Thanksgiving

After a grand total of 11 Thanksgiving holidays in the USA I am finally beginning to get it!

It is always on a Thursday and is followed by a very quiet weekend. There is no distraction from having to give and receive gifts and it has no (current) religious overtone, which means everyone gets to enjoy it together at the same time and for (just about) the same reason. Nice!

This year we went to Brent and Susan's place and enjoyed the day with them and and their kids Caelen, Aiden and Maya and Brent's sister Dawn, her partner Diane and their son Elijah. Fab!

Today we went for a quiet walk in Todd Sanctuary, which is an Audubon Society wilderness North of Pittsburgh, and rounded the day off with beer and pizza in the Church Brew Works.

Adam Turns 8!!

Adam was 8 on the 15th.  We ended up having a bit of a birthday fest with one party and a sleepover (complete with Star Wars movie fest) for school mates on Friday, followed by a grown up gathering on Saturday and another party for neighborhood mates on Sunday.  We even had a "Skype breakfast" with my mum.  Good times!  Time flies!

Who Says Barbershop Choirs Can't Sing?

I've been interested in Barbershop music for almost 30 years!  During that whole time I cannot remember meeting another vocalist from outside the Barbershop world who didn't regard it as "naff" and unimportant.

Well...too all those muscial snobs......none of whom I realize will be reading this.....kiss my ass!!....cos the Westminster Chorus won the 2009 Choir of the World title in Llangollen this year.

Here is the link to their performance.

And just for Dave Berg here is a video of some more top quality vocal music. Vocal Spectrum (another Barbershop group) singing in Dunedin New Zealand.

And more from Dunedin here

Finally.....in case you thought only Americans sing Barbershop...here is a Kiwi group called the "Musical Island Boys"

Don't Play on the Railway!

Look at this for a near miss (x2)

Graduation Day

Last weekend, Soph graduated from her little 12 inch wheeled kiddie bike to something more sophisticated.
 I am particularly proud of her because her old bike had "coaster" brakes operated by the feet as oppose to the regular handlebar levers.  As we were riding along the trail I kept checking in with her to make sure she remembered where the brakes were and she did fine until just as we were turning from the Panther Hollow trail onto the Jail Trail.......

There is a steep descent and as Soph began to accelerate she panicked and completely forgot where the brakes were.  She was hurtling down the hill screaming in terror with me yelling "hands Soph!!!!"....HAAAAANDS!  Fortunately when she hit the 4 foot high boulder she had remembered where the brakes were and had slowed from about 20 mph to around 5 mph.  Phew!!  The end result was a traumatized little girl who...bless her......got right back on and started pedaling.  She is hard is our Soph.  Hard as nails!

We had more dads vs lads at the footy last week which was a hoot because the field was a swamp.  It reminded me of playing for Newheys!


Of course Halloween is a big deal here.  Adam is dressed as Django Fett from Star Wars.  Soph was Yoda.  Personally I think she should have been Darth Vader!