Beginning Skateboarding at Glenhaven

Beginning Skateboarding amoung experts should really be the title....these are pictures of several of the bigger kids mixed in with beginners Gabriel and Isaaiah.

Glenhaven is a Portland Parks skatepark. Its on 82nd street by James Madison Highschool. The kids were a little intimidated by the big kids on the first day....these pictures and video are from the second day. When it seems that they felt comfortable to work on new skills. Isaaiah worked on skating with her Heelys, and Gabriel studied the ramp. Next time Isaaiah is going to wear more padding....Gabriel's padding came in handy as you can see.

Here is a short video that I made with Windows Movie Maker...after I converted the video files with Prism Video Converter..from mov to avi...(free!) I am hoping that my older step boys are going to love this skate park...I'll need to stock up on the padding...and get some black helmets with skulls on them from Goodwill...so that the helmets will be cool enough for teenage boys to wear....wish me luck.

Fun New Thing to Do

We have discovered a new fun thing to do. Game night Bridgetown Hobbies and Games, hopefully the link will work. Game night is Thursday night and we have been able to play many games that we never even heard of before.

Mark and I have moved from our favorite game Agricola, to another seafaring game that is similar to Agricola. Kyle has regaled the kids with games like "Run for Your Life Candyman" a hilarious dark comedy game about the destruction of Candyman and whether he will survive the final gauntlet of the voracious twins. Another game called "Tiki" (I think that is what it is called)....is all about rushing and racing, elbowing eachother out of the way to the lip of a volcano ...so that we can win the honor of being sacrificed to the volcano goddess....and win the game.

Gabriel has enjoyed playing Star Wars miniatures. But lately Gabriel and Isaaiah have been very interested in a collectible miniature game called Monsterpocalypse. Mike has given the kids pieces to get started with and encouraged them in their strategy. The kids eventually bought their own starter set with their prize money. The game is a battle strategy game, with opposing armies (not unlike chess), but there are many armies to choose from with many properties that change with different combinations....yielding almost endless variation. I am starting to excel at playing the "Lords of Cuthullus"....I am told that they are pure evil, but they look like baggy butted green and purple monsters....who probably need a hug....so I like them.

Here is a short video explaining how he won a game in a MonsterPoc Tournament....



Here is a tiny video sample of Isaaiah's game, where her opponent is explaining about jumping or flying monsters....

Pro-Arte Conservatory String Concert this Sunday

The kids have been enjoying another great orchestra season. They actually enjoy playing their second violin parts together...and hopefully matching notes and rhythm. They love a piece called Choreography, and I feel a thrill listening to them practice the Vivaldi Summer...even though it is only one part .....it sounds great.

Here is a promotional video that I made with Windows Movie Maker, to serve as an appetizer of sorts for Concert Announcement emails.




The kids have really grown musically this year. Cindy Petty (orchestra director), is astonishing to watch in action. Another orchestra mom and I were flabbergasted to watch Cindy bring St. Paul's Suite from nowheresville to almost performance level within an hour and a half. The kids were happy and inspired and mostly engaged through the whole process!! (I would like an IV filled with what Cindy's got)

Hi, so when I saw the magic of this photo building....I knew that it wasn't just another day at the gas station....I knew that I was witnessing an unusual synchronization of ugly car, ugly church, and the cement side of a gas station replete with cigarette ads.....

Someday this will all be so quaint and vintage.

If you have or are inspired to take photos which are ugly or unusual...and would like to share them...send them to me (or upload them for free to photobucket and send me a link)...and we can start a gallery.

State Fiddle Contest 2009-Kids get First Place in Twin Fiddle...its an all age division!

State Fiddle happened about a month ago, and I am still getting new videos up on this page. Check out the new videos at the bottom of the page!

Here is a picture of Kian, Tabby, Isaaiah, Gabriel and Zeke at the end of fabulous day. Tabby won first in her Junior division (Kian won 2nd....)They were so amazing. I wish I could post their videos. Isaaiah and Gabriel won first in Twin, Isaaiah first in Pee Wee and Gabriel was proud to win 3rd in Junior-Junior. Zeke won the cutest kid with a tiny guitar on his back contest.

Gabriel and Isaaiah played their first round in the morning...and as I remember Gabriel played his second round after lunch. This contest was in the auditorium at Chemeketa Community College in Salem. I sure was nice to have the theater seats and the fancy stage...he audience interaction with the kids was warm and close. Nana and Paul came to see the kids play...and Zeke was along for the ride as well...with his guitar on his back.

During the lunch break before Gabriel played his round. Zeke sat under a tree in the shade and played the guitar and sang a song...I wasn't fast enough to get any on film....but it was cute.



The night before the kids played in their twin fiddle round. I wish I had the video from their first twin fiddle round at State...three years ago...I'm sure it is cute...Hopefully I have it somewhere. But this year they played Spaghetti Rag....it is a very difficult tune...and it does sound pretty cool. The twin fiddle contest is all ages, and I was astounded when the kids won the Twin Fiddle Division. Here is a picture from the award ceremony.

Okay well...Isaaiah and I are sitting here at a Cafe, so I can get some videos uploaded and finish this post. This first video is Gabriel on his first round. The amazing thing about this performance is that it is his first time on stage since Weiser. He had a huge case of nerves and non-responsive fingers before this round...and after calming down and playing a little Vivaldi.....he played like this: Check out how Awesome he plays...



Here is the kid's Twin Fiddle video from the night before. It was so fun to reunite with our fiddle friends, that the twin fiddle seemed like an afterthought. Luckily the week before, Cindy Petty (PACS Orchestra director)asked the kids to perform Spaghetti Rag for lobby entertainment....so this tune was scrubbed extra clean...ahead of time. The MC; Frank....mistook Gabriel for a girl...so he introduced them as "ladies"......still Gabriel plays completely solid. Yeah KIDS!





But I do have Isaaiah's first round already up on utube...and it is embedded here.

Easter 2009

Wow....this slide show wasn't hard to make....
So anyway....these are the kids enjoying the egg decorating...and then we went to Salem to have the egg hunt with our adorable cousins....here are some of the pictures..

N.W Regional Fiddle Contest

The kids look forward to going to the Spokane Fiddle contest each year, because we drive up with Grandma Janet and they get to see their Great Grandma and Grandpa. This is our second year going to this contest. So the kids were eager to see their fiddle friend that they made last year. Some of their friends weren't there, but some were there....and new friend were made. Isaaiah is still a Pee Wee, or a Small Fry as the age division is called in this contest. So she competes with kids 8 and under. Last year I think she won 4th place and this year she was beside herself with excitement to win 1st place. Gabriel didn't make the cut to the top 5 last year....many amazing kid musicians did not make that cut, so he was in good company. But this year many kids in the Jr.Jr. division aged out the next division...leaving room for the younger musicians to place. Gabriel was jumping up and down when he learned that he made cut to the second round. There were 31 contestants in Jr.-Jr. that were trimmed to 5 for the second round. Gabriel played very well and handled his nerves during a small bobble on stage and he was awarded third place....he was proud to stand next to two fine musicians and friends that placed first and second. Each kid received an engraved clear "hot chocolate mug" for their trophy and prize money, a certificate...and Isaaiah got a coupon for a "small fry" from McDonald's because she is considered to be a "small fry"....kind of cute.

Below is a video slideshow that I made as a thankyou letter to the Old Time Fiddlers District 7 for the help that they give us in contributing to the cost of Isaaiah and Gabriel's fiddle lesson with Eileen. The video is intended to show District 7 how much fiddle contributes to the kid's lives.



Here is a slideshow from Spokane pictures: