Ezinma

 Through Bode's involvement with Sinfonia Gulf Coast, he had the wonderful opportunity this weekend to play with Ezinma, a fairly famous American violinist that has brought some hip-hop to the four strings.  You can check out her own webpage at ezinma.com.  She has played with some big names--Beyonce, Stevie Wonder, and some other newer artists that I didn't recognize.  She was here as one of the performers for Sinfonia's Mardi Gras celebration.  Yesterday, she spent 45 minutes with some of the kids having fun on the violin.  Afterwards, Bode got a picture with her.  Little man is going to have to start dressing up if he is going to impress the ladies.

She was extremely personable and a very positive person.  She even told the kids they could messenger her whenever they wanted--and I really think she'd answer them.  I'm trying to get Bode to send her an IM just to thank her, but I don't know if I will be successful.  

Today was the big performance day.  I don't think Bode realized the magnitude of the event at which he would be playing.  It was $175 per plate to get a seat at a table, so we did not attend.  Ezinma played for about an hour, while the kids joined her for one song.  Before the concert, she was gracious enough to take a lot of pictures.

She also took some selfies with the group, and I think she posted to her Instagram account.

Ashley took the video--I apologize in advance for the quality.  You can't see much of Ezinma until the end.  Afterwards, even Bode admitted that it was cool to play with a professional.

It is another start of the work week; oh joy :-) Pleasant week to all.

Powerlifting

 Bode has been doing weight-lifting at school all year.  All the middle schools in the area had a weight-lifting competition.  Bode competed and did great...sort of.  He had benched 155 lbs a couple weeks before the meet.  However, I don't think he was prepared for the competition format in that you had to bring the bar down, stop, and then press.  Still, the little man (big man) came oh-so-close.

He also did the clean-and-jerk.  He was more successful, and he felt he could do more weight.  Here he is getting a good lift of 135 lbs.

Rowdy and Barkley have become the best of friends.  They play together all the time.

Here is a cute movie of them playing.

My mother has been in town visiting.  Obviously, the dogs are terrified of her.

Here is one move video of more of the same.

Finally, here is a nice picture of Bode and Grammy.

Nothing too exciting going on here this week.  Bode is very busy with band, orchestra, swimming, and weight lifting; he probably should study every now and then as well :-)  Ashley and I are just trying to stay awake--these puppies are a lot of work!  Pleasant week to all.

Rowdy

 We welcomed Rowdy, a wonderful 8-week old, 12-pound boxer puppy, into McGuirk family on Friday.  He's a little cutie.

He spent some time getting used to things, but he quickly settled in despite the presence of the 100-pound rottie.

He's a feisty little guy.  When he first met Barkley, he chased her all around the house, and she was not pleased.  She was actually afraid of the little guy.  However, Barkley seems to have figured out he again has a playmate in the house, albeit a rather small one.

Here is a cute one of the two of them playing outside.

Finally, here is a sweet one of the little fellow zonked out.

I'm sure we will have many more videos of Barkley and Rowdy playing as he grows into the family.  We will probably have a couple months of house-breaking, but that goes with having a puppy.  I look forward to a few weeks when he's big enough where he can't escape from the backyard. Pleasant week to all.

All County Band

The Okaloosa All-County Honor's Band had their performance yesterday.  As I reported in a previous post, Bode was the first-chair for trumpet (nine trumpets in all).  There were three Meigs students that made the All-County band; here is a nice picture of Bode, Grace, and Julian.

Here's a goofy one of Bode--I think they got the picture before he was fully posed.

Here's a good one of the three musicians, Ms Tordi, Mr Purcell (Grace's Dad, and he helps a lot with the band), and Mr Mike Loffredo, the guest director of the All-County Band).

The music pieces were beautiful.  The first one was a fanfare.  Note Bode is towards the center back, and you can't really see him at all in the videos.

The second piece was Robin in the Meadow.

The third piece was Best of the West.  This one is our favorite because you can really hear Bode play.  At the 1:22 mark, there is a little back-and-forth between the flutes and the trumpets; we thought it sounded very cool (but we are a little biased...)

And the big finale was a Coast Guard march.

I took some pictures at the end; you can kind of see Bode in the second photo, but it is a little blurry.

