Dear Mom and Dad,
Glad to hear that you’ve had a good week. We hope you get the lawn mower fixed
soon and without too much trouble.
As I mentioned on the phone, our biggest project this week had been painting
Laurel & Mary’s room. I spent
much of Monday washing the walls, taping all the woodwork, and removing outlet
covers. David and I put on the
first coat of primer Tuesday night.
However, because Laurel and Mary had a stripe with stamped hearts
inside, we felt an additional coat of primer was needed to really cover the
contrasting colors. So Wednesday
morning I applied the second coat, finishing right before my deadline of 1:00
p.m. Four hours later, David came
home and we applied the final coat.
We let the room air out for a couple of day before moving everything
back in on Saturday. We were
pleased with how it turned out. We
started to move everything back into the room on Saturday, but ran out of
time. I’m sure we’ll find a place
for all of their stuff, but right now it looks like they have more things than
room and I couldn’t help but wish once again that we had five bedrooms. I still need to sew some curtains and
hang pictures and bulletin boards.
When we’re done, I’ll send before and after pictures.
I can’t remember if I told you, but Charlotte’s Irish
teacher decided to start her own studio. As a result, most of the Escalate Irish dancers left
the studio. However, because the
new studio location and cost have not yet been finalized, Charlotte decided to
meet the new teacher hired by Escalate.
After meeting Liz on Monday, Charlotte has decided to stay with Escalate
and I’m pleased. First of all,
Charlotte really liked Liz, the new instructor. And with fewer Irish Dancers, she may get to shine a little
now plus Liz is going to let ALL girls compete 2-3 times a year instead of the
just the team (which required 3 hours of dance per week which cost $150/month
plus a $550 costume). I am happy
because her class will be on Thursdays which avoids conflicts with church,
piano lessons, and the other kids activities. It really feels like things are falling into place. And after attending the Irish Festival
on Friday, Charlotte was able to see that there are many talented Irish
instructors out there so we’re sure this will be a good year.
To complete Jacob’s Citizenship in the World merit badge,
the kids and I attended the Irish Festival on Friday. I can’t say I was too enthused to drive to St. Paul in rush
hour traffic, but Jacob needed to attend an ethnic festival so off we
went. We only got lost once
getting there J
and the afternoon turned out to be one of those perfect moments for our
family. Our first stop was the
dance tent followed by a brief view of a rugby game. Jacob liked the rugby game and the girls liked the
dancers. From there, we wandered
over to watch an amateur Irish band before crossing the field to see some
professional Irish musicians. As
you can see in the picture, the professionals were LOUD! Too loud, so we stayed for one song,
took this picture and then left.
We hit the market tent followed by the cultural tent. At this point I was very relieved that
the friends we had invited cancelled on us, because frankly, it was all a
little boring. Things started to
pick up at this point because we decided to try the food. We carefully picked the most ethnic
Irish dish we could stomach and ended up with bangers and mash – two sausages
on mashed potatoes. I was proud of
all the kids as each one took several bites despite their deep suspicions they
weren’t going to like it. To
reward them, we got some cheese curds and waited to buy ice cream. With it being a festival, I expected
the ice cream to cost a lot (it did - $5/bowl) and have very little in it. And since our money was dwindling fast,
I told the kids we’d have to split 3 bowls among the five of us. Imagine our delight when an older
gentleman took our order. He had
trouble hearing our requests, but scooped FIVE (5) large scoops of ice cream
into each bowl. We had chocolate,
strawberry, mint chocolate chip, cookie dough, and vanilla. We sat in the shade and enjoyed our
wonderful treat. And I have to
say, that is the point where the festival turned the corner for us from boring
to fabulous. Full of sugar, we
stopped again at the dance tent watched an amazing team do a hardshoe jig. They were completely in synch and very
energetic which got everyone in the crowd clapping and moving. It was a great way to end! Buoyed up, we drove home. And that hour in the car was one of
those perfect moments. Everyone
was laughing and talking and joking and I felt so grateful we our friends
cancelled on us so we could have this perfect afternoon as a family.
Well, Jacob leaves for scout camp in the morning and
Charlotte spends the week at horse camp with the YMCA so it will be just
Laurel, Mary and I during the day.
Should be fun and we should have lots to share next week.
Until then, take care.
We love you!
David, Ella, Jacob, Charlotte, Laurel, and Mary
Dancers . . . first group viewed - not the amazing ones we saw last
Amateur Irish Band
Rugby Game
Professional Irish Band - VERY LOUD!
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