Field Trip Day

OK, you have a choice.

Child A has a field trip to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.

Child B has a field trip to Volente Beach Water Park, lots of your buddy mom-friends are going to chaperone THAT trip, and it is warm and lovely outside... hmmm... get smarter, or have fun???

I chose the Water Park! I hung out with some of my best school buddies, rode water slides- including one terrifying one twice, ate lunch, sat in the sun and chatted, stood in the lake and chatted and ignored the kids since they are fifth graders and want to be ignored anyway.

It was lots of fun. We decided that if you have to spend a day volunteering for the school, this has to be the best way to do it.

When you have a daugher, you get to drive girls to the water park, not boys.
Volente Beach, in the background notice the white thing. To ride that you have a two person raft, and you hike to the top of a tall staircase. Then you start at one side of the slippery taco shaped ride, and they launch you down the hill. It is truly scary and I rode it twice!
Emma and Helen and Maddie
Two of these are teachers. At our school, they actually hang out socially with us after hours. We have the best school!

Lance Letscher Show

My favorite Austin Artist has a new show. I got to drop by the gallery yesterday and take a look. Wonderful work, as usual.

Just had an urge...

... an urge to do something fun during the three day weekend. The thought of griping at the kids about video games, and cleaning the house (to no avail) as the first day of the Memorial Day weekend was more than I could bear. I went out for a walk early and it was clammy and muggy, and when I got home I decided that I wanted to have some fun today.

So I informed the family I wanted to go tubing on the Guadalupe. Even though I knew it would be crowded, and a long drive, I wanted to go. David didn't, but I can still force the kids to do fun stuff... so here is our day.

Summer has begun

As if 90 degree days aren't enough (since those can actually happen in Spring!), we had the first REAL sign of summer.

The ice cream truck rumbled through at 6:30 pm tonight. Playing its endless loop of Rock-a-bye Baby it got David outside even before the kids knew what was happening. Of course, since we don't even eat until 7:30 the treats went to our freezer until after dinner. Nonetheless, summer is really here now.

Emma Rocks (actually, she Classicals)

Emma accepts her "Third Year Trophy" for making the Music Memory Team
yearly since third grade.

Emma and church friend, Sara, with their trophies.

Emma has a freaky memory for music.

Specifically, classical music, and jazz and musicals. Our school participates in a city-wide competition called Music Memory. In the fall, the students start learning the songs that are covered that year. There are 16 songs in all. By the spring, each school gives tests to narrow down to a team which is entered in the district competition. It is sort of like name that tune for classy music. They listen to short snippets and have to name the piece and composer.

This is what Emma's mind does best. She's been on the team each year she was eligible. On the following Monday, the team members receive their awards at the Monday Morning Assembly. That is when they find out how they did in the competition.

Each year, Emma has earned the highest honor, the Malcolm Gregory Award for having a perfect test paper. And this year, despite her certainty that she messed up on some of the answers, her freaky brain came through.

Yippee Emma!

River Mamas

On Friday, we dropped off the kids, and hit the road! We are the River Mamas. We were floating on the Guadalupe, drinking beer by 10:15 am. It was very fun, and very relaxing. And a nice surprise for us, a record hot day with the temp reaching the mid 90s... perfect for the icy cold water of the Guadalupe! Yee ha!

Our lunch potluck. We found it easiest to circle the table and shift every five minutes or so. That way everyone got to try a little of all the food.

If your vision is for a year, plant wheat,
If your vision is for ten years, plant trees,
If your vision is for a lifetime, plant people.
~Chinese Proverb

Happy Birthday to Us!