Bode's Recital

Bode had his first piano recital yesterday.  Fifteen thousand people from Colorado Springs packed World Arena to hear him play (a bit of an exaggeration).  Actually, there were probably 50 people and 12 players at a local church.  Still, it was very enjoyable.  In the morning, Bode told me he was scared of the recital because playing in front of people was hard.  I told him not to worry about it, and he seemed fine, although I was concerned after he said this.  Still, we knew he could do well because he'd been practicing so hard.  Bode got to the recital early, and spent some time with Miss Pat going over things and loosening up.  We all then gathered in the church, and Miss Pat said some opening remarks. I snapped a quick photo of Bode and Mommy.

Miss Pat then said the first player would be Bode McGuirk.  Little Dude gets up and calmly walks to the front.  I told him to bring his bag which contains his music.  He had told me he had everything memorized, but I thought he might want it in case he froze up (although I didn't tell him this).  Miss Pat introduced Bode to the crowd (small group of people), and said he'd be playing three pieces.  I took the opportunity to snap another photo.  No signs of nerves in this little guy.

His first piece was Pop Goes the Weasel.  Only a couple mistakes, and those were with the dreaded left hand.  Plus, no need for any sheet music.  The kid has a memory!

His next piece is a song called The Accompaniment.  I started the camera late, so I didn't get the beginning.  Because of this error, I decided to just keep rolling and include his third piece in this clip (yes, I know there are easy movie editing software packages that would cut and splice the footage; I'm too lazy to do this).  His third song is called Go For the Gold, and I think he played both pieces amazingly well AND all from memory!

Obviously he needs to work on his bow at the end--he just sort of dropped the microphone and walked off :-)  The whole ensemble posed for a group picture afterwards

We are very proud of how hard Bode has worked on the piano.  We don't really have to bother him to practice--he'll sit down and play a few songs, although we think he does this just to butter us up so we'll let him play Agario, a very addicting and simple computer game.  We don't have much else going on right now.  The garden is winding down a productive year.  We even got a few stalks of corn and some peppers to go along with the tomatoes and broccoli.

The corn was ok--a little rough and chewy.  I don't know if it makes sense to grow it here.  I think next year I'll start six seeds in cups in March, and then transplant them.  Otherwise, I don't think the growing season is long enough.  I spent a couple days this week at the mountain estate cutting, splitting, and stacking firewood.  I think we have close to three cords of wood ready to go.  It took me all of Thursday and part of Friday morning to do this.

We are going up again over Columbus Day weekend in a couple weeks.  I still have about 100 more logs to cut.

Obviously the weather was gorgeous the two days I was there.  In Colorado Springs, it's been great--almost annoyingly hot, as the high for today is predicted to be 87.  A week ago, I took Bode on a short bike ride.  I didn't know if he really liked it or not until last night when he said, "Daddy, can we go on a bike ride tomorrow?"  Of course we will be going.  Pleasant week, and Happy October to all.

Swim Team

As I said in a previous post, Bode has joined the Rocky Mountain Rapids as a Class I swimmer.  There are five classes, with Class V being a high-school level swimmer.  Bode is doing amazingly well, and I say this as an unbiased observer (really).  I tried taking some pictures and movies yesterday.  They didn't turn out great, but it's not really my fault (yup, this craftsman is blaming his tools).  Bode was swimming on the other side of the pool, and all the parents/observers are sitting in the bleachers on the far side.  I didn't want to be "that parent" that is taking pictures of an ordinary workout.  Therefore, I had to use the zoom feature on my circa 2004 camera.  Thus, things are blurry and shaky.  Still, I think you can get the idea.  First up in Bode just chilling in the pool.

Next is a movie of Bode doing butterfly, turning off the "wall," in quotes because they Class I team only had one lane, so they put in a fake wall in the middle of the pool.

