Clear Eyes, Full Hearts

As fall rolls in, our house is filled with Friday night lights, Saturday marching festivals, parades and any other marching band activity you can think of amidst school and rehearsals.  

Homecoming 2015 has now come and gone.  The football game Friday night left the crowd only to cheer on the marching band by the time halftime rolled around.  The score was 33-0 in favor of the visiting team.  

Ouch.   

The weather suddenly went from comfortable to downright chilly in one afternoon. We loaded up with coats, blankets, and hoodies and were off to the game in time for the band's pre-game performance. 

   {Andrew is the last saxophone in this picture} 

Violet loveloveloves the marching band and shouts "Yay!" and "Bubba!" the whole time along with clapping and dancing!

Half-time was their march show featuring college fight songs.

Violet is always up for some picture taking these days! I just want to eat her up! So cute!

Lily was hungry and definitely in her end of the week exhaustion, but still tried to hang in there!  She fell asleep on me by the end of the game.

Reagan was able to stay with us that night and brought her best friend along too.  It was a fun night for everyone.  Well, maybe except for the football team who ended up losing 47-7 or something ridiculous like that.

The band sticks around and plays some tunes after the game before heading home. It's nice and they have a decent crowd watching them!

 I love that the band ends their time together singing the alma mater.

Despite the weather ending up in the 40s that night, we had a great time and are looking forward to this Friday! 

Touch A Truck & A Band Festival

One of the my favorite parts of being in Pittsburgh is the amount of activities available to families. We try to keep a balance of the commitments of our or our kids' activities and community events as well.  We've been fortunate to find so much to do that reaches our family make up of a teen all the way down to a toddler! This weekend is no exception!


This Saturday, there is a  FREE Touch-A-Truck event from 12-4pm on California Avenue in Avalon (15202).   There's a special "quiet hour" (12-1) for those who don't like all the noise too! Great for families who have little kids or special needs!

There will be local police, fire, and public works vehicles, buses, a replica "Back to the Future" DeLorean, ambulances and rescue vehicle, a Hazmat vehicle, construction vehicles, a vehicle from the Animal Rescue League, an accessible van and more! The Pitt Mobile Science Lab will conduct forensic science experiments with kids of all ages.

Also, there will  be a big book sale with prices starting at just 25 cents! Vendors, concessions and baked goods for sale, and free games will be available.  You can bid on raffle baskets featuring themes like truck toys, Halloween goodies (including Fright Night tickets from Kennywood), board games, Avon products and Minions toys! You can join the Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/703376169795620/
The Friends of Avalon Public Library is proud to support the Avalon Public Library.

After your afternoon, you can fill your evening with the sounds of local marching bands at the

  55th annual North Hills Marching Band Festival!

This is a special year where the alumni band will also be performing!  

Tickets are $6 for everyone above 5 years old. 5 and under are free!  There will be tons of amazing concessions, baked goods, and marching band merchandise available for sale!  Come out and support young musicians in our community!!  This is our biggest fundraiser which helps support all instrumental music in our school--not just the marching band!

Of course, it doesn't hurt that my son will be there performing and this proud mama will be cheering him on!

If you see us, be sure to say hi!