Musical Atrocities

    Tonight was my son's first concert in the school band. He plays the drums. Yes, it is a little annoying...the banging, clanging and pounding for practice, but that is why he has a plastic practice pad. It also helps for him to play down stairs.He sounds pretty good to me though I think I am partially tone deaf. He is always playing the "drums" in the car and loves songs with strong beats.
    My first attempt at musical talent was in kindergarten when my grandma thought that her left-handed extremely clumsy, lazy-eyed  grand daughter would be good at piano. Well that lasted one year. I am proud to say that I can now, as an adult, finally play America the Beautiful and Jingle Bells.  I played the violin two years, not consecutively. The only reason I played  was because my best friend played and I went to her house every day after school. So instead of sitting on the stage being utterly bored, or starting my homework, I signed up for the orchestra. Problem was Gretchen was good at the violin and was in the advanced orchestra after years of suzuki violin lessons. I was in the beginner class and quite horrible at it. The violin sounds like a screeching cat and when I played it sounded like that poor cat was in boiling water..
       I then tried play the cornet (a small trumpet-for those of you who are also musical idiots). I wasn't very good at that either and only lasted one year. I was by 7th grade already established as a nerd so I had lots of friends in the band.  They were all better than me. I didn't want to play the cornet, but the rental place only had that and tubas left. I am way too small to play the tuba so the cornet it was. I thought the saxophone would have been cooler and my aunt wanted me to play the clarinet, but no I get the instrument nobody wanted apparently. In high school my two best friends were in the band so I sat with the band at football games, meaning I got in free, but still no musical talent wore off on me.
      My musical atrocities carried into choir as well. I sang at church, but I think everyone is allowed to be in the church choir. I also was a student director for the the musical programs at the church. The only reason for this was I was the most experienced member of the cast and was in every show since kindergarten, so as a highschooler I was an obvious candidate. So where did my son get the ability to play music? I can definitely tell you it is not from my side of the family.

A Day at the Zoo

       A day at the zoo can go two ways pure misery or pure enjoyment.  It can be cold, rainy or snowy (which by the way I do not recommend). You  may end up having to ride the emergency vet van down to the parking lot only to find out that you left the sun roof of your car open. Or you may be half way through the zoo...all the way up at the top and it begins to snow.  Yes, the weather in Colorado is fickle...close your eyes and it may change. Or it can be hot and sweaty where you run out of breathe easily because our zoo's ascent is the equivilent of a 10 story building. Then you factor in your children. If they are irritable, you end up listening to an hour or so of annoying sniveling whining. They may be extremely excitable, which is often the case of my children....bouncing off walls, running ahead of you and calling from afar "Look mommy look". Excitement is not a bad thing, but it is inevitable that my three are all beckoning me to look in different directions. Another mishap at the zoo could be losing of an item....a shoe from the sky ride, a hat thrown into the lake, a child that disappeared to sit on the train ride and wait for us without informing a soul. Hobbling through the zoo is another thing that should be avoided, especially at our zoo. My best friend, Jay, twisted his foot and then proceeded to walk around on it for a whole hour before even putting ice on it. That would be a good time to take advantage of the zoo tram. I also recommend bringing a hat to wear when visiting the Budgie Buddies...yes I did get a nice present from a bird on one visit to the zoo.
      My children are as unpredictable as the weather here in Colorado, but we have had many enjoyable times at the zoo too. When the zoo keeper lets my daughter, who is in a dress and fancy shoes, hold the snake, when same daughter wants to know what does a carousel eat (We had just fed the meerkats), or when my sons get to feed the tortoises,  the mother in me smiles. Feeding the giraffes and having a wet blue tongue lick you is not exactly enjoyable for me, but to my son it is delightful. The Bornean Orangatan kissing us through the glass clearly makes up for the cold wet shoes due to children walking through every snow drift.
Today was such a day...it was cold, wet and could have been miserable. My sons fought over a jacket and one son threw his hat on the ground (not the lake at least) but overall the day was quite fun and best of all due to membership it was free.