Are you tracking this?

 I was pretty surprised when Syl told me she was going to forego the spring play and go out for track and field. Pleasantly surprised. The kid has always been a strong runner, and I'm proud of her for recognizing the value of physical activity. So far, so good: she's enjoying the other kids, and getting steadily faster! Here are some shots from her first meet, where she competed in the 100 and the 200. 

Back to the eyes

 Syl took a hiatus from her eye studies, but she's back with a vengeance. Colored pencil: 

Western MA Swing

 Syl and I were going to head south for Feb Break to visit some schools in NY, DC, and VA, but an unexpected winter storm caused us to switch up our plans and slide out to Western MA instead. It ended up being a very worthwhile trip. We hit Amherst, UMass, Smith, and Williams in two days, and Syl got a taste of a number of very different environments. 

One thing all the schools had in common: They were COLD!!! Below zero wind chills combined with hilltop campuses made it hard to appreciate the beauty.

We ran into our friends the Tracys (from Middlebury) at Smith. They were there touring with their daughter, Caroline. 

Syl remains the best road trip buddy out there. Bar none.

Quick trip to Pittsburgh

 Syl is REALLY into the anime "One Piece." She recently learned that for the show's 25th season (!!!) they are doing a US symphony tour. Basically the symphony orchestras in a bunch of different cities are learning pieces (more than one!) from the soundtrack of the show, and doing one night only concerts. Unfortunately the Boston Symphony Orchestra isn't participating... But the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra did! So I surprised Syl with tickets, and this past weekend we did a very quick (25 hour home-to-back-home!) trip. 

Googling what else to do while in Pittsburgh I learned, to my pleasant surprise, that Carnegie Mellon University has a very well-respected fine arts school. So we took the opportunity to take a tour and check it out.  Although she is not sure it will make her applications short list, Syl appreciated seeing CMU, and really liked the 'beautiful campus in the mid-sized city' thing. And we were both surprised by how much we enjoyed Pittsburgh, even in chilly January!

This was the greeting committee at the airport.

Our  hotel was cool.

The theater was right down the street. 

We found a legit ramen place on the walk to CMU.

Syl's favorite part of campus was "The Fence" - a literal fence in the center of campus that student groups compete to paint overnight, multiple times a week. It is apparently the most painted structure in the world, with so many coats that it looks like a big mound. 

The main building of the College of Fine Arts is really pretty. 

We had some time to kill after the tour and before dinner, so we hit the Mattress Factory, a very cool, very weird installation art museum.

Right down the street, we found "RandyLand," which is just a house where a very creative, very likely insane man has spent decades painting all sorts of stuff, and putting it in his yard for anyone to come and see. This was our favorite part of the trip - totally unexpected!

Then it was off to pizza and the concert. Syl did some mild costuming. There were a lot of these hats at the show!

We were both hungry - we polished off this entire large pepperoni pizza!

Then, the show. It was TWO. HOURS. LONG. But worth it for the smile on this kid's face. 

We got up early Sunday, and were home by 9:30 am! The kid was wiped.