Harp and trolls

I am so darn pleased with myself right now. Emmy had a harp recital on Saturday, Nov. 1st and I forgot the video camera so in a matter of seconds I figured out how to do videos on our camera...then just now I managed to download it onto my blog. WOW! Some of you might not think that is so great but for those of you who have figured something out on your own and have it work the first time know how completely satisfying that can be. So...to say the least I am loving myself right now. Sit back and enjoy Emmy's super short video of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," her first 2-handed piece on the harp. The only thing that could make it better is having a better angle and being closer so the volume could be louder. Anyhoo... don't pay attention to the negative, just be glad you get it.

Hopefully Grandma and Grandpa and Grammy and Poppy enjoyed that the most. It's definitely times like these that I HATE being away from family...I get so jealous of every one's grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins who are there only to wish like crazy that our family could share in special family events too. It's just not fair!

The little girl in the black and red dress with her hair up in a bun is Emmy's friend, Eleanor. She came over to our house to play in the summer and goofed around on Emmy's harp. She went home and wouldn't stop talking about the harp... her mom jumped on that. Eleanor had been begging to play the drums for a long time and her mom quickly got her into harp lessons with Emmy's teacher before the drum idea came back. Just as a side note for any interested in the harp... this concert was amazing. The last several kids to play were incredible... there was a boy, a senior in high school who played the harp like it was some jazz guitar. It was the funnest, most lively piece I've ever heard on the harp. Another girl played a Spanish piece with a friend playing the bongo drum. Then the last performer was an 18 yr old girl who played a piece with drum sounds where she hit and tapped and thumped the wooden part of the harp while playing. So different from the "angelic" strums of what you typically hear on the harp.

The concert was in Freemont which we heard was a place with fun statues and artsy things all over the city. We were going to drive around to look for some fun art, but we didn't have to go too far. As we were turning up the street away from the library this big troll took us totally and completely by surprise. It's underneath an overpass.

The kids loved climbing all over it. Apparently that VW Bug under it's left had is a real car.

Kaden was totally freaked out by the guy and Maryn and Ady wanted to make sure his nose was clean.

We did drive around and find some more things but nothing as exciting as this troll.