This morning, Nathan went with Hannah to her Music Memory contest. He is the team coach. The 5th graders all over town have been learning a new song each month as part of their music classes. When Hannah comes home I will have to have her post the names of the songs. The only one I can remember is Fanfare For the Common Man by Copeland?.

Anywho, the kids have been listening to the songs and learning about them. Today the Black Hills Symphony will be playing selections from each piece and the kids will try to remember each title and composer. The Symphony may be tricky and play it in a different key or a different octave. It has been fun to listen as Hannah recognizes a song then rattles off the info.

The rest of us got bundled up and helped in the City Wide Clean Up project. All through the middle of Rapid City runs a little river. Could it be the Rapid River? I don't know. These really cool bike paths run all along the river. The paths are always busy with joggers, bikers, rollerbladers, dog walkers, kids on scooters, and even some cross country skiers (in winter). The path goes under streets and over little streams. I think it is my favorite thing about this town. We have only been on little parts of the path, so it was fun to explore a new section as we picked up garbage this morning.

Our cub scouts signed up to clean a section of the trail, and invited the Primaries in the three wards that meet in our building to come help. That is my kind of Primary Activity! Someone else made the flyers. No decorating. No party games. No planning. And a great chance to really do some service. As it was advertised as a family activity and parents were asked to stay and help, we were not stuck "babysitting" and waiting for parents to come pick up their kids. Yippee!

But the weather turned cold, and the forecast even called for a little snow or sleet. The Cub Scoutmaster called me last night to see if we should reschedule the clean up. Our Primary teachers had already called their kids, so we decided to go ahead and do it.

I parked our truck at the end of our section, then pulled the kids in the wagon down the path, over the bridge, under the railroad, under Main Street - all the way to McDonalds. Whew. While we running down a hill I was afraid the wagon was going to run me down.

We had a good turnout, and I think everyone had fun. Sydney was not happy about going. But when her friend Lindsey got there, Sydney decided that picking up garbage could be fun. They ran along the little dirt paths to the river finding lots of beer cans and paper. John enjoyed pulling the wagon and dropping sticks off the edge of the bridge. Emily was cold. Her little nose turned red. We were at the back of the pack, so we mainly picked up cigarettes. Yuck. Doughnuts and hot chocolate made it all worth it!

The fun is not over yet: soccer is next, then a trip to Sam's Club....