Summer winding down?

...Only a little.

One week of swim left, no piano for august, and two of the guitar kids are on vacation for the next two sessions...but other stuff fills in the gaps. We just got back from a 5 day jaunt to Cedar Point. This weekend we have a christening and 1st B-day party this weekend (in different states over both days). Next weekend we have to filter proposed activities with a few groups of friends and relatives (trying to accommodate everyone). The following weekend is the B-52's and the one after that is Cheap Trick. At some point over these next few weeks during the weekdays, I hope to make it to a few places with the Girls: Brookfield Zoo, I&M canal bike trails, and KiddieLand especially KiddieLand, as there have been articles in the paper that the family who owns it are split over running the park or selling off the land. Next season may be it's last. It's no Cedar Point or Great America, but it is a very fun day when your tikes are too young for those other parks, not to mention it's just a hoot to take your kids on the same actual rides you went on as a kid. Plus!, you can stop for lunch at nearby Russell's Barbeque or Johnnies Beef for lunch....yummmmy!

Guitar camp as a whole went much slower than I expected. All the kids have the same music teacher at school (who is pretty good), so they all knew how to count whole, half, and quarter notes, but getting them to play notes without buzzing the fret and remembering the first three notes on the 1st string has taken up the whole summer to now. I tried to make finger exercises fun, and most of them are now at the point they can play whole notes and not buzz. Speed is still slow, but I try to rotate the song exercises so they don't get bored. I wasn't going to carry this past the start of school, but since it's a much slower pace than I expected, I may continue doing it till they get all six strings and basic bottle neck chording. I don't have a problem doing it as long as daughter #2 keeps her interest.

Still on the first tank of gas in the Prius (still more than half), it's a wonderful thing.