Band and Choir Concert

(This is a redo, a bit late because I didn't notice it didn't post when I posted it.)

Adam is in band again this year, and Carus has joined the choir, and so the concert at the beginning of the year was for both of them.  

The fall concert shows what the kids have been learning so far that year and gives a little bit of a baseline of their skills for you to see how far they come by the end of the year concert in May.

Carus is in the middle front - with the light purple hair.

Adam is just to the right of that cello in the middle.  This was taken during set up for the next performance as the tromboners (and Adam) are in the back and you can't really see them/him (he's in the middle of 3 or 4 tromboners and well hidden from cameras).

Clip of the choir

Clip of the choirs, orchestra, and band. 

Clip of just the band.

Honors Band concert

Adam went in for the second day of the district Honor's band and for a concert.  The concert was only about 20 minutes long, but they played so well! Especially considering they spent about 9 hours of learning and practicing the pieces.  I got a short video on my cell phone, but Adam said about not being able to bring the sheet music home due to copyright rules I'm not going to post the video online since that might be an infringement as well.

Because he plays the trombone, he sits towards the back and I didn't have a good view of him for pictures.  It was nice to not worry about getting some good shots and just sit back and enjoy the music.

I did grab a shot as the middle school band was clearing out before the high school band took the stage.

End of the week

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Wednesday

Walking together to the bus stop in the fog.


The fog burnt off late morning and the day was sunny and warm with just a bite of cool fall air.  As the sun was setting, the fog moved back in.  There were two banks of clouds split allowing the last streaks of sun to show between them; the lower bank just covered the houses at the bottom of the hill.



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Thursday



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Friday

Last day of work this week, and last day before my vacation, and it started out with a bang with computer issues and insurance issues and ended with being hung up on by a doctor, but I did get the insurance issues worked out well.

Then dinner.  Then Carus's dance class. And now home.



And now YAY for vacation!  Let's just ignore the fact that it will be filled with cleaning and backing and taking the kids to the dentist.  Sunday will be a sewing and crafting day with friends, so there's that.

The weekend catch-up and a bonus day too!

It was a three day weekend, which was nice. I spent my bonus day off at the dentist with the kids getting our teeth cleaned (they have no cavities, but I have two) and grocery shopping (blergh) but it was still a bonus day off where I actually got to sleep in so it was nice.  I was going to do the catch-up yesterday, but didn't get to it so I'm doing it early this morning cause I'm up anyways (I really hate 6 am), and now there's a bonus day to add to the catch-up.

Without further ado -

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Lexus, our friends' dog.  Such a sweetie.

Saturday we celebrated our anniversary, a day late.  We worked in the yard, went to lunch, hung out with some friends, and then saw MIB III and went to dinner.  Not as extravagant as last years Hawaii vacation, but nice.  I enjoyed myself.



149:366 - Sunday morning Robert and I worked in the yard again.  (Phone/instagram photo)

On Saturday, we were finally able to get the last of the poles cemented in, so Sunday we spent working on reshaping the hill into a gradual slope into the garden.  After several hours of tilling and moving clay, pulling out tons and tons of plastic*, digging out tree roots, and moving of more clay soil we stopped.  There is still more to do (*whimper*) but we've made progress so that's something.



*At some point, someone put down plastic over the entire yard before dumping soil on top and then planting, or planted and then put plastic down and topped with soil.  I don't get why, it doesn't help with weeds (trust me) but it does go ahead and kill plants.  It's why we've removed so many plants and trees.  Their roots were all at the surface because they were being suffocated under plastic or couldn't get below the plastic.  Because of it, they were weak and, in the case of the humongous tree we recently removed, dangerous.  We are gradually removing the plastic as we come across it, but unfortunately aren't able to get it all.  Every time we start digging and pulling out a chunk we are cursing whoever put it down in the first place.



150:366 - (Monday) Robert surprised me with creating a tomato support.


I've been trying to figure out the best way to stake my tomatoes this year.  I'm not happy with the traditional tomato cages.  They are not sturdy enough and at best are only good one year. (Okay, occasionally you can get two years, or turn it into a Christmas decoration. But still.)  It feels like a waste to purchase new cages all the time, especially when they collapse under the pressure of the plants and fruit.  There are tons of different kinds of cages/supports/trellis though, many that appear more substantial; however, I don't want to pay what the stores are charging.

When brainstorming with Robert I thought we could use the metal T-bar poles we had already (from fencing off the swampy area of the lawn) and the twine we had already and create a zig zag-ish support system for the tomatoes.  We need to buy more twine (which we will use for many other things anyways so I don't feel guilty or wasteful about it) and maybe add to it - but for now, it looks perfect.  He did it while I was out running errands and since I got back late I didn't go out to the garden the next day so it was a nice surprise.



151:366 - (Tuesday) Adam's final band concert.


At first I thought this was the view I was going to get for the concert, but shortly after I got this shot two other kids sat right in front of him and I was stuck with .... (see next photo)

.... this view the rest of the concert.




Oh well.

The band played well.  Adam has made great progress and enjoyed his first year of band.  He's already signed up to do band again next year and I'm excited for more concerts.  Hopefully we can get him his very own trombone this summer/next fall.

Band Concert (24:366)

This evening Adam had his second band concert this year.

And this time, I'm on the ball and have videos uploaded! I know, shocking.

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Video 1, sorry it's sideways.  I never remember that I can't rotate the darn things. I'll figure it out someday.



