October has been another fun and busy month for us. Each of the kids has had various activities to keep up with this month, plus we had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Martin for a long weekend. Ava has been participating in marching band competitions almost every weekend, and we have attended all of them. Each week they get a little better, and in their most recent performance, they received one of their highest scores ever.
While Ava’s middle school experience wasn’t the greatest, things have turned around significantly for her in high school. She got straight A’s on her first report card, has made many new friends, and is now practicing daily for Jazz Band tryouts. We always figured high school would be a nice change for her, but even Jessica and I are surprised at how quickly things have turned around. Getting straight A’s was a first for her, and we’re obviously proud, but it goes beyond the results; it’s the process that I’m most proud of. She stays late at school almost every day to work on one thing or another and no longer puts her schoolwork off for later. She now focuses on getting ahead of her work and getting things done early.
On Tuesday night, Elise had her second concert with the chamber orchestra, and this was probably the best one yet. She plays two instruments these days but mostly focuses on the viola, and the skills she has built over the past two years have been awesome to watch. Last night, Elise and I attended a performance by the UNLV Symphony Orchestra, where they played various pieces by Ravel and Brahms. The music was beautiful, but what I was most impressed with was Elise’s knowledge of the orchestra. From the moment the musicians took the stage, she started making comments about who was doing what based on the seats they occupied. Afterwards, her review of their technique and the dynamics with which they played was so in-depth. She truly loves orchestras and classical music, so I suspect this will be the first of many performances we will attend together.
Earlier this month, Enzo finished his first season on the school’s cross-country team. While he had some experience with sprints and long jumps via a track camp he attended last year, this was his first experience with long-distance running. He made so much improvement throughout the season, and I was able to attend all but one of his races. He likes to start slow and finish strong, with a sprint at the end that is so intense that he usually crosses the finish line and immediately throws up. He plans on sticking with it for years to come, so in order to help keep him in shape, we went for a run together on Sunday morning. I am definitely not a runner, but I thought it would be good for both of us. The run was great, but my knee was absolutely killing me for two days afterwards. I’ve been exercising it and plan to go again this weekend; hopefully I can keep up.
Enzo also continues to take his pool game very seriously. He participates in group lessons every Sunday morning, then we usually stick around to play in a tournament. He’s often the only kid in the tournament, but he keeps getting better and frequently wins matches against experienced adults. I played in one tournament without him, and it was nowhere near as fun as when we’re there together.
Last weekend, Enzo and I had a fun night out together; we attended a concert by a band we like called Treaty Oak Revival at the Virgin Theater. The show was wild, and we had a blast. We started off down in the main standing area, then moved up to a balcony where he could get a better view. We listen to their music frequently in the car, so it was fun to see them live and sing our hearts out all night.
We had a nice visit from Amy and Tom and stayed busy the whole time. In addition to family stuff, Tom and I worked on various projects, including fixing the gas fireplace in our living room, doing a full brake job (pads and rotors) on my car, and replacing our hot water heater. The water heater project was not planned, but we noticed on Sunday morning that it was leaking and couldn’t be repaired. After purchasing a new heater at the hardware store, we needed to drain the old one, so I went to the backyard to grab a hose. This hose hadn’t been removed from the spout in a long time, and I couldn’t free it with my bare hands, so I grabbed a wrench. Unfortunately, I applied twisting pressure to the wrong part of the fitting, which broke the copper pipe coming out of our house, causing water to spray everywhere. This was a heart-sinking feeling because I knew I had just created a much bigger problem for us to deal with.
I ran to the street to shut off the main water supply to the house, then had to sheepishly tell Tom about what I had done. Luckily, Tom was cool about it and assured me that he had made the same mistake once before. I won’t go into all the details of how we fixed it, but it took all day and several trips to the hardware store. We tried a few approaches, but in the end, we had to cut away stucco from the house to expose more of the pipe, use a blowtorch to solder a longer piece of copper onto the pipe, then attach new fittings. I was really nervous about the blowtorch because behind the stucco is Styrofoam, which is extremely flammable. We had to stuff a miniature fire-safe blanket in the hole to protect the house, and it worked. Tom did an amazing job, and I learned a lot more about plumbing.
By the time the pipe repair was finished, it was dark outside, and we still had a water heater to install. Luckily, it took less than an hour, so that portion of the work was relatively easy. Tom certainly got a lot of quality time with me that weekend, but I felt bad about having taken up so much of his time. Luckily, we will be going to their house for Christmas this year, so there should be plenty more quality time for everyone to spend then.
Looking ahead, Halloween is always one of the kids’ favorite holidays, and our neighborhood goes all out every year for it, so this Saturday night should be fun. The week of Thanksgiving is also something to look forward to. I’ll be volunteering in Jessica’s classroom on that Monday and Tuesday, just like I did last year. There’s another UNLV symphony performance that Tuesday night, so hopefully Elise and I will be able to attend. That Wednesday will be Ava’s 15th birthday, which should be fun, even though I don’t know what we’ll be doing. We’ll be spending Thanksgiving this year at my friend Devin’s house, which is close to my Mom’s house, so I assume we’ll stop by there earlier in the day. Thanks for checking in on us, and Happy Fall!