We're at the end of the semester and it is the season for concerts. Tonight was Molly's 8th Grade Winter Concert under the direction of Mrs. Kozar. Last week we heard from Lucy's Winter Band Concert. Later this week we'll hear both Molly and Sabrina perform at Ryle High. 'Tis the season!
I was going through some photos from Halloween over the last few years and saw something I'd missed previously. Christopher's lab coat from ~2017 has made an appearance in three Halloween costumes. I wonder if that's a Howard Family record?
It's a very rare occasion when we can all gather for the same activity anymore. However, we made a special effort to go to Wool Fest this year. Here are a couple of photos from our time together!
We went over to Hoebenland last night to celebrate our wedding anniversary. The girls started a game of pool downstairs that eventually caught the attention of Annette and Grandma. I believe Annette won the game, but I'm not 100% certain.
Sabrina, Molly, Lucy and I went to see the Kenton County Emergency Operations Center last night and then made our way upstairs to watch the fireworks from the fifth floor of the Administration building. We had a run in with a praying mantis and got to watch the emergency management guys in action.
And here is a photo from the security camera showing the moment when I took issue with the praying mantis flying and landing on my pants.
Here are the girls on their first day of school.
Shortly after these photos were taken, Lucy had to wrestle (grapple?) with her tuba case to get it into the truck. Her instrument is humungous so we'll have to wait and see how often she needs to bring it home.
Also, in a moment of parental experience, I visually swept through the back of the truck and discovered that Molly had forgotten her lunch. I spun the truck around and was able to get it to her courtesy of the nice ladies at the office.
Tonight we were privileged to watch the UC Band perform an exhibition for Parents Night. Chris learned a new routine and traditions within a very short window of only 8 days. If all goes well, he'll be performing at home games for the fall semester and having a great time while doing it. We enjoyed watching him and hope we get to see him on the field again soon!
For now we just have to chuckle when we see photos of 11 year old Lucy behind the desk of the Kenton County Judge/Executive.
A few years ago it was the night before school started so we went out for ice cream at Culver's. Clara starts college tomorrow a few days before the rest of the kids so we went out for ice cream tonight.
This, however, was different since Chris is at UC this evening. We'll see him again soon though - probably Thursday for the Bearcat Band preview.
So Clara and I went up to UC to pick up Chris Friday evening. We rolled in about 5 minutes after he was supposedly going to be off at 9 p.m. only to discover that he needed an additional 45 minutes before he was actually finished. Considering that band time starts 15 minutes before the supposed start time and finishes 30-45 minutes after the supposed end time, we decided to go and get some ice cream.
After 9 p.m. at night. In Cincinnati.
So we ended up at Hello Honey around 9:40 p.m. and enjoyed some delicious Honey Vanilla and Honey Lavender ice cream. Also while there, I was able to successfully take over the little ice cream shop's blue tooth speaker resulting in a change from Drake rap music to U2.
This is a feeble attempt to jot down a few thoughts while they're fresh on my mind.
Life is moving very, very quickly it feels in the Howard Household these days. On Tuesday, Lucy was at her first Middle School experience with Band Jumpstart. She decided to play the tuba and has been practicing it ever since. Unfortunately she's picked up a little cold which she's fighting at the moment. Also on Tuesday, Molly and Sabrina were at another rehearsal for Ryle Marching Band. They're coming home late at night all revved up from their day with band kids so getting them settled back down in time for bed is quite a chore. While Lucy was at middle school and Molly & Sabrina were at high school, Clara had her college orientation on Tuesday evening. She's attending dual credit classes this fall - three of them in fact. So in addition to a job and attending high school she's taking 9 credit hours. I can't remember the classes she's taking but I believe one of them is history and the other might be English. She's dual enrolled at both Thomas More and Gateway for the fall semester.
So Lucy's at the middle school, Molly and Sabrina are at the high school, Clara's getting oriented for college but where is Christopher?
Good question.
After World Youth Day ended on Sunday, August 6, Chris caught a flight the following morning from Lisbon to Paris. For some reason they didn't make their connecting flight in Paris so they had to stay over a night at a hotel provided by the airline. While in Paris he visited the Eifel Tower, the Arc de Triumph and then headed back to the hotel to get some rest.
On Tuesday morning he awoke in Paris and split off from the rest of the group with another pilgrim and flew to Toronto where he was going to catch a flight to CVG. When he arrived in Toronto it was discovered that his co-traveler Emily didn't have a boarding pass and therefore couldn't get through security in time to catch the flight to CVG. He called me asking if he should get on the plane for CVG or stay with Emily. After some frantic conversations back and forth he and Emily concluded it was best for him to travel to CVG and she'd catch another flight the following day. We picked him up from the airport late Tuesday night and visited for a while before it was time for bed. Early on Wednesday morning I drove him up to UC in time for him to have second breakfast with the fellow UC Marching Band kids. (Side note - he remarked while walking through the wet grass toward the car that it was the first time his shoes had been wet in several days. The short walk through dew covered grass was very different from the days he spent walking on cobble stone or sandy pathways while in Portugal.)
We picked him up again on Wednesday evening and then dropped him off early on Thursday morning. Now it's Friday morning and again he was transported to UC for second breakfast with the expectation that he returns tonight after 9 p.m.
Speaking of the pickup from UC, Clara is insistent on getting enough driving hours because she needs about 7 more to qualify for her driver's test coming up on August 23. Last night she not only got 1.5 hours of drive time at night, she also learned a valuable lesson to never go down Vine Street after dark.
After attending Lucy's soccer game where she watched because of the cold she's been nursing, I dropped her off at home and picked up Clara for our evening's adventure. First we went to the gym to exercise and then around 8:15 pm we started making our trek up to UC with Clara behind the wheel. Sometimes she drives like a speed demon but most of the time she drives like a grandma. Nevertheless, driving to Clifton in the evening hours is a way to get real familiar real quick with driving. We motored through Cincinnati and stashed the Red RAV4 behind a large dumpster while we waited for the band kids to finish their evening practice. I snapped this photo because I was trying to play "Where's Waldo" in spotting my boy. His section had already completed their evening exercises and as a result he was walking down the sideline getting ready to head out of the stadium. I've taken the liberty of circling him in blue for you to see him more quickly than I did.
He walked up the long trek to the band room with Clara joining in. I believe he introduced her to several of his new friends while I patiently waited outside in the middle of the road with the Rav ready to return to Union. They emerged and I jumped out of the seat to let Captain Clara take over. We proceeded to navigate Clifton after dark and unfortunately took a wrong turn. I instinctively knew we shouldn't be traveling down Vine Street after dark but I trusted that my iPhone would carry us to safety. There were a few spats between Clara and myself over whether she could read or even see the street signs for I 75 leading out to the interstate but all in all it worked out just fine.
So like I said, life has gone pretty quickly these last few days and I don't think it's going to slow down anytime soon. But I wouldn't trade it for anything
