Memorial Day Parade

The Brookfield Civic Band did the Memorial Day parade today in Menomonee Falls (the first picture is the falls, since I hadn't seen them before--I snuck a quick picture during three measures of rest in the music:) It was actually a very long parade, with many many parade-goers---we were LAST in the entire parade line-up!! (The organizers of parades have to be careful not to group the various bands too closely together--not fun for the bands or the people who are there to just sit and enjoy the parade. AND, unlike the past two mid 90 degree temps--today was over cast and right around 80 degrees---PERFECT parade weather--hats off to Mother Nature for such a gorgeous day!!

Following the parade, my family was invited to the home of one of the musicians for a backyard cookout---a few of the musicians were there--and we all had a wonderful time today!

God Bless all the men and women their loved ones, who have and who continue to serve our beautiful country!

A Day in The Park

This past Thursday, the girls, Piper and I met my parents and their girls at a park in De Forest (just west of Madison) to have a picnic together. That's kind of the halfway point between their house and ours. The weather was gorgeous--the park was beautiful (though the mosquitoes were already vicious right around the water areas)---and a good time was had by all!

Theme From Schindler's List--solo clarinet

I did not do this out of vanity---but I have family and friends who live too far away to attend my last concert with the Brookfield Civic Band. I was very grateful to have had the opportunity to perform the solo clarinet part for "Theme from Schindler's List" (and just today I finally figured out how to get my videos off my digital camcorder (and we've had it since 2007), burn to dvds, edit, cut, add captions and titles AND publish to You Tube--I figured this out all by myself; my mommy should be proud:D:D So, here is your featured presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuBQUoJrgU0

Just a Closer Walk with Thee:D

Piper and I had a nice walk on our local rail trail yesterday---we saw lots of beautiful birdies and enjoyed the symphony of the bull frogs! I LOVE the green marshlands, which is just loaded with wildlife, much of which we can't even see!!

Road Trip all the way to--ILLINOIS!!

We had a great weekend! The girls and I road-tripped to the Quad Cities to help our cousin celebrate his high school graduation!


Of course a mini vacation and a hotel means we clocked in some pool-time!!!

And more pool time!!!

And of course a high school graduation with a class of 560 students, didn't sound like our kind of thing...


So for us that meant---icecream!!!! Check out Sponge-Bob---I thought my niece Julie would especially appreciate the masacre of Bob!



Apparently Whitey's is a legend around the Quad Cities, so we didn't want to miss a rare opportunity to experience this!


As and added bonus, a friend of mine, whom I haven't seen since elementary school---happens to live in that part of the state!


So we had a WONDERFUL visit at her gorgeous new home, on her beautiful large farm!!!

And ALL of our girls, of course, had a blast together!! So much so, that as we were pulling out to head back to Wisconsin, Angel girl announced that she's going to move in with her new friends at their farm:)

Basse's for Bribery!

In order to take a thousand pictures of my pretty little girls at the pretty gardens....

They had to be severely bribed with non other than......ICECREAM!!!!

Boerner Gardens--Scrapbook Page

Boerner Botanical Gardens

Goodmorning Sunshine!

Just a picture of my mini fashion divas in training, before we left for my concert this past Sunday.

Brookfield Civic Band Spring Concert

The Brookfield Civic Band played a wonderful concert today. We did a John Williams Theme:
The Patriot
A Prayer For Peace
The March from 1941
Theme from Schindler's List (my clarinet solo piece)
Star Wars--The Marches

I thought the band did VERY well this afternoon. I enjoyed playing my first solo piece with band (though a bit nervous) but grateful to have had the opportunity. J. video taped the concert and one of the guys in the band will also be making a DVD for the band members. So, for those family members unable to attend the concert today (aka, my parents:), they'll have a "second" chance:D For the final piece, Star Wars, we had a surprise guest appearance made by some life-size Star Wars "action figures." Back stage, after the show, the "band kids" enjoyed meeting them and playing with their lasor thingies. A few of us hit TGI-Fridays for a post band get-together----a great afternoon was had by all!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YT6hqt_jdk

Vocal Tracks--Take Two! (Fairy Sings a pretty little song)

More Fun with the New "Little" Camera

Super Yum!

Fairy Girl took this one

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I just wanted to see how it does indoors and in very low lighting---pretty well!!!