National Honor Society

 

Lacey was inducted into her High School's National Honor Society on Friday.  

Way to go, Lacey!

A Cowgirl and Her Violin

 

It's that time of year where all the school concerts involve dressing up in costume!  There was a combined Elementary/Middle School/High School Strings concert this past week, so my little Cowgirl Ella packed up her fiddle and played her little Cowgirl heart out.  

She was very excited to be music stand-mates with one of her besties Ethan (aka Indiana Jones).

Howdy Partner!

And the very next day, she donned her costume again for the ward Trunk or Treat where she had fun walking around with her friend Ben as a Rubik Cube - and was mad she hadn't thought of that first!  She LOVES Rubik cubes!!!

Tanner's Duet

 

Tanner has been taking piano lessons for several years -probably four or five years now.  And he loves his piano teacher, but my one complaint is that she never does any recitals.  So it's really hard to motivate Tanner to practice when he never has anything for which he is practicing for in terms of a performance.  So I take it upon myself to arrange for him to do a Special Musical Number in Church during Sacrament Meeting once or twice a year.  

And this past week, he played a duet with his friend Evan. 

They played "O My Father"

Great job Evan and Tanner! 🎵

Visit from JoEllen and Gil!

 

My Aunt JoEllen and her husband Gil are wrapping up their 2-week long road trip from Texas and we were lucky enough to be one of their stops last night!  It worked out great because they had tickets to attend the Air Force/Navy Football game today and we live just 20 minutes from the stadium. 

JoEllen reminisced with Lacey about her Didi's that she's had since birth and how she remembered watching Lacey and trying to get away the stuffed animal to wash it, but Lacey would absolutely not have it!  They've come full circle now.  All three of them (well four, since "baby Didi" has been added to the mix) still together/reunited after 16 years! 

So good to see you, JoEllen and Gil!

Riley's Spooky Chorus Concert

 

It's such a fun time of year!  With Halloween just 10 days away, everything right now is Halloween-themed, including chorus concerts!  Riley's middle school combined forces with the local high school for a halloween choral concert where everyone was supposed to dress in costume. 

Hi Riley!

Great job, Riley and the rest of SPMS and SPHS chorus students!

It was BOO-tiful!

Fall Festival

 

Yes.... that is Ella underneath all that face paint!

Her elementary school put on a Fall Festival on Saturday night.  She loved the face painting.....

And the balloon animals.

And the next day, she participated in the Primary Program at our Church.  It's my favorite Sunday of every year where the Primary-aged (kids ages 3-11) put on an hour long program full of sweet talks and songs.  Ella and the rest of the Primary did a great job!

Homecoming

 

One of the reasons Dave and I raced home from our trip on Friday night was because the following day was Homecoming for Lacey and Tanner.

Glad these two get to experience so much of High School together. 

Lacey ordered two different dresses online, returned both of them and eventually settled on this dress that she borrowed from a friend.

Tanner is going through a bandana phase.....

Tanner's group

The boys

The whole gang getting silly

The same guy that asked Lacey to Homecoming the last two years asked her again this year, but Lacey had already told two of her friends that the three of them could go together, so she stuck with her original plan and went with her friends.

And they decided to all meet at Kinder Park prior to the dance for pictures. 

And she had a great time!

Porto

 

On Thursday morning, we woke up in Porto and headed to the water to board our private yacht.  And while that may sound expensive and exotic, it was less than 300 euros total which made it like $40-$45 a person.  Very doable!

One guy drove the boat while the other got us blankets, served us drinks and told us all about the sights along the waterfront.  It was heavenly!

Time to settle in and enjoy the ride!

The sights along the way....

After touring the city by way of the Rio Duoro, we then got back on land and, with the help of Rick Steve's self guided walking tour, explored the city by land!

We started at Capela das Almas de Santa Catarina, a chapel dating from the early 18th century.  The outer facades are faced with beautiful blue and white tiles.

Mosteiro de Sau Bento da Vitoria, a 16th century Benedictine monastery, which was purposely built over the former Jewish quarter.  A nearby memorial plaque honors the Jews who were forced to convert in the 1400's.  Given the events of this past week, it brings to light how many times the Jewish people have persecuted.  

J.K. Rowling lived in Portugal for a time and was influenced by many things in various parts of the country.  Livraria Lello is arguably "the most beautiful bookstore in the world" and has become one of Porto's most popular sights.  In fact, it's so popular that you have to buy a ticket for timed entry in order to go inside.  The exterior is gothic with stone carvings and the inside has large sweeping curved staircases, a bridge and stained glass windows.  Oh and loads and loads of books!

It is widely believed that this book store is the inspiration behind some of the famous Hogwarts scenes in Harry Potter.  When J.K. Rowling lived in Porto, she worked as an English teacher and visited this bookstore often.

Do you see those tiny narrow windows?  Those are windows that belong to possibly the narrowest house in the world that separates these two churches. It is said that this "Hidden House" was also inspiration to Rowling while writing Harry Potter.

We love you, Porto!

Time to eat!

We attempted to go to the famed Mercado do Bolhao to walk around the market stalls and eat various local items for lunch, but sadly, due to it being a Portuguese holiday, the market was closed.  So in order to get the Porto food experience, we headed over to Cafe Santiago to try Porto's famed francesinha.  Not something I'd ever choose to eat again, but hey, it's always fun to try something new!

Then we walked back across town to find the perfect spot to watch the sunset.

The sun setting on Porto..... and on our trip.

The next morning, we sadly parted ways as the other two couples continued their adventure back to Lisbon via Nazare and Obidos.  We, however, didn't want to be away from the kids for longer than a week and had a busy weekend of kid activities ahead of us, so we said our goodbyes....

And hopped on a plane back to Maryland!

What an incredible week! Sometimes trips meet my expectations and sometimes they don't.  But this one exceeded them.  We had so much fun with Seth and Cari and Travis and Sheralyn.  The trip was filled with amazing sights, delicious food, memorable adventures and lots of laughter.

Portugal has a piece of my heart for sure!