Back to Music Theory 1
3 weeks ago
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
More pics - From Mari's Camera
Here are some pics from Mari's camera. She likes to get silly with it, but when she tries, she can take really good pics.
More pics - From Faith's Camera
Faith and Mari both have little digital cameras that they are getting pretty good at. It's always interesting to see things through the kids' eyes. Here are some pics that Faith took during the weekend:
Crossing the bridge into Indiana
Here we are!
Not too crowded at the RV park...
Kinda artsy.
Thirsty Hannah.
Crossing the bridge into Indiana
Here we are!
Not too crowded at the RV park...
Kinda artsy.
Thirsty Hannah.
Pics
Discussing the finer points of smores.
Smores for all
Dinner time!
Good thing we brought that wagon...
Hannah and Robby looking a little distrustful.
Indiana Weekend
Just had a great weekend trip in the trailer.
We had planned a while back to go out last weekend to celebrate the beginning of summer, and as the time rolled around we also decided to send out an invite to anyone who wanted to come join us for as long as they could stand. At first, the response was slow but with a little prodding we managed to get several different people to join us at various times through the weekend. And we are pleased to say, no major disasters and everyone seemed to really have a good time - here's hoping for more such events in the future!
We arrived late Friday morning at Follow the River. This was our second trip here - and we are loving it more and more. It's just the right distance for a weekend away from home, it's an easy drive towing the trailer, it's big and open...which isn't always what you want, but it was perfect for us this time around. We know which spaces are nice and wide and shaded, so we requested one of our favorites. It was not at all busy there, but not deserted either.
After hooking up and eating lunch, I took the big girls to Coyote Creek Farm to buy some buffalo meat - the buffalo weren't out so we didn't get to see any, but we loaded up on future meals. It's a beautiful drive, but still only about 10 minutes from the RV park. A great discovery from last time.
Our first guests arrived late Friday afternoon - we had a great time hanging out, letting the kids play at the great playground (another plus for this RV park, by the way), eating fajitas, and then making smores by the campfire. We hope that they had as good a time as we did, and that they will join us again.
Saturday morning we took it easy, made a quick convenience store run for some odds and ends, walked around the park, and waited for our second guests. They arrived before lunch, we had a standard picnic lunch of sandwiches and whatnot, then the big girls and our friends got to go swimming in the pool - again, score one for Follow the River - great clean pool...which is not always the case at RV parks. Our guests stayed for a long long time and we all had a great time - thanks for coming guys!
Lastly, P & G came out for the evening - I made chili and we rode bikes around the park, around the great little hike/bike path, had another fire and more smores...had cake to celebrate P's birthday - just a great time.
We love taking the trailer out - we love RVing. Whenever you go out in that thing, it's a multitude of disasters waiting to happen...so when things come off well, you appreciate it that much more. And we hope we've laid the groundwork for a lot of good future trips and future visits from friends and family. I'll try to upload some pics here soon.
Hilton Head is less than 2 weeks away!
Matt
We had planned a while back to go out last weekend to celebrate the beginning of summer, and as the time rolled around we also decided to send out an invite to anyone who wanted to come join us for as long as they could stand. At first, the response was slow but with a little prodding we managed to get several different people to join us at various times through the weekend. And we are pleased to say, no major disasters and everyone seemed to really have a good time - here's hoping for more such events in the future!
We arrived late Friday morning at Follow the River. This was our second trip here - and we are loving it more and more. It's just the right distance for a weekend away from home, it's an easy drive towing the trailer, it's big and open...which isn't always what you want, but it was perfect for us this time around. We know which spaces are nice and wide and shaded, so we requested one of our favorites. It was not at all busy there, but not deserted either.
After hooking up and eating lunch, I took the big girls to Coyote Creek Farm to buy some buffalo meat - the buffalo weren't out so we didn't get to see any, but we loaded up on future meals. It's a beautiful drive, but still only about 10 minutes from the RV park. A great discovery from last time.
Our first guests arrived late Friday afternoon - we had a great time hanging out, letting the kids play at the great playground (another plus for this RV park, by the way), eating fajitas, and then making smores by the campfire. We hope that they had as good a time as we did, and that they will join us again.
Saturday morning we took it easy, made a quick convenience store run for some odds and ends, walked around the park, and waited for our second guests. They arrived before lunch, we had a standard picnic lunch of sandwiches and whatnot, then the big girls and our friends got to go swimming in the pool - again, score one for Follow the River - great clean pool...which is not always the case at RV parks. Our guests stayed for a long long time and we all had a great time - thanks for coming guys!
