Pip, Pip, Cheerio, and All That!

The school year had hardly begun when Madison came home excited about the possibility of traveling abroad at the end of the year.  It sounded like a great time and we’re blessed enough to be able to give her that experience.  So, she, Carie, and Carie’s niece, Natasha signed up for a trip to the UK for the first week of June.

For weeks, we’ve been preparing, sizing up our luggage (the tour group demanded all bags be carried on, no checked luggage), arranging for all of our services (cellular, banking,etc.) to work in London, and generally gearing up for the grip.

My mother-in-law came to stay with Mackenzie as she has an active calendar of summer camps and the like and needed an adult present while I worked.  That worked out well as it gave them some time together that they don’t have very often.

The travel day came, and immediately we ran into a problem with airlines and connecting flights.  Suffice to say, spending the night in Atlanta and being split across 2 international flights wasn’t exactly what anyone had in mind.  But, after 36 hours of travel they finally stepped onto British soil.

They had the opportunity to see Shakespeare’s home, Oxford, Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, and then return to London.  There they saw Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, toured the city on a double-decker bus, saw the Tower of London, rode the London Eye, visited the wax museum, and got to spend the day at the studio where much of Harry Potter was filmed.  I’m sure I missed a lot of the trip in this recap, but these things seemed to be the highlight.

Finally, they headed home on Saturday.  Once again split across 2 international flights, one flight ran into a snag in NY that had them changing airports and flights in order to get home.  But by 9:00pm Saturday night, everyone was present and accounted for.

The girls are still adjusting to the time difference, but I don’t think they’ll ever be the same after this experience.

Here’s a link to the entire Flickr set if you’ve got the time.  8-)

Cheers,
Jay

2013 – Mackenzie’s State Solo Performance

Every year during middle school, the girls have taken a solo to district music competition.  If you score a 1st or 1st Superior, you advance to the state competition.  We always go to state!  This year is no exception, and Mackenzie took her piece to the state competition and scored a 1st Superior there as well.

Here’s the video I shot of her performance.  We’re very proud of you Mackenzie!

Cheers,
Jay

2013 Fishing Trip

Mid April means fishing for me.  I’ve just returned from my annual trip to Kentucky Lake where I fish with my dad and my brother.  As usual, we had a great time.

Part of Saturday’s Catch

This year, we cut a half hour off of our drive and stayed at Big Bear Resort on the northern end of Kentucky Lake.  Now when I say “resort”, don’t go getting visions of Disney World in your mind.  This is a marina, RV park, and cabins.  Sure, there are some newer condo units on the property, but this location is all about the lake, boating, and fishing.

Jeff with a couple of “slabs”

Since this is the first time we’ve stayed here, we had to familiarize ourselves with the surrounding bays and shoreline.  There’s plenty of underwater structures and cover to fish.  Unfortunately, the weather has been a little unusual this year.  We typically miss the crappie spawn and end up fishing for blue gill.  But this year, lake is just now getting to summer pool and the water warm enough for the fish to begin to begin to spawn.

While we didn’t catch the number of bluegill that we normally do, we did manage to clean a little over 70 fish in ~4 days.  Nearly all of those were crappie that we caught in 3-4 feet of water with a variety of live bait and jigs.

I look forward to this trip every year and can’t wait for next time.

Cheers,
Jay

A Family Tradition

“I am very proud, of my daddy’s name.  Although his kinda music, and mine ain’t exactly the same”.  Those lyrics are from Hank Williams Jr’s song, Family Tradition.  They sort of apply to me in this situation.  My dad and his family have a family tradition of singing Southern Gospel music.  I remember tagging along to gospel singings when I was a kid, but I never took up the calling.

I did take up the guitar some time ago and I’ve enjoyed jamming with some friends, attending some bluegrass festivals, and even played in a band for a little while.  But over the past year or so, I keep running into people that I don’t even know that inquire about my family and the southern gospel quartet. One random incident I could over look.  Two incidents I could call a coincidence  But when it happened a 3rd & 4th time, I figured maybe somebody was trying to tell me something.

So, today I answered that call and played with the Praise Band at Church.  Contemporary praise and worship music isn’t necessarily the same as the Southern Gospel stuff that I grew up with, hence the title of this blog post.  Nonetheless, I strapped on my guitar and played with a great bunch of folks at 3 services today.

In short, I had a blast and look forward to playing with the praise band more often.  Carie and the girls took a few photos from the balcony this morning.

Cheers,
Jay

2013 Bob Seger Concert

In the late 70′s I was introduced to Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band when my uncle purchased “Live Bullet” on 8-track and left it at our house. I listened to that recording of a live performance at Detroit’s Cobo Hall until I could sing every word of every song and parrot every word that Seger spoke between songs during this live show.

Over the years, media formats have changed and I’ve owned that album in five different formats; 8-Track, LP, cassette, CD, and mp3. I have several other albums, but none that I’ve enjoyed as much as Live Bullet.

Seger took a break from the music business for several years and I was afraid that I’d never get to see him tour. But when he toured in 2006, I treated myself to a couple of tickets as a birthday present and took my uncle to the show. It was awesome!

Just as I was introduced to Seger, a classmate of mine also became a fan while we were in high school. We were college roommates and enjoyed the classic rock and roll of Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band during our college years. Although we don’t see one another nearly as much I’d like, we’re still good friends. And this time around when Seger toured, we made plans to go to the show.

We met for dinner along with another classmate and all of our wives. It was great to see them and have a chance to catch up. Funny thing is, it was though no time had passed. Sure we’re all a little older and we’ve got kids that aren’t babies anymore, but we picked up like we’d just had dinner together yesterday. Then we headed off to the show where Seger put on one heck of a show.

Seger at the piano doing “Turn the Page”

3rd Encore – Night Moves

Thanks for the great show Bob, and thanks for giving old friends a chance to gather and reconnect.

Hey Jeff, Jan, Kevin, & Julie, lets not wait 15 years to get together again!

Cheers,
Jay

PS, sorry for the crappy cell phone pics.

2013 Little Mermaid

Well the curtain has fallen on the spring musical.  And once again, Mackenzie has been part of the cast and really enjoyed the experience.  She was cast as one of the Mer-Sisters.  I’m always amazed at how awesome the Jr. High kids are at the singing and dancing in a musical production.  They learn the lines, the songs, and the choreography and really put on a great show.

Wednesday night was the final dress rehearsal and private performance for the school staff, followed by a trip to Dairy Queen.  Thursday night was opening night with the traditional cast gathering at Applebee’s afterward.  Finally, last night was the final performance (and the largest audience) with a cast party till midnight.  It’s been a long week, but it’s worth it.

As always, here are a few pics and a link to the rest.

Cheers,
Braddog

Sing that Song!

Tonight, Madison performed with the High School Treble Choir for the first time.  She’s been working with the choir since school started, but this was their first opportunity to perform.  It was a nice program with selections by the Treble Choir, Concert Choir, and a special performance by the Roosevelt University Conservatory Chorus from the Chicago College of Performing Arts (how’d you to have to put that on your class ring).

Madison is only a freshman, but she did manage to land a solo part with the Treble Choir.  She’s already auditioned and been placed in the Concert Choir for next year, something that apparently not many sophomores achieve.  So we’re pretty proud, and as usual photos are below.

Cheers,
Braddog