October - December 2016

During the Fall, we were involved in lots of fun activities. Anna, Jack, Kate and Mom helped out at the Feast of the Hunter's Moon, so they were dressed up in period-appropriate costumes. Jack played outdoor soccer in the Fall season; the team was good, and they made it to the semi-finals in the tournament. We went with some friends out to the "Exploration Acres" where we went through the corn maze and did other activities. For Halloween, we hosted a few of our friends at our house and then we all went trick-or-treating together. Kate's front tooth was getting loose during November. This year, the five of us had Thanksgiving together, so we decided to take a Black Friday adventure trip to Cahokia Mounds outside of St. Louis; that matched up with some of the prehistory we had been studying. When we got back home after the weekend trip, we put out our sparkle balls for the house outside Christmas decorations. We finally got our first real snow for the season, and then it turned cold for a while. Shortly before Christmas, Kate, Anna and Jack played in a holiday music recital at a bookstore. On Christmas Day, we drove to the airport and flew to Tucson to see Oma and Opa. The temperature was much warmer there, and we got to meet up with our cousins. We did a few trips and visits in Tucson, then we had to head back home just before New Year's Day, in part to help get Anna ready for the Nutcracker in early January.

In our finery for Feast of the Hunter's Moon

Jack in action at soccer

Are we lost in this corn maze?

Anna and Jack at the American Gothic photo board

With friends reveling in our Halloween booty!

My tooth is really loose
(it, and its neighbor, were out just before Christmas)

Climbing up Monk's Mound at the Cahokia Mounds site

From the top of Monk's Mound with other mounds of the prehistoric city in the background; in AD 1250 this city was bigger than London, England

Anna at the "woodhenge" calendar

Our sparkle ball Christmas decorations

The first real snow

getting ready for the Holiday recital

On our way to Tucson

Kate at the Pima Air Museum  (Jack and Anna have been here before, too.)

Anna, Jonah and Jack near two large saguaros

All the cousins in Sabino Canyon

July - September 2016

At the start of July, Jack headed off to Boy Scout summer camp, and Dad was able to join him for the second half of the week.  Jack earned a few merit badges and made progress towards his next ranks.  Anna participated in the summer intensive ballet class again, and she had a great time.  Our big activity for the end of the summer was a trip out to the East Coast.  We met up with our friends from Vermont at a house on Cape Cod.  We spent lots of time on the beach, but also checked out some museums (the Whaling Museum was interesting) and took a ferry out to Martha's Vineyard.  After visiting the Cape, the five of us spent a few days in New York City at an airbnb apartment.  We saw lots of things and wandered around Manhattan via bus, subway and foot.  Dad had a business meeting after our stop in New York, so we all drove with him to that.  While Dad was doing business, the rest of us visited Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.  We stopped at Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater on the way back home.  In August, we started back up with school, ballet lessons for Kate and Anna, and soccer for Jack.  Jack's Boy Scout troop participated in "meet the scouts" camp out weekend, and he helped with a demonstration of levers to visiting Webelos for the NOVA award.

After the recital to conclude the summer ballet workshop

It was a little rainy the day Jack left for summer camp

Kate and Anna with their friend Lilly on July 4th

Jack and Dad after the ice cream sandwich bet at the rifle range

The entrance to Troop 335's campsite

Kate as a sand mermaid on the beach

Jack with Ruth and Kate as sand mermaids

It is a little windy on the ferry to Martha's Vineyard

It's starting to rain!

Kate in a fashion pose

On the bus in NYC

With Degas' Little Dancer at the MET

Alice in Wonderland sculpture in Central Park

After looking out at the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park

Clowning around at the Charging Bull near Wall Street

A copy of Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture near the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

In front of one the Piet Mondrian paintings at MoMA

Our choice for Dim Sum in Chinatown

Family shot in Central Park
(maybe that should read: "Family photo in Central Park," so no one thinks we're a fake news site)

Waiting for the subway

Selfie at the Liberty Bell

Visiting Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling water

Jack demonstrating the different classes of lever to visiting Webelos

April - June 2016

The second quarter of 2016 had lots of activities.  Jack and Kate went with Dad to Purdue's Spring Fest and Aviation Day.  In April, Dad took a trip to the Netherlands for business, and he got to spend part of one day sightseeing in Amsterdam.  Kate and Anna participated in the ballet school's recital, while Jack and his U11 boys soccer team ended an excellent season by winning the championship game for the Spring season.  Anna had an exceptionally exciting May and June; she earned a role in the Ballet Company performance "Dangerous Beauty".  Lots of dedication and practice paid off with a great performance.

