Yes, I've been lax on keeping the single-post-per-month rhythm. My bad!
As the leaves are turning and the nights are getting colder, I am back to update with pictures from the summer! What were we up to?
J and C went to a weeklong horse-riding day camp. We dropped them off around 7am and did not pick them up until 4:30. Here's a picture from their first morning. They came back every day exhausted, but they loved the camp and keep talking about going back next year!
The girls worked hard on their music lessons. It's been fun to see how they not only practice with intention, but they also "play" music - they will often play just for the sake of playing itself.
Their current ability is no accident or genetic prowess: all of it is a credit to their mom's willingness to sit patiently with them and work on it a little bit every day. Her patience with them and persistence to work through the bad days is a credit to her high character.
Every now and then we get to enjoy a moment of zen, reaping the benefit of the girls' practice combined with A's persistent instruction and encouragement: a cup of coffee enjoyed during a Minuet, or planting strawberries to "Boil the Cabbage Down."
Our town was in the path of the 2017 full eclipse, which meant that we were able to enjoy it in it's full effect. Unfortunately, clouds obscured the sun at the moment of totality (doh!) but we still were able to see the effect on nature and the full 360 degree sunset/dusk. I can't wait to see it again in 2024! (Dallas, here we come!)
Speaking of Dallas, we were planning a vacation to the beach but plans went awry thanks to Irma, so we ended up going to Texas for a week. We got to see family, of course, but we also went to the Zoo, the Cowgirl Museum, the Science Museum, and the Ft. Worth Stockyards. It was my first rodeo!
We did our usual hiking at various places. Poppy went on us to a trip to Beaman Park.
For her 8th birthday, we got J a new bike. C took over her old one and was able to start riding it without training wheels after a few days. It's true: starting with a balance bike (a bike with no pedals) makes the transition to a bicycle much easier. Once she got the mechanics of pedaling down, she was good to go! We have a park near us with a lot of paved greenways and we have been making many trips around the loops.
Our garden was pretty humble this year. We did, however, get a lot of figs and, unexpectedly, watermelons.
It's been a wonderful summer, but we are looking forward to fall and winter!