Bode will probably rest today--the All-County Band rehearsed Tuesday night, Thursday night, and all day Friday (he got to miss a day of school!).  We'll probably also start preparing for the arrival of a new puppy--if all goes well, we will be picking him up this week! Stay tuned :-)

A New Puppy

 We think we are getting a new puppy.  This little guy is five weeks old.  At eight weeks, he'll have a checkup at the vet, and based on how that goes, we'll figure out when the best time for him to come home with us will be.  He's so cute.

We have a name picked out (it is not Ender), but we'll wait until Bode agrees to it; right now, he's waffling a bit.  But rest assured, the name is somehow tied to Auburn.  Pleasant week to all.

All State Band 2

 I received some All-State pictures from Ms Tordi.  She is the Meigs Middle School Band Director, and she was nice enough to forward these to us  First, here is a nice one of Bode, Grace (the other Meigs student that made All-State), and Ms Tordi.

This next one is funny.  It is of Grace and Bode, and Ms Tordi was trying to get Bode to smile.  You can see her foot in the frame :-)  What's also hilarious is Bode is in the SAME SHIRT that he was wearing when Ms Tordi took pictures of him when he made All-State and All-County.

Ms Tordi took some pictures during the concert.  The picture better shows the size of the all-state band.

The concert was professionally recorded.  They had two large video screens that showed different members of the band during the concert.  Whenever Bode or Grace was on the screen, Ms Tordi snapped a picture.  Below are seven pictures of Bode in action.

Bode's trumpet teacher, Mr Van Dam, was also at the conference.  He took this nice picture of him and Bode afterwards.  Mr Van Dam works with Bode every week, and Bode's achievements are the fruits of a lot of effort from both Mr Van Dam and Ms Tordi.

Big Steeler game tonight against the Chiefs; here's hoping this is NOT Big Ben's last game :-)

All State Band 1

 We spent the last four days down in Tampa for Bode's All-State band conference.  We drove down on Wednesday--it is about a six-hour drive from our house, and we lived it up by staying in the JW Marriott.  I don't think I realized how much work this would be for Bode.  He had rehearsals on Thursday from 1 - 5 and then from 7 - 9; then, he had rehearsals on Friday from 8:30 - 11:30, and then from 2:30 - 5:30.  Finally, they had a 2.5-hour rehearsal Saturday morning.  The concert was Saturday afternoon, and lasted about 30 minutes.  Bode jokingly said, "I practiced for four months for the all-state auditions, and then we had 15 hours of rehearsals for a 30-minute concert." Still, I think he enjoyed it.

Thursday night, we took Bode out for a nice steak dinner.  He really likes steak, so Ashley found a nice steak place near our hotel.  Bode had to get dressed up in that he couldn't wear shorts; he had to make do with a pair of my jeans.

I think Bode got a 10-oz fillet.  I should have waited to take the picture because even though the steak was good, the sides were even better (lobster-mac-and-cheese)...and the desserts were to die for :-)

Parents were allowed to watch the rehearsals, but Bode wanted nothing to do with us, so I had to sneak in and take a picture before rehearsal started.  You can see Bode's side profile near the center of the picture.

During one of Bode's rehearsals, Ashley and I made it to the Tampa aquarium.  It was ok--I think we were expecting more along the lines of the Atlanta aquarium, but it was something to do.

The big concert was Saturday afternoon.  Here is a nice shot of Bode and Ashley on the steps leading into the Tampa Convention Center.

Unfortunately, I couldn't take any audio of the concert.  They made this big announcement before the concert that any recordings by people would be considered a violation of copyright law.  We have purchased an mp4 of the concert; we should get a link in a couple weeks.  When I get it, I will be sure to share it with everyone.  I did take some pictures of Bode walking into the concert hall.  I was a little slow, so all you see is Bode's back.

Here is a wider shot showing how large the band was.

The concert was wonderful, and we are very proud of Bode for how hard he worked.  There were 18 trumpets in the All-State band.  Considering auditions were held all across the state, this is a remarkable achievement.

We made it back today, and are now recovering from the conference.  Fortunately, Bode and I have off tomorrow; sadly, Ashley has to work :-(