Note how good he looks doing butterfly.  Also note how fast his turn is off the wall as he transitioned to backstroke--just a couple months ago, he would stop, and let his feet touch the bottom of the pool before starting again.  Now, he just goes right in to backstroke, and simply overtakes the swimmer in front of him.  Very nice!  Next is a blurry movie of Bode doing freestyle.  His flip turn is very good, and he looks very smooth.

Towards the end of practice, they work on their starts.  Today was Bode's first time going off the starter's block.

Finally, the team did some sprint racing at the end.  Here's Bode winning his race--I think the person he swam against is about a head taller than he is.

Swim practice again tomorrow and Thursday.  I foresee many hours spent sitting on a pool deck :-) Bode has a meet on 17 October.  He will be swimming the 25-meter freestyle, 25-meter backstroke, 25-meter butterfly, and the 100-meter individual medley.  Should be a great time!  Pleasant day to all.

Lots Going On

...since my last post.  Has it really been over a month since I've put anything on the blog?  Shame on me.  We've seen a lot of activity over the past month.  First and foremost, Bode started 2nd grade on 18 Aug.  Here's a nice shot of him on his first day of school--such a grown up young man.

He has a very nice teacher, and it's her first year teaching, just like his kindergarten teacher was a "rookie."  She's very motivated and excited, so we are confident she will do a fantastic job.  Nothing too exciting has happened in school, which is good.  He says he likes it, although when we ask him about the best part of his day, the answer is always, "Recess."  At first, we thought this was not good, but then he would ask me about the best part of my work day, and my answer is usually, "When I went to the gym," so we can't get too upset with him.

Bode also started swimming for the Rocky Mountain Rapids swim team.  He practices three times a week, and we think he's doing awesome.  We have some videos, but those are on Ashley's camera, and she's yet to upload the videos.  We have practice tomorrow night, so I'll be sure to get some action shots and post them (hopefully before mid-October).  Bode is also running cross-country.  He's more of a social runner--he likes hanging out with his friends, as evidenced by his demeanor at the starting line--not exactly laser-focused on dominating the race.

I did get the below action shot of him on the course.

He ran the whole way, and we are very proud of him.  Bode's friend, Hunter (the tall kid on Bode's left is the pictures above) won first place--he's quite fast and has a nice stride.

Another new event in the McGuirk home is we have a new "manny"--Corey has been taking care of Bode after school.

We spent Labor Day weekend in Breckenridge at the Mountain Estate.  For some reason, I didn't take any pictures (not sure why).  We had some friends visit on Saturday (the Hardman's), and we all enjoyed an Auburn victory.  And even though Auburn won yesterday, we can't really say we enjoyed the game, as going into OT versus an FCS opponent was enough to make Ashley say, "I'm going to the Mountain Estate this week to cool off," (she's going up to work on some things, but it's funnier to say she had to leave town to recover).  The dogs are doing great--Bode really enjoys playing with them.  I'm not sure if they dogs enjoy everything Bode does, but they sure seem to love their boy.

The garden is winding down.  We've had 20+ tomatoes, lots of excellent carrots, peas, lettuce, broccoli (I'm very impressed how this has done), about 15 strawberries, and a couple ears of corn.  The weather is still very warm, and I'm hopeful we'll get five or six more ears before the weather turns.  Our raspberry plants have really grown, but no fruit yet.  Maybe in a couple more years.  Finally, we have a very large pumpkin growing.  It's about the size of a honeydew melon, so I'm hoping it's really large come Halloween.

Pleasant week to all!

Garden Harvest

Yes, another garden update.  And yes, this might be construed by some as believing the McGuirks have little going on, which is probably a correct statement, but I don't think there is anything wrong with having a lazy summer.  In fact, with the start of USAFA classes tomorrow, I'm really startint to miss having nothing going on.  But that is a tale (complaint) for another day and another post.  For now, let's focus on the garden.  First, some peas.  I think I planted too many, and as Ashley pointed out, I should have staged them so they wouldn't all be ripe at the same time.  Last Saturday, I went out and picked a mess of peas (not sure what the correct term is for a large grouping of peas, and I'd have to open a Google window to find out, and that seems like far too much work).

