Kelley family adventures

Now it's 2012

2012-01-11T23:20:00.011-05:00

I guess my New Year's resolution is to start blogging again regularly, since it's been months! Sorry especially for all my relatives who get their Katie fix here. :)

So the quick catch-up is that Katie started kindergarten in August and LOVES it! (see the profile photo at right for her first day) She also has now lost three teeth. The last one was knocked out when she was "pretending to sleepwalk" into a metal sign at a mall. Traumatic, but effective. The first picture is Katie after her first lost tooth; the second is with her church friend Charlotte and their matching top tooth gaps just last week.

The biggest event of the fall was the Colorado wedding of Dave's brother Doug to his now-wife Georgia. Dave was best man and Katie was a very excited flower girl. A very fun weekend was had by all. Here's the happy couple, with Katie at left.

We got back just in time to meet Elmo (and Kevin Clash, his puppeteer):

And I can't sign off without the obligatory Christmas photos.
Katie only asked Santa for one thing: "broadline dry erase markers and a board to go with them" (and she said it at top speed whenever asked). So Santa delivered, to great delight - check out the movie. The other photos are just our cute kid.

Happy New Year, all!

Summer - at the end

2011-08-21T20:51:00.007-04:00

Sheesh, did I really forget to post all summer? I guess that has been summer for us: a little step back from our regular "work" of all kinds. No big vacations, but plenty of fun. I figured I better post some highlights before school starts. Yes, school - for Dave AND Katie this year. That's another post.

Katie's summer highlights: Princess camp (for the second year)

and swimming. She took two sessions of swimming lessons and FINALLY put her head under the water. Once.

But she got pizza and ice cream out of that once. Oh, and ice cream. That goes for all of us.

Dave's summer highlights: trip to Spokane and biking, a whole lot more than usual.

Sara's summer highlights: gardening (we have cukes, broccoli, and honeydew, all new for us); playgroup again, since we missed it during the school year; and fresh produce. We went blueberry picking with friends in early July, and raspberry picking just last week. Yum!

For all of us, it would have to include the time we hit a deer with our "new" (10-year-old) car. The only one with air conditioning. When it was 90+ degrees this summer. It's finally back, looking new - at least in the front. We survived four weeks with the old car (21 years old), and we're happy not to have to coordinate schedules *quite* as much.

Now we're practicing for the school year to start - earlier to bed and earlier to rise. We do get to see more sunshine that way!

Summer vacation

2011-06-24T23:47:00.011-04:00

Our summer vacation was really Katie and me tagging along with Dave on one of his conference trips, this time to Baltimore. Cheap and close. :) But lots of neat places to see in Baltimore, especially for kids. It was just SO hot that week - it hit 100 degrees one day! Oh, and Katie had a bad reaction to the antibiotics she was on for strep, which made her cranky, itchy, tired, and on medicine (after spending half a day finding a diagnosis). She really was a trooper, though, given all that!

We spent six hours at the Maryland Science Center, part of it with Dave (who played hooky for a few hours). What a great place for curious people! Lots of cool hands-on stuff about so many topics. We went from paleontology to astronomy to geography to medicine....

And the next day was the National Aquarium, probably the one absolute must-see in the Inner Harbor. It was World Oceans Day when we went, which meant extra exhibits and activities (and prizes).
We splurged on the dolphin show, which was worth it. Two of their dolphins had calved this spring, and we got to see the moms and calves. I thought it was funny the main trainer was pregnant!

The other highlight of Baltimore was Fort McHenry, which we saw with Dave. Katie and I had read a children's book about the woman who made the big flag, so it was neat to drive by her house downtown and then see the fort. Katie really likes the national anthem, so the exhibits were fairly interesting. Dave and I caught her singing it around the house this week.

The vacation part of the trip for all of us was a visit with our great friends Ingrid, Jeff, and Emma in New Jersey. Emma invited Katie to her dance recital, so we all tagged along. LOTS of dancing - Emma was in 10 numbers all day, four in the one show we saw (one of five different shows all day long). What an incredible undertaking for the dance school. But Emma was great, and Katie loved the dancing - sat upright and mesmerized, even after being sick most of the day. And we all got rewarded with fabulous Indian food. Oh, and mehndi painting (henna) for the girls.

After the week, I think we'll be piecing together a "vacation" of short visits and travels - to fun places and of course to great friends.

Dance recital 2011

2011-05-31T22:03:00.005-04:00

Katie's dance recital was last Thursday - the culmination of a eight months of ballet classes. And she couldn't WAIT to put on the costume and get on stage! (Here's a closeup of the costume.)

They danced to a fun version of "I'm a little teapot", which automatically made the dance cute no matter what they did. But they all did a pretty good job, considering all the steps they had to learn. Katie performed better live than she had in rehearsal (I didn't think she had learned some of the steps, but she clearly had). Destined for the stage, I guess. Sigh.

Oh, and again this year she didn't want to get off the stage after the whole thing was over. She went from whining about being thirsty and hungry to this:

Arts Festival

2011-05-27T23:16:00.004-04:00

OK, it's two weeks after the final Lewisburg Arts Festival events, and I'm just now posting.... Can you say "exhausted"? It really is an amazing event, run by an ever-growing crew of volunteers. Sometimes I forget I'm a volunteer too! It was great this year, partly because the big Saturday Market Street Festival came complete with the first beautiful weather we'd had in what seemed like months. It finally felt like spring.

Anyway, the highlight was the Keltic Dreams kids that came from the Bronx to do Irish stepdancing in Lewisburg. They were really good, and they were just great kids. Katie (and Nana) got a chance to visit with them at a pre-Festival picnic - Dave and I were at a big Bucknell dinner - and they tried to convince Katie to dance with them. No go, but really sweet.

And after their second performance on Saturday, the same kids that looked after Katie found her to say "hi" - again, really sweet. This time, I got pictures. :)

Birthday, Part 2

2011-04-11T21:26:00.009-04:00

Saturday was Katie's mermaid party - SO much fun! We started planning quite a while ago, partly so I knew she'd stick with the theme! I was excited about everything we decided on (most ideas borrowed from the internet, of course), and so was Katie. So for all of you who wanted to know what we did.....

Katie invited five friends, and they were asked to come in bathing suits - over warmer clothes (this is early April in central PA, after all). The first activity was to make their own mermaid tails. I got this idea from a library book on the Coney Island Mermaid parade, actually. I cut out green poster board tails, and the girls spent nearly an hour decorating them. Stickers, flower pieces (taken from the floor of craft shops by my daughter), shiny and sparkly fabric from Aunt Jen, fun paper, you name it. They had a ball!

I took a picture of each girl with her tail when it was done, and then they all posed in front of our crepe paper "waterfall".

The second activity was to dig for buried treasure. I filled Katie's turtle sandbox with shredded brown paper "sand", and we buried gold chocolate coins, chocolate fish, iridescent bead necklace "kits", and the rest of the 200 beads from the package. They dug with the shovels that came with their pails - what they got instead of goody bags.

Then they used up some excited energy with a freeze dance to Little Mermaid music. We printed out pictures of fish, jellyfish, and mermaids, and Katie made up moves or sayings that they had to say or do when they landed on one of the pictures. It was very funny. I didn't get any pictures of this -- too much movement to make a clear shot!

We ended with dinner: shells and cheese, octopus hot dogs (did you know you can even find *videos* of this on the web?), fruit salad, blue jello aquaria (with mandarin orange goldfish), and the cake.

After present opening, the girls who could stay ran around the house and did more dressing up. They all had a blast, which was even more gratifying for me since Katie's friends didn't all know each other before the party. Neither did all the parents, but we all had fun, too!

Needless to say, we're still cleaning up "sand" and beads... but it was worth it for our five-year-old mermaid!

Birthday, Part 1

2011-04-09T22:59:00.005-04:00

Katie turned 5 - yes, five - on Monday, and we've celebrated all week. We started with Geoffrey's Birthday Club at Toys R Us last week.

On her actual birthday we had her favorite dinner (Black Bean Enchiladas) with Nana, Opa, and Oma; ice cream; and presents - by far, Katie's favorite part.
Tuesday was her birthday party at school (they had a field trip on Monday) complete with Mom-made cupcakes. Notice the crown theme for the week?

Birthday presents and cards have also come in the mail almost all week, so she really thinks this is normal. Guess we better nip that in the bud next year.

The birthday party was this Saturday - that's a whole other blog post with more photos!

Spring Break in the southwest

2011-03-31T00:39:00.009-04:00

We finally got to take a Spring Break vacation - first time in more than 10 years that I haven't been singing on St. Patrick's Day! So we flew out to visit Dad (Steve) and Cynthia, aka Boppa and Grammy, in Rio Rancho, NM for 10 days. Dave had a conference in Phoenix for the first half and then joined us.

It was so great to spend time with them - we only get to see them about once a year. Katie really enjoyed being with her grandparents, and even managed to be less scared of the dogs by the end of the week!

In addition to visiting we did a lot of sightseeing. We went to several museums - Katie's favorite was the Explora Science Center and Children's Museum (here are Katie and Boppa at the light table). We spent a whole day in Santa Fe - how beautiful! I can see why it is such a tourist magnet. And the three Kelleys went hiking on our last day to see volcanos and petroglyphs. Very cool.

Oh, and the fantastic sunshine and blue skies.....

More ballet

2010-12-24T23:50:00.003-05:00

I keep forgetting to post this video, and I finally got permission from my friend Emily - her daughter Kate is the other ballerina dancing with Katie. Katie is still ballet-obsessed, dancing all the time and watching as much Angelina Ballerina as I will let her (not much). She was disappointed to take time off for Christmas break. But they start their recital practice in January, which will make up for a lot, I think.

I hope this brings you a little holiday joy!

Halloween weekend, part 3 (of 3)

2010-11-11T20:46:00.003-05:00

The third part of the weekend was my reunion Sunday afternoon with the Dominants - my high school show choir. About two dozen of us from the 1981-85 era showed up and we had a wonderful time. I can't believe it's been nearly 20 years since I've seen most of these old friends, and it was like no time had elapsed at all. We even looked the same. Amazing what tricks the mind can play....

So I stole my old friend Lisa Offley Novitsky's photo from Facebook (have to give credit to Bill Putnam, who took it with Lisa's nice professional camera) - I was having too much fun visiting and reminiscing to take many photos of my own. But I had to share this one of Jill, Lisa, Sara, and Sara - just like it was 1983. What a great group we had!

Halloween weekend, part 2 (of 3)

2010-11-11T00:19:00.008-05:00

I guess this should really be titled "Rally to Restore Sanity" because that was the big event for us Halloween weekend - yes, we really went. It was crazy!! Not the people - everyone was fantastic (we didn't even see anybody smoking until after the rally was over, even though we were outside) - but the sheer size of the rally and what that meant for getting there and being there.

We rode the Metro, which took forever, and got there on the late side. OK, that wasn't all Metro's fault - you know us. We walked up the National Mall as far as we could, and still were so far back we could catch glimpses of the last jumbo screen, but that was it. Katie took photos from her periodic perch on Dave's shoulders:

Katie was really good, too. When she got bored, she read books at our feet. But she did pay attention - catch her dancing to the O-Jays and "Love Train"!

The signs were hilarious (here's a picture of my favorite), the talent on the stage (we could hear almost everything) was phenomenal, and - Fox and MSNBC pundits be darned - the rally really did have a message that was terrific. Not that it made any difference in the election, but maybe someday....

Halloween weekend, part 1 (of 3)

2010-11-11T00:09:00.004-05:00

When you have a kid, Halloween is a totally different holiday. It will never be my favorite, but Katie thinks it's great. So we go to every event we can (trying to limit the candy at each, if at all possible). This year she wore a different costume for each of the events. Luckily none of them took much work -- or expense -- on my part.

The Sunday before Halloween is a kid party at Bucknell, put on by student groups. Crafts, haunted houses, games, and lots of candy possibilities. Katie was Belle. She did her own hair.

The Friday before Halloween is the Kinderfolk Halloween party - very cute. It starts with a parade around the block, then the kids play games (and the parents go out for coffee!), then we all come back to watch the kids sing Halloween songs for us. And eat, of course. Katie was a black-and-white cat - she designed her own costume, using a cat tail I made for myself in 1988 (can't believe I still had it).

This year, Halloween being on Sunday was a little tricky, since we were in Virginia in the afternoon (see part 3 of this blog section). We made it back to go trick-or-treating with a horde of neighborhood children. Thanks to Dave's mom for being home so we could both go with her; it was hilarious to watch the kids race from house to house. Katie had planned all weekend to be Cinderella, but ended up as Princess Tiana. No photos, unfortunately, since it was dark by the time we got back.

Katie has already laid out her costume for the next four years. I'll have to write it down somewhere and see if she remembers.

Letter to the Editor

2010-10-23T22:27:00.005-04:00

Last Sunday our local newspaper published a front-page article about a former radical Muslim-turned-Christian and his remarks to an area church congregation. The article was a rehash of his remarks, which were pretty incendiary and awful. Dave was so mad he could hardly speak. I went to my own UU church that morning (having not read the whole thing yet), and lots of people there were that mad, too.

So Dave and I wrote a letter to the editor. It took us nearly a week, and then another week for them to print it, but they did (Friday, Oct. 22). They took out two large paragraphs (it was longer than their guidelines, I admit), but left most of it. We've gotten amazing response from friends about it, for which we are grateful.

But I wanted to put up the whole letter, including the paragraphs that didn't get printed. So here it is - enjoy. :)

To the Editor:

We are appalled at the front-page coverage in Sunday’s Daily Item that was given to the hate- and fear-filled presentation by the former self-proclaimed radical Muslim who has converted to Christianity. It is bad enough that his remarks, at least as reported in the article, were one-sided, incomplete, and inaccurate, but for the Daily Item to give him so much attention without any counterpoint is irresponsible.

While it is true that there are radical Muslims who seek to destroy Christianity and Judaism, it is not true that mainstream Islam as taught in the Quran does so. Dr. Shayestah learned his variety of Islam from radicals, so it stands to reason that that is the Islam he knows. But just as members of the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nation profess a distorted form of Christianity, the extremist movement in Iran of which Dr. Shayestah was a part espouses a distorted form of Islam. Mainstream Islam holds that peace and harmony are the highest of values. The word “Islam” comes from an Arabic word that means to submit to and obey the will of God.

Another inaccuracy is his characterization of Allah as a “man-made god”. Al-Lah is the Arabic word for God, as revealed to the prophet Muhammad, just as Yahweh and God are other cultures’ names for the revealed one true God. Although the names are different, the god is the same. Muslims pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob just as Jews and Christians do. Although Muslims do not believe Jesus is the son of God, they do revere him as a great prophet.

He also makes the same mistake that many people make of selecting bits and pieces of a holy book and using them to paint a religion with a broad brush. Applying the same logic to Judaism and Christianity would lead one to conclude that the God of Abraham encourages second-class status for women, slavery, human sacrifice, and genocide (the parting of the Red Sea and the Great Flood stories come to mind). But that is not the loving God that is the centerpiece, with his son Jesus, of modern Christianity. A whole reading of the Bible gives another picture. Likewise, a whole reading of the Quran gives another picture of Muhammad’s teachings: one of peace, unity, equality for women, and welcome to strangers, to name a few.

We live in an increasingly connected world, one that more and more is falling into fear from radicals who claim theirs is the only true religion, the only true way, the only way to live. Wouldn’t it be better for all of us in the long run to learn more about each others’ humanity and to find the beliefs, values, and ways of treating other people that we hold in common? Fear-mongering will only serve to destroy us. Love, as taught by the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian God, is the better path.

David and Sara Kelley
Lewisburg

Katie meets her congressman

2010-10-12T18:13:00.002-04:00

Yes, Katie got to shake hands with our congressman (Chris Carney) tonight. It was very nice, actually; before he tried to meet me, he bent down and asked her name. She told him "Katie", so he held out his hand and said "Hi, I'm Chris." It made her comfortable enough with the crowd of adult legs to stay through the whole meet-and-greet-and-pep talk at the local Democratic headquarters.

The thing that made the biggest impression on me (other than introducing himself to the kids) was when Carney mentioned his wife, who we all know is undergoing breast cancer treatment. It was clear she and his kids are his number one priority. He said he wants to beat his opponent for a lot of reasons, but the main one is for the charge that he skipped out on important votes in Washington to go home for a few days. In actuality he went home to be with his wife when she had surgery. That kind of accusation really says volumes about his opponent, and made us all feel that it was worth defeating him for that reason alone. Jeez.

On the way home, I got to give Katie a lesson on how democracy works. Cool. And it will be fun to let her punch the ballot for Chris in three weeks.

... and Beginnings

2010-10-09T20:57:00.005-04:00

Fall really is the time of beginnings, if you're on a school cycle. Katie started every day preschool this year - and we both love it. She really enjoys going every day, and I like those few "free" hours every afternoon. They get eaten up pretty quickly, but not as fast as last year, only three times a week.

She's still at Kinderfolk, with a lot of the same kids as last year - and a few more. There are 17 in the class. I have a lot of respect for their teachers. :)

She also started reading this fall (maybe late summer), but I don't have any pictures of that. I guess I should take some, since she spends a LOT of time with books!

And ballet started up again in September - Katie's now in the "pre-ballet" class. There is some of the free-ish movement as before, but they've added barre work and more step learning, as well as combinations. They are all so cute! It's more tiring (especially coming after an afternoon at school), but Katie's learning more and becoming more confident in her dancing, if that was possible. It's spilling over, still, into out-of-class dancing: this was at her friend Ryleigh's fifth birthday party. Dave hopes this isn't the beginning of a new kind of move....

Endings...

2010-10-07T21:34:00.004-04:00

I usually think of spring as the time of beginnings, but once you're on a school calendar, fall really feels like beginnings - which means August is endings. OK, the slowing downs, maybe. So here are a few photos of our end-of-summer activities (August and September):

Last trip(s) to Knoebels - we went in mid-August with Laura and Lisa, and then in early September with Jude and Elizabeth. Katie and Jude don't see each other often, but were glad to spend the day together (so were their moms).

And the last family hike of the summer - Labor Day at Shikellamy Overlook. Katie did the whole thing herself, and was triumphant after a long downhill and leap over a little creek.

Our CSA is still going strong as I write this, but we've already had our end-of-season potluck. Farmer Jackie made a little pumpkin patch for the kids a few weeks ago - here are Katie and Naveen having a ball rearranging the pumpkins!

Our summer vacation

2010-09-10T23:07:00.012-04:00

We did get one vacation trip this summer - to Toronto for Dave's conference. I still can't believe we packed so much in to one week, and that Katie did as much walking as she did. A real trooper. So here's the nutshell version of the trip:

Niagara Falls - we stayed there overnight on our way (we drove).
Katie was not really impressed with the falls (any of them), but did like the fake mummy outside the Ripley's Museum. Sigh.

We went to all the museums on Toronto's City Pass. I know - tourists. But they were worth it, really! We went up the CN Tower, and looked through the floor at the retracted baseball stadium roof.

Katie and I took the subway and then walked up a BIG hill to Casa Loma, a 20th-century castle with a not-so-fairy-tale story, but still beautiful.
The audioguide stick was a huge hit with Katie; I think I liked the gardens best.

We took a ferry to an island in Lake Ontario, with an amusement park - probably the highlight of the trip for Katie!

Us girls drove out to the Toronto Zoo one day, which we both liked even in the beating-down sun and high temps we didn't expect in Canada. And Katie learned how to use Mommy's camera!

Dave got to go to two very cool museums with us - the natural history/history/culture museum known as the Royal Ontario Museum (dinosaurs, other neat stuff, dinosaurs, more dinosaurs - guess what Katie wanted to see?) and the Ontario Science Centre.

Then we drove home and recovered from our trip. :)

Princess Camp

2010-07-18T23:46:00.007-04:00

Yes, indeed, there is such a thing as Princess Camp - and as soon as I heard about it, I knew I had to sign Katie up! Thanks to my friend Jen for the info; her daughter Charlotte (one year older than Katie) has gone twice.

The girls - 25 of them ages 3 to 8 - colored, made crafts, listened to stories, played games, did some dancing, and "billowed" (ran under cloth swaths held up in the air) for four mornings. Four very hot mornings in a non-air-conditioned dance studio in Danville. Oh, yeah, on the second floor, too. Each day was focused on a different princess, and the girls were encouraged to dress up.

Day 1: Cinderella (Katie has a Cinderella dress, as did Charlotte and most of the other girls!)
Day 2: Ariel (K wore her purple princess dress. Looks nice with the green lei she chose, don't you think?)
Day 3: Jasmine (K wore capris and a bathing suit top, very cute)
Day 4: Fairytopia (again, we have the official dress, but both the wings that go with it and the purple ones from Aunt Jen were cast aside for the borrowed ones at the studio that all the other girls were wearing. Who knew there was peer pressure in Fairytopia?)

At the end of the week, they all got a gold medal that says "Winner". Katie was very proud of it! I think we'll be signing up again next summer....

Ballet recital May 20

2010-05-24T14:43:00.009-04:00

I'll skip right over the Lewisburg Arts Festival this year, since I didn't take any photos. I did everything else, though, at least it felt like it (just kidding - it's a great bunch of hardworking volunteers)! But it was a big success all around.

Our next goal - besides the end of the semester for Dave - was Katie's ballet recital. Her class is the youngest, and of course the cutest. Some of them did some dancing, some did some standing around..... The whole recital was really nice, actually, and Katie got to watch all the other numbers. Now she's really inspired to keep going. You can see how enthusiastic she was, even before taking the stage! Thanks to my friend Lin for some of these great photos.

After the recital was over, we took our turn up on stage to take photos. Guess who couldn't stop dancing?

Character meetings

2010-05-24T14:36:00.006-04:00

It just so happened that WVIA, our public TV and radio station, had two events in the Lewisburg area in late April/early May that both involved big costumed characters from TV. Katie used to be nervous around them, but as you can see here, she isn't anymore! We had fun with Clifford the Big Red Dog at Wendy's for dinner one week:

And then Dave took her to Reptileland to meet Buddy from Dinosaur Train (her favorite TV show - a really good one). I don't do Reptileland. But they had a great time, and Katie even taught Buddy some ballet.

Katie's 4th birthday

2010-05-24T14:29:00.006-04:00

Surprise, surprise, Katie wanted a princess party for her birthday! So all the little girls dressed in princess costumes, and we played (easy) princess games, had a castle cake, and attempted to destroy a pink crown pinata. They all had a great time and were so cute! We had the party the day before her birthday, since it fell on Easter this year. And Nana was here, which made it even more fun.

Winter and spring 2010

2010-05-24T14:17:00.005-04:00

OK, here's a quick run through the rest of winter and spring, by way of a few select photos!

Katie started ballet class (really, Creative Movement for preschoolers) in January, and LOVES it.

We helped out with the Lewisburg Ice Festival again this year, and got to play with the ice and snow. It was a real treat for Katie, since we had no winter in San Antonio last year.

And of course there's always dressing up....

Colorado trip

2010-05-24T14:01:00.005-04:00

OK, so I'm many months behind. But I couldn't post last week's events without posting a few photos of the winter and spring. I'll make them all brief.

Our big event was our trip to Colorado in January. We went with Dave's mom Martie (Nana) and got to see Sara's sister Jennifer and her family, and Dave's brother Doug and his girlfriend, Georgia. Sara's dad and Cynthia came up for the weekend while we were there, too. Big family reunion!

And when we got home to DC, we visited with Sara's brother Rob and his family. So Katie got to see all her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in one week!

We went to several museums, including the Art Museum, which was really terrific. They had a whole section of interactive exhibits, which explains why Katie and Aunt Jen look like this:

Here's Katie at the Children's Museum with Georgia:

It was a long time before Katie stopped talking about the Bells' cats; Rosie was willing to let Katie pet and cuddle with her (Oliver never lets that happen at home!).

New Year's Eve 2009

2010-02-04T23:56:00.003-05:00

We went to State College again this year for First Night (New Year's Eve) - mostly because Callanish was performing. It's a great gig for us - we get over 200 people every year, and we get a professional sound guy. And I see friends and fans from State College that I only get to see once a year.

