Wayne and Cole played in the marching band for the Orleans and Albany Memorial Day parades.
There are a ton of saxophone players in the middle school band.
Can you find Cole?
At the ceremony in Albany, Wayne played taps after the salute. Off camera, in the distance, you can hear another trumpeter playing the echo. After doing a little reading about "Taps" I learned that the echo version is somewhat controversial. Some veterans think it should only be played by a lone bugler.
Below is a video Wayne watched one evening after practicing, to understand the history and origin of Taps. It's pretty interesting and just under 7 minutes, so thought I'd share it here.
I'll close by remembering my Dad. Not only is today Memorial Day, but also his birthday.
Another milestone achieved. Today was First Communion for Heather. She was excited about it, but only because she got to wear a pretty white dress.
The head piece the one Rachel wore in Mary and Danny's wedding.
In front of the church.
Receiving communion.
Posing with Father Naples.
Showing off her certificate.
Mary, Grammie, and Joanie came to First Communion. We had some burgers and hotdogs afterwards. Wes invited Giselle Clark.
Opening gifts.
Gifts came in the mail from Godparents who were carelessly, yet accidentally, left out of the loop. (Thank you, Aunt Julie.)
Lastly, we had cake and ice cream. It was a lovely day and we enjoyed having Grammie, Mary, Joanie, and Giselle share it with us, but all this food makes me want a nap.
We always look forward to the weekends. I love getting up in the mornings knowing I don't have to make 5 lunches at 5:45 a.m. Sometimes it seems like the weekends are busier than the week, but in a fun way.
Last weekend Wayne and Cole had their middle school concert at Lake Region. Cole is in the chorus and big band.
Wayne is in the big band and the jazz band. (They are both in the marching band for the upcoming Memorial Day Parades, but that's a future post.)
Here is Wayne in the jazz band.
This weekend started off Friday evening with Heather's first softball game of the season.
Heather got a pretty good hit here, but got out at first.
As one of the 2 youngest on the team, she had to mostly play outfield. There is only one other 2nd grader on the team of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders.
As you can see, there is no more snow for me to complain about. We've gone from thinking spring would never come to enjoying above average temperatures.
It was a long game. The sun began to set at the start of the last inning.
Saturday, Cole and Heather had a piano recital at the United Church in Greensboro. I'm a little sad to say that Wayne hasn't been going to piano lessons lately due to conflicts with sports and other school activities.
Heather played "The Beautiful Month of May" by Ernest Van de Velde.
Cole felt bad about flubbing up here. Maybe it will inspire him to be better about practicing. This is called "Etude no. 104 in F Minor" by Ferdinand Beyer.
(One thing I might add, in his defense, is that this is not the piano they take their lessons on, so it might have a different feel to the keys.)
After the students had finished their recital, they got a rare treat. The church has this beautiful old harpsichord and a woman named Bronwyn Masse gave them a little history lesson and demonstration. This harpsichor is from the 1880s and was rebuilt in 2009.
She told us that a harpsichord is notoriously difficult to keep in tune. She said sometimes the tuner will tune it Sunday morning and by the time they use it for the service, it will already be out of tune.
The tuner had not come for our demonstration. It was still fun to hear.
Al the students got a chance to try it out.
The harpsichord is an older instrument than the piano and the strings are plucked, not hammered as with the piano.
Tomorrow is Heather's last CCD class for the year and next Sunday she will make First Communion!
