What the Kids are Up To.
Well, it's minus 2 out at the moment, with a wind chill of minus 25. What are the kids doing to keep active? you ask.
Well, nothing outside. Ellie is taking pre-ballet every Saturday morning at the Brant School of Dance Arts, a cozy studio up the road from us. We have ordered what sounds like a very elaborate costume for her spring recital, which, fortunately and unfortunately, falls on the evening of the day of the Fargo Marathon, May 19. The good news is, we'll have a big crowd of grandparents in town, many of whom are running some part of the marathon. The bad news is that we'll probably need spatulas to scrape us out of our chairs after the recital that night. Not clear how we're going to handle the 6-hour dress rehearsal she's required to do that day.
Joey is taking tae kwon do Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays after school at Carter's Martial Arts Academy. It's going well, but Joey is making only slow progress toward the goal I set for him, which is to learn to break people's necks with his mind.
Katie and I are taking guitar lessons from Colin Blaine. If you Google "fargo guitar teacher," he comes up first. Colin plays in a couple of bands at night, and teaches a steady lineup of students all week long. We catch him at 5:30 on Fridays for an hour. I was advised that instruction like this is quite reasonable in Fargo, and man, is it – just $28 for the two of us for the hour! Folks' eyes in D.C. popped when they heard that.
Katie's on a 3/4-size Jay Jr. acoustic guitar, which she received for Christmas (right). I resisted buying her the pink model with a heart-shaped sound hole. I borrowed my Dad's guitar, which has sat idle for, oh, 25 years or so. When he handed it to me when we were back in Maryland over Christmas, I realized it was the first time I'd ever been allowed to touch it – it was one of the few items in the house totally off-limits to the kids when we were growing up.
Colin's very patient with us. I haven't seen him wince once when we hit a particularly ugly chord, which is several times a session. He is especially respectful of Katie's efforts, which goes a long way with me.
The picture above is from Colin's Web site, and, personally, it's what convinced me to go with him. A quick look at Colin and his site convinced my pal Mike. "YOU *MUST* SIGN UP. *RIGHT NOW.*" Mike wrote. "THIS guy, clearly, will set you both STRAIGHT on rock'n'roll."
Katie had her fingernails trimmed down short to be able to play, a sacrifice for her art I didn't quite grasp the magnitude of beforehand. Apparently, she took a great deal of pride in her longish girly nails – who knew?:
The lot of 'em are taking swimming lessons at the downtown Y every Tuesday and Thursday nights for a few weeks. Unlike in Rockville, where parents have to line up at 4 a.m. at the pool the day swim-class registration opens, we were able to slip the kids in with a telephone call at the last moment. They even all go at the same time! Amazing! Ellie's class is only 20 minutes long, while Katie and Joey go for 40 minutes.
Well, nothing outside. Ellie is taking pre-ballet every Saturday morning at the Brant School of Dance Arts, a cozy studio up the road from us. We have ordered what sounds like a very elaborate costume for her spring recital, which, fortunately and unfortunately, falls on the evening of the day of the Fargo Marathon, May 19. The good news is, we'll have a big crowd of grandparents in town, many of whom are running some part of the marathon. The bad news is that we'll probably need spatulas to scrape us out of our chairs after the recital that night. Not clear how we're going to handle the 6-hour dress rehearsal she's required to do that day.Joey is taking tae kwon do Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays after school at Carter's Martial Arts Academy. It's going well, but Joey is making only slow progress toward the goal I set for him, which is to learn to break people's necks with his mind.
Katie and I are taking guitar lessons from Colin Blaine. If you Google "fargo guitar teacher," he comes up first. Colin plays in a couple of bands at night, and teaches a steady lineup of students all week long. We catch him at 5:30 on Fridays for an hour. I was advised that instruction like this is quite reasonable in Fargo, and man, is it – just $28 for the two of us for the hour! Folks' eyes in D.C. popped when they heard that.Katie's on a 3/4-size Jay Jr. acoustic guitar, which she received for Christmas (right). I resisted buying her the pink model with a heart-shaped sound hole. I borrowed my Dad's guitar, which has sat idle for, oh, 25 years or so. When he handed it to me when we were back in Maryland over Christmas, I realized it was the first time I'd ever been allowed to touch it – it was one of the few items in the house totally off-limits to the kids when we were growing up.
Colin's very patient with us. I haven't seen him wince once when we hit a particularly ugly chord, which is several times a session. He is especially respectful of Katie's efforts, which goes a long way with me. The picture above is from Colin's Web site, and, personally, it's what convinced me to go with him. A quick look at Colin and his site convinced my pal Mike. "YOU *MUST* SIGN UP. *RIGHT NOW.*" Mike wrote. "THIS guy, clearly, will set you both STRAIGHT on rock'n'roll."
Katie had her fingernails trimmed down short to be able to play, a sacrifice for her art I didn't quite grasp the magnitude of beforehand. Apparently, she took a great deal of pride in her longish girly nails – who knew?:
The lot of 'em are taking swimming lessons at the downtown Y every Tuesday and Thursday nights for a few weeks. Unlike in Rockville, where parents have to line up at 4 a.m. at the pool the day swim-class registration opens, we were able to slip the kids in with a telephone call at the last moment. They even all go at the same time! Amazing! Ellie's class is only 20 minutes long, while Katie and Joey go for 40 minutes.
posted by Tom at 9:29 PM
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