I've also been eating my carrots.  I tried to take a picture of one the other day, but I think the flash on the countertop messed up the focus, resulting in just an orange blob.  I've been very pleased with my carrots--some have been really long, measuring close to a foot in length (this, of course, counts the long dangling root string off the end, so don't get too big a picture in your head).  The corn is really going to town.  I count four good-sized corn cobs growing on various stalks, and there should be six or seven more coming in very soon.  I hope the remaining days of August are warm; once we hit September, I think the corn is done, as the temperatures can get too low.

The tomatoes should be ripening up any day now.  I've close to 30 tomatoes on the four different plants.  They will probably all turn red on the same day, meaning I'll be bringing tomatoes to work with me.

Finally, I have my first sun-flower bloom.  I can't believe how tall these plants have grown.  I'm looking forward to seeing them all blooming at once.  I don't know what to do with the seeds--I've never been a fan of them, so if anyone wants fresh sun-flower seeds, let me know.  I think next year I'll take a picture of the same spot of the garden every day (or as often as I can), and then do a time-elapsed movie showing the garden grow from planting day to harvest.

Ashley and Bode are up in Breckenridge for some Mommy-Little Dude time.  Ashley traveled the start of this week, and she'll be gone all next week.  School (for Bode) starts the following week, so this is a great time for the two of them to get away.  Plus, the weather will be beautiful up there.  Temps were in the 90's here today.  Ashley called this evening, and said she hadn't even put on jeans yet, which is unusual for up there, as temps drop quickly after the sun goes down.  Forecast is the same for the next few days, so I'm sure they'll have a great time.  That being said, with them gone I can get a lot done, and by a lot, I mean nothing--I needs my down time :-)  Pleasant day to all.

The ABQ

We spent the last four nights in Albuquerque visiting the McGuirk cousins (and the McGuirk brother and sister-in-law).  We had a lovely time.  The weather was perfect, or as Dana calls it, "too f*cking hot."  To each their own I guess :-)  Ashley and I wanted to take Bode for a hike, as he really enjoyed this when we were in Breckenridge.  We convinced Devin to go with us, and we were off.  Before starting, we snapped a quick photo.

Right off the bat, we encountered some wild-life--a caterpillar (or maybe it's a centipede).  Ashley was brave enough to let it crawl on her finger.  Bode was worried the thing would poop on her.

We then headed out in search of petroglyphs.  The terrain was rather forbidding.  I packed my camel-back and six bottles of water.  Bode enjoyed pouring the water on the dirt and making puddles.  I tried to convince him we ought not waste our water supply.  He wasn't buying that we'd run out of water, and he pointed out my full back pack.  Next time, I won't be as prepared.  We were a bit surprised by the incline of the trail...but we managed.

After about 30 minutes hiking a circuitous route, we made it to the top plateau.  I thought the view was great.  Bode was not in the mood to be photographed.  He was too hot--evidently he shared his aunt's sentiment re the heat.

On our decent, Devin spotted some petroglyphs, so we had to stop for pictures.

The hike lasted close to 90 minutes.  As a treat, we took the kids to lunch, and then because it was so hot, we wanted to get a shake at Sonic.  Unfortunately, on way to Sonic, we were involved in a minor fender-bender.  We were starting to pull out onto the road, but then we had to stop (there was blind curve, and a car came round the bend).  The guy behind us likely thought we were going and simply wasn't looking ahead.  His car was in far worse shape, and we really couldn't have asked to be in an accident with a nicer guy.  We pulled over, exchanged information, called insurance companies, and we were good to go.  His company called us today and said they were covering all our damages, so that's good :-)  Here's a shot of the Xterra's bumper--very minor and cosmetic, but still needs to be fixed.

Bode loves playing with his cousins.  They went swimming, and every night, watched movies or something on their electronic devices.  We also spent some time on the back patio.  Pat, Sean, and Brenna are very good at juggling a soccer ball.  Bode tried to get involved.  They were kind enough to let him start off each attempt.

