A few highlights of our trip to RI

     Both boys played summer baseball this year and it was a short summer. School begins Monday for me, which left us just a few days to go on vacation. We took a trip to Rhode Island, the smallest US state, from Sunday- Wednesday. We only live 1.5 hours away from where we stayed, but I've never really spent any time in Rhode Island before.  Here are some highlights:

     On our first night there, we went exploring and stumbled by a really nice park called Goddard Memorial State Park. It is right on the ocean and has lots of places you can picnic. There are also trails through the woods, a boat ramp, a stable, and other things I'm sure we didn't even see. We explored the bay area, took a quick walk in the woods and just enjoyed being outside. The boys found lots of mud crabs.

     The next day we spent (getting roasted by the sun at the zoo) at the Roger Williams Park & Zoo. Here are a few of my favorite moments:

The wildest animals at the zoo.. lol

David fed a giraffe. Look at that smile. He loves giraffes so this was a high point of the whole vacation. See his uneven spots? He's a Masai giraffe. His name is Jaffa and, if I remember correctly, he's 6 years old.

We pet an armadillo- which surprised us all by taking a bath in that water. Did you know that (this type) armadillos can jump 4 feet straight up into the air and run at 25 miles per hour when they are frightened?

This red panda is smiling at me. He wants me to bring him home, right?

This is a kookaburra. One of the park security guys was chatting with us and mentioned that he often plays an app that makes bird sounds and these birds start reacting by answering the calls. Before long, all 4 kookaburra birds were loudly "chirping" their "koo-koo-koo-ka-ka-ka." Tim said he loved it and they made him feel happy. I ruled out the chance of ever living where these birds are. So loud!
     One of the workers at the zoo said that the solar eclipse we had on that day was also making the animals act a little differently than normal.
      If you have never been to this zoo and you have the opportunity to, go. There was also a beautiful park with many nice areas that we didn't even explore. There's a carousel, swan boats, etc. They're also making some sort of a zip line type ride that will open later this year.

     The next day we explored the Beavertail Lighthouse in Jamestown, RI and then traveled to Newport to explore The Breakers, a giant mansion built by the Vanderbilt family.

 Beavertail Lighthouse

 Boys exploring the rocky New England coastline. They followed that path down to the rocks.

 The flat surface here is the foundation of a lighthouse that was built in 1749. In 1753 it was destroyed by a fire. It was rebuilt. In 1856, the new lighthouse was built to replace the deteriorating one and in 1938 a hurricane exposed this foundation? I think I got it all. Lol. We accidentally discovered this regatta of some sort. We never found out what it was but there were people at that spot to watch it.

 An artist was painting this next to us. So cool.

 These 4 pictures above were taken by Tim. I love seeing through his eyes and knowing what he thinks is beautiful or deserves attention. He's pretty good! The building above is named The Breakers.

 Dining room. Quite lavish, but I'll take it.

 My favorite part of the building was this half of the music room. If I had a room like this, I would never leave it.

 And part of the library! I totally wanted to bust in there and read what books were on the shelves. #nerdproblems

 Matt took this picture. He works as a candymaker and I think those copper pots and pans were super appealing to him!

 The back of The Breakers. Can you find David and I?

2 more Tim pics.

     All in all, it was a nice trip. I would've liked it to be a bit longer but maybe we'll come back another time. I can't wait for our next adventure away. Oh! I never told some of you, we're getting our passports so we're going to aim for at least 1 international trip within the next year. (If we take 2, 1 will be to Canada, which is pretty close compared to everywhere else.) We'll be talking soon about where to go. Feel free to leave suggestions!

     In other news, school starts Monday. I'm not ready. My "to reply" pile of mail is currently EMPTY! Feel free to send me surprise mail! (or even "not surprise" mail.) I've gotten some nice postcards this week. I'd like to show those off in a post and write about the last book I read too.

Update

      If you are a person who chats with me often (or follows the blog), you probably know that my February is usually spent writing tons of letters, March- making a bunch of music with various groups and April is a bit of a break before my end of the year concerts make me super busy. Currently I'm on the tail end of April school vacation I have a bit of time before a dentist appointment so I thought I would use that time to say hello! Here's what has been going on with me.  I'll start with my mail related stuff since most of the people who read this, I've connected with through my 366 Project, penpalling or Postcrossing.

Mail update:

     Can you believe that, for the first time in... forever, that I actually got to a point where every single letter that needed a response was answered? I have never really had no "reply" pile. Lately the mail has started coming in again and I have this pile to respond to.

