This playmat has been around for more than 40 years, constructed by your great grandmother (and middle namesake) Margaret Schuster. Indeed, your dad used to run his matchbox cars over it, just like you did this morning.

Part of the production you learned at Zach Scott Theatre.

Among the stuff we’ve given you a taste of is the children’s acting classes at Zach Scott Theatre. Saturdays you’ve been learning a bit about the ins and outs of musicals and performance. This week we got to see a bit of a look inside your process.

After nearly a year restoring an old camper top (you helped!) we took it out on its first ride, into the Texas Hill Country. Off the grid, we survived a first night thunderstorm and had great weather the rest of the time. You earned a Junior Ranger badge for doing some activities at the park, scouted birds and horses, flew a kite, and hung in there during a chilly 45 degree night in the camper.

We weren’t completely wild, though. We also made a trip into the cowboy capital of Texas, Bandera. There, we rode horses at the (appropriately named) Flying L Ranch. You were worn out by the end and slept almost the entire ride home. Nice job, cowgirl.

NOTE: you also created a sign for the truck. Translation: Lake and Chris, No coming in.

Every year, the kindergarten class at Lee Elementary puts on a show about dinosaurs for the NEXT class of incoming kindergarteners and their families visiting the school for their sneak peek at their future circuit. The hallways also had some artwork.

Last year we were in the audience, but this year you were onstage. The whole class spent weeks learning their lines and songs, and we were twenty times more thrilled to watch it as a proud parent than an uninitiated newbie last April.

This epic trip had it all: a 1958 Airstream trailer behind our 1972 Ford, underground caverns, two state parks (Palmetto and Blanco), a ropes course, astronomy, a threatened “running away” (you were gone for about three minutes), some interesting packing choices (see ukelele and psychology books), canoeing, timed sprints around the RV area, a driving safari, barbeque, and more small town Texas than most people see in a year. We were all exhausted but had a blast on this voyage. More soon.

You and mom went out for an early season scout along the greenbelt, with your nature kit in tow.