November 2021

 

Erin's birthday gift to me, a barfing Reggie sugar bowl. Priceless: the pudgy proportions are spot on.

Caroline's sculpted gift

and we did a 22 mile bike ride on my birthday

November was a big cross country month and this is the middle school state meet that concluded Erin's school season. She ran the 3K in 12:23, finishing #12 in her division and helping her team take second place in the state. 

Erin's classmate and club teammate

For their first post-COVID concert, Heather's orchestra played Brahms #4 in Symphony Hall. Attendees had to present proof of vaccination and wear masks and the house was about half full. Classical music remains hard hit by COVID.

Tessie's 3rd grade word work assignment: take these words and write sentences with them.

She misunderstood the instructions and wrote sentences with her own words. Apparently Stardew Valley introduced her to chum buckets.

Tessie's last in-town mixed level soccer team. Starting in the spring they split into skill-based teams and travel to games.

She did

The cross country club team moved into its Junior Olympic season where they competed in USATF sponsored competitions. In the race containing teams from New England, Tessie's 3K time was 15:26 and her 9-10 age team placed #1.

For the Jr O season Erin moved to the 13-14 age bracket and had to run a 4K. Her time was 17:03 and her team finished #2.

The next race was the regional championship and contained teams from New England and New York.

 In the past we've traveled to NY but this year it was held at an old golf course in MA. 

Tessie's time was 15:08 and her team placed #2

On your mark, get set,

Go!

Erin's time was 16:52 and their team finished #2, good enough to qualify for the national meet in Kentucky in December

For her birthday dinner Erin wanted a fondue meal with just Mom and Dad

and birthday tiramisu

Those of you who have visited us probably know about our infatuation with Boda Borg, the indescribable collection of mini-escape rooms. Of the 20 quests at BB, we've completed all but 2 and one of those was Superbanan, where you have to traverse the final room on suspended rings and simultaneously press 3 buttons. This year Tessie and Erin could do the rings and with Caroline's stretch...

we did it!

and earned the stamp to prove it

For Thanksgiving Grandma Joan and Grampa Ed visited

The meal was a roast chicken with traditional fixings

Later in the weekend Heather traveled down to SC for her dad's 75th birthday celebrated with a COVID booster

The sounds of failure