A Mighty Noise

Hey gang.

I'm pretty sure I've shared all this before, but the Cannonball took it upon herself to join yet another extra-curricular activity this year.  Aside from her involvement in Choir, the Recycling Club, Safety Patrol, and Girl Scouts, she's also a member of the Chestnut Hill Orchestra.  She's picked back up the violin - which she used to play when she was little down in Orlando - and has since taken to it pretty fast.

Granted, it's still her first year and she more or less still sounds like she's skinning a cat, but she's improved a lot and Kris and I are both grateful that she didn't opt for the Band, where she'd end up playing something like the frickin' tuba or clarinet.

With Christina and Makara

Her sister Abby, by the way, wants to play the coronet.  We'll see what we can do to dissuade her from that shit-show when the time comes.

Anyway, the Orchestra gave a performance alongside the Band and Choir this evening, with choir going first, then Orchestra, and then finally Band.  This meant that we got to watch Alayna in two different capacities, which was cool. . . buuuuut then we had to sit through an entire band performance that had nothing whatsoever to do with my kid.

My kid's not in band, I didn't need to be there.  I tried to leave, but Kris wasn't having it.

Of course.

So first, here's a couple pictures Abby took using Kris' phone:

The Choir, belting out a couple jams (Alayna's towards the right side of the stage, wearing a cream-colored dress, in the front.)

After two songs, the Orchestra took the stage.  Alayna's at Far Left, now.

(You could tell she was pretty nervous.)

This is Alayna's Orchestra teacher (forget his name), who taught these kids how to play their various string instruments three days a week for a half an hour before school started.  He was pretty funny, and the kids clearly like him a lot.

Still, he CLEARLY has an identical twin.

This is what I do now at these events.  I got sick of shooting in gym lighting, and the videos of these events are more fun to look at later, anyway.  And yes, we nabbed front/center seats.  'Cmon, now.

Watching the Band perform.  The Choir only had two songs, and the Orchestra and Band each played for about twenty minutes.  That band performance was a loooooong twenty, people.

Alayna and Dwight

And now here's the show, folks:

- Brian