a tremendously busy week, and our host daughter had just arrived from…

  • School Concert

    Mr. Trouble on Feet was wildly excited to be wearing his suit to the school holiday concert! He continues to wear his suit every chance he gets. I love it. Even though I got to the concert forty five minutes early, the only seats available were in the back, and…

  • In Concert

    OK, so over the past two weeks I may have fallen into a gigantic hole of frantic trips to to post office, rehearsals, countless hours of taxiing kidlets around to activities, and oh so many recitals and concerts and more concerts, but I’m back now! Mr. Trouble on Feet was…