September Recap

We’ve had a very  busy September.

Lea is in a play “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” which practices three nights week. We thought she’d get sick of it and regret getting involved, but she wants to be there even when she is not scheduled to rehearse (if they’re working on a scene she is not in). The shows are 7pm Oct. 22-24 and noon on Halloween. Dan is building benches and a “cliff rock” for the set. I put together Lea’s costume from some thrift store finds. We haven’t put it all together, but we’ve got the pieces.

The first week of September I had a big sleep over with the Girl Scouts and they earned a cooking badge. That was a lot of fun, but a lot of work. I was so tired on Sunday Lea and I just watched movies and we picked Grease on of my all time favorites. She loved it, which is good, she can continue to live with us — ha!

Then we did a great Girl Scout workshop the next weekend with the “99s” which is a female pilot organization. We heard from female pilots from age 25 to 85. Two women flew “powder puff” races in the 70. Women pilots racing from California to Florida on different courses with stops, flybys and some checkpoints. They had to have matching costumes so they had pictures of go-go boots and short skirts and one of bellbottoms with colored squares up the side — one of the racing women sewed their costumes. We heard from Navy pilots, Southwest Airline pilot and a woman who ferried planes for 25 years from the manufacturer around the globe. She would fly alone for 12 hours to Hawaii, China, South America, etc.  eat her sack lunch on the flight, deliver the  plane  and usually get to stay a day or two and be flown back commercially. That was amazing that that job existed. I hope Lea enjoyed that as much as I did.

Then on the 20th Lea ran a kids Marathon. Swim 100 meters, bike 3 miles and run half a mile. The day of the race, she had left her helmet on the ground, and crickets started living in it! She did awesome! Finished the course strong. She couldn’t run the whole half mile, but she ran the final bit and her PE coach ran with her to motivate her. It was really impressive. About 20 kids from her school participated and they trained for 3 weeks. We actually miss training. It was a great way to spend Sunday — swimming and biking.

And last weekend we went to see Matilda the musical. Oh my gosh — Best Show Ever! We’d read the Roald Dahl book and seen the movie, but the musical was just great. We bought the soundtrack and Lea has been playing it or singing it since. Dan didn’t get to go, and I think he’s about sick of it — I admit I’ve been singing too. If tickets weren’t so much we’d go again this weekend. But this Saturday we’re headed to the State Fair. Ours is open almost all of October. I’ve heard there are some new things, but we’ve got our old favorites. Thanks to work we get to go free every year.

Last night I went to a Girl Scout camp training so I’ll be able to take the girl camping at a GS park or other with or without my co-leader (who roped me into it all — ha! I’m loving it!) and Friday is our regular meeting. It has certainly opened some doors. I hadn’t realized how many Girl Scout things we’d done. Because Matilda was GS related too. We got to meet a few of the actors afterward. We had met one man who played the brother and was in the chorus while waiting for our friends to show up and playing in a fountain out front. It was really neat to meet him before and after the show. Didn’t recognize him AT ALL in the show with the costumes and stuff, glad I learned his name before hand!

Last night while I was training at GS Dan took Lea and a friend to six flags (like Vally Fair) for a hockey appreciation night (again thanks to work). Dan was excited to meet some hockey players, but he said the crowds were too big around them. He said there was a mass of people and a large man head and shoulders above the crowd and that’s how he knew where the hockey players were.

October promises to be even busier than September with Lea having dress rehearsal or performances almost every night the second to last week in October. Plus another Girl Scout Training — this one instead of sitting in a classroom listening we get to go out to a camp site and learn how to tie knots, light a fire and we have to successfully cook a meal to earn our certification. I’m really looking forward to that on the 17. Oh and on the 18th I’m going to see My Fair Lady at a movie theater with food and drinks. A few girls are going. I so love “I could have danced all night” and Audrey Hepburn’s whole performance in that. Oh the hats! I love that hats!

We’ve been getting more involved at church too. Lea’s been going on Wed. to youth group, 5th and 6th graders get to hang out and play pool and foosball and then have a little spiritual guidance for 30 minutes. She said it was the best day of the week at one point, so I’m glad she’s involved in that. On Sundays we’ve been helping with what they call Sunday School, but is really just a day care. They’re working on getting a little bit of liturgy in, but the kids are very small. Two diapers were changed last week. Fortunately not by me. So both Lea and I have been helping with that. Lea is great with the kids, but sometimes gets distracted and is just playing with the toys. And I volunteered to be a Eucharistic Minister so once a month in October, November and December I’ll be a cup bearer. I’m very very very nervous, but the main training coordinator will be at the mass I serve at so I think she’ll guide me and I’ll just have to follow along.

Well that explains why I’ve barely even talked to mom this month! It has been a busy one, but we’ve really done some fun stuff. We’ve also spent some real quality time together. Even though we’ve been busy we’ve been doing it together so I don’t feel like its rushed by quite like some other months when its just get one thing over to get to another. I’m trying to savor these days that are whizzing by!