   Marilyn, your letter is on the way. Then there is a letter from Ashley in Wi, Cathey in TX, Sue in Australia and Marianne in The Netherlands. Ambitiously, I'm trying to answer all of these this week/ weekend.
     I have also gotten some cool postcards lately. They are from Russia, US (from my friend Jessie), China, US, Taiwan. Germany and The Netherlands :

    This little card came for Timmy and I had to show it to you. It's a watercolor card that was painted by the Postcrosser who sent it to him. I kind of want to steal it! Ha ha. Very cute!

Work:

    Work has been busy, as always. It has been a mix of super rewarding and super aggravating. At the beginning of the month, my students performed in the Junior District Festival.  (If you want to know more about the festival, I have written about them in previous blog posts.) Since my schedule is insane, I have been eating my lunch with the students who were preparing for the festival everyday for about 2 months. It was slightly stressful to not have any free time during the day, but I enjoyed this chance to work with 6 of them on a more individual level. I was very proud of them all. They all grew a lot musically over the past few months. I also really enjoyed getting to know them all a little better, though some of them feel like additional children to me by this point. I was also managing the boys choir at this festival. All of the boys were great. It was a great experience for me (again!).
Boys Chorus:

Girls Chorus:

Flowers my students gave me (Rather, flowers 1 family gave me and were gracious enough to say they were from everybody! Unnecessary, but appreciated):

     Then, the next week, our school put on the musical Peter Pan. Honestly, this cast was not the easiest to work with so at times it was very stressful. With that being said, the students were great and very talented, just a lot of drama with some of the older students and some people who were not as cooperative, no- just people who didn't think other people were as important as they were, as others. I'm glad it's over. I was happy with the performances of most of the students and I was also proud of a woman who stepped up as the new drama director for the first time this year. (I am the music director for the show) I also got some pretty flowers from "the cast." (Aka.. best friend of the girl who gave me the flowers the week before and 2 other families. ha ha.)

   One thing I have really valued over the past few weeks is the connection that I have with many of my students. I appreciate that they are willing to be vulnerable and try all the things I ask them to, despite the fact that their voice "can't do that," or so they think. I feel honored that many of their families respect me and get to know me. I am glad I have a place of influence with many of these kids in a time when they need it.

Personal:

    There have been lots of changes here too. Matt's job has changed a bit. He used to manage a candy store during the nights and weekends. He had been asked if he would have interest apprenticing to be a candy maker a while ago. He was very interested. Unfortunately, the man he was learning from died unexpectedly. Matt has taken on the responsibility of this new position during their busiest season, right before Easter. Fortunately for us, he loves it and it has changed his schedule so that he is home more at night and on the weekends. It has been quite the adjustment but it's pretty cool. (Not to mention, chocolate!!!)
     The boys are good. They are both doing very well in school. Baseball season is starting up. David had his first practice last night and Timmy has his first scrimmage tonight. We took a few nights and went to my parents' house in Maine. On the way up we stopped on the beach and looked at some tidepools in York, Maine. The next day we went to visit my cousin, Tom, in New Hampshire. We had not seen his family in a few years so we were really happy that they were around. I hope we get together more often. Other than that, we just relaxed and spent a lot of time hanging out and reading.
     Speaking of relaxing, today is the nicest day of the year so far. It's 73 here in Ma. Matt is working. The boys and I decided to go for a walk on our local rail trail. We went to a playground and then walked about 2 miles. I love the rail trail in the fall and was surprised that it looked a little less alive in the spring. (I think I was expecting more green!) Beautiful day though!
Playground

Rail trail

 We heard some rustling and found this little pile of squirmy snakes. Ashley, I don't know why, but this made me think of you. Perhaps it was all the rattlesnake talk last year.

 Beaver damage

3,000 miles from Calais, ME to Key West, FL.  Wouldn't that be a cool hike?

      In other very unfortunate news, I think that my plantar fasciitis is coming back in both feet. I have been in excruciating pain for a few days despite stretching. I'm icing my feet like crazy in hopes that I won't pay for exercising tonight. I have a massage scheduled for tomorrow so maybe that will help.
    

Upcoming:

    The next few weeks are pretty tame but things will get busy soon. As I mentioned earlier, Timmy has his first scrimmage tonight. I'm looking forward to getting to know his new team.  He is really enjoying playing with them so far.
      I have a concert to play for on 4/30 and then 2 graduations to play in. I'm conducting 3 concerts between now and the end of the school year.
      We are also considering going to Canada for a vacation this summer. We're trying to decide between visiting Quebec or Nova Scotia? If you have been to Canada, or live there, we would be glad to get some recommendations about where we should stay or what we should try to do. Where are some of your favorite places?