Firsts and Lasts

First snow day of the year!
And great day to celebrate with "snowman juice." Adrie was not amused when she found out that meant a glass of water.

Last day of gymnastics.
That will not stop them from practicing every day in the living room.

First time ever for me:
I was on the radio! Our local art gallery had an open house and invited me to be their "live music". While people strolled through, ate refreshments, and bought paintings, they could hear my solo cello playing and fill a hat with $ if they felt so inclined. (I did not know that I would be playing for tips when they originally asked me but that is how it worked out and luckily there was enough generosity to make it worth it)
Anyway the morning before all that, I was interviewed along with 2 of the featured artists on the local radio station. Had I known it would be easy questions like, "What kind of music do you like to play?" I wouldn't have been so nervous. "umm....Classical? and like other cool stuff?" Okay, I didn't really say that--but whatever I said, it was very sophisticated even though Brandon said I sounded young with my high nervous/excited voice.

Along those same lines and another first:
I brought in an income this month--enough to cover a few date nights anyway, and not just from playing for tips but a couple other gigs. It was like having a part time job--a super fun one. How wonderful that even in this down economy some people are still able to hire a string quartet to play for their birthday party:)

Definitely a first and probably a last:
Brandon hit a 450 yard drive on a par 5 hole. For those of you who don't speak golf-- that means he hit the ball really super far--it basically bounced off the pavement walkway and came to rest 30 yards from the hole. His intention that weekend was to go to the temple but, when he got there it was closed for repairs!!! He was able to make lemonade out of lemons by going instead to Palisades golf course.

Annual field trip to the pumpkin patch--

Great time, only the farmer guy made a less than cool decision to yell out profanities about how homeschoolers end up on welfare????!!! I'm still figuring that one out...anyway and Luckily, for him I was not right there to defend us (by throwing a pumpkin). I only found out later from my sweet neighbor who took the brunt of the verbal beating. Technically, we were there with our "online charter school" but sometimes it's easier just to say "homeschool," which is the word my neighbor chose to use. Obviously, it doesn't fly well with some people?? Still trying to figure that one out too...
Maybe that will be the LAST time we patronize that peck of pickled pumpkin patch! Phooey, I'm over it.

Accepting Fall

Having had such a wonderful summer and with a beach trip still fresh in my mind, I have had a hard time accepting that Fall is really here. But, I found out today that the best way to cure yourself of the never-wanting-summer-to-enders disease is to drive up into the mountains and enjoy the foliage. It is pretty cool that we live in a place where we get to see Autumn in it's full glory-- fiery red maple leaves and gold and green scrub oak.We packed up some field guides, bags for collecting, and snacks and headed to this little canyon 20 minutes away for some "nature appreciation."

I'm going to get a bit nerdy here and tell you all what we learned in our nature field guide.

You can eat the seeds of those maple trees raw or roasted. You can also tap a spigot 2 cm into the bark in the early winter and boil and eat the syrup that drips out. It's a good source of B vitamins unlike it's storebought counterpart. What? you already knew that?!