Trying To Spend Time Together

With Natalie starting swim team this week, and my overnight call on Tuesday, we've been pulled apart as a family with separate meal times and activities. I feel like I've barely seen Alex. We still do what we can to spend some time together. Today was a good example.

As I posted about yesterday, we spent the morning in three different locations. Patrick, Alex, and Eric did eventually end up at Anthony's game near the end of the first half after Alex's game was finished (they lost 0-1 despite dominating the game and getting lots of shots on goal). I was with Natalie at her piano festival.

This isn't the best photo, but I had to use it because it's the only one I took where you can see the little half-smile that she does when she has to get up in front of people. It's like she's embarassed but excited at the same time. She made that face all the way up onto the stage and then when she finished. Having practiced with her frequently and being a perfectionist, of course I heard every imperfection, but she did very well.

Her song was titled, "Yiki" (about an elephant) and the judge's comments were as follows:

"Your attention to detail was very impressive--nice use of articulation and dynamic contrast to really portray your subject (the elephant). The opening and closing clusters could be even bolder--really come crashing down there. This sounded fun--nice!"

After the performance, her teacher told me how well Natalie did and how proud she was of her. I had to agree. :)

We spent another two hours there with various "activities" that were supposed to be fun and designed to teach the kids a little something about music. I have to admit that I was bored most of the time, and so was Natalie. In the end she enjoyed it overall just because she loved performing and she enjoyed being there with one of her piano friends. We finished at about the same time Patrick was leaving Anthony's soccer game (they won 3-1). We were able to meet up at Double Dave's for a late lunch.

Another one of our attempts at spending some family time together was going to Wurstfest this afternoon. We didn't spend much time at home after lunch--just enough time for the boys to shower and change and for me to make a quick run to the local scrapbook store sale. The kids weren't very excited about going to Wurstfest, they didn't even know what it was, but we thought it would be a fun, different thing to do together.

Wow, there were SO many people. This wasn't unexpected, but Patrick and Alex both really hate crowds, so it was a challenge. We didn't do too much there except fight the crowds, eat a little (since we had such a late lunch), and spend time together.

This picture of Natalie perfectly summarizes our trip. Her hoodie is stained with strawberry juice from her sno-cone, as are her lips. She also had this huge sausage on a stick, which Patrick helped her with. The kids noticed that there were lots of people there with funny hats, and we found the place that sold them. Natalie picked out this alligator hat and I thought she looked cute in it.

We went home after about an hour and a half. The drive was about 40 minutes one way. I think overall, everyone had fun, and Patrick and I were happy to be together as a family, although I'm not sure we'll do that again next year.