The World Series of Pumpkins

Alan's getting pretty fancy with the pumpkin carving this year! These were way harder than Sam's Packer pumpkin from last year.

The boys, of course, are happily anticipating Halloween and trick-or-treating. Mom is happily anticipating sharing some of their chocolate!

Bailey would love some Halloween candy, but she was happy enough eating some of the pumpkin chunks that fell when Alan was carving. I think Bailey was a goat in a previous life.

New York in photos

I'm still recovering from our trip to NY last week....it was quite an adventure. The photos show some highlights. My favorite moments were connecting with friends (Emi and Victor), and family (Tony, Kathy, Jack and Marty) that I haven't seen for a while. I also loved the home of Hilary Tann, composer of several works on our recital program, and our host at Union College. It was built in 1770, and used by the British as a field hospital during the Revolutionary War. Hilary and her husband David have cannonballs on their mantel that were shot through the front of the house during the war. If you're interested in reading more, they have a website at http://www.themarshallhouse.org/. Mom and I enjoyed an organ concert at St. Patrick's cathedral in NYC, and sampling some of the city's great restaurants.

Revenge

Yes, that's the word Andrew used in anticipation of the big soccer match-up of the weekend, his team (Special Forces) vs. his friend Ben's team (Crushers). You see, the Special Forces had only lost one game so far this year, an epic early season match against the Crushers where they went down 2-1. The Special Forces prevailed this weekend, 4-2. Here's a picture of Andrew taking Ben out, and a nice one of the siblings, Sam and Emma, who could care less about rivalry.

Stay tuned for the deciding game, November 10.

Trip to Colorado

Sam and Alan took a special trip last weekend. They traveled to Denver to spend the weekend with Art, and see a Rockies game. Alan reports that Sam was a great traveler. I stayed home with Andrew, and we also had a nice weekend. Andrew played in a violin master class with Terry Durbin, a well-known Suzuki teacher. He's very funny, so besides teaching the kids about their normal music, he taught them how to make a lot of funny sounds on the violin, like "a ghost coming through a creaky door" or "UFO control panel". Andrew loved it.

And, we have a preschooler!

As I write this, Sam is at his 2nd day of preschool. He seemed to have a good time on the first day. It was a very easy transition....Ms. Jenny asked them to count to 3, wave good-bye to the grown-ups, and they were off to class! Andrew gets to meet Sam after school, a responsibility he seems to like, and walk to the spot where I meet them.

Do the Puyallup

We "did" the fair today, America's 6th largest and the 8th largest in the world (really, it was in the Seattle Times). Fortunately, the kids aren't big enough yet to do any of the scary rides, where you might have to have a parent go with you. :) It was fun to watch the "Extreme Scream" and "Slingshot", though. After we did some games, rides and dined on Krusty Pups (fair corn dogs, yummy), the boys played some fiddle music with their violin studio at one of the stages.

We have a 2nd grader!

Yesterday was the first day of school, and Andrew's settling into the routine already. He has the same teacher as last year (she is "looping" with the class), Ms. McCann. So far, the start of the school year has gone really well. Stay tuned for Sam's first day, September 10th.