Austin Update

James and I are doing well in Austin! We've been waiting to post until we had the house ready to share. Nesting is taking quite a bit longer than we thought so instead of putting off the post any longer we thought we'd write a quick update and save the complete house highlights for another post.

Saturday I attended the Round Rock ISD Harp Festival. There were 39 harpists performing (3 from Hopewell). We're so lucky to have the teachers, instruments, and budget. I only know of a few other districts with programs like it.

Yesterday, I went to a teacher workshop for string teachers, and guess who was the teacher presenting??? Jan Coleman!!! She mentioned she was from Hutchinson, KS and I said that my family lived there. When I said the family name was Kinast, she immediately knew Vicki and Pam. She knew my dad from piano lessons and of course Uncle Randy :). She then asked how Tim Givan fit into the family and I explained he was my uncle and then she remembered Auntie. She said Uncle Tim really helped her family while she was away. She is still living in Seattle (25 years and counting) and is a well respected Suzuki violin teacher! How cool is that!

We put up a bird feeder two weeks ago and the birds finally found it this weekend. We had a pair of cardinals, chickadees, and tufted titmice. Of course, later the morning doves and grackles showed up, too.

The kitties seem to be at home and enjoy all the windows! There is a neighborhood cat to watch as well as lots of squirrels and birds.

There are lots of new places to explore. Rimsky managed to find his way on top of the kitchen cabinets in pursuit of a bug :).

 Lots of love to everyone! Hope to see you soon,

Hannah and James