April Fools for Aubrey

Aubrey is getting wise to our plans for tricking her each year. This time we had to enlist outside help. Luckily her band teachers were quite willing. Merrill made a chocolate mold of her tuba mouthpiece. We arranged with Mr. Bartley and Ms. Smith to replace her actual mouthpiece with the chocolate one and have Aubrey discover this at the beginning of band class. We're told she was very surprised. After finding the homemade mouthpiece Aubrey didn't immediately realize it was chocolate. She thought maybe something bad had happened to her loaner instrument and she was going to be responsible. Her thoughtful teacher let her squirm a little longer by saying "Aubrey, what have you done?" After a few (seemingly long) moments the teacher pulled the actual mouthpiece out of his pocket with an attached note that read "Happy April Fool's Day love Mom and Dad". Aubrey was able to drown whatever lingering concerns she had in chocolate.

Horseshoe Curve

While in PA we visited the Horshoe Curve National Historic Landmark. This was a great place to take the kids. We were able to see something that interested the adults and had plenty of room for the kids to roam. Aubrey especially liked the long staircase.

Pool Time with the Abbotts

We have really missed our good friends the Abbotts since they moved away. A chance came up recently to meet them in Pennsylvania so we jumped at it. We stayed in the same hotel and had so much fun playing together in the pool. My cousin Becky (who live in PA and my kids just adore) was able to join us too, so we were doubly excited.

Lauren's Pockets

Lauren recently discovered some of her pants have pockets. She is excited about this. Lauren and Merrill were making the most of their pockets here in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

U.S.S. COD Submarine

We recently went on a family vacation to Pennsylvania and Ohio. We stopped in Cleveland to tour a submarine called the U.S.S. COD (www.usscod.org). The retired servicemen were a bit brash, but very knowledgeable. They softened a little when Aidan asked them to babysit his butterflies while we toured the submarine. The gentleman said, "Yes, but don't ever tell anyone I did it". Aidan agreed, but I didn't!