Nina had her piano lesson from the church music director, and when he walked into the room, three-year-old Pete yelled out, “I know him. He’s the guy who played the music when the Lord came out of his cave.”  (Pete and Joe were both at Easter mass.)

On Thursday evening we all went to the elementary band and choral concert at my grandkids’ school.  We were five minutes late and ended up parking illegally on the grass.  When we got inside the auditorium, the real fun began. Trying to keep Pete under control for 90 minutes of really good elementary music is, to quote Jerry Seinfeld, “Like putting a baby goat in a pillow case and hoping it behaves.” His mother ended up taking him into the hallway for at least twenty minutes, and as my long departed father-in-law would say, “ She took him out there to “blow the stink off.”  That kid  ran up and down the hall at Road Runner speeds until her head was spinning.

Friday evening was birthday party number three for the third grader in Pittsburgh. I’m not sure why, but kids seems to have a minimum of three birthday parties now: close family, full family, and family and friends. Of course there are always presents involved. There was also more cake, and, believe it or not, more Barbie Dolls. I’m happy to report that the dolls have evolved and are now representative of all shapes, colors, and forms.  Let your imagination run wild because there’s no limit to the ethnicities of these dolls. It may not be long before there’s a border wall built around the Mattel corporation to limit access to the United States.

On Saturday, Nina competed in the State gymnastics tournament and placed second in her age group for the whole State. Five hours to see five minutes!  Then the two Pittsburgh girls had their musical, a program they’ve been working on since last fall. This event involved feeding and then transporting every available family member to the show.  (Everyone, that is, except Pete.) We recruited our best relocated Johnstown to Pittsburgh friends for extra beds, food, and toys to hold this grand gathering together. The show was great, and, because she was going to miss her acting friends who were moving into seventh grade, Zoey cried for hours after the last curtain call. She had the staring roll as the leading lamb with one line, “Baaaaaaa,” and she managed to steal the show. And Lucy, well, Lucy’s always great.

Sunday morning was the Pittsburgh Marathon, and let’s just say that trying to get around in the City on marathon day is like trying to get out of East Berlin in the early ‘80’s.  You could drive in circles, but couldn’t get anywhere. We finally gave up and walked everywhere with a “hangry” little guy who didn’t care about the 40,000 plus runners, the clanging cowbells, or the people around him. He just wanted his mom, and the rest of us were clearly speed bumps in his way.The extenuating circumstance was his mom, big brother, and dad were all in the race and not near him.  It was our job to find them, cheer them on, and finally to reunite with them and get them back to the condo for showers.   They all did great, but I can only describe this experience as Arrrgh.

After the Johnstown kids were gone, we met the Pittsburgh kids for dinner at a restaurant where the wait would have been three days or longer. So, we headed off to another place, slammed down a salad and went to see our friend’s son, Matt, in “Hamlet.”  Truthfully, it brought back lots of memories of advanced high school English.  He was amazing.  I couldn’t help but think if they had only had psychotropic drugs, no one would have died.