Winter Ball

The kids looked very nice for the Winter Ball tonight.  They went out for dinner and then dancing.  I am waiting for the pickup call before heading to bed.

William and Ashlyn are color coordinated.  At least I got smiles tonight

 (I wasn't the only parent bugging for pictures!)

Elton John and Billy Joel Concert

Oh My Gosh!  The concert was fantastic.  Everyone was on their feet and singing out the hits.  Every song was a hit!  The Crocodile Rock really brought the crowd up and everyone was dancing.  Billy Joel and Elton John ended the concert with Pianoman and at one point stopped singing and all instruments stopped and the audience sang the chorus to them!  WOW! 

We had great seats!  I couldn't bring my SLR (No detachable lenses) so Will and I brought our little point and shoot cameras.  They did all right for the low megapixels - Will still needs to download his pics and I think he has some better Elton pictures than I could get.  We had a great time - we relived the concert on the drive back to Astoria.  Arrived home at 1am.

These are Will's photos.  I want to see what I can do with Photoshop - hopefully can punch them up a little bit.  I just can't say WOW enough!

US Senior Open in Seattle

William has decided to be a junior volunteer at the US Senior Open in Seattle.  Coach Foss handed out the information last night and this sounds like such an awesome opportunity.  We turned in the application and $ 25 fee this morning.  Coach Foss is a volunteer at the event the entire week and usually has a good contingent from Astoria with him.  The player list is pretty cool with Fuzzy Zoeller, Greg Norman and Tom Watson!  So From July 26 - August 1, William will be at Sahalee Country Club!  We hope that it will be an experience he remembers the rest of his life!  We know that Papa Wood will be anxiously awaiting a report from William after his week is over.

Concert Last Night!

Last night was a little crazy as William had driver's ed until 6:45pm, a golf meeting that started at 6:00pm and a concert at 7:00pm.  Dad and I split forces to cover it all but thankfully the golf meeting ended a little before 8:00pm and I just made it into the auditorium before William's first performanced with the 5 member ensemble.  They did a great job!  William then had a second performance with his instructor Angela Calvin - Dad and I were blown away.  They played the Canon in D by Pachelbel (which you may be hearing if you have your sound on - this is a professional recording of the Canon, not William and Ms Calvin).  This is a popular wedding song, very lively and about 5 minutes long, so there is some stamina involved.  We were very proud of William's performance!  He practices after school and plays with the North Oregon Coast Symphony, so we don't hear him playing a bunch.  The level of his play increases so much between the performances we get to see him at and it really is amazing how much changes in a few short months.