We also got to have yummy Indian food with our friend - and Katie's godmother - Ann Marie and her boyfriend Brian.

But the most fun that day was ice skating at the Penn State ice rink. Katie has been wanting to go ever since she saw some on TV; those ladies are ballerinas on ice, right? We even prepped with books from the library - here she is on the trip to State College, saving her energy. :)

We got out on the ice - Katie VERY reluctantly - and took at least 10 minutes to go once around with her between me and Dave. So she and I got off the ice while Dave skated. We got her back on a few minutes later for one trip around. With 10 minutes left in the session, she wanted to get back on the ice with Daddy - and then didn't want to get off! We're excited to try ice skating on our outdoor Lewisburg rink when it opens back up (this week, I think). No photos, though - Katie was moving too much and they're all blurry!

2010-01-20T23:38:00.004-05:00

I guess my New Year's resolution will have to be to update our blog more regularly! I'll try to catch up again in the next few posts.

Christmas this year was so much fun - Katie really got into the excitement. We had two Advent calendars for the countdown; my Aunt Leza sends her a new one every year (like I had growing up) and this year she loved opening the little windows. And Betty Steffensen (aka Oma) made her a cloth one last year that taught her how to use snaps finally!

She finally was willing to talk to Santa, although not in his lap, and she loved all the lights and decorations everywhere, including our house. She helped hang ornaments on the tree. And of course she made lots of her own decorations in preschool. We also took her to the Candlelight Concert at Bucknell this year, which she really enjoyed (as did we - so beautiful). Here she is in one of her Christmas dresses, ready for the concert.

The best, of course, was Christmas day. Nana (Dave's mom) came up for the week, and it was so much fun to see Katie's reaction to all the presents - and to each individual one. Each one was the "best ever" until she opened the next one. I have to say that this is really the first year that I didn't care much about celebrating my birthday - it was just great to watch Katie. Her big present from Santa was a "Belle dress" (from Beauty and the Beast, for anyone who doesn't know their Disney princesses). What a great day!

Snow White

2009-10-31T22:15:00.006-04:00

This is Katie's first Halloween that she has really understood -- OK, at least the American commercial understanding. Nana bought her the Snow White costume she really wanted (thanks, Nana), and she got to wear it for five different Halloween events this week. This was after a party at Bucknell last weekend.

My favorite event was the preschool parade and party - they were all so cute! After a "parade" around one town block, the kids played games and then sang songs for all the parents who could come. Here are Katie and her best friend Laura singing part of "Five Little Pumpkins".

The town Halloween parade was really fun, too. We followed the high school marching band -- all in costume -- and saw lots of friends (mine and Katie's) in costume.

Katie's favorite part was probably the trick-or-treating, of course. She is definitely her parents' child, with a love of sweets. Why did I work so hard to keep her away from sugar for two years? Oh, well. She at least understands the concept of rationing, so her haul will hold her for several months, I hope.

She's already informed me that next year she wants to be Belle. I'll be interested to see what happens next fall....

Fall in Pennsylvania

2009-10-31T21:54:00.005-04:00

I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything, so I'll make up for it with beautiful pictures in the next few posts!

One of the things we missed last year in Texas was the beautiful fall colors of Pennsylvania. We've had a record amount of rain in October, but that's only made the colors more vibrant. I'm coveting the next door neighbor's scarlet gum tree....

On Columbus Day weekend -- Fall Break for Dave -- we drove up to Wellsboro to take the Tioga Central Railroad fall foliage train. A little boring for Katie, once the conductor punched her ticket, but we loved watching the colors.

We capped off the day with a trip to the Pine Creek Gorge, also known as the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. We usually forget about going in the spring, when mountain laurel and rhododendron are out, but we try not to miss fall there.

First day of school

2009-09-09T16:05:00.003-04:00

Here's Katie on her first day of preschool (09/09/09, easy to remember). She told me (and later, Nana and Aunt Jen) that she loved, loved, LOVED preschool. I'm still not sure what all they did today, but apparently it didn't matter. Her best friend is in the class, as are several other kids we know at least by sight, and she's making other friends already.

And I did not cry, although I was a little nervous yesterday for her for some reason. I went to my meeting, and then home to do house stuff -- amazing what you can get done all by yourself -- and then picked up my smiling, happy kid.

I'm so glad she loves school!

Trip to DC in August

2009-09-03T21:39:00.007-04:00

I know it's a month later, but now I have the photos ready. We went down to Virginia in early August to celebrate Martie/Mom/Nana's birthday, and to have Dave and Doug (who flew in from CO) go through some stuff in the basement. While they worked, Katie and I played in DC.

The first day we met Alyce and Tobey Phinney at their house and took the Metro into the city to the natural history museum. We thought they'd like the butterfly house, but the aquarium was a bigger hit. They also loved the carousel on the Mall (big surprise there) and the Hirshhorn fountain. It was fun to see the cousins play together after so much time apart.

The second day Katie and I took the Metro in, planning to go the National Archives. The line was too long so we did the National Gallery instead - both west and east wings. Katie loved it, which was really cool. Her favorite pieces were this Manet ballerina and the Calder mobile in the entry of the East wing. She didn't know it was her parents' favorite art there, too!

On Friday we drove in to the National Zoo, along with every other tourist in DC, I think. It was hot and crowded, and we parked several streets away (I almost lost our car). But we saw the giant pandas -- my whole goal. We've been to three other zoos now, and this is the only one with pandas. I have to say that the zoo is not as impressive as I remember from my childhood.

On Mom's birthday we all went to the Udvar-Hazy center of the Air & Space Museum -- it's an annex at Dulles Airport. We met Rob and Tobey there, and later Alyce for birthday dinner with the extended family. The museum was really cool, for air geeks and non geeks alike. My favorite plane, the SR-71 Blackbird, was the first thing you saw when you came in, which I thought was great. This was our first visit and we'll go back.

There are so many museums in DC that I'm sure this will become a regular kind of trip!

Knoebel's

2009-08-25T09:37:00.001-04:00

Katie's new favorite place is Knoebel's Family Amusement Park in Elysburg, PA (about 40 mins. from us), although in a pinch she'll settle for anyplace with a carousel. We've taken two trips to Knoebel's this summer, and she has ridden as many rides as we had time for - and as she was tall enough for. She was not too sure about the new roller coaster last time, even with its purple track, but she wants to take Daddy on it "tomorrow".

Our first time this summer was with her best friend Laura Tranquillo (and the rest of her family); we got some great photos, even with the big rains we had all afternoon!

Princesses, fairies, and ballerinas

2009-08-24T22:49:00.005-04:00

Wow, I didn't realize it had been too long since my last post. I guess I'm thinking that things aren't as exciting in Lewisburg as they were in San Antonio. Silly me.

This summer (OK, it started last winter), Katie has turned into a real little GIRL. As in pink and purple everything, and lots of dressing up. She has discovered Disney princesses, much to my chagrin, even though I have yet to buy her any branded clothing. I did break down and buy a Sleeping Beauty Little Golden Book, Disney version. I did tell her she could choose...

So this summer, Katie has spent alternating between being a princess (generic, Cinderella, or Sleeping Beauty), a fairy (or fairy princess), and a ballerina. Sometimes she is all three at once, depending on mood and footwear and whether or not she has been able to get her fairy wings off their hanger.

I wasn't going to keep -- or post -- these two photos of the melange until my sister reminded me that we'll want photos of every mood, just not beautiful smiling faces. So here they are for your amusement as much as mine.

And then, just 'cuz, another of my beautiful girl in her new favorite dress (thank goodness for hand-me-downs!).

Charleston

2009-06-29T21:47:00.012-04:00

Dave's annual antennas conference was in Charleston in early June, so we all drove south, picking up Nana Kelley on the way down. (I won't bore you with the complex logistics of how we all got there!) While Dave worked every day, the three girls traipsed around this great old southern city -- OK, we drove a lot rather than walked. I, of course, was most taken with the architecture. Dave and I did get a night out, at the conference's opening reception, USO-style, on the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier. We had a lot of fun on that enormous ship.

Mom K has always wanted to take a carriage ride, and there's no better place for them than in Charleston. We did that our first morning, to get a taste of the city's history and architecture. Amazing piazzas (their word for big multi-story porches) and ironwork!

We took one day to drive up to Drayton Hall, a National Trust site that I'd heard about from the time I worked for the Trust, oh, some 18 years ago. Their claim to fame is that they're the only Ashley River plantation to have survived both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. What I think is really cool is that they haven't done anything to change the site -- they use its state of disrepair (well, they've stopped any further deterioration from about the mid 1970s) to tell the story of the plantation and its inhabitants, free and slave, white and black. They do an amazing job. This is Katie (and Elmo) in front of the family's "growth chart" wall -- dating back hundreds of years. We all really enjoyed that day.

We also saw the aquarium and the Charleston Museum, and on our last day, all four of us took the boat out to Ft. Sumter. Very interesting -- an island of nothing but the fort. But I have a clearer understanding now of the military beginnings of the Civil War. And later that afternoon Dave and I went to see the Hunley, the Civil War submarine that was recovered from the harbor less than 10 years ago. It's in a conservation lab, and they're doing an amazing job of the work. That was much more interesting than I expected. Here's Dave in a replica of the Hunley -- can you imagine being in there with seven other men and a few candles, underwater, in a vessel that had already sunk twice? Hard to believe anyone volunteered for that assignment.

Someday I'd like to go back and wander the streets some more to really fully take in the architecture and history.

(This is the Arthur Ravenel Bridge, a really beautiful new truss bridge that has become a symbol of Charleston.)

Elizabeth and Bill's wedding

2009-06-28T23:10:00.005-04:00

My cousin Elizabeth and her long-time boyfriend Billy (OK, Liz and Bill to their friends) got married a few weeks ago in Fredericksburg, VA. She was born when I was in college, and we're a pretty close family, so this was really fun. It turned into a mini-reunion for my mom's side of the family, plus my dad, from all over the country. Aunt and uncles, both of my siblings and at least parts of their families, my dad (the minister), and my mother-in-law. Did I say we were a close family? Then there was my uncle's side of the family, who we see at family gatherings, and they're always so much fun. We had a great time all weekend.

Here are just a few photos of the wedding and my extended family...

Home - and away - and home again

2009-06-12T23:46:00.002-04:00

My new words of advice: don't go on vacation right after you move! Eight days after Katie and I got home, and four days after Dave and Oliver arrived home, we left again. First stop was family reunion time at my cousin Elizabeth's wedding, and second stop was Dave's big conference in Charleston, SC. Both stops were places I wanted to be, but the timing was a little tough.

But we're really home now. I have finally downloaded my nearly 150 photos from the 11 days we were gone, and will post about our trips over the next few days, when I get them sorted and labeled. And then -- only then -- will this blog become maybe a little less adventurous. :) But no less cute: doesn't everyone think they have the cutest kid on the planet?

The move

2009-05-21T00:36:00.005-04:00

Well, Katie and I are back in Lewisburg! We flew home on May 19, with two very easy flights, and were met by Oma and Opa - Betty and Dick Steffensen. It was so nice to see them again! And it was nice to see the familiar landmarks as we made our way up the Susquehanna to Lewisburg.

Katie recognized the "big brown house" and has been great so far about helping me move back in (by not getting in the way, mostly). The movers came first thing Wednesday morning, so everything is here. Except Dave and Oliver, of course -- they left San Antonio by car Wednesday night and plan to be in Lewisburg by Saturday dinnertime.

I do plan to continue this blog, but I guess I'll have to change the header and the main photos -- stay tuned from Pennsylvania!

Lasts

2009-05-18T17:38:00.002-04:00

We've been spending a lot of time in the past few weeks experiencing "lasts" - the last Kindermusik class, the last story hour at the library, the last hike at Government Canyon, the last visits to our respective churches, the last time we go to the zoo,the Witte Museum, SeaWorld, or the Riverwalk, the last time we see fighter jets or huge C-5s zoom over the apartment. It's fun to hear Katie say goodbye to places like the Children's Museum when I tell her this is our last visit!

