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Tonight we attended the annual band camp presentation for parents.  It’s a chance for the band to show off what they’ve been working so hard at for the last two weeks, as well as a chance for the band director to talk to parents about important things such as this year’s band trip (they’re going to march in a parade at Disney World this coming May).  This year, Kaity chose to be in Color Guard.

Kaity's down front with the flag

While Daddy was busy at his conference today, Brae and Mommy and I went for a walk on the Freedom Trail.

We saw the balcony where the Declaration of Independence was read for the first time.  The Boston Massacre occurred in the intersection below it.

We visited the King’s Chapel and Granary Burying Grounds, where many patriots are laid to rest.

William Dawes, King's Chapel

Paul Revere, whose headstone is reportedly as tall as he was.

John Hancock

John Hancock had the largest signature on the Declaration, so that crazy King George could see it without his glasses.  Mommy thinks the reason why he has the largest headstone in the cemetery is so God can see it – without his glasses.

Boston Common

We also went to Boston Common, where we got to see the Make Way for Ducklings statue. The book, by Robert McCloskey, was one of Kaity’s favorites.

Make way for preschoolers.

This Boston place is pretty cool.

The final installment of the Spring 2009 9th Grade Recognition Concert is March of the Sun-dried Tomatoes by Julie Giroux.

The inspiration for this piece, according to the composer, was the following incident:

This is the woeful tale of a day in the kitchen with a recipe that called for, among other things, sun-dried tomatoes and red wine. I like to think of myself as a cook, though I cannot convince many others of that fact, but had not encountered sun-dried tomatoes before. I had plenty of tomatoes growing in my little garden, and as hot as it was, there were a few on the vine that were almost dried already due to a little neglect on my part. Needless to say, after baking them to a crisp, which didn’t work, and microwaving them into oblivion, another disaster, the recipe was a complete failure and by the end of the day, a salami sandwich and a pickle was my fare. I know now you can buy sun-dried tomatoes in the store, but I will never partake of that particular recipe again.

Kaity plays auxiliary percussion in this selection, including a bird whistle, cymbal, wood blocks and a ratchet, pretty much everything but drums.

Since we’ve moved to a hosting service, I’ve decided to try a little experiment.  Rather than burning a bunch of DVDs for the grandparents, I’m going to upload the videos of various school performances here. These will be in Quicktime format (get the plugin).  The first is the 9th Grade Recognition Band Concert (large file), held on May 13th of this year.

Note: We’ll be working backwards through 8th grade, and then I’ll start uploading the stuff from this school year.  Enjoy!

Kaity had her Fall band concert this evening, her first as a high school freshman.  The percussion session had a song all to themseleves, with Kaity doing a wood block solo.  Pretty cool.

Kaity in her official concert uniform. Dig the bowtie.