Trials and Tribulations of a Band Parent

Yes, I know that James has only been in the band for less than six months, but I am not sure if I am cut out to be a band parent.

These six months have been wonderful for James, as he has truly enjoyed playing the saxophone. For me, on the other hand, it has been a stressful experience, and it has nothing to do with the home practice sessions of the budding musician.

We started out trying to save some money to make sure that James would like playing the saxophone, by having him use my brother Dave's old one. In hindsite that may have been a mistake. After numerous visits to the music store to get the proper song book and reeds, the maintenance aspect of using an older instrument kicked in.

For a period of time it seemed that something new was wrong with the saxophone every single day. As fast as I could repair one item, a new issue popped up the next day. Finally a large piece broke off that I had to take to work to get the maintenance department to reattach.

Finally James declared that his teacher told him that he needed a new saxophone.

Fortunately the school has lent him a tenor saxophone to use for the rest of the year. Low and behold, soon after it breaks down also and goes into the music shop. There is sat and sat and sat as the Winter Concert approached. On the day of the concert after many nervous emails (from Michelle) to the teacher, his saxophone was repaired and returned.

On the much happier side, his Winter Concert was wonderful and the 6th grade band was very impressive. James could not have been any happier. He looked pretty sharp in his suit also.

He certainly has enjoyed the band experience far more that I ever would have guessed. He has made great progress and he likes playing the saxophone and he likes his teacher.

Check out the video clips of his concert, in the video section of the page. They did a great job.

...now if being a band parent wasn't so difficult...

After more than 25 years I discover that Winter Camping is still cold

Hello again! Before I start my revelation about the experiences of camping in a tent when it is below freezing, I want to share some learnings about the difficulty of keeping good habits.

I've decided that writing and blogging is a good habit that I am trying to keep. This is a great way to share family happenings and stay in touch. Ive also decided that this is a lot like dieting. You know that it is a good thing that you are doing, and when you are keeping to it on a regular basis it is not to hard to stick to. BUT...If you take a break from it for even little bit, then it becomes very difficult to get back on the wagon and get yourself into the good habit routine.

Today Iam trying to get myself back into the good habit routine.

So back to the topic at hand....Camping When It is Below Freezing.

A week ago, (you see, time lags when you get out of the good habits), James and I went camping with two patrols from Troop 42. This was a special campout that only included the youngest scouts and focused on completing some necessary requirements for their early ranks. We had 10 boys and 2 others adults besides myself.

We spent two nights at camp Cherokee, which had a much different look to it, compared to how it appeared during Summer camp. We had the entire camp to ourselves for the weekend.

The boys learned about First Aid and we spent time practicing fire starting skills and teaching boys how to cook over camp stoves and campfires. The pace of the campout was not rushed, because we didn't have to really be anywhere at a special time.

Aside from the twentysome degree nights, it was a really nice way to spend the weekend.

It wasn't the extreme cold that I remember from years ago during the Polar Bear Campouts with snow on the ground in Ohio, but it was still cold enough to bring back many of those memories. We all bundled up and made it through the nights, with plenty of hot chocolate and hand warmers to keep us warm.

We wore pleny of layers and James and I broke out our new warm fleece long underwear and doubled up our sleeping bags at night. Toasty might not be the right word, but we weren't cold.

I am glad I did not have to camp in the cold again this weekend, but I can still say that I had a good time and I will do it yet again in the future.

As we reach the end of the year, I will focus my efforts on keeping my good habits and setting my New Year's resolutions to keep at it.

until next time.......

Swimming is a Year Round Sport

Swimming is now a year round sport in our family. Both James and Madison have decided to work on their swimming for the entire year instead of just during the summer.

You would think that 4 basics strokes would be relatively easy to master, but there’s a lot more to it than that. They have to learn the special kicks associated with each stroke. They have to learn when they are supposed to breath. They have to practice how to turn at the end of the pool and come back, within the guidelines for that particular stroke.

There definitely is a lot more to it than what I learned taking basic swimming lessons, 30 or so years ago. It takes a lot of hard work, but you can see the improvement that comes with repetition and practice.

Swimming is not only a competitive sport, it is a life long activity that can be enjoyed, and it is a skill that can potentially save your life.

Yesterday we spent 5 hours at a swim meet. They are not all that long, but none of them are short. The meets are where the kids can show off what they have learned and try to improve on their personal bests for times. Michelle and I can definitely see the improvement in both of the kids. Both swam three different strokes during the meet: Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Freestyle.

I am attaching pictures to this posting and also on the Life In JT’s World website you can watch YouTube video clips of the kids in their races. I was able to capture each of the kids individual (3 each) races on video . You will be amazed at how well they can swim if you haven’t been able to see them swim in person.

Surrounded By the Colors of Fall

Amidst the splendor of Fall colors, James and I spent our weekend backpacking with the Boy Scouts. This month’s campout was at Pilot Mountain State Park in North Carolina.

The theme for this camping trip was Backpacking. This was to be James' first backpacking experience, and my first in over 25 years. We had spent the previous two weeks preparing for this trip. We had older scouts present proper gear to bring and how to pack our packs. We took a practice 5 mile hike with weights in our small packs to simulate what we would be going through. We even had to bring our packed packs in to a meeting to be reviewed to make sure that we weren’t bringing unnecessary gear along for the trip.

Despite all of the preparation, the only way to know for sure if you are ready is to just do it! We had 16 boys and 10 adults go on what was supposed to be a 5.5 mile backpacking hike. We left early Saturday morning and drove to the park. We dropped off our packs and gear at the beginning of the trail and then spent the next 30 minutes shuttling the cars to the campsite at the end of the trail.

Once everything was ready, we started our hike. The temperature was in the 50’s at the start of the hike and moved into the 60’s during the day. The weather was perfect. We were surrounded by the color filled forest as we hiked along. About the halfway point, we stopped and had our lunch by the trail. At this point, everyone had been keeping up and doing pretty well.

After lunch things got a little tougher. The packs seemed to get heavier and each successive hill was a little more difficult to climb. The group started to get further spread apart. It was also becoming evident that the trail was longer than advertised.

James, like many of the other boys was struggling during the second half of the hike. I moved his tent from his pack to mine to lighten his load by about 6 pounds. This helped a little, but not enough.

Finally, I took his whole pack, as well as mine (50 lbs total), and allowed him just to hike. We probably did this arrangement for about 2 miles or so of the hike.

Our 5.5 mile hike, end up being our 7.5 – 8.0 miles in length, but everyone made it to the campsite!

One we reached the campsite everyone set up their tents and relaxed a little before it was time to prepare dinner.

The boys had to chop up the vegetables for their dinner, while I lit the charcoal for them to cook over. Once the charcoal was hot and ready, the boys prepared their individual foil packs with a sirloin burger and their choice of: potatoes, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, and spices. They placed them on the coals, flipped them after 10 minutes and let them cook for 10 more minutes.

They turned out great and the hungry boys really enjoyed them.

Now it was time for desert. They boys had peeled and cut up some apples into small chunks. They then took a ½ of a pre-made pie crust, added apples, cinnamon, white sugar, and brown sugar to it. Folded the crust in half and sealed the edges to make a sealed pie. They wrapped it in foil and put it on the coals for 20 minutes, flipping once halfway through.

The apple pies turned out great! It was a recipe that I had invented earlier in the week and had tried it out on the family at home to make sure that the boys would like it.

As night fell, we spent some time looking at the numerous stars in the sky and enjoying the peacefulness. Then we moved to the campfire for warmth before retiring to our tents for the night.

The temperature dropped below freezing overnight and a frost developed by morning. The boys hurried to get a fire going to get warm as soon as they woke up.

After breakfast, we packed up our gear and patrolled the campsite to make sure it was as nice as we had found it. Then we held a short church service there in the wilderness.

Finally, it was time to head home after another wonderful camping experience.

Halloween Pumpkin Artists at Work

You can tell that the kids have come of age, when they are designing and cutting their pumpkins on their own at Halloween.