It is bittersweet, of course, to drive downtown for the last time, sing with the Mastersingers for the last time, see our friends the Lysiaks for the last time, play with Kim and Luke for the last time, etc., etc. But we're going home with some wonderful memories and some new lifelong friends. And we're going HOME -- that's the key word.

And it will be great to remember where Katie learned so many new skills and interests, not the least of which will be amusement park rides -- check out what she says at the end of the "monkey ride" at SeaWorld.

Mother's Day

2009-05-14T17:30:00.001-04:00

I had a very nice Mother's Day this year, even without breakfast in bed! Dave talked me into a 10-mile bike ride for women only that morning. It was hard, but I did it. Only my second real ride since before Katie was born, so that felt good. And then they fed us barbecue brisket for brunch - yum.

In the afternoon we went back to the Witte Museum to see some exhibits and enjoy jazz on the lawn with three women jazz singers (my kind of jazz). Katie asked if I was going to sing, too. What a great kid! And the staff had bunches of pink carnations for all the moms.

And for dinner we met our friends the Lysiaks at a Japanese restaurant with fabulous sushi. We ate too much and too late, but we all had a good time. I sure was glad I had done the bike ride in the morning!

South Padre Island, Apr. 24-26

2009-05-11T17:17:00.001-04:00

The last weekend in April we drove down to the Texas Gulf Coast to South Padre Island. I had really wanted a beach vacation -- the Gulf is not the mid-Atlantic, and I wanted to see it for myself. Well, in April it is WINDY!! We ended up not doing much lounging around on the beach, partly because of the wind. But we did get out a few hours each day, where Dave (with a *little* help from Katie) made animal sand sculptures. This was his cat on the first day.

We actually spent more time looking at wildlife on this trip, mostly birds. There is a sea turtle rescue place across the road from our hotel. There is a "sealife center" in Port Isabel, the closest town on the mainland, which had aquaria of interesting sealife - Katie got to touch a sea urchin and help feed some fish (and we saw seahorses so small they were tinier than sea monkeys we used to grow). There was a birding/nature trail across the road from the hotel, too, where we saw all kinds of birds, including this unusual purple gallinule. We had to ask what it was. On the way home we stopped at Resaca de la Palma State Park, part of the World Birding Center (as is South Padre) -- we saw more cool birds to add to our bird book checklist. Maybe Katie will turn out to be a birder, who knows?

Peter Rabbit April 22

2009-05-04T16:49:00.003-04:00

Katie and I went with Kim and Luke to see a local production of Peter Rabbit recently. It was billed as interactive, and it sure was! There was a narrator, and one actor to play Peter, and everyone else was pulled from the audience -- mostly kids. It was a little hokey, but cute, and the kids really got into it. Neither Katie nor Luke wanted to participate the first few times they were invited (Katie ran crying to Mommy this very first time), but by the end, Katie wouldn't stay off stage. I wonder what that will mean?

(L: Katie watches at first; R: her role in the pond - she was supposed to be a fish, but opted to be a duck with Quack-Quack Duck)

(L: Katie sneaks onstage to be with Luke in the "hedge"; R: Katie joined in on the last scene and stayed for the curtain call)

Viva Fiesta!

2009-04-22T16:00:00.007-04:00

Fiesta is a huge deal in San Antonio. As best I can tell, it's nearly two weeks of big parties. There's really no other way to describe it, which is why, I now realize, nobody has been able to explain it all year -- even though we've been hearing about it all year. It's probably a lot of fun if you a) like big crowds, b) drink a lot, c) like to wear brightly colored, flashy clothes, and d) don't have little kids that need to go to bed early. Needless to say, we're not going to most of the Fiesta events -- which do all seem to revolve around eating (OK, we like that part), drinking, and music (we like that, too). Plus much of it is happening downtown, which means traffic and parking. Gee, I sound like such a crank! I guess I'll take our small-town Lewisburg Arts Festival any day (good luck this weekend, guys!)

But I wanted to try to do some of it and get into the Fiesta spirit this week. So on Saturday we took Katie to Fiesta de los Ninos (Kids' Fiesta, for those who don't speak any Spanish) at the old Kelly AFB. She loved the rides and all the bright colors. She also liked the "cascarones", which are colored eggshells full of confetti that you crack on people's heads. Here are Dave and Katie just after she broke one over his head.

And we went to Tamalefest, for the tamales of course. We did get a Fiesta medal there, another Fiesta tradition -- you collect or buy them and wear them during Fiesta. I think they show how many events you've gone to. Another big part of Fiesta is the "royalty" -- beauty pageants for the Fiesta queens, and big ceremonies to crown the kinds -- it's all wrapped up in long-time San Antonio clubs of one sort or another. I think it's like Mardi Gras krewes in New Orleans. Oh, and parades -- there are three, which we'll watch on TV. The Battle of Flowers parade on Friday afternoon is all the high school marching bands in the area; the parade day is a school and business holiday. Did I mention that Fiesta is a big deal here?

Dave's big part of Fiesta this year was the Fiesta Wildflower Ride -- he rode 66.5 miles on Sunday!! I was proud of him, and he was really happy to have done it. Not easy the day after all those tamales... Congratulations, Dave!

An eventful week for us - April 12-18

2009-04-19T23:46:00.001-04:00

I went back to the pictures I took this week to figure out what to post, and realized how much we did this week! Of course Sunday was Easter, and Katie's first visit from the Easter Bunny. Rationing candy is turning out to be a bit of a trick. She definitely has her parents' sweet tooth, specifically chocolate. The flowers Katie is holding in this picture are from the UU church, where we also had flower communion.

Tuesday we went to a San Antonio Missions (minor league baseball) game with a bunch of Dave's colleagues. It was a beautiful sunny day with good hotdogs and a losing team. Oh, well. We all had fun. It felt like playing hooky (which all the engineers were doing, even if their managers were with us) -- nice feeling when you don't really have anything to play hooky from!

Wednesday night Dave and I had a real date, with a babysitter for Katie and everything. The highlight (OK, dinner was really good) was to see John Cleese speak at Trinity University. He spoke on creativity and how to cultivate it. He was interesting, and of course extremely funny. The best part was the last audience question: a young boy (10 or 11) came up to the mike and said "Would you autograph my killer rabbit slippers?" And Cleese did. It really broke up the audience. He's so amazing. We also thought it was cool that he thinks the best comedy writing right now is being done by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

And then Friday Katie and I went with our friends Kim and Luke to see a performance of "If You Give a Mouse A Cookie". It was really well done. The kids loved it, and there was a lot for the parents, too. Kim and I are thinking the kids might now be ready for the Peter Rabbit play we saw advertised...

It's also Fiesta time here, which means 11 days of huge parties, parades, etc., etc. throughout San Antonio. We're going to try to go to a few things that aren't downtown (avoiding the biggest crowds and traffic) -- so I'll post those later.

Cute kid

2009-04-19T00:43:00.000-04:00

I take way too many pictures of my kid. Blame the digital camera, but I of course think she's the cutest thing there is. So I had to share some recent photos. Don't worry, Nana, she's getting a haircut next Thursday... Oh, and can you tell that she's decided she only wants to wear dresses?

Very cool instrument

2009-04-17T17:34:00.004-04:00

Katie and I went to the Witte Museum again last week just for fun. We each came home raving about one thing. For her it was the Sphinx -- yes, really, and now we have a book out of the library about the Great Sphinx. For me it was this very cool "pipe organ" made out of brightly painted PVC pipe and played with the bottom of rubber flip-flops. Watch out, Margot, Dave and I may be pitching an Engineering 101 project for you (because I want one of these in my backyard).

Johnson City, April 11

2009-04-16T17:13:00.005-04:00

We took advantage of more nice spring weather last weekend to drive up to Johnson City, TX, to visit the LBJ Boyhood Home. We finally learned more about how he got from the Texas Hill Country to Washington, DC. Really interesting, at least for the grownups.

And we also headed over to Pedernales Falls State Park to a little outdoor "hiking" -- OK, walking and scrambling on rocks. With the drought we've had down here, there wasn't much in the way of falls. But they're careful to warn about flash floods. Look at this cool photo contrast from a recent thunderstorm. Last weekend we didn't have to worry about that, and had a good time.

Sara's concert April 5

2009-04-16T16:59:00.003-04:00

The Mastersingers give a concert annually at the Basilica of the Little Flower in San Antonio, usually on Palm Sunday. It's always called This year we highlighted Morton Lauridsen's "Lux Aeterna" with just organ, and in that space it was sublime. It's been an amazing choir to sing with in so many ways.

This was Katie's first choral concert, and she did really well -- we were proud of her. I asked her afterward what was her favorite music (we sang 4 pieces in addition to the Lauridsen), and she said "the singing one". Yay!

Our little girl's growing up!

2009-04-16T16:50:00.009-04:00

OK, I guess all parents say that, and probably every year. In our house Katie turned 3 on April 4! She is so excited to be 3. I'm not sure which was more exciting, being 3 or having a birthday. She really likes being a big girl. And she hit a bunch of milestones the week of her birthday, as if to say, "Look, Mommy and Daddy, I really AM a big girl!" All four of her 2-year molars came in that last week, she is now potty-trained (did you hear her parents' huge cheer?), and she moved into a toddler bed. Whew!

Here are some birthday pictures, both from her party and from home. We invited her friends Luke (just turned 3, too) and his brother Jacob (5) to the Children's Museum and the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. They all had a ball. And as you can see, they all loved the cake...

Trip to West Texas, March 27-29

2009-04-15T01:01:00.007-04:00

At the end of March we'd planned to drive to Carlsbad Caverns (NM), but the trip got to be too ambitious -- so we headed to West Texas instead. Dave really liked the scenery/geology out there, and wanted to see more.

Our first stop was in the Midland-Odessa area, for the Commemorative Air Force Museum -- WWII aircraft. We also drove by the George W. Bush Childhood Home (make of that what you will) in Midland, and the Odessa Meteor Crater. But the CAF Museum was really well done; we all enjoyed it. It was a little hard on Katie, but she really got into the "teeth". We saw an exhibit of nose art, not for the prudish, but with several examples of shark teeth painted on the nose. We didn't see any restored aircraft "with teeth", but we did see this Jeep. That's what Katie remembers.

We stayed a couple of nights in the town of Ft. Davis, which we really enjoyed. We are such small-town people now! The town exists because of the 19th-century fort. It was interesting, and very different from Eastern forts, usually Revolutionary War era, that I'd ever seen.

We really went mostly for the McDonald Observatory near Ft. Davis. Anyone who has heard "Stardate" on NPR will know the name. No, we did not see Sandy Wood. But we saw cool telescopes, including the Hobby-Eberly that was built while we were at Penn State (it's a Penn State creation). You can see how big the mirrors are in these telescopes -- here's Katie lying down in a representation of their 107" mirror telescope. On our tour Katie got to push the button that opened the window in the dome. She was excited. We went to an evening program that was fun and interesting, and got to look through a whole bunch of telescopes at the moon, Saturn, the Pleiades, and the Orion Nebula (VERY cool). And I learned that it is possible to look through telescopes with a sleeping toddler on your shoulder. You can't star-watch before most kids' usual bedtimes.

The highlight for us was spending time with the family we had met at Big Bend the previous month. They live and work at the observatory, and we got in touch with them when we headed out. They invited us to a gathering of friends at their house on Sunday before we left to come back to San Antonio. We had a wonderful time, and think we've found some lifelong friends. How random, meeting in the dining room at the Big Bend lodge. Hi, Marc and Teri, if you read this!

Bluebonnet kids

2009-04-04T23:23:00.002-04:00

Being at the LBJ ranch reminded me of Lady Bird Johnson's promotion of wildflowers and highway beautification. The state flower of Texas, her favorite, is the bluebonnet, and it is now (end of March) blooming on roadsides. My friend Kim -- a midwestern temporary transplant -- and I decided we should photograph our kids in the big bluebonnet patch in front of the elementary school across the street.

