Time to blog

Every 4 months or so...Halloween was very fun, Auntie C inspired this costume, borrowed from Uncle J. I've done a whole bunch of shows. Opening the last one in the endless lineup tomorrow, so hopefully I will be done next week! Looking forward to some downtime.
D started at his new school, he seems to be doing very well, but he misses the old one. We were so lucky to have such a great place to start his education, wish they just kept going through grade 12! We are in the market for some skis as he will be going with his school 4 times, and I'm sure 2nd hand are cheaper than 4 rentals. J & I should go too, it has been way too long.

Busy busy busy

Why do I have less time in the summer?! I thought I'd have all this time to do stuff but I am mostly running the boy around to camp/playdates. So it's kinda my fault, but I really wanted him to not be as isolated this year, so there we go!

Soccer is over. Next week is video camp and then off to the Tetons before the Fireworks concert and more swim lessons. I have been really liking this swim teacher - HS guy with a pool in his yard, he's captain of the swim team and all that. Lots of fun, and D is thriving on the individual attention. Costs a bit more than the group lessons but so worth it, and we go when *I* have time. Nice.

J had his 51st this week, went to a lovely steak place we hadn't been to with ponytail-less B and P. I think he enjoyed it, and it was kind of a surprise. I told him I was dropping off D at 5 and I had a meeting, but when he came out I told him to get in the car and I whisked him away to parts unknown! Not very thrilling gifts (new pants, jerky and a book) but I am hoping to do a fun activity like kayaking the little Spokane this weekend. But that may be more of a present for ME, I think he wants to nap all weekend, given the choice!

Coat weather

Middle of July and we're wearing our winter coats again...fun times. But this may be good because they seeded the lawn today(!!!) and I guess cool weather is best. In theory, we now have a sprinkler system and newly contoured acreage with lovely grass coming soon.

D has been busy with day camps this summer, 2 soccer camps, video game creating camp (next week), swimming lessons and a trip to grama and grampa's. We'll be going over to the Tetons to visit Auntie C, then the Catheyfest and Hoopfest on the coast! Go go go! Coming home just in time to play for a gig at the country club, and then symphony starts up again.

This fall D starts his new school, he met the teacher last spring, but then I found out there will be a new 4th grade teacher this fall. Kind of annoyed they didn't mention this, but hopefully we can meet his new teacher sometime this summer - I've heard she is lovely.

Seems like I should have more to report, but that's about it! Hoping to wear short sleeves before the end of July...

Sun Sun Sun

FINALLY, a glorious spring day! No coat, no snow! Long time coming this year.

We picked a school for D, it is the private school much like the one he is going to now. I wish we liked the public school better but we don't. I understand the middle school is much better, so maybe he'll go there in a few years.

The wood is still on the truck and trailer, hopefully we can get that taken care of soon. I have lots of plans for the truck! Actually the great weather is just making me want to get things done.

We are trying to have a garden this year, so far we have tilled it. I suppose we should plant the seeds inside but it has been so yucky out I haven't felt like it. And I've been really busy playing. Hopefully we'll get that started this week.

REALLY want to get someone out to contour the lawn and put in the sprinkler system. This is apparently falling to me to decide since J is too busy, but I don't know what to ask for. So I'm just going to call the first entry in the phone book and call it good. This is ridiculous - our yard has been a mess for over 2 years.

And today I went door shopping! We need screen doors for the front door and new porch, and I want a solid door for the music room. Again, the addition has been done for 2 years now, so it seems like these things need to be done!

Registered D for a video game creation "camp" today - it is one week in July (3 hours/day) He is very excited about this, and had no interest at all in the robot camp I thought he would like. So we'll see! We're going to real family sleep over camp on Mem weekend with brother C and his family - it is far (as everything seems to be!) 6+ hours, but hopefully it will be a good experience. I am taking 2 days off the show (had to hire a sub) and J has to take Friday off. D will also miss school that Friday - this better be good!~

Fun fun fun

So far we have made no further progress on the school for D. since this is Spring Break we can't really do much til mid-April.

Speaking of Spring Break, we are planning a wood-gathering visit down south next weekend! J is swamped at work so we are home for the rest of it though. D & I might make a daytrip somewhere if we get inspired, but no brilliant plans. He's all set though - 8 new giant atlases from the library!

New school

So we've been putting off the inevitable for a long time, but Ds school ends with 3rd grade, so we have to decide where he's going next year. Soon! This week I finally went to a couple of schools (including the public one), and that opens a whole 'nother can of worms.

