HPA 15 year reunion

HPA class of '96
At the HPA luai dinner.

Every class from 2006 and earlier were invited to a group luai dinner. The oldest class I saw was 1966, but the school was founded in 1949 so maybe there were others. As I glanced around the room at all the table's class year centerpieces trying to find the oldest class, Alex told me to look for hair color as the obvious clue. It was a week long reunion. We hosted the Friday night party at our house which went on until 1am. Saturday was the luai. And Sunday was the happy hangover brunch at a classmates house. Several of Alex's classmates have moved back to the Big Island. Sometimes where you started out all is where you were meant to be all along!

Blog Builder

Make that 7 blogs! Today I built yet another one http://GreatScottClan.blogspot.com

Yesterday I built a blog for my cousin Mandi as a baby present. It's actually the 7th blog I've made for family/friends as gifts! I've saved step by step directions on how to navigate and use blogger. Mandi's blog is extra fun because I thought of a Dr. Seuss theme with her last name. I wish mine looked like hers! It motivated me to give mine a bit of a face lift!

Blogs I've built:

http://ThorntonHearsAWho.blogspot.com

http://AllProBaby.blogspot.com

http://TanyasTribe.blogspot.com

http://KrowsTales.blogspot.com

http://WilsonsCrib.blogspot.com

http://OtterBennett.blogspot.com

The best part is that you can have your entire (or partial) blog stories and pictures printed into a real hard back book. What a fun gift for your child to read when they are all grown up!

The Rocky Mountain Woodbillies

Our American Gothic Album cover

Luke Woodbury on Bass and Jessie Woodbury on Fiddle

My instrument certainly is the more portable of the two! Luckily Luke lives in Wyoming and drove to Winter Park with the stand up Bass in tow. I mailed him two duet books a few months ago to practice on our own. Playing duets with a Woodbury relative certainly was one of the many highlights of the reunion. And also a good sign: musical talent is found in the Woodbury family!! Our future child has a chance! I named our duo The Rocky Mountain Woodbillies. Here is a snippet of the tango we put together. I always keep wooden laundry line clips in my case to be prepared for any outdoor concert weather. Luke was so impressed at my preparedness that I gave him my clips as a parting gift. He was so touched and moved, so when you can't think of what to give somebody, sometimes something as simple as clips can suddenly be the greatest gift in the world!

Peter Pan ahoy!

Me and my entire crew all aboard the Pirate ship!
Wendy, Peter Pan, and Tink
Cap'n Hook and Smee
The mermaid lagoon backdrop. We also had an awesome cardboard crocodile!
The Lost Boys secret underground cave

Once, in a fair fight ago, my homeschool had their end of the year production of Peter Pan. The class consists of 7 students, only 2 of which being girls, making them the perfect roles of Wendy and Tinkerbelle (who also doubled as Princess Tiger Lily). I had to edit a lot of the Peter Pan story to make it more politically correct (growing up in Washington, so rich with Native American culture, I am very sensitive to these kinds of PC matters!) I am still over the moon with how well last night went. They were amazing!

Making Music Fun

I discovered a great musical website for teachers and students alike! Click HERE to find free note reading flash cards, practice charts, and theory worksheets!

Mozart Requiem

Click HERE to read about the Requiem, my all time favorite piece of work. The first time I performed Mozart's Requiem was when I was 18 years old at a gorgeous church in Bellevue. What is sweet is that Alex rode down on his motorcycle to watch me in that very performance 12 years ago and he and my mom sat in the pews watching. I have performed this piece several times since then and every time it gives me the chills. I took these video clips today during our rehearsal. The concert is in an hour and a half, so I have to get ready! Last night I watched Amadeus on Netflix watch it now. It's a 3 hour movie, so I skipped to the end to watch the Requiem scenes.

Lei Day

The entire Waimea.Country.School staff
The little girl in purple in the front reminds me of my best friend Jenna when she was 7 years old.
I am receiving an appreciation award and a lei from the students
Here I am on the far left realizing a little too late that they are about to do a Hawaiian hula chant that I was not supposed to be a part of. I quickly hid behind the principal standing in front of me and tried to awkwardly follow along. The chant was led by the Level 4 teacher. I was planning on taking a video since it was my favorite chant in the entire performance. I completely spaced it and thought we were going up for a final school bow!