So here's our kids pretending to be Texans. (L to R: Luke, Jacob, Katie)

LBJ Ranch, Saturday, March 21

2009-04-04T23:18:00.003-04:00

From the ridiculous to the sublime? I guess it depends on your political views. After the crowds, sun, and fun of Sea World, we took a quiet car tour of the LBJ Ranch, part of the presidential home park (part national park, part state park -- and two different sites about 15 miles apart). I'd been before, in 2002, but Dave hadn't, and I'm glad I went back. We forget, sometimes, with all the recriminations still surrounding the Vietnam War, how much good President Johnson did on the home front. Head Start, Civil Rights Act, Voting Act, just to name a few. It was edifying and inspiring to see the place that gave Johnson his sanity back after being in Washington, and where he entertained -- and worked with -- political leaders from around the world.

Sea World, Friday, March 20

2009-04-04T22:33:00.009-04:00

OK, so we live within practically spitting distance of Sea World, and we haven't gone. I finally decided to suck up the money and buy a ticket - a one-day ticket can be a season pass, which for us is kind of silly. But Katie and I went on a nice (later hot) Friday morning. She really enjoyed it, and I did, too. Her favorite was the Sesame Street beach show, which we saw twice, and the kiddie rides. We will do the Shamu ride the next time we go; the line was about an hour long. (What was I thinking, going during spring break week in a state that seems to worship spring break?)

The killer whale show was interesting to Katie for about 10 minutes, then she decided it was way too loud. And it was. We'll have to try that again next time. And there will definitely be a next time; she has asked to go back at least twice since!

Boppa and Grammy visit!

2009-03-18T16:47:00.007-04:00

My dad, Steve (aka "Boppa"), and his wife, Cynthia (aka "Grammy") came to visit last weekend -- March 13-16 -- from Albuquerque. It was great to have them here! The weather was not terribly cooperative, unfortunately, but we got MUCH-needed rain. Being from the southwest now, they understood and didn't mind at all. And the weather didn't stop us.

We did the stereotypical San Antonio things first -- the Alamo and the Riverwalk, which is nice and deserted in cold mist. This was Katie's first time at the Riverwalk without the stroller, and she did really well even without a nap. It was also the kickoff for St. Patrick's Day weekend, which meant releasing "environmentally friendly" green dye into the San Antonio River. (As my friend Kim says, "isn't the river always green?" Just not as GREEN.) Katie waved at the giant walking Guinness glass as it went by on the dye-releasing barge.

On Friday night Cynthia and I went back downtown for the Alamo City Ghost Tour (our birthday present to her). We got to use cool equipment, which didn't really tell anything, and did a lot of walking through the downtown. We didn't see any ghosts, but heard fun stories, and enjoyed seeing everything at night. San Fernando Cathedral is really pretty at night. I was glad to be with a fellow skeptic! (We declined to use a dowsing rod to answer Ouija-board-type questions, if that gives you any idea of some of our fellow ghost-hunters.)

Dave joined us for the marathon tour of the missions on Saturday. It was nice, actually, to see all four (it's hard to count the Alamo anymore) in one fell swoop, both to compare them but also to get a sense of where they are in relation to each other. Dad and I both took lots more pictures. We capped the day with a concert by the UU singer-songwriter Jim Scott at the UU church here. The grownups really enjoyed it; I think Katie did, too, except for the late hour and no nap again!

The weather improved vastly on Sunday, so after jazz Sunday at church, we checked out the Spanish Governors Palace (see Katie with the hands-on kid instruments?), the interior of the Cathedral, and the Riverwalk. Everyone who hadn't been there Friday and Saturday came out on Sunday -- so much so that Ben & Jerry's ran out of ice cream! Thank goodness for the Haagen Dazs around the corner...

We miss Boppa and Grammy, but we're so glad they could see us in San Antonio!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T10:41:00.001-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all our friends and family! I'm really homesick this week because I should be performing with Callanish -- and I know they're doing lots of gigs this weekend/week. Oh, well, we'll all wear green today and listen to our CDs.

We have to brag sometimes

2009-03-17T01:14:00.004-04:00

We went to a real grown-up concert with Katie last Sunday (March 8), and we were so proud of her -- she did great! It was a vocal jazz concert with the San Antonio Symphony, showcasing swing music of the 1920s to 1940s. (If you ever get a chance to hear 5 By Design, take it.) Katie really enjoyed the music (as did we), and wasn't too squirmy. She didn't like the fake gunshot in the Spike Jones number, but the rest was OK. And when the concert was over she asked to "talk to the mommy singers", so we did. Of course, they all thought she was the cutest thing. :)

It's also been fun to hear Katie start making up songs -- usually just words to known tunes, but sometimes new tunes. I don't know if all kids do that at some point, but we sure are enjoying it now!

Painting School

2009-03-17T01:06:00.006-04:00

I found a cool place in San Antonio called "Paint, Paper, Scissors", which offers art classes for kids, but also has drop-in times several days a week. So for only $5, Katie can play at 6-8 different art stations for a couple of hours. Two weeks ago, we went with our friends Kim and Luke to check it out, and the kids had a fabulous time. Katie came home with a piece of "art" from every single station, and Luke painted at least five paintings -- all on the theme of blue. Here they are at the painting easel that first day.

They had such fun at what Katie calls "painting school" that we went back last week with Luke's older brother Jacob, on his spring break from kindergarten, and a couple of other friends -- and all the kids had fun. Katie spent more time painting (thank goodness we didn't have to bring home any more "bird's nests" or "headbands"), and actually painted a kind of representational painting. OK, it doesn't really look like the cat she said she was painting, but she was very intentional about each element in it. That one we're keeping.

We'll definitely go back at least once more before we leave. And I'll have to talk to some people in Lewisburg about doing something like this...

Day in Austin, March 7

2009-03-12T15:42:00.005-04:00

We drove up to Austin again last Saturday, this time to have lunch and spend time with Dave's former student Dusty Schroeder and his wife Kaley. They're graduate students at UT-Austin. Katie insisted on starting the day as a princess -- here she is leaving our apartment in the morning.

We got to see a little more of the fun and funky town this time -- lunch at a brewpub, a walk in what had to be an ancient riverbed (now all rocks, very fun to scramble around on -- see Katie's smile?), and cupcakes from an airstream trailer with an enormous pink-frosted cupcake on top. Yes, Ingrid, we did get there! We were very proud of Katie; she tripped spectacularly twice but got back up both times. Her knees are now purple and yellow with scabs; she likes that they look good with her Curious George band-aids.

It was great to see Dusty and Kaley again, and we had a good time all day. We hope to see them in San Antonio sometime soon.

Big Bend trip

2009-03-12T15:13:00.010-04:00

We spent the end of Feb/first of March on a trip out "west" to Big Bend National Park -- that's the big bend in the Rio Grande River in west Texas. It's a long drive from here, partly because it seems to be an hour between intersections -- I mean towns -- the farther west you go. Not country I could ever be happy in.

But it's starkly beautiful, and more so when we got to Big Bend. There we were in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert, punctutated by mountains. Not a mountain range, since this was all ancient volcanic activity. So each peak was interesting and different geologically. It seemed very incongruous to see mountains and desert coexisting, to say nothing of desert and river. Yes, I know that's my East Coast bias!

We thought we'd do more hiking than we did, but the trails are really for backcountry hiking -- not possible with a toddler. But we did a bunch of long "walks" (over a mile each) to see several river canyons, some hot springs, a windmill-fed decidious tree grove. The water-themed trails were all easier than the desert and mountains ones. Plus we got to see into Mexico!

We figured we ought to do one of our hikes in the desert, so that was our long (6-mile) one. Being carried all afternoon really wore Katie out. :)

We stayed in the Chisos Mountains Basin lodge, really a collection of cabins and hotels with a common restaurant; it was a beautiful setting -- totally surrounded by mountains. We took advantage of some of the darkest skies in the US, at a ranger-led stars program. Very cool. We also saw antelope, lots of deer, a fox (might have been a coyote, it was that big), and a few roadrunners. No bears, mountain lions, or javelinas, but that's OK with us!

I'm glad we saw that part of the country, but one short trip was enough for me. I like small towns, but that's too sparse -- in people and plants -- for me. Takes a special person to appreciate it year-round, I guess.

The Bruces visit!

2009-03-05T16:37:00.010-05:00

My great friend Ingrid Steffensen Bruce and her daughter Emma Bruce flew down during Emma's "spring" break (in February?) for a long weekend -- we had a great time! Of course it was the same weekend Dave had a meeting in Charleston, but that meant he got away from all the girliness in the close quarters of an apartment.

We really tried to fit in as much as we could in the time they were here, and we were pretty much on the go constantly. Poor Katie never got a nap! But she had such a good time with Emma and Aunt Ingrid that she didn't care. And we ate a lot of Tex-Mex, which also didn't hurt. I'll go in chronological order:

On Thursday we covered the must-see highlights: the missions, the Alamo, and the Riverwalk. It was fun to go with an architectural historian, and with a 10-year-old who not only is interested, but has a new camera... This is Emma taking a photo at the San Jose mission. After lunch on the Riverwalk, we took the fun boat ride, where Katie fell asleep. Luckily she stayed asleep (although it was a long walk to the Alamo carrying her!) and I could sit in the courtyard while Ingrid and Emma toured. I'm not sure which they liked better - the Alamo or the warm sunshine!

Friday was by far our longest day. We drove up to Austin. The morning was for the Capitol, where we could see clear signs of spring (yes, in February, so I guess this really was Emma's spring break), and the afternoon for exploring the famous parts of the funky city. We tried on cowboy hats, stopped in at the beautiful Driskill Hotel -- where LBJ and Lady Bird had their first date -- and explored the funky shops of South Congress Street. We didn't get the girls to bed until nearly 10:30!

Since Emma loves horses, we of course had to go to the rodeo. It was not any ol' rodeo competition day, it was XTreme Bulls! Too loud for a tired toddler (we watched on a TV on the concourse), but Ingrid and Emma had a blast. Katie loved the swine sprints again, and both girls wanted to ride every ride at the carnival (I think they each picked two). Emma convinced Katie to wear her cowgirl boots, so she fit right in -- even with her baby Margaret in tow.

We spent Sunday exploring the downtown history -- San Fernando Cathedral
(this is the main altarpiece), the Spanish Governors Palace, El Mercado, and La Villita. Emma found a beautiful painting of the Riverwalk for her souvenir -- not your typical choice for a 10-year-old. But she's no ordinary kid.
Here are Emma and Katie at the La Villita fountain.

It was such fun to have them here; we were sorry to have to send them back to the frozen north!

Crazy weather, part 3

2009-02-25T17:10:00.001-05:00

Okay, it is the 25th of February, and it is 89 degrees, according to the US Weather Service. This is not normal, even for south Texas. I can't believe in February that it's too hot to go out and play in the afternoon! Good thing we're heading to the mountains and the river this coming weekend.

Pete and Becky visit SA

2009-02-24T15:40:00.004-05:00

My former PSU intern, Becky Rudolph Karabatos and her new husband Pete, were in San Antonio for a few days on their spring vacation swing through the south. I hadn't seen Becky for a few years, so it was great to catch up and spend time with Pete. We saw the missions in the morning, and did some walking around downtown and at El Mercado in the afternoon, with a break in the middle for the relaxing Japanese Tea Gardens. Here are Becky and Pete with Katie (and Mum the purple bear), eating our "afternoon tea" snack!

Valentine's Day at the rodeo

2009-02-24T14:57:00.007-05:00

One of the biggest happenings in S. Texas is the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, a 3-week event that takes up as much real estate as the Bloomsburg Fair (for those of you in PA, you know what I mean) with a NBA arena to boot. Of course we had to go! So that's where we spent Valentine's Day. :)

The rodeo itself is a two-hour show every day, twice on the weekends, that is a real, honest-to-goodness competition in seven different events: bareback riding, bronco busting (with saddles), bull riding, calf roping, pairs calf roping, steer wrestling, and barrel racing (the only one for women). We saw some real skill and talent in all the stereotypical cowboy skills -- it was cool. We also saw a teenage "calf scramble" - a group calf roping event, kind of -- and the little kid "mutton bustin", where little kids hold on for dear life to a large running sheep. VERY funny. And between each event were rodeo clowns, precision horse riding, etc. We all enjoyed it immensely, to our surprise. We did not stay for the concert afterward; each rodeo had a big-name country singer or band following it, for the same ticket price. If you like country music, you could have an amazing 2 1/2 weeks for not much money.

Then there's the whole grounds extravaganza, with carnival, food, petting zoo, animal stalls, etc. Katie loved the petting zoo, of course, and I have to say I've never seen one with roaming llamas and wallabies.

The highlight for Katie was the swine sprints, a tongue-in-cheek potbellied pig race that we had been told not to miss. We didn't, and it was worth it for the look on our kid's face every time the pigs ran in front of her.

We've now finally seen the Texas with cowboy boots, cowboy hats, and big hair. It was at the rodeo.

Our flower child

2009-02-11T17:38:00.006-05:00

We went to a great exhibit opening on Saturday at the Witte Museum -- it was breakfast! And the new exhibit was "Genome", all about human genes. Very cool if it ever comes to a museum near you. Katie picked out her clothes, a new outfit we got for cheap at TJ Maxx. She was so cute, I had to post her photos. It was also really nice outside, so she was dancing on the flagstones. If you can't hear it, she's singing "I'm dancing, I'm dancing".

BTW, that is Blockton the dinosaur with her -- Katie had to bring her to the dinosaur museum, of course!

Tiny Tots Nature Spot - at the zoo

2009-02-06T17:05:00.006-05:00

The little kids' area (kids under 5) at the zoo is called Tiny Tots Nature Spot, and that's where Katie and I spent Wednesday morning. It was the best part of the zoo, by far (probably one of the newest). There were places to crawl and explore, get up close -- even hold a snail, play, climb, etc. Katie didn't want to leave. We will go back when the weather's a little warmer, because there is a pond area with sand. It's like a beach, and the kids (with swim diapers) can go in the water.

The most fun part for me, besides watching Katie have fun, was seeing the flamingos out of their pond. It was clinic day - they were all getting their annual checkups. Those necks are flexible! And apparently their beaks are strong and sharp. We kept our distance.

Yay, Steelers!

2009-02-04T16:21:00.003-05:00

What a game that was on Sunday! I was very proud to be a Steelers fan, and even prouder to be turning my daughter into one. There was a tailgate lunch after church on Sunday, so we all went, and Katie and I wore our Steelers shirts. We got a lot of comments (all good), although a few people noted our pretty little boy. Ah, the sexism. Makes me even happier to raise a football girl. She's very cute raising her arms up, yelling "touchdown!", especially when it's a Steelers score. Then she'll sometimes do a little dance, too.

Austin

2009-01-26T15:31:00.009-05:00

Last Saturday we visited Austin, the state capitol and supposedly the coolest city in Texas. It's still a city, so that's always hard for us, but we found good restaurants, and saw more eco-conscious places (near UT - that's the University of Texas at Austin) than we've seen anywhere here in San Antonio. I don't know of any Tex-Mex restaurant here that has its own organic garden, for instance!

We'd probably have to go at night, and during nicer weather (it was cold by south TX standards - in the 40s) to take advantage of the other things that make Austin famous. That's the music and the parks. So we hope to go back at least once this spring.

I have always loved visiting capitol buildings. I'm sure part of that is growing up outside DC, and part is from my page days in the Virginia House of Delegates. But Texas's capitol building is different - it's made from red granite, which makes it look brownish. I'm so used to white marble. Its dome is, of course, the tallest state capitol dome in the country.

I liked the terrazzo floors (Pennsylvania's capitol building has so much nicer artwork of all kinds), but the most recent gubernatorial portrait in the rotunda is of W. Sigh. Giving props to Texas, though, they've had THREE female governors in the 20th century, some quite a long time ago.

We spent late afternoon at the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum, which was interesting. Without a toddler, I would have read more labels and learned more about the history, but we liked it anyway. It was fun to look at it as a museum geek again, and critique the content, context, and creation. Overall very good. No bilingual labels though - is Austin that far north of San Antonio that they don't have a Hispanic population? You could NEVER get away with that down here. We also got to hear a honky-tonk band in performance in their auditorium. When I asked Katie on Sunday night what her favorite thing was in all of Austin, she said "the band." My kid.

A new day

2009-01-21T16:27:00.001-05:00

My computer's been acting up, so I haven't been able to download photos from my camera or think about blogging, but I had to use some of my little available working-screen-time to write about yesterday.

Even if you didn't vote for Barack Obama, you had to be moved by not only the historic nature of his election, but also the emotion in Washington yesterday. It was visible on TV, and I'm sure must have been palpable to anyone in a 10-mile radius (the one time I was sorry I didn't still live in northern VA). Wow.

I think I was moved most by two things: one, the peaceful transition of power and how effortless it seemed -- we are the ONLY country in the world who can say that. And I also felt that there was more in these inaugural ceremonies that included me, a non-Christian Unitarian Universalist, than there has ever been before. From Eugene Robinson's "God of our many understandings", to President Obama's inclusion of "non-believers" in his list of religions, to Rev. Lowry's inclusion of hymns that cross Christian and UU lines, I felt like I didn't have to edit in my head. That's new for me, and a pretty amazing feeling. I have a very small sense of what it must have been like for every non-white citizen in this country, watching a non-white man take the oath of office. Wow.

And to cap it off, our final warm-up at Mastersingers rehearsal last night was "My Country Tis of Thee", in probably 16-part harmony by 130 singers. Wow.

That's about all there is to say. Wow.

Joys of being Mom

2009-01-13T15:33:00.005-05:00

OK, so I started today feeling sorry for myself because I have a cold (caught from Katie) and couldn't just stay in bed and feel yukky. I had to get up and be Mom, which today meant taking Dave to work, going to story hour (today was "R"), going to the grocery store, and making meals for everyone including the cat.

But I got to do it with my always-cute kid, who LOVES books and the library -- she wanted to read more books rather than play on the computer or eat goldfish in the car, loves to give hugs and tells me regularly "I love you, Mommy", and is really starting to potty train. We're in the same dry pull-up that we started the day in, and that's a first! And this afternoon I'm listening to her on the monitor (she's been in her crib for about 45 minutes, not napping) telling stories to her animals and making up songs. Those things will make me glad to feel like Mom any day.

These are my two most recent photos of Katie, both from this past weekend (you can see the swings in weather we've had in Texas this week - the top photo was an 80-degree day, and this was from a 50-degree day two days later).

New Year's Eve 2008

2009-01-10T15:08:00.003-05:00

We welcomed 2008 kid-style -- at noon! The Children's Museum had a big bash all morning, with the countdown at noon. Not only did Katie get to play in her favorite museum, and show Daddy everything (his first time), but she got to make special crafts and help count down. All the kids got sparkling apple juice for a toast, and after the big countdown in the lobby, we threw confetti. It was EVERYWHERE!
I feel sorry for the museum staff and volunteers, who I'm sure are still finding pieces of colored tissue paper in all sorts of unexpected places. Dave even saw some coming out of the pipes of the small pipe organ. (Good luck getting that out!)

After the countdown, we dragged a reluctant kid down the street to a very kid-friendly restaurant on the Riverwalk, the Rainforest Cafe. I know it's a chain, but there aren't any near us, so it was an event. Here are Katie and me in front of the tiger; she (Katie's pronouncement) roared every 10 minutes, which was a big hit. It's nice to see your kids not be afraid of those things.

Dave and I actually stayed up until midnight Central Time to watch fireworks around the Tower of the Americas. OK, we watched it on TV (although from our balcony we could see the tops of them over the trees). The idea of being downtown with 100,000 drunk people just didn't do it for us. We must be getting old. Happy 2009!

Kelley family together at Christmas

2008-12-30T16:30:00.001-05:00

Dave's mom Martie (or Nana to Katie), and brother Doug, both flew in for a week over Christmas this year. It was hard being without Dave's dad, but good that we were together in a place that had no memories. And, as usual, Katie was the tonic for everyone.

We took it easy over the week, partly in consideration of Martie's health, but also to spend relaxed time together. We did make it to some of the missions -- the two that I had not been to yet -- to give Martie a taste of that part of San Antonio's history.

Christmas Eve and Day were very fun with Katie really getting in to Santa this year. She left him a snack -- Hershey's kisses (thanks for sending them, Dad and Cynthia) and water. And the first thing she wanted to know when she woke up Christmas morning was whether Santa had eaten his snack. She ran up and down the hall several times to double-check, flapping her arms in excitement. And she loved opening her stocking presents and all the presents under the tree. Martie's box of gifts that she sent ahead of herself didn't arrive until Saturday, so we had a second Christmas on Saturday. Everyone was happy with their gifts, especially Miss Katie -- who had presents from all over the country. Now we begin the post-holiday tradition of thank-you notes. :)

In the afternoon, Katie (and Nana) had a nap, while Dave, Doug, and I went for a walk downtown at Brackenridge Park. It was a nice warmish sunny afternoon -- we weren't the only ones out in the sun:

Oh, yeah, and it was my birthday. I got to eat chocolate cake all weekend. I definitely don't feel 43.

We also went to the Alamo and the Riverwalk -- the one mandatory place to take all visitors. And Nana got a chance to push Katie on the swings! Katie's been asking since this summer, when Nana and Granddad took her to the park in Lewisburg. Here's the whole gang on the Saturday after Christmas:

Both Martie and Doug flew home on Monday morning.
It was good to be together for the week.

Celebrating Christmas, San Antonio style (part 4)

2008-12-26T10:18:00.001-05:00

Dave's family was here for Christmas (more about that in the next post), and we tried to expose them to the local traditions, too. The biggest one is tamales for Christmas Eve. That's the primary food for Christmas Eve dinner -- either they're cooked at big tamaladas (tamale cooking parties) in people's homes, or they're ordered from one of the local places. Those places make thousands, and lines start at 5 am every day in the week before Christmas Eve. Not being a morning person (or willing to stand in line that many hours), I got them frozen and steamed them at home. :) So we ate pork, chicken, and bean-and-jalapeno tamales for our Christmas Eve dinner.

Of course it was only after Christmas that I read the Bush family had them for Christmas Eve at Camp David. I guess we have one thing in common.

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Celebrating Christmas, San Antonio style (part 3)

2008-12-24T00:18:00.011-05:00

This past Saturday we drove up with our friends Keith and Lori into the Hill Country, to two cities known for their light displays. We started at Marble Falls -- with dinner and PIE!! at the Bluebonnet Cafe. The pie is so good that Katie needed two hands to eat it!

Marble Falls' riverside park is lit up in December with light frames (I can't think of another way to describe it) of all shapes and sizes and colors. You enter through a tunnel that is all dazzling white lights, bright as daylight, then you are surrounded by color. It was really neat. This is just a taste (as is the photo at the top of today's entry).

On our way home, we detoured through Johnson City (of Lyndon Johnson family), which we had read decorates their courthouse. Wow, do they ever! Check this out:

And their city park is full of lights and cutouts. Katie liked the sleigh (because she could finally touch a display), but especially Rudolph.

But by far the most spectacular display I have EVER seen was at the Pedernales Electric Co-op in Johnson City. It helps to be your own electric company. The entire building is surrounded by these big trees with enormous canopies, and every one was fully lit. It was as bright as daylight, and amazingly beautiful.

Crazy weather, part 2

2008-12-19T19:01:00.003-05:00

This morning (December 19) I woke to the sounds of the groundskeepers MOWING THE GRASS! In the fog, no less. We've had two days of non-stop, thick, fog. I tell Katie it's like living in a big cloud. It lifted this afternoon, so Dave went biking.

This crazy weather week started with us hiking in Government Canyon, again, in our shorts. (Look who hitched a ride in the backpack with Katie!)

Then on Monday we wore winter coats. Today I am hot in jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. Our poor family who's visiting next week can't figure out what to pack -- it's supposed to range from the 20s on Sunday night to the 70s on Christmas Day. I could get used to the 70s, I suppose, but not the great swings. I'll keep you posted.

Celebrating Christmas, San Antonio style (part 2)

2008-12-17T16:16:00.005-05:00

This past weekend (Dec. 12-13) was the annual performance of Handel's "Messiah" by the San Antonio Symphony and the Mastersingers. I actually haven't sung it in a few years, so it was fun to revisit it. We sang almost the whole thing -- 2 1/2 hours of music! The guest conductor, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, is a conductor with the Montreal-based Violons du Roy, and he was fantastic. He is young (30, maybe?) and that was fun -- he came to rehearsal in jeans, used words like "freaking out" and "ditzy" to describe musical styles, and just was more relaxed than many conductors. He brought with him the four soloists, who were all fabulous. A lot of singing this week and weekend, but worth it. It's starting to feel more like Christmas.

