Trumpet, Piano, and Costumes

This month Drake had his first band concert.  Recognize the trumpet, Judy?  Drake is really enjoying band, and his band sounded really good!

He had to buy a tux shirt, and we thought he looked really sharp!

Also with the help of my brother and a kind ward friend, we were able to pick up a piano I bought off of Craig's list for $50.  It was badly out of tune, but otherwise a really good piano.  Just had it tuned this week and it sounds much better.  It even had a bench in great condition, which usually costs more than $50 alone!

And just for fun, Ellie was dressing up as Elsa from the movie Frozen.  What do you think?

Snow Day

Monday was the first snow day my kids have ever had.  We lived in Utah for 11 years, had tons of snowy day and cold days, but the most the kids ever got was getting out of school 2 hours early once.



Sunday night here in Virginia we had freezing rain, and school was cancelled for Monday.  Tuesday morning we got a couple inches of snow, and school was cancelled again!  We loved it!

Ellie took these amazing pictures of the ice on Monday.

Billy Goat Trail

This Thanksgiving weekend, Mark found us a great trail to hike.  It's in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park.  (Pfew!  That's a mouthful!)  The park contains the old canal and locks that used to get boat traffic up and down past the rough parts of the Potomac River.

Dane at a lock

The terrain is rocky, and you can see why there had to be a better way for boats to get by.

The day was cold, but beautiful.  The kids didn't have time to get get tired, because the rock scrambling was so fun.  We went on Billy Goat Trail A, then back along the canal.  There are two other parts too I'd love to try sometime.

On the way Back

Our "Frozen" moment.  We just watched the movie!

the Canal

Wildlife

Sunset

At the Falls at Sunset