Apparently the FOLLOWING year (5th grade) there are several public magnet schools that ONLY take kids starting in 5th grade. So if he goes to one of those, we are looking at only a one year time at whichever school. Of course, none of the magnet schools have a 4th grade.

Our public school has "open-concept" classrooms, which seem icky but I've never actually experienced them. Also each class has 25-28 kids, but since it is open concept there are really about 100 kids in each room (with 4 teachers). That is a huge difference from where he's been, but it's already paid for!

Private school #1 is very much like where he's been going, but about 2ce as big. Also more expensive. AND it only goes through 5th grade, although it sounds like most of their students go to the magnet schools at 5th grade. It would probably be a good fit, as it is very close to Js work (we'd have to drive him).

Public School #2 (out of district) has an excellent gifted program. He has taken the test and may or may not qualify to be in, and if he does we would be at the bottom of the list (very limited space) as we are out of district. That also means we have to drive him, it is by the Costco - which means about an hour of driving round trip. Not the worst, but every day that gets really old.

Private School #2 is a Christian school, and I'm kinda not wild about the religious aspect of it, but I'm more worried about the academic part. Haven't actually gone to this one yet, they seem really unorganized and that also makes me nervous (doesn't everything?) It would probably be slightly cheaper than the other private school. It is farther away but not as far as the OOD public school.

There are other options (like homeschool - argh!!!) but they are even more driving, and I am just hating the idea of him commuting for 2 hours every day at 10.

We are sick...

Back from our southern california excursion - but all three of us are sick. And it is a delightful 5 degrees right now, up from the negative numbers of the night hours. So we're not really getting a lot done these days. I would feel guilty if I could focus on anything besides breathing...

Disneyland was very fun, although really wet! We got in about noon the first day, and my friend J took us over to the park for a little tour before he went back to work. We did have rain ponchos (excellent purchase!). We tried the Fast Pass ticket option (awesome), available for the most popular rides, for Soarin Over California which is like a hanglider ride. Really cool, D loved it. We stood in line for an hour (in the rain) to see World of Color which was cancelled.

Did eventually see the World of Color 3 times - amazing water/music/light show. They also projected images on the spray, and incorporated the lights from the ferris wheel behind - really worth seeing.

Went down to San Diego to SeaWorld, the whale show was great, but I was kinda disappointed with the aquariums.

D was not enthusiastic about the whole trip, but he ended up really liking most of it (except Space Mountain, the worst experience of his short life). World of Color, Matterhorn and Pirate Island were favs.

10 years of wedded bliss

Well, our big anniversary came and went in Dec, but we finally got around to a bit of celebrating! This weekend D had a sleepover for his friend's birthday, and I decided we should take advantage of the child-free time. We booked a room at the snazzy hotel on the lake and went to romantic dinner at the floating restaurant. Lots o fun, even though we were on a pretty tight schedule for getting back in the morning.

Since it has been ages since I posted to the non-music blog, I will try to bring it up to date. If anyone missed our fabulous end-of-year missive, here is the link:
http://userweb.windwireless.net/~jimc/xmas/Xmas2010.jpg

We visited MANY people up and down the I-5 corridor the week after Xmas, Grampa C was up from AZ and we got to see most of the cuzinz on that side of the family first, north for all the cuzinz on my side of the family. We took in a museum with miniature trains, and a trip to a huge car museum, but probably Ds highlight of the trip (aside from cuzin time) was going to the Japanese steakhouse. One of those places where the chef puts on a show while you all sit around the grill - lots of flame and flipping of knives etc. Our guy ate a HUGE amount, the seafood platter including lobster, shrimp and mussels. Of course I had steak (it IS a steak house, right?!).

I've been treading a lot, really need to do more as it is obvious the treading is NOT enough. Considering joining (re-joining?) a gym. Of course then you have to fit into their schedule, but it's probably worth it even if I only go 8x a month. Of course it is cheaper exercise at home, and easier to fit in the schedule, but also easier to NOT exercise. Will contemplate.

This year we are going to have the boat. J has agreed to have a "boat man" work on it, and I have a lead on a good one. So hopefully we will really get it out on the water, since it is kinda silly to have a boat that is just a giant planter out by the garage. Also hoping to get noticeable work done in the yard, contouring and sprinkler system put in with grass. We'll see how that pans out.