One last Spring Break Adventure

Chris and I were scheduled to work at NKU for a band event from 4 pm to 7 pm on Sunday 3/17. I figured after we were finished with our shift I'd return him back to UC. When we arrived at NKU, the work had already been done and there was nothing left for us to do so we started to make our way to Clifton. As we crossed over the Dan Beard bridge, my son who wanted to stretch his spring break just a little bit longer looked over at the Cincinnati skyline and said, "I've written a paper about the 'CARE-roo' Tower but I've never been to the observation deck." I corrected his pronunciation of Carew and then contemplated the diversion.

The trap was set and all of a sudden I found myself as an accomplice to the Spring Break extension by veering off the return trip to Clifton and instead making our way to park underneath fountain square. On St. Patrick's Day.

We walked into Carew Tower and stumbled upon the bank of elevators that go to the top of the building. We walked past a sign and security guard who took no interest in us whatsoever and tried to figure out which elevator was working. None of the buttons responded so we walked back and queried the hourly employee who couldn't care less about our predicament. That's when I saw the sign that said the observation deck was closed temporarily. To get this other human being to show a sign of life I asked how long it had been closed. She lumbered with the enthusiasm of a sloth and said, "It's been closed since COVID."

Not deterred, my young architecture student proceeded through the art deco building and called my attention to all the features that I otherwise wouldn't have seen. We strolled through the building and fell into the bar at the Orchid Restaurant where I drank a blue moon and Chris enjoyed a double shot of water. Because it was St. Patrick's Day there were many older men wearing tuxedos with green bow ties seated around the bar. It seemed that they had all gotten an earlier start to celebrate the day based on their behavior.

We left the bar, walked around a little bit more - he actually disappeared upstairs at one point - and then made our way back to the truck which was sandwiched in between two sedans in the parking garage. Seemingly satisfied, or more likely accepting his fate, we arrived back at his dorm among many long sighs and groans. As we were parting ways I realized his teeth needed some serious brushing. This was when he realized he left his toothbrush and paste at home. Go figure.

And so, Christopher's spring break came to an end with one last little adventure in a building constructed nearly 100 years ago.

Christmas memory

 

I believe this is an image I'll remember for a long time.  Lucy wrote a note to Santa Claus and received a reply.  In a nutshell, she wrote that she wasn't sure that she believed anymore and S.C.'s reply was pretty touching.  It's both happy and sad that the days of Santa Claus are in the rearview for our family. 

Concerts and more concerts

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!

The story of one lab coat

 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?  

2023's crew of trick or treaters

2020 trick or treaters with some Italian neighborhood friends

2017, the first year of the lab coat (I think)

GRC 2023

One of the privileges of being a band photographer is behind the scene photos like this one. I snuck back to the warm up area and was able to check in with Molly and Sabrina before they went onto the field for finals performance later that evening. They were all smiles for me!

Wool Fest 2023

 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!

Strike up the band

Chris came home from college last night which means all the kids pulled out their instruments for band practice. Since Chris was without a baritone, he opted to play Lucy's tuba instead. It was a cacophony of sounds for several minutes.

Homecoming

Ryle High School's homecoming last night produced memories of Auburn High School's homecoming this morning.

Anniversary gathering at Hoebenland

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.  

WEBN Fireworks

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. 

Moving in to the RAV

So Clara got her drivers license yesterday. Her first trip by herself was to work and back last night. After Annette and I returned from an adult evening of working out at the gym and shopping at Costco, we discovered that Clara was preparing to move in to the RAV4. First she has to do a deep clean and then I suspect she'll be hanging up pine tree car freshener.

Tuba face

Lucy practiced warm up drills on her tuba tonight. Her reflected tuba face is pretty funny to me so I thought I'd share it here.

First day of school 2023

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.

TUCBIDG

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!

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Sarah, Eli and Zachary!

Visit to the office

Some day we'll look back on these little moments and understand their significance.

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.

First day of college

This is a photo of Clara's first day of college. Well, actually it's from her second but you get the idea.

Ice cream to continue the tradition

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.

Band departure is on a 45 minute delay

 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.  

We got a call at 10:15 p.m. that Chris was finished which was close to an hour after when he was supposed to be off.  Once they came off the field from rehearsal they spent an hour or so studying "H & T" which translates to History and Traditions.  

Now it's Saturday evening and we've successfully moved Christopher's stuff into his dorm room.  Lots of exciting times ahead for him!

Here Chris and Annette are exploring the Newman Center. 

And here we are gathered together having dinner and feasting on Christopher's macarons that he brought back from France. 

Life is moving so quickly these days

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