MM, CMM, WWS, and V

Magical Mozart
Today Natalie went on a field trip with her school to the Kennedy Center to see a performance of Magical Mozart by the NSO's Unlikely Trio (flute, harp, and oboe). There was even an instrument petting zoo where the children got to try out each instrument. She loved it! I thought it was nice the three they chose since each instrument makes its sound in a different way and it is fun for the children to experience each and compare them, especially the difference in the way you use your breath for the oboe versus the flute.

Calvert Marine Museum
Meanwhile, in homeschool, Leah and Rebecca and I met up with Gabrielle and her kids and we toured the Calvert Marine Museum which they had never been to before. We were there from its opening at 10 am until the admission desk clerks switched shifts, at 1:15 pm. We saw the estuarine biologist feed the skates and rays. We went on a tour of the Drum Point Lighthouse. And we all had a marvelous time. Gabrielle went through the museum so slowly with her children, I was really impressed. They were so quiet and attentive and she asked all the volunteers lots of questions. Our family usually goes through much quicker since we are used to the museum but it was the first time for her so she had a different approach, and my kids got a lot out of it as well. We came home with a puppet, of course, the Folkmanis Mini Quail.

Washington Waldorf School
While at the museum we all had a big surprise! The Washington Waldorf School 4th grade class was there on a field trip (CMM today, camping tonight, then Historic Saint Mary's City tomorrow -- I can only assume this is part of their Local Geography & History block). One of the moms on the trip is a person who I met last time Gabrielle and I got together, for lunch at her farm, named Petra, who is adamant about having WWS form a closer relationship with Gabrielle's farm (an organic fruit and vegetable farm) and about having her farm host events and perhaps even be the site for a satellite homeschool coop program where families in the area take the WWS teacher who has finished an 8 year cycle and is on sabbatical for one year before beginning the next cycle, share the cost of his/her salary for a year, and use the experienced teacher as a homeschool consultant. Apparently, this year the teacher could not afford to take a year unpaid sabbatical so had to jump right back into first grade without a break -- whew!!! So it was like fate giving them a nudge, to run into each other at the museum and get to talking again.

V
Unfortunately, V stands for Vomiting. Yes, folks, Leah got carsick on the way back from the museum. Add to that Rebecca wetting the bed twice last night and that's a lot of laundry! It is absolutely pouring here & we decided to have a quiet warm afternoon so we are going to make pancakes for dinner. Recently we read The Story of Little Babaji (if you're familiar with The Story of Little Black Sambo they are one and the same, just tweaked to be less racist -- the original story is from 1899) which stars a group of tigers who race around a tree chasing each other's tails so fast that they all melt into a puddle of lovely delicious melted butter and the little boy's father gathers it up into a pot and brings it home and his mother makes pancakes for dinner. I thought that making pancakes (there's a nice recipe for Cornmeal Pancakes on the back of the Bob's Red Mill Corn Meal) would be a good follow-up to that and today appears to be the day!