Kate and Jack at Aviation Day (after a soccer game for Jack)

Dad at the Van Gogh Museum

Jack's Spring 2016 soccer team

Kate after the Spring ballet school recital

in-game action; Jack (in orange shorts) had just cleared the ball

Jack and George with their champion trophies

Anna in dress rehearsal as Palmira, daughter of Artemisia Gentileschi

Anna and the cast of Dangerous Beauty practicing the finale

Anna on opening night

January - March 2016

We flew back from Tucson on New Year's Eve, so that Anna could get back for her roles in the Nutcracker ballet; she was in the Act I party scene and then was one of the Harlequins during the Mother Ginger scene in the Land of Sweets in Act II.  Jack played indoor soccer again; the team did not have a great record, but Jack had fun and improved his defensive skills and positioning.  Kate had her seventh birthday party at the indoor mini golf where the entire course is bathed in black light.  Jack earned the Arrow of Light from Cub Scouts, which signals his cross-over to Boy Scouts.  That meant this was the last year for the Pinewood Derby.  Jack and Dad got some help from one of Dad's colleagues to use some wood shop tools for the car, and then they had an incident while assembling the car.  After some judicious use of wood glue and clamps, they got the car working, but it just wasn't going to be terrifically fast.  Jack still finished in top ten (eighth, we recall), but didn't advance to the district level.  Then, for Spring Break, we all took what was an epic trip for us - we went to Spain.  We spent a week in Madrid along with Oma and Opa; when Dad had to go back home for his work, the rest of us visited Malaga and Granada.  We got to see lots of historical sights, things from the Roman Empire (which we had been studying), some famous works of art in museums, and we got to see the Rock of Gibraltar.  Lots of fun and lots of pictures this time.

Anna as a Harlequin from the Nutcracker

Jack (30) at indoor soccer

Kate's black-light mini golf birthday party

Jack with Dad at the Arrow of Light ceremony

Jack sets his car on the Pinewood Derby track

looking at the airplane at O'Hare before boarding

in our seats at the back of the A330

the ladies in the last row (at least Anna has a window)

outside the Madrid apartment

Kate at the bear and strawberry tree statue in Plaza del Sol

kilometro cero

waiting for churros y chocolate

outside Museo Reina Sophia
(A replica of Alberto's "The Spanish People Have a Path That Leads to a Star" from the 1937 World's Exhibition in Paris is in the background; we saw Picasso's "Guernica" inside)

inside the Palacio de Cristal at Parque del Buen Retiro

Dad's selfie at Estanque Grande del Retiro

We found the statute of Raton Pérez (the Spanish analog to the tooth fairy)

First sight of the Roman aqueduct at Segovia

Catedral de Segovia

with a solider in the Roman Red Crest at Alcázar de Segovia

tower at Alcázar de Segovia

another selfie of Dad; this one near the top of the aqueduct

walking to the Palacio Real de Madrid

Kate and Jack at Templo de Debod

group selfie at the Templo

in the teleferico

with the invisible man outside Museo del Prado

Madrid skyline from atop the Círculo de Bellas Artes building

outside the Museo Arqueológico Nacional

late afternoon above Plaza del Callao

Anna at Alcazaba de Málaga

Kate and Jack checking for WiFi in Málaga

Gibraltar (does anyone remember the "get a piece of the rock" commercials?)

the Mediterranean Sea

in a garden at Alhambra in Granada

looking over Granada

in Granada

henna art

Kate making giant bubbles at Plaza Nueva, Granada