Piano Man
I’ve posted many videos of Emma over the past few years as she’s progressed with her piano lessons. What you haven’t seen much of is Henry. He’s turned into quite the little musician, too.
I’ve posted many videos of Emma over the past few years as she’s progressed with her piano lessons. What you haven’t seen much of is Henry. He’s turned into quite the little musician, too.
Despite her age and her size, Cora is determined to do everything that her older brother and sister might do. This includes carrying a backpack, doing “homework”, playing piano and riding a bicycle.
Emma joined the Marin Dance Theater almost as soon as we moved to Marin this summer. Her first performance was a quick collection of pieces put together over the summer session. The winter performance was far different. It was a full-length, two hour long ballet called Sophie and the Enchanted Toy Shop featuring a full 150 dancers. Emma and the other girls practiced multiple times per week for hours on end, including back-to-back full dress rehearsals as the night grew closer.
In mid-January Henry, Emma and I joined the rest of Cub Scout Pack 28 for a weekend trip to Camp Marin Sierra, just inside the Tahoe National Forrest a few hours to the east of us. We were very excited because all the talk in the fall was about how lucky we were to draw a January date, when the snow pack was destined to be fantastic. Imagine our disappointment, then, as our camp date approached while we continued to enjoy (in San Rafael, anyway) the 2nd driest winter on record. Ever!
One of the most pleasant surprises at our new house was our new pets: a fine family of deer who would come to visit every day. Sometimes they would arrive early in the morning and nibble on some of our freshly watered leaves. At other times they would come during the heat of the day and rest in the plant beds under the shade of our trees. Most occasions were just the mother doe and her new fawn (or fawns) but we would sometimes get the entire family.
Summer seemed to go by in no time this year. Part of it was occupied with moving and the remainder was getting settled and establishing new routines and learning our way around.
Did you ever wonder what might happen if you put your iPhone on the hood of the car and then started driving down the road? Well, wonder no more! Thankfully with insurance from Verizon and regular backups we had a new phone up and running in no time with no loss of data.
Emma and Henry both lost their first locks at the age two. (Henry Has A Haircut and Emma Has A Haircut) Cora’s pretty curls lasted a whole year longer before succumbing to the inevitable blades of the coiffeuse.
A few weeks ago we spent the afternoon with the Cub Scouts shooting off rockets. What a blast! (Har har!) It had been 20+ years since I shot off rockets so I was excited to do this with Henry and introduce him to it.
On the way home from our visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Henry and I stopped at Marina State Beach. While we’d hoped to spend some more time hopping on rocks and exploring tide pools the wide, sandy beach and giant dunes (apparently among the tallest in California) proved to be just as much fun.