Of course it's so warm that we had on short sleeves when we got our Christmas tree...

And then on Sunday night we went downtown to the Little Flower Basilica for La Gran Posada - the Mexican commemoration of Mary and Joseph's journey looking for lodging on Christmas Eve. Lots of singing, a grand procession, and much pomp and circumstance (which I always love), mostly in Spanish. The evening ended with bunuelos, Mexican Christmas cookies (fried tortillas with sugar and cinnamon). Sorry I didn't get any photos (it didn't feel right in the basilica, and the fluorescent lights in the social hall made the pinata photos I took too dark).

Crazy weather!

2008-12-12T15:32:00.000-05:00

As nice as it is to have warm temperatures in December, we both feel a little -- OK, a lot -- discombobulated. It just isn't right to have Christmas in what feels like September! More leaves are finally changing, at least. But it's been warm enough many days to go outside to the playground in the morning, or for me to read the paper on our outdoor balcony during Katie's nap.

And then the next day we'll need to turn the heat on and wear our jackets outside. Last Tuesday the afternoon high was 85, and by the time I got out of rehearsal at 10 pm, we were dodging sleet in 45 degrees. It might be cold at home in PA, but at least it's consistent.

I'm sure I'll be posting more about the weather down here. It's a source of constant amazement to us.

Celebrating Christmas, San Antonio style (part 1)

2008-12-10T15:21:00.001-05:00

We're trying to take advantage of all the things that make the holidays different here -- events and traditions that we either have never heard of before, or that we don't have at home.

Last week we went to the Witte Museum's big winter holiday bash for kids. We did hear some Celtic music (familiar, of course) and a family mariachi band (now familiar enough that Katie recognizes the style of music); ate tamales, nachos, and sugar cookies; and made a wax candle and a Christmas ornament. Katie is a whiz with colored glitter glue!

And on Saturday Katie and I went to a harp concert. Our friend Laurie is a member of the San Antonio Harp Ensemble, and they have a big Christmas concert each year. It's always on a Sunday afternoon during naptime, so we went to their "warmup" concert in a local hospital lobby. Katie was fascinated with the harps and the music.

While we were there, sitting quietly, Dave was pedaling hard for charity. He rode in the "Mission to Mission" charity bike ride, held the first Saturday of December each year. Yes, it is warm enough to do that every year. I think he rode past three of the four missions on the Mission Trail as part of his 34-mile ride. Kudos to him! I haven't been on my bike since we've been here, unfortunately, but Dave's been getting in some good time on his road bike. That's one big advantage of warm weather and no rain. :)

A friend in town - December 5

2008-12-09T15:16:00.001-05:00

A friend from central PA, Ian Proud, was in town for a conference this week and we met him for dinner on Friday. It sure was nice to see a face from home! He brought the Pennsylvania cold with him, but it made the lights on the Riverwalk seem a little more Christmasy (that's what you see hanging from the trees in the background).

Thanksgiving - Doug visits!

2008-12-01T15:28:00.008-05:00

Dave's brother Doug drove down from Denver for Thanksgiving week. We had a great visit, although busy. It was his first trip here, too, so we tried to get a lot of sightseeing in, in addition to my concerts and Thanksgiving and the big UVa-Tech game on Saturday (that's all I'll say about it this year, sigh).

Doug went with Katie and me to the Children's Museum on Wednesday; we went with my new friend Kim and her boys Luke and Jacob. Here's Luke, checking out his and Katie's groceries (Katie just LOVES that toy grocery store at the museum):

On Thanksgiving Day it was in the 70s, so we spent as much of the day outdoors as we could, and ate our big dinner after sundown. We visited the Alamo, of course, and saw the big Christmas tree there and walked around the Riverwalk. It was odd being outside in shorts, but nice!

On Friday we drove out to Natural Bridge Caverns and went underground for one of the tours. We all found it really interesting, including Katie. Very cool trip.

And in the afternoon we went up the Tower of the Americas back in downtown San Antonio. Here's Doug with Katie at the Tower.

Saturday was more relaxed for the girls, but the boys spent the day touring the Spanish Missions -- by foot in the morning and by bike in the afternoon. They both enjoyed themselves very much, and I'm sure it was good for them to spend time together.

Katie asked this morning where Uncle Doug was; she's happy that he and Nana are both coming for Christmas in just three weeks!

Andrea Bocelli, night 2

2008-11-27T01:33:00.003-05:00

Okay, tonight was even more exciting -- after the concert was over, Bocelli sang two encores! The crew rolled out a grand piano, and he sat down at it to play -- and, of course, sing -- Schubert's Ave Maria. Beautiful. And especially moving for me, as I sang it in September for my father-in-law's funeral mass. The second encore was a duet from La Boheme with the fabulous soprano we had, accompanied by the conductor at the piano. It was a little strange to see all the fawning women at his feet with cameras, rose petals, etc. Good thing he can't see them. But he could hear them, I'm sure.

No more Bocelli photos (can't top the one with his arm around my waist), but a couple from the front of the Municipal Auditorium. The San Antonio Opera really did this one up, with spotlights and red carpet.

All in all, an amazing week for this singer.

Andrea Bocelli!

2008-11-26T01:06:00.004-05:00

Tonight (November 25) was the first of two evening performances of a semi-staged version of the one-act opera "Cavalleria Rusticana" with Andrea Bocelli in the tenor role! The San Antonio Mastersingers were the opera chorus. What a thrill!!

The Municipal Auditorium was sold out for both performances (5000 seats each night), and the audience was thrilled, too -- lots of applause every time Bocelli came on stage and after he sang, and instant standing ovation at the end. The music is exciting, the drama was very well conveyed by the leads, and of course Bocelli was the star. This is his first time singing this role live, and we were lucky that it was here. It was a rush for us to sing for that size audience, too.

It was interesting to watch how everyone worked with him and his lack of sightedness. There were raised lines (for lack of a better term) placed on stage to indicate where he was to stand and walk, and the staging included other leads walking on with him, lots of times to touch him partly so he could get his bearings, etc. If you didn't know he was blind, and couldn't see his face (big auditorium), you would have never known. And he was very gracious to all of us fawners after rehearsals this weekend, as you can see from the photo above!

If anything changes after Wednesday night's performance, I'll post again. Oh, yeah, and in the audience tonight was Sherrill Milnes, famed Metropolitan Opera star; I've been in two choirs that sang "Elijah" with him and Dave and I drove him back to NYC from State College about 10 years ago. He was backstage as we filed on for the second half, and I said hello as I walked past. :) Rumor has it that Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs star, was in the audience too. No word if Eva Longoria Parker was there with him...

The Zoo - Wed., November 19

2008-11-19T16:27:00.004-05:00

Katie and I went to the San Antonio Zoo this morning for the first time. I'm not sure why we waited so long, but we'll now be going back again. It's not as nice as the Pittsburgh Zoo (for example, Pittsburgh has at least 6 elephants, while today we saw only 1), but there's still a lot we haven't seen.

I'm not sure what Katie's favorite was, but it was funny to see so many animals sleeping. We'll have to go again when the weather's a little cooler (it was probably 72 when we were there, and warmer in the sun), and see if they're a little more sprightly. We did enjoy watching the gibbon family a lot, including their year-old baby boy. He was just as exploratory and fearless as any human toddler boy! Katie's not that physical, but it was just as much fun trying to get her to pronounce the names of the animals -- "bibirusa", anyone? (That's an African warthog, if you didn't know -- I didn't.)

Dave's birthday weekend

2008-11-19T16:21:00.004-05:00

Dave's birthday was November 15 (Happy Birthday also to Erin, Dick/Opa, and Cara!), and he wanted to go hiking. So we went back to Government Canyon and spent the morning outdoors. Katie's turning into quite the hiker - she walked about a mile, almost half of the trail. Here are the birthday boy and the newest hiker resting partway up.

Of course we went to the brewpub, the Dodging Duck, for dinner. Our friends Keith and Lori joined us, and then came back to the apartment for birthday cake.

And Sunday was the Peter and the Wolf concert! The San Antonio Symphony does a fabulous job with their interactive family concerts. There was an "instrument petting zoo" (kids actually get to try out instruments with members of the symphony), crafts, and conducting workshops with Ken-David Masur, the conductor (he's Kurt Masur's son, for anyone who knows who that is). All before the concert, which featured an "ask the maestro" segment, a chance for one lucky kid to conduct the orchestra briefly, and captions for sections of each piece projected onto the back wall. The place was packed, and kids -- including Katie -- really had a good time. And now she has a conductor's baton!

Katie's first symphony concert, Sun., Nov. 9

2008-11-11T15:48:00.005-05:00

Sunday afternoon was Katie's first symphony concert -- and she did really well! Our friends from PA, Keith and Lori, have a high-school age son who is a very talented percussionist. He plays in the Youth Orchestra of San Antonio (the philharmonic level, VERY good), and their first concert was this weekend. We knew two of the pieces - Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez", arranged for harp, and Copland's "Billy the Kid" suite. It sure helped to have been able to play them for Katie in advance, and she really enjoyed the music. We were proud parents, of course.

Next Sunday the San Antonio Symphony has a kids' concert - "Peter and the Wolf". Katie is very excited already! Now if we could just find a copy of the CD in the library...

Leaf-peeping in South Texas, Fri., Nov. 7

2008-11-11T15:38:00.006-05:00

Just so it might feel a little more like fall, we headed out to Lost Maples State Natural Area to find some fall color. Leaf-peeping in South Texas just doesn't hold a candle to PA or New England! We joked that Lost Maples really refers to the trees, not just the maple variety...

But we did see some nice color (more than anywhere else here), and had a great hike of about 4 1/2 miles. Katie walked the first mile all by herself. When it got to the steep part, we made her get in the backpack on Dave's back (he volunteered for the exercise). She was the envy of almost everyone else we saw, especially on the steep sections.

On the way home we ate dinner in the town of Bandera, self-proclaimed "Cowboy Capital of the World". Katie was pleased to see that the man at the next table had worn a cowboy hat. :)

The Election

2008-11-11T00:17:00.003-05:00

I am writing this several days after the election, and I know it's not a "family adventure", but I couldn't not comment. Dave and I both voted absentee ballot in Pennsylvania. It was a little odd not to go vote on Election Day. But it was exciting to know that our votes made a difference (wouldn't have been true here in Texas), and we are excited at what this country has chosen to do. No matter what you think of Barack Obama's policies, he represents a sea-change -- we hope -- in the way this country sees itself, and we should all be thrilled and proud.

Our daughter will grow up with Obama as the first president she remembers, and therefore will never think that there is anything unusual in a man whose skin color is different than hers being president. And she will never think it is unusual for a woman to run, seriously, on a national ticket. That knowledge will just be part of the way she views the world, and that can only be a good thing.

Tour de Gruene, Sun., November 2

2008-11-10T01:08:00.004-05:00

No, we didn't ride the Tour de Gruene, but can you tell from the photo who did? Yes, that is Lance Armstrong!! A small town about 45 minutes away from us has an annual two-day bike race that Lance rode 12 years ago after his bout with cancer. It was the first race of his comeback, and he basically rode it that way again this year. We would probably have gone up to watch anyway -- the scenery along the Guadalupe River was really pretty, and the town has a lot of quaint history, in addition to the race -- but seeing Lance Armstrong was even better. We also went to the awards ceremony; he got first place, of course!

