Happy Halloween

 Today was Halloween, and because we live in Florida, we were able to celebrate in our usual fashion.  Ashley and I carved up some pumpkins early in the day.

We placed everything in front of the carriage house.  Before we headed out, I took a picture of Bode, who was dressed as Cartman from South Park.

We headed up the street and met up with our neighbors.  Ashley and Bode took a picture--to keep with the South Park theme, Ashley dressed as Kenny.

Once we got to the park, we took a family photo.  In case you can't tell, I am Randy Marsh, also from South Park.  Note that Ashley made all the masks from scratch--she's quite talented.

We spent some time doing the usual trunk-or-treat at the park, and then we headed around the neighborhood.  We spent close to an hour trick-or-treating, and we were very impressed with the number of people and houses that participated.  I could not tell the difference between this year and a regular year, so it was nice to feel like normal, if only for a little while :-)

On Thursday, there was a Meigs football game, so the football band performed both during the game and also at half-time.  This first picture is of the band arriving at the stands.

Next is a picture of the band performing; it's not the best picture because I didn't want to make a spectacle of myself trying to get a picture.

At half-time, the band had to go down to the field.  There was some down time during the transition, so here's a nice picture of Bode yucking it up.

Next, we have the band getting ready to march onto the field.

Here's a shot of the whole band on the field.  Bode is in the front-left.

Next is a close up of Bode playing.

It was great hearing how much the band has improved since the last time.  Plus, this game was 8th-grade appreciation night, so all the eighth-graders were recognized.  What we found amazing is Bode is one of a small number of seventh graders that play in the football band.  We are so proud of how hard he has worked.  We are also very hopeful they will be able to have a holiday concert.  

Happy Halloween to all!

Youth Symphony

 The Youth Symphony had a mini-concert today.  The organization was doing a fund-raiser, and as part, they performed a few pieces at the Destin Commons.  It was a nice day, but a little windy.  Still, I think it was a great performance.  Here are some still photos.  First, the kids setting up.  Bode is right in the middle in a black shirt.

Here's a close up of Bode.

This is a shot from behind the orchestra.

Finally, here's Bode doing some tuning before the performance begins.

Here's a movie of the warm-up.  I didn't record the whole warm up because I can only upload videos directly to this website that are less than 100 MB.

I uploaded some of the longer pieces to Youtube.   First up is the Egmont Overture.

Next we have the Barber of Seville.

Finally, we have the theme from Star Wars.

We are very proud of how hard Bode has worked.

We had quite a weekend--swim meet yesterday, concert today.  It'd be nice if we had a day to rest, but I guess we have to start again tomorrow :-)  Pleasant week to all.

Band and Swimming

 The Meigs Middle School band plays at the football games.  Because of some weather and other issues, Wednesday was the first game at which the band actually played.  The game was at the Choctaw High School stadium to allow people to space out more, and it was a lovely night.

The band made its way onto the field after we were seated.  Here's Bode carrying his trumpet.

Here's a shot of Bode seated--he's the middle row at the far left.

The band sounded awesome--I'm very impressed at all the songs they can play.  Ashley took some videos on her phone and posted to Facebook, but I don't have access to them.  We are very proud at how hard he has worked.

Bode had a swim meet today.  Last week, we worried the meet wouldn't go because of Hurricane Delta, but the system was far enough west and we missed the brunt of it (we do feel for those in Louisiana).  Bode swam amazingly well.  Here are some pictures and movies.  First is Bode and Ashley.

Bode swam the 100-IM, the 50-free, and the 100-back getting personal bests in all. For the 100-IM, he shaved five seconds off his time with a 1:15.  In the 50-free, he shaved three seconds off his time and swam a 29.5; and in the 100-back, he swam a 1:14 shaving nine seconds off his best swim.  It's great to see this type of improvement, as he's been working so hard in practices.  Ashley took movies of the 100-IM and the 50-free.  In this first movie, Bode is in Lane 2.

In this next video, Bode is in lane eight.  His teammate, Tripp, is swimming in Lane 7, and it was great to see such a close race between the boys.

Weather is weird here today.  We have sun and then we have clouds and rain; I guess it's some of the bands from Hurricane Delta.  Here's hoping we get a nice Sunday tomorrow :-)

Violin Auditions

 It's been quite a week of music.  Bode's youth orchestra conductor wanted all the string players to "audition" using various parts of the pieces of music they are working on.  I think this is just so he can best sit the students do everything sounds the best.  This is Bode's first year in the big orchestra, so we told him not to get discouraged if he isn't sitting in the "prime" locations.  We are very proud of his progress--he is playing with high school kids in this orchestra, and he has plenty of years to really develop.

The first video is from the Egmont Overture.

The next two videos are from parts of the Barber of Seville.

Finally, a piece from something called Appalachian Morning.

Tomorrow, Bode has to go up to the school and do some recordings for an audition for the All-State band with his trumpet.  These auditions are more stressful.  For the above movies, we could have as many attempts as we wanted.  For the All-State auditions, he gets a maximum of three attempts.  He's worked very hard, and we are proud no matter what happens.  Stay tuned!