I did take one movie, and it happened to be a great rally.  It's amazing Sean can keep things going with Bode shoving him.

There's also the obligatory tether ball game...

a nerf gun battle...

and some quality time playing video games.

On Friday night, Sean wanted to do smores over the fire.  It was rather windy, so we (Ashley) thought the smores weren't going to happen.  This being the case, she ate a candy bar.  The winds died down a little after nine, which was late, and I don't think the adults wanted to start smores at this ungodly hour.  Sean was raring to go, so we told him we couldn't do smores because Ashley had already eaten her chocolate.  Talk about a disappointed kid :-)  (not to mention he was probably upset after losing eight games to his uncle in Ping-Pong).  Fortunately, we did smores Saturday night.  It's probably best we delayed because my Dad and his wife, Janet, arrived on Saturday evening (they have a "business" golf event...yes, golfing for work.  What, does he think he's still in the military?)  Sean prepared the fire pit, and we were ready for smores.

Maybe too much wood in the fire?

We managed to not burn down the house, and everyone had at least one chocolatety treat.

The kids stayed up late last night and built a rather elaborate fort.  I took this picture this morning before waking them up.

Before leaving, we took a bunch of family photographs.  Here's a cute one of Bode and Devin.

Sean tried to get into the picture, but you can't get Bode and Sean together without a little shoving.

After many hours, Brenna finished getting ready, so we could take the large-group shots.  First, all the McGuirk cousins.

Next, the McGuirk grandchildren with Grandpa and Janet (this was the best picture I got--I'm hoping Pat got a better one).

Finally, one big picture of the family (Janet was kind enough to operate the camera...if I had more skills, I'm sure I could photoshop her into the shot :-)

We had a wonderful time in Albuquerque.  We safely made it home.  The dogs were fine, the garden was fine, the house was fine.  All was well...until a neighbor informed us (and he was very nice about it) that Joey barked all night for most of the nights we were gone.  Any one want a boxer? :-(  It's actually kind of funny, because we were wondering why Joey seemed so tired (he's zonked out right now, and it's only 7:50).  Oh well--we'll figure out the fix for this problem next time.  Back to work for both Ashley and me this week.  School starts next week (for me), so the quiet time at work has come to an end.  Why am I not retired? :-)  Pleasant week to all!

Mommy's Home

Just a quick video to show you the reception Mommy gets every day when she comes home.

Harley is the most excited, as she is the one whining.  We aren't sure if Joey is happy to see us, or if he just wants to be pet anytime Harley is getting some affection.

The Petersons Part II

Yesterday, we climbed up Hoosier Pass.  Well, climbed isn't probably the most accurate word.  We drove from our house up to the parking area where there are some nice trails.  We paused for a group photo.

The web stated this particular trail should be easy.  Thus, we were confident we wouldn't have any troubles.  The trail also supported motor vehicles.  We didn't see any, but it was wide enough in most areas.  However, I don't think the Beamer would make it up this section.

In the above picture, we are still below tree-line.  This will quickly change.  Off to the left is the Pacific side of the Continental Divide.  To the right, the Atlantic.  Lots of beautiful scenery everywhere whenever we looked up and paused to catch our breath.

Bode and Cody are birthday brothers--their birthdays are both 28 November.  Very cool.  We pressed on, and before we could blink, we were above tree line.

There was even snow on parts of the mountain.

We got a second wind, and the top of the hill was in sight.  Jon sprinted ahead to get a pretty neat looking picture.

The views were incredible.

We took a number of family photos...

We were surprised how tired we were, as we only hiked for a total of two hours.  That afternoon, we headed over to Frisco and walked on the pier and watched some of the boats on the lake.  Come Sunday night, we were all exhausted, so much so that today when we went to the Minions movie, I fell asleep.  We had a bunch of rain in the mountains, so it was a good nap-day anyways.  Forecast is for beautiful weather the rest of the week.  The Petersons had to leave early today.  Bode and Ashley might head home tomorrow, while I will stick around to get some things done around the house.  Pleasant day to all.