Without any input, I believe that they both have come up with some pretty creative looking pumpkins.

Madison has taken a traditional Jack-O-Lantern face and dressed it up with a natural hair that really gives her pumpkin a unique look.

James really got creative with his pumpkin. He decided that he wanted to add some extra depth to his creation, so he utilized toothpicks to attach the ears and give the top a floating effect.

I think you will agree with the comments from the neighborhood children that the end result on both pumpkins is pretty cool.

On Halloween night the kids got dressed up for a night of trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Madison dressed up as Asoka - from the Stars Wars ~ The Clone Wars movie and James is dressed as a menacing, sword wielding, cloaked creature.

We had about 100 trick-or-treaters visit our house and the kids made out well while they canvassed the neighborhood for candy.

All in all it was a very nice Halloween.

James goes Horseback Riding with the Scouts

This past Saturday, James went with 6 other Boy Scouts to the Camp Keyauwee, Circle C Ranch to work on their Horsemanship merit badge.

This was his first horseback riding experience and he certainly looked a bit nervous at first.

To his credit, he followed the instructions and after they groomed their horses, it was time to learn how to ride.

James was paired up with Penny. She was the largest horse of the group, but she also appeared to be the most gentle. This made the day go much smoother for James.

He learned how to make Penny walk, stop, and turn where he wanted to go. They got plenty of opportunity to practice, riding around the very nice indoor area on this cold rainy Saturday.

Near the end of the practice they each had to make their horses trot to a designated location, slow down to a walk, turn a complete circle, walk again, then stop and have the horse back up a couple of steps, and then proceed on forward. All of the boys were able to successfully complete the sequence (It helps to have good horses).

The boys then dismounted and removed the saddle and reins and then walked their horses out of the arena and back to the stable area.

They learned quite a bit and had a great time in the process.

Camp Keyauwee is the local Girl Scout camp, but they have an excellent year ruond horse program. We found out that we were the first Boy Scout troop to come there to learn and ride. Once word gets out about the great time that we had, I' quite sure there will be more wanting to visit.

What a Difference a Week Makes

“It’s amazing the difference that a week can make.” That is the thought that went through my head this past Friday night as I was laying in a tent listening to the rain as the temperatures dropped into the 40s.

Let’s go back in time one week and see how this whole story unfolded….

Exactly one week earlier from that reflective moment I was at Disney World in my warm and cozy resort room with a view of Downtown Disney, after having spent the evening with Michelle at Epcot.

Michelle and I had travelled to Disney World earlier that day to spend a quick mini-vacation during her Fall break from college. My mom had come to North Carolina to visit and spend the weekend with the kids while we were gone.

It was a very nice break from work for me and from homework for Michelle, and the kids were spoiled by their Grandmother while we were away.

I left a day by day trip report of our Disney visit on my Disney World Blog, so I won’t rehash it here, but if you are interested just click here: Trip report.

Once Michelle and I returned home on Tuesday, it was time to get our house ready for the twice a year High Point Furniture Market. We scurried about and got the house in order and moved out on Thursday morning. We moved in with Ed and Judy, who graciously allow us to invade their home during this time.

This brings me to Friday October 17th. I had previously signed up for Boy Scout Leadership Outdoor Skills Training and this was the weekend for it. This was a weekend long, camping/training adventure that I shared with 50 other Scout leaders like myself.

I arrived at Camp Cherokee, about an hour’s drive from home, around 6:00 pm and the all day rain continued. I was placed into a Patrol with 6 other leaders that I would be getting to know and working with all weekend. About 8:00 pm we set out in the rain to hike to our campsite and set up our tents. After the tents were set up we went back to the dining hall for team building activities and information about what our weekend would entail. At about 11:00 pm we returned to our tents to get ready for bed.

This brings us back to the beginning of my story. As I laid there in my sleeping bag, I reflected on all that had gone on during my busy week and the extreme difference going from Disney resort to tiny tent in the rainy forest. It was all good. It just represented the varied paths that my life includes. This week had it all: Vacation, Work, Family, & Volunteering. It was a great week and I am very lucky.