Swan Song

Welcome back, kids.

So today's installment is Midland High Orchestra's Spring Concert, which I think is Alayna's last orchestra concert ever (unless you count that Senior recital thingy that she has later on in the month, but I'm not sure what all that entails.) Anyway, this was pretty run-of-the-mill as far as high school orchestra concerts go - started at like 7pm, lasted an hour a half, was at Central Auditorium (notorious for giving one a sore back after extended sitting), and we were all home by 9pm. Now, usually these Spring Concerts run a little longer, because Mrs. Mammassian (the orchestra teacher) likes to acknowledge all of the seniors in the orchestra halfway through the concert, detailing their progress over the years and talking about their future plans, but she announced earlier that they would only be mentioning the seniors briefly this evening due to complaints (the last couple years have run looooong). I guess the plan is to do a much more in-depth senior awards ceremony next week or something.

Who knows, I got like one or two senior awards thingies every week this month, it's nuts.

Anyway, as always I was forced to cut all the video from this post (because each of the songs they performed were between five and ten minutes in length, which exceeds Blogger's file limit), but I did throw in some pictures for you guys. 

Enjoy. . .

Following the Concert Orchestra (which neither of my children participate in) kicked things off with three songs, Honors Orchestra came on to do one. Both my kids are in that one, but for whatever reason I completely forgot to take a video of it - totally out of character for me, I don't know. The only pic we got of it was the one where they're standing up for applause (not this one here, the one before it.) Anyway, the last ensemble to perform was the Symphony Orchestra, which as you know both girls are in.

Symphony Orchestra (feat. Alayna on violin and Abby on Cello.)

Alayna and her stand partner kill some time with Rock-Paper-Scissors while Ms. Mammassian repairs some kid's violin string between songs. Seriously.

Abby and the cellos.

Violins

The two opening songs were good (second one started off with a couple rough measures, but they locked in after that.)

Between this second and the final song, Mammassian once again took the time to acknowledge the Seniors in the Orchestra. Alayna was called up first, which we were not prepared for - the video that I did get (which ran long so, sadly, you can't watch it) cut off at the beginning where she's reading Alayna's name.

Again, just a quick acknowledgement of the Seniors that are sailing off into the sunset this year.

Dad got one with his phone, too.

Lexi (of course, she's like second-in-command in the Orchestra behind the teacher) presenting Ms. Mammassian with flowers from the Seniors.

The last performance of the evening saw the orchestra joined by the Meister (however you spell that) singers, along with alumni from the band, choir and orchestra (including our neighbor, Dave, on bass second from right.)

That last song was awesome, and the ensemble on stage rightfully got a standing ovation.

Afterwards, we had to fight the throngs of spectators in the auditorium to make it back to this back room where performers can mingle with audience members after they put away their instruments and crap. The Larsons came out to watch Alayna's final performance, so we made sure to get a pic of them with her.

Sisters.

Dad and Cindy drove up from Clare to watch the girls' showcase this evening, too.

One with Lexi.

With Mom.

That one Sara chick that she works with at Taco Bell.

Those two and their respective boyfriends (as you saw earlier this month at Prom.)

One with Sebastian.

The Houghs, 2.0

With Ms. Mammassian (she always insists getting one with her following these things.)

Thus concludes the Cannonball's final orchestral performance. Fittingly, she left her music binder (at left, here) at Central Auditorium when we took off at the end of the night.

- Brian

Cinco de Mayo (feat. Yardwork)

Buenos Noches, niños.

So Cinco de Mayo isn't something the Houghs generally choose to celebrate.  While I have absolutely nothing against Mexican culture or Mexico itself (I've been there, I enjoyed it), I personally don't get any satisfaction from reminiscing about Mexico's fight for independence from France (yes, France - they used to own Mexico.)  I have no Mexican heritage, so I honestly don't care.

While that may sound harsh, I also don't care about Bastille Day.  Or Throne Day.  Or Czech Founding Day.  Let other countries have their days of independence and cultural heritage, I'll keep mine on the f***ing 4th of July.  'Cause 'Merica.

Other folks, however, seem to get a serious kick out of celebrating the independence of some other country, regardless of whether or not their heritage reflects it.  And while I can't say we have any friends that throw a bitchin' Canada Day party, we do have some friends that choose to honor their non-existent Mexican heritage by throwing Cinco de Mayo parties.

We have a lot of whatever these flowers are. . .

Because who doesn't like Mexican food and tequila, am I right?

(Time to step up your food game, Canada.)

Anyway, so as it turned out, we had ourselves a Cinco de Mayo party to attend this evening, and up until then Yours Truly spent the majority of the morning and afternoon re-mulching some of the garden beds throughout the yard.  'Cause Spring.

So here we go - cómo la familia Hough celebró el Cinco de Mayo.

Todos disfrutan. . .

A sound majority of our many, many garden beds had mulch that was in pretty rough shape, so even last summer Kris and I knew we were going to have to drop a small fortune on mulch in the spring.  I ended up buying 30 or 40 bags of mulch (Kris wanted black) from Lowe's that had gone on sale, so we actually got a pretty awesome deal on it.  After mulching the front garden bed, we turned our sights on the backyard's foremost garden bed - the biggest and most-cared for garden we have.

The black looks pretty sharp now, clearly, but as small animals, kids, and Watson tear through it for whatever reason, the lighter mulch underneath is sure to spill out and get mixed in with it.  I'm sure that's going to look like pure shit.

Before. . .

. . . and After.

Before. . .

. . . and After.

Before. . .

. . . and After.

It took me a couple hours to mulch the whole thing, which I did by myself while Kris had the girls working on cleaning up the inside of the house.

We're not going to mulch anymore of the yard, as the perimeter beds along the back and sides of the backyard we're thinking about doing in rock at some point (as well as the garden bed by the shed.)

Before heading out to the Shepherd residence for their annual Cinco de Mayo party, Kris whipped up a home-made jug of Sangria.  When in Mexico. . .

The Kentucky Derby just so happened to be taking place while we were all at this party, so everyone chipped in $5 and we all bet on a horse by drawing a name out of a hat.  We ended up with a real stinker (I forget the asshole's name, but he ended up in, like, fifth place or something). . .

So long, Five Dollars. . . 

Taco-shaped pinatas?  "Es muy bueno," says the Cannonball.

Someone else - not our kid, obviously - ended up smiting the shit out of it, and accordingly thereafter the entire backyard exploded in a frenzy.

She ate the majority of this plunder while still at the party, and declined to share any later with her little sister (who was away staying the night at a friend's house.)

Ummmm. . . . yoga?

There was a ridiculous amount of food on hand - everyone brought Mexican-ish dishes to share, so we all ate like a bunch of fat-asses.

There was also some of this done by the padres.

And then you have the Macarena.  'Cause it, too, is Mexican.

- Brian