Air Show, Sat., November 1

2008-11-10T00:51:00.006-05:00

We live very near Lackland Air Force Base, which is where all enlisted Air Force personnel go through basic training -- a big and busy place. It's close enough that we have fighter jets and huge cargo planes go overhead every day. Luckily we all like airplanes! This weekend was a big air show at Lackland, so we had to go. Lots of planes on the ground to look at, everything from early biplanes to the newest fighters and helicopters. Here are Dave and Katie waving from the back of a BlackHawk helicopter (boy, they're big):

The best part, of course, were the flyovers. The fighters (F-15s, F-16s, and the new F-22s) are FAST and LOUD! I can see why there are so important to our national defense - amazing airplanes. They did a fun "demo" called the Heritage Formation: a WWII-era plane and the three new fighters.
Dave got a great shot of them:

Dave and I both took lots of movies of all of the various aircraft. The one of the F-22 wouldn't do it justice (both speed and deafening noise), but here's one of the famous Navy Blue Angels - they were the stars of the weekend. Note that the plane in the middle of the formation is flying upside down...

And did I mention that we all got a little sunburned in the mid-80-degree weather on November 1? :)

Halloween 2008

2008-11-06T16:42:00.008-05:00

I wasn't sure we'd be doing Halloween this year, partly since we still don't give Katie candy (although she definitely knows what "lollipop" is), and partly because I couldn't get a straight answer from her about a costume. Eventually we settled on a queen, which at times became a princess, and later a fairy. I made all the pieces of her costume, with some decorating help from Katie (take a close look at the jewels on her crown), and it did look homemade! But she loved it. She wouldn't wear it in advance, but she eagerly wore all the pieces for each of the events we went to: the apartment bash on Wednesday, dressing up for Kindermusik Thursday morning, the library party Thursday evening, and the safe YMCA trick-or-treating (with face painting) on Halloween itself. We decided that going door-to-door in an apartment complex was not the way to go this year.

In addition to the obligatory photos of the cute Halloween kid, I've included a video we took at the apartment party (sorry it's a little dark -we were inside at dusk). One man came dressed with a full-head mask of death (I think). He was tall to begin with, and this thing made him even taller. He was obviously there to try to scare the kids, but one of our neighbors told the littlest kids, including Katie, that he was a big bat. That made her fascinated with him, as you can tell from this movie. You'll hear "Bat, where are you?", and you'll notice she uses her wand to try to repel him :) Enjoy!

My sister visits! Oct. 24-27

2008-11-04T00:43:00.005-05:00

My sister, Jennifer Bell, came to visit this weekend! We found a cheap airfare online last month, and this was our Christmas present to each other. It sure was great to have her here, since we don't see each other often -- Denver is just so far from Lewisburg. And Katie loved having Aunt Jen around!

We spent the weekend doing all the touristy things, of course, to make sure Jennifer got to really see San Antonio. If anyone else comes to visit, we will tailor your visit to your interests. :) But you really need to see the Riverwalk and the Alamo, if nothing else. That was Saturday's venture, along with a walk around downtown and through the Founders' Day celebration. Here are Katie and Aunt Jen at La Villita (in the bright sun):

On Sunday we spent a lot of the day at two of the four missions that are still extant in San Antonio, part of a National Park site. They are fascinating for their history and architecture, and the way they tie all the disparate cultures that now make up San Antonio together. I visited them when I was here 6 years ago, and they're still really interesting. Katie liked the running-around part best. These are some of my favorite photos from the day:

The girls spent Monday morning at Brackenridge Park -- we rode the little train, and had a picnic in the Japanese Tea Gardens. It was too short a visit, but we had a great time!!

Children's Museum Oct. 22

2008-10-31T16:31:00.004-04:00

We went to the Children's Museum again today. I was planning on taking Katie to a big playground downtown that we've driven by a few times, but she asked for "the museum". Can't say no to that! They just opened a new exhibit by the Texas grocery store HEB (the ONLY choice around here) -- a miniature HEB. Katie couldn't get enough of it! I loved the fact that she put Elmo and the basket in her cart, and I was proud that she chose only fresh ingredients. :) We'll be going back to spend more time, there, I'm sure.

First Mastersingers Concert Oct. 17-18

2008-10-31T16:25:00.005-04:00

I sang my first concert with the Mastersingers this weekend; we sang Brahms' "Schicksalsleid" (Songs of Destiny) with the San Antonio Symphony. The second half was the symphony doing Mahler's Fifth Symphony. It was a fantastic experience to be with such a professional choir and professional orchestra. Dave came to Saturday's concert (our friends from PA, Keith and Lori Lysiak, babysat Katie at their house in Helotes outside of S.A.) and he was really impressed. It didn't hurt that we performed in the beautiful Majestic Theatre. It's worth taking a look at their virtual tour.

Now we move on to December's Messiah concert, and November's concert with Andrea Bocelli!

Pumpkin Patch Oct. 16

2008-10-31T16:14:00.006-04:00

Katie's Kindermusik class went to a local pumpkin patch for their class on October 16. They had songs and stories, as well as face painting. And Miss Ana bought all the kids a little pumpkin to paint. Katie knew exactly which one she wanted and carried it around all morning!

Petroglyphs - Mon., October 13

2008-10-24T00:44:00.008-04:00

On Sunday we recovered from the rest of the weekend; the highlight was going to my dad's church and hearing him preach! (This photo of the sanctuary was from a few days earlier when we stopped in to check it out.)

We got up early (again) on Monday to go hiking at Petroglyph National Monument. Only the Rinconada Canyon trail was open because of washouts from a major storm Saturday. But it was amazing! Dad and Cynthia had been to the park several times, but never hiked this trail. I'm glad he could go with us. These marks were made by indigenous people 400-700 years ago (some may be up to 3000 years old!), with additions left by early Hispanic settlers in the 1600s. Even with human depradation, they're well-preserved. Rinconada Canyon is home to 1200 petroglyphs; we saw probably only 100 (I think I photographed all of them). It was a beautiful day, with spectacular scenery.

After that sublime experience, we packed up and headed home. We stopped in Lubbock overnight (nothing remarkable there that we saw) and got home on Tuesday, just in time for me to turn around and head back out for rehearsal. No rest for the weary. :)

Dinosaurs - Sat., October 11

2008-10-22T16:30:00.005-04:00

Cynthia finally had some time off during her concert (and work) week, so she went with the three of us to the NM Museum of Natural History in downtown Albuquerque. Katie wanted to see dinosaurs! Very cool museum, with the paleontology exhibits -- their main attraction -- organized in a timeline starting with the Big Bang. We all enjoyed it, even the museum person in me.

Dad met us in Old Town for lunch afterward. See Katie's new dinosaur (a gift from Grammy)? She can say "stegosaurus" now, too...

Sandia Tramway - Fri., October 10

2008-10-22T16:16:00.006-04:00

If the tiring morning at the Fiesta wasn't enough, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and take a ride up the Sandia Tramway. There was a long wait, because of all the people in town for Fiesta, but the ride up and the scenery at the top was worth it.
You can see for many miles past Albuquerque and to the east -- very cool. Katie LOVED the tram, and wanted to just ride up and down!

Unfortunately, the winds picked up while we were at the top, and we weren't entirely sure we were going to be able to ride back down (they have emergency non-tram measures in place if necessary, so we could have gotten off the mountain). But we did, eventually, just after more waiting.

To top off the day, I went with my dad to see the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (Cynthia sings soprano with them) perform Mendelssohn's "Elijah". Wonderful music and great story, of course. I was glad to go.

Balloon Fiesta!! Fri., October 10

2008-10-21T17:00:00.015-04:00

We got up before dawn on Friday morning to watch the mass ascension -- ALL 750 balloons took off in the morning. It started with a Special Shapes Rodeo (they all launched first), but traffic prevented us from getting there for most of that. We saw them from the road. Here's a taste:

The sheer number of balloons was just astounding! We spent a lot of time saying "look at that one -- oh, look at that one"! Here's Katie, doing just that:

I took probably 100 photos; I won't post them all, just a few. These two will give you some sense of the enormity of the event:

We all had our favorites - Katie's was purple; mine was the globe (around the middle are flags of the world):

And of course I took some photos just for fun:

We were tired at the end of the morning, although we saved enough energy for the International Balloon Museum, which was cool.

Special Shapes Glow - Thurs., October 9

2008-10-20T17:52:00.012-04:00

We finally made it to the Balloon Fiesta on Thursday night for the Special Shapes Glow. We've been looking forward to seeing all the balloons for a long time, and we've been spending time online looking at photos. Katie loves the shaped balloons most, not surprisingly, so we wanted to make sure to see them. This is when they were first starting to inflate -- you get a small sense of how many there are:

The Glow is an event where the balloons are tethered and get fired up so that they glow at night. It's really cool, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Here are a couple of "Glow" photos:

And a movie of the "Creamland" cow being inflated. This balloon is HUGE (you should have seen how many people it took to get it totally deflated and flat), and the video is over a minute long. It was fun to watch all the parts of the cow fully inflate.

First day in Albuquerque - Thurs., October 9

2008-10-20T17:06:00.004-04:00

Because we got in so late on Wednesday, we didn't even try for the dawn balloon launch on Thursday! But they fly right over my dad's house, so we saw this at breakfasttime:

Instead, we went down to Old Town Albuquerque, which is really picturesque. They were all set up for the thousands of tourists in town for Fiesta (there are no events during the middle of the day, so everyone spreads out throughout the area), so we fit right in!

Road trip! Wed., October 8

2008-10-20T16:52:00.009-04:00

Today we road-tripped across Texas to Albuquerque, NM! My dad, Steve, and his wife Cynthia (now known as Boppa and Grammy) have been there for a year and we hadn't been able to visit. We timed our trip to coincide with the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta - more about that later.

It took us 14 hours - 12 on the road - to get there, and Katie was pretty good about it. Luckily she loves to "read" books in the car. We are a little tired of her Kindermusik CDs, though... It helps that the speed limit in Texas is so high. And there was interesting scenery, actually. Acres and acres of wind turbines, which we all thought was really cool.
We also saw lots of working windmills (a big hit with Katie), and lots of working oil pumps. It was West Texas, after all.
We stopped for dinner in Roswell, NM. We missed the aliens, but not all the alien kitsch. It was pretty funny.

Oktoberfest Oct. 4

2008-10-05T17:12:00.003-04:00

Fredericksburg, TX is a town about an hour or so outside of San Antonio that has German roots. I visited it when we were here in 2002 as part of a tour that went there and to the LBJ ranch (not too far away). Locally, they're known for their Oktoberfest celebration. Our friend Keith drove us up there so we could sightsee. We went through typical Hill Country -- lots of ranches, scrub, and hills. But Oktoberfest was pretty fun; it would have been better if I was a beer drinker, I'm sure. We heard a lot of polka, ate German fair food, and didn't get too sunburned.

Here are Katie, Dave, and Keith in front of their giant stein at the entrance.

SWRI Picnic Sept. 27

2008-10-05T16:57:00.006-04:00

While we're here, Dave is working at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Division 16. That's only important because there was a Division 16 picnic last Saturday, at a big park just north of town. They had food and lots of kids' games. It was good to meet the guys (yes, mostly guys - they are electrical engineers, after all) that Dave works with, and for Katie to see other kids. She was the smallest walking kid there, so she got first crack at the little kids' pinata (they were lined up by size). Needless to say, she didn't do any damage to Cookie Monster.

All the kids got to choose a door prize -- Dave and I were very proud of our little girl choosing a rubber dinosaur! It is pink with purple spots, but still... And Katie can say "triceratops", which caused many jaws to drop all afternoon. I got a SwRI t-shirt, so now I have San Antonio souvenir. She also did pretty well throwing beanbags into the hole. I think she liked throwing something without chastisement!

Mastersingers party Sept. 21

2008-09-26T15:38:00.004-04:00

Last weekend was busy; Sunday was the San Antonio Mastersingers' annual kick-off party. The Mastersingers is the choir that I have joined for the year. It's huge -- over 150 members! But it's really good. I guess when you live in the 8th largest city in the country, you can be very picky with your singers. I feel very privileged to have made it. This season has five concerts, and I have sung the music in four of them before, believe it or not. The one I haven't sung before is the concert version of an opera that we are singing with Andrea Bocelli -- yes, that Andrea Bocelli. That's Thanksgiving week. You can bet I'll post about that when the time comes!

But this weekend we were at the director's house in Helotes, a "suburb" of San Antonio that's more rural. Good barbecue, fun conversation, and four trampolines that the kids all loved. Dave and I spent most of the afternoon taking turns holding Katie's hands on the trampoline: