We’re putting a lot of miles on the car this year. Just about all of our travels this summer are by car…a thousand miles west to Colorado and a thousand miles east to Washington, DC. And shorter hops in between.
This summer Beth had an opportunity to teach at the Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. This is a gig that Eugene’s sister, Nancy, has participated in for many summers. Nancy took a leave from RMSC this summer and recommended Beth to take her place. It was a three-week opportunity to teach viola and chamber music in an idyllic Colorado ski town. The timing worked out well, since we had already planned on being in Estes Park for Beth’s family reunion, which was the second week of her festival. Beth flew out for the first week of her gig; Eugene drove out with the kids to Estes Park and Beth joined the family for part of the week; then we all went out to Steamboat Springs for the third week and all drove back together.
As if that weren’t enough driving, the next weekend, it was off to Washington, DC to visit Beth’s sister, Sarah. Eugene helped drive out, but had to fly back to Iowa (not enough vacation time), only to fly back out for the drive back home, two weeks later. On the way out, we stopped by the Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Indiana to visit the wild cats that are cared for there. Emily adopted a white tiger, Mickey, earlier in the year and had an opportunity to see him in person.
Come August, it will be busy getting ready to go back to school. Emily starts 4th grade this year and Ethan, 2nd. They’re enjoying the summer, staying up late, watching a lot of movies, reading a lot of Harry Potter (Emily’s on her 4th time around the series and Ethan’s working on the 5th book), and swimming. Ethan will start up gymnastics again in August, moving up to Level 5 team. Emily may look into dance classes instead of continuing on with gymnastics.
We’re still on the market for Emily’s pet dog!