Ben and Friends Singing "Hey Jude!"

Big Weekend - Ben's Party

Big Weekend!

Tim playing the guitar on Sat night

Julia up in the balcony

Tim playing the guitar with Julie Porter, DRE looking on

View of the back of the church (First Parish Unitarian Universalist in Framingham --- http://www.firstparishframingham.com/)

8th graders walking the labyrinth

We had a very fun, and very busy weekend! It was Tim's "Coming of Age" weekend at church, where the 8th graders are recognized for their accomplishments in the Religious Ed program and "graduated" to attending services with the adults. As part of the celebration, there was a worship service on Saturday night done by the kids --- a walk in the labyrinth during which the kids received letters written to them by their parents (in Tim's case, he got 5 letters!), a potluck dinner, and then e service in the church. Each of the kids writes a statement of what they believe about religion at this point in their life, and shares it with the group. They are quite remarkable and different -- from traditional monotheistic views of God, to agnosticism, atheism, and even anti-religion in general. On Sunday, the kids are recognized in front of the entire congregation, and again read their statements for everyone. It was a big deal! Tim even played his guitar for the Saturday evening service.......

On Sunday, we had a big party to celebrate Ben's 18th birthday! Karaoke on the porch, open hot tub, and lots of BBQ! There were probably 30+ people there --- mostly kids and teenagers. A lot of the kids came from the Senior Youth Group at church -- what a great group of kids! We also had quite a few friends and family members come by. It was our first big party in the house, and I think everyone had a terrific time!

I can't, I can't, I can't!!

Julia LOVES horseback riding....... but she has had a couple of falls in recent weeks, and is something of a drama queen these days. On the day of a recent horseback riding lesson, she had twisted her pinky finger playing with Tim (no sympathy from me - they were playing with Tim's toy handcuffs and I WARNED them...) Anyway, Julia complained and complained to her riding instructor about how much her finger hurt. I think she was hoping for sympathy or an easier lesson. Instead, her instructor said -- "Okay then - we'll work on balance and leg strength. No reins for this lesson, but you will still need to trot, post, work on diagonals, and your half seat". Julia protested bitterly -- "I can't, I can't! I'll fall! This is impossible..." And yet, in just seconds, you can see in the video what happened!

Here she is trotting, posting, changing diagonals.....and getting comfortable with "no hands"!