Video 2

Carus's first concert

The Justin Bieber concert last Wednesday was great!

I took the day off work so we could head to the concert early and try to win some backstage passes or floor seats from a local radio station, and so we could find our seats well before the show started.  We rode the Max train so we wouldn't have to deal with traffic and parking and such and we were greated at the Max station by fellow Justin Bieber fans going to the concert.  These girls (probably around 14) were very sweet to Carus and offered her high fives for getting to go to the concert.

Unfortunately there were way too many girls also trying to get better seats or backstage passes that Carus didn't have much of a chance and ended up giving up before she got knocked around too much.  Those girls (and one of the girls mother's) were so pushy, it's kinda sad. I had to resist the urge to smack one as she tried really hard to just walk over Carus. She probably would have too, if I hadn't have been there to stop her.

Carus decided that was enough and ended up getting a picture taken with Justin Bieber instead!   Okay, okay - it is a cardboard cut out. BUT she has a chance to win it! The Rose Garden (where the concert was held) was using it as a promotion and took their own pictures of all that posed with the cutout.  They posted those pictures on their Facebook profile, if you tag yourself in the photo (I tagged me since Carus doesn't have a profile) you are entered to win the cutout. Carus says when she wins it, it will be going up on her wall.   Her picture is here.

A pre-show interview - sorry it's sideways...


After that we went and stood in line, luckily near the front of the line and in the shade.  It was a very warm day!  After doors were open we found something to eat for dinner and headed to our seats to wait for the concert. 

Now, because I got sssssssssooooooooooo many pictures I will direct you to my Facebook album HERE or Flickr HERE. 

Opening act was The Stunners and they were good.  Then Jessica Jarrell, Sean Kingston and a guy he brought along that I didn't catch the name of - too much screaming...

There were a couple intermissions, and one last one before Justin came on stage.  During that last intermission, we went out to get some water.  Lots of people were in lines for food, water, and the restrooms when all of the sudden there was screaming from those that stayed in their seats - and then a mad rush from everyone in line back to their seats.  They thought Justin had come on stage. 

What happened was they put up a countdown on the big screens and the girls got excited that there were only 15 minutes until he came on stage.

After that, every few minutes the sounds of chatting and laughing would be broken by screams that would build.  It was like one would look up see that there were 9 minutes left (or 5 or 4 or...) and start screaming in excitement and it would spread to the other girls quickly. I found it hilarious.

Wanna see Justin come on stage? Wanna hear the screaming?  The screaming isn't as loud as it was in person - but I do warn ya to turn down/off the sound if you can't handle girl-y screams.

His show was great, even with all the screaming.  We were singing along. Carus was dancing and screaming and enjoying the show with the many other girls there. I loved being able to see her that excited and enjoying herself that much.  At one point, she leaned over and said/screamed "THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!!!" and hugged me so tightly.

It was a great show, and even though we left the house at 2 pm and didn't get home until 12:15 am.  And food was mondo expensive. And there were lots and lots of screaming. And some rude, pushy girls (thankfully more nice girls than rude girls). And I didn't sleep well because I kept waking up to the echoes of the songs and the screaming, and still had to get up early for work. I would gladly do it again. I had fun. More importantly, she had fun.  I got to take her to her first concert, just one more first for her that I got to be part of.

A post show interview - sorry I don't know how to rotate the videos.

It's Justin Bieber!

Carus has her first singer crush.

 Justin Bieber.



I heard he was doing a concert tour so I decided to see if he was coming to Portland.

He is.

So I looked up if there were tickets left.

There were.

So I checked the prices and lost my breath at the $250-$800 floor seat tickets! But, after some looking around for the best deal, way up in the nose bleed section I found a few cheap tickets left. So I talked to Robert and since it wasn't bad, I bought her and I tickets to see Justin Bieber on July 14 at the Rose Garden.

Then we called Carus in from outside.



Carus went back outside told Adam, jumped on him, then screamed very loudly a couple of times. 

I am so happy I get to take her to her first concert.

My First Concert

Last Monday Robert and I went to the Boyz II Men concert at Spirit Mountain casino.

It was my first concert. We both like B2M and they sing 'our' song (Four Seasons of Loneliness) so I was SO excited!

I didn't take my camera because I didn't think they would let me have it (although I guess I could have taken it back to the car) so this pic is from my phone before the concert started.

It stayed pretty empty until about 10 minutes before showtime. The lady next to us had a rather large caboose, and so did her niece and nephew. So I got sat on when she tried to get in her seat...no biggie.

...and then they started going in and out of the isle to go up to the front to take pics so we had to keep moving for them to get by. They weren't being nice about it, they would just start squeezing by, run up get their pic, and squeeze back in. The niece ended up dancing in the isles (which meant she stopped squeezing by us) but she was bumping into an older gentleman's leg and when security asked her to stop she told them to fuck off, she could do what she wanted.

It was really frustrating, but then the aunt (who was directly next to me) offered to email me pics (which is why I waited so long for this post). But it is almost a full week later and I still don't have any pictures....oh well. Lesson learned. Next time I'm taking my camera, whether or not they let me.

Robert was frustrated with the persons next to us and he felt the venue wasn't good for a concert. When everyone stood up it was hard to see the stage (especially for us short people). But says it was okay.

I enjoyed the concert (I am REALLY easily entertained) and they sang a few chords of our song. So I'm happy - still want those pictures - but happy.