Lastly, P & G came out for the evening - I made chili and we rode bikes around the park, around the great little hike/bike path, had another fire and more smores...had cake to celebrate P's birthday - just a great time.
We love taking the trailer out - we love RVing. Whenever you go out in that thing, it's a multitude of disasters waiting to happen...so when things come off well, you appreciate it that much more. And we hope we've laid the groundwork for a lot of good future trips and future visits from friends and family. I'll try to upload some pics here soon.
Hilton Head is less than 2 weeks away!
Matt
Friday, May 28, 2010
Summer Spiraling Towards Us
Here I sit, it's the last day for students. In about 4 hours I can walk away from this place - well, I have to come back on Tuesday for a workday. But another school year has come and gone.
I have to say, it's been one of my best. I've really grown a lot as a teacher this year and am actually looking forward to continuing to improve next year. Hopefully next year someone will notice...
At any rate.
Summer is right there waiting for us. Can't wait. Stay tuned to see our continuing family adventures:
* How often will we use our Coney passes this summer? I might start a contest to guess.
* Will the family survive a 4am departure and nonstop 12-hour drive from Cincinnati to Hilton Head? And how much sand will Robby eat while we're there?
* Will Faith and Mari like Primanti Brothers?
* Can the lovely Lake Superior Picnic of 2006 be recreated?
* Will I finally run out of good music for the family videos?
See you all in summer. Love life!
MS
Just FYI, the youtube channel has been reorganized, making the playlists more easy to find. Enjoy the movies when you get a chance.
I have to say, it's been one of my best. I've really grown a lot as a teacher this year and am actually looking forward to continuing to improve next year. Hopefully next year someone will notice...
At any rate.
Summer is right there waiting for us. Can't wait. Stay tuned to see our continuing family adventures:
* How often will we use our Coney passes this summer? I might start a contest to guess.
* Will the family survive a 4am departure and nonstop 12-hour drive from Cincinnati to Hilton Head? And how much sand will Robby eat while we're there?
* Will Faith and Mari like Primanti Brothers?
* Can the lovely Lake Superior Picnic of 2006 be recreated?
* Will I finally run out of good music for the family videos?
See you all in summer. Love life!
MS
Just FYI, the youtube channel has been reorganized, making the playlists more easy to find. Enjoy the movies when you get a chance.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
A good season
Two weeks with no illnesses.
Summer is all but here. Things are looking good. Steph is done with her first year at her new job, and she really enjoyed it a lot. I have a week left, Faith has a week and a half left, Mari has a couple days left. Then the season of travel will begin again. For those wondering, this summer will contain no epic road trips as in 03, 07, or 09. But several little trips will help us enjoy the freedom of being teachers.
We're taking trailer out for a weekend jaunt to southern Indiana in a couple weeks. Just to get it out and celebrate the coming of summer. Then our week at Hilton Head in late June. Soon after that dad and I will be taking the big girls to Pittsburgh for a few days. And then the big trip this summer will be up to Mackinaw for a week and a half. Nothing exotic, but after last summer, it will do us good to not be schlepping across the country again. Next epic road trip looks to be in place for 2012.
Looking forward to more time to post. Don't forget to check out the videos:
Matt
Summer is all but here. Things are looking good. Steph is done with her first year at her new job, and she really enjoyed it a lot. I have a week left, Faith has a week and a half left, Mari has a couple days left. Then the season of travel will begin again. For those wondering, this summer will contain no epic road trips as in 03, 07, or 09. But several little trips will help us enjoy the freedom of being teachers.
We're taking trailer out for a weekend jaunt to southern Indiana in a couple weeks. Just to get it out and celebrate the coming of summer. Then our week at Hilton Head in late June. Soon after that dad and I will be taking the big girls to Pittsburgh for a few days. And then the big trip this summer will be up to Mackinaw for a week and a half. Nothing exotic, but after last summer, it will do us good to not be schlepping across the country again. Next epic road trip looks to be in place for 2012.
Looking forward to more time to post. Don't forget to check out the videos:
Matt
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Here Goes Nothing
Okay, the big news (that's really not all that big, to tell you the truth) is that the family videos are once again finding a home on youtube and in larger numbers than ever before. One and all are invited to check out the growing library of trip videos dating back to the original epic 2003 Road Trip.
All the fun can be found at:
www.youtube.com/user/specfam
Some disclaimers/notes/advice:
Because of the somewhat chaotic upload process, the main page is a bit haphazard. If you're looking for something specific chronologically, I suggest you click on "Playlists" and then choose a year. The playlists are very well organized. For example - Cliff and Gina - want to see our picnic from 4th of July last year? Click on "Playlists" then "2009" and scroll down to "2009 Road Trip - Day 2 - Playground, Picnic, Fireworks" and there you have it!
You will find that some of the videos are muted. I am painstakingly taking care of these – if one is muted that you particularly wanted to see (and hear), please let me know and I will make fixing that one a priority.
If your connection is good, the quality of these vids is such that you ought to be able to watch them full-screen. I encourage you to do so.
Some people have experienced 'jumpy', video from the specfam page. If this happens, try this: Once the video is playing, right-click on it, and then choose "Watch on YouTube". You might have to allow popups. This seems to work better for some.
Remember that these movies are primarily created for our own family to remember special moments. Many of them also have a certain amount of interest and appeal to the average Joe who wants to see what we’ve done. But I will be the first to tell you that there are some videos which taken out of context may be hideously boring to the average viewer…or at best just really confusing. There’s no way to know before you watch. So if you’re picking one at random and it doesn’t do much for you, I encourage you to try some more before you write the whole thing off. And of course, if there’s something you want the backstory on, please feel free to ask me for details. There’s usually a good story behind each bizarre thing I’ve done.
Lastly, please let me know what you think – these things are a passion for me, and very few people have had the chance to see them. Being able to share them with friends is why I’m going to all this trouble. I don’t ask many people to sit through the whole thing in one sitting – but this way you can check it all out a bit at a time, at your convenience. So leave a comment, email me, whatever. Let me know you stopped by. It will mean a lot.
Again, thanks for your time – and enjoy!
Matt
All the fun can be found at:
www.youtube.com/user/specfam
Some disclaimers/notes/advice:
Because of the somewhat chaotic upload process, the main page is a bit haphazard. If you're looking for something specific chronologically, I suggest you click on "Playlists" and then choose a year. The playlists are very well organized. For example - Cliff and Gina - want to see our picnic from 4th of July last year? Click on "Playlists" then "2009" and scroll down to "2009 Road Trip - Day 2 - Playground, Picnic, Fireworks" and there you have it!
You will find that some of the videos are muted. I am painstakingly taking care of these – if one is muted that you particularly wanted to see (and hear), please let me know and I will make fixing that one a priority.
If your connection is good, the quality of these vids is such that you ought to be able to watch them full-screen. I encourage you to do so.
Some people have experienced 'jumpy', video from the specfam page. If this happens, try this: Once the video is playing, right-click on it, and then choose "Watch on YouTube". You might have to allow popups. This seems to work better for some.
Remember that these movies are primarily created for our own family to remember special moments. Many of them also have a certain amount of interest and appeal to the average Joe who wants to see what we’ve done. But I will be the first to tell you that there are some videos which taken out of context may be hideously boring to the average viewer…or at best just really confusing. There’s no way to know before you watch. So if you’re picking one at random and it doesn’t do much for you, I encourage you to try some more before you write the whole thing off. And of course, if there’s something you want the backstory on, please feel free to ask me for details. There’s usually a good story behind each bizarre thing I’ve done.
Lastly, please let me know what you think – these things are a passion for me, and very few people have had the chance to see them. Being able to share them with friends is why I’m going to all this trouble. I don’t ask many people to sit through the whole thing in one sitting – but this way you can check it all out a bit at a time, at your convenience. So leave a comment, email me, whatever. Let me know you stopped by. It will mean a lot.
Again, thanks for your time – and enjoy!
Matt
Friday, May 7, 2010
A Milestone
We have had our Pontiac Vibe for almost 7 years now. It has guided us through many an adventure, both in travel and in life. Before dad's big RV, before our travel trailer, before even our minivan, we had the Vibe.
Without a doubt its greatest moments were enjoyed carrying Steph and I, before kids, on the 2003 Road Trip, the one that started them all. It took us 7,501 miles from Cincinnati to Seattle and down the west coast, bringing us back safe and sound with a tire blowout in 105 degree Kansas heat on the way back being the only mishap.
This car has been through it all with us. Ironically, this car outlasted its own maker. Pontiac is no more. But our Vibe, at least for the moment, lives on.
Today, on the way home from work, just before the intersection of OH-32 and Glen Este-Withamsville Rd, our Vibe's odometer turned over and crossed the 100,000 mile mark. I beamed with pride and nearly had to pull over for the tears that welled up in my eyes. So many memories. So much time. So many trips, so many miles. So much has changed.
Thanks for the memories and the miles, you old grey beast. And...here's hoping you can last to give us a few more.
Matt
Sunday, May 2, 2010
April Begone
May provides hope. We might get through this yet. Feeling better than I've felt in a long while. A little weight lifted. We're getting there.
Can't keep the house clean, but hey.
Matt
Can't keep the house clean, but hey.
Matt
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