Author: benfsmith

Eden is growing quickly. Hard to believe she’ll be in Kindergarten this Fall already.

Camden and Eden joined me this evening to listen to John Williams’ movie music performed by the North Carolina Symphony at the Koka Booth Amphitheater. The Hammon boys also joined us. While there the kids were able to test out various musical instruments. I think Eden was only the 300th or so kid to have spit into this trumpet. Fortunately they had a lot of sanitizer on hand.

I forgot to post photos from Ember’s baptism last month. It was a great day and we enjoyed having grandparents in town.

Camden’s soccer tournament is tomorrow. This season flew by quite quickly.

I had the pleasure of joining Sierra for three days in Washington DC as a chaperone for her 8th grade field trip. We had a great time. Even though I have been many times, I saw and learned new things. Our visits included Arlington Cemetery, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Union Station, MLK Memorial, FDR Memorial, Pentagon 9/11 Memorial, Library of Congress, Supreme Court, White House, the Capitol, the Newseum, Spy Museum, Air & Space, Natural History, and American History Smithsonians. It was a marathon.

We had our share of drama along the way. One example is when our bus (1 of 11) stranded us at Air & Space and went missing with all of the money on it for dinner. The driver had become lost and his cell phone wasn’t working. I got an UberX cab and was able to track the bus down because my iPad was on it. The driver let me on and I navigated him to the group, then at Union Station. We had much colder and wetter weather than forecasted, but the ~550 students who participated were all great sports and had a lot of fun.

Eden beat us all in Uno this evening. It may just be the happiest I have ever seen her. Pure euphoria.

We had a great weekend with Uncle Cordell, who flew all the way to North Carolina for a quick trip. We were able to see Duke beat Syracuse at Cameron Stadium, which was quite an experience. Duke Chapel was beautiful as always.

Casting a spell

Snow in North Carolina!

Sierra took a dance class at school this semester and tonight was their concluding event. Sierra was great and her siblings had a wonderful time watching the performances.