Reina's piano recital

Before June is officially over, I have to capture Reina's piano recital which was on June 2.  This was her second recital and it is awesome to see how much she's learned in another year.  She's doing great.  She has both hands playing along and she can read treble clef and bass clef and she memorized her recital piece and knocked it out of the ballpark.  Sorry for the sports metaphor, I'm watching baseball while I write this.  

The theme for this year's recital was Americana, Old West & Wyoming.  Reina played a old-timey ragtime song called "Rowlf's Rag" (Rowlf was one of the Muppets.)  She started learning the song after Christmas and by recital time, she had it mastered.  

Serious girl playing the piano. 

At the end of the recital, all of the students sang one of my favorite songs, the UW fight song Ragtime Cowboy Joe and we all sang and clapped around.  Look a that cute girl knowing all of the words! 

"He always sings....." 

We are taking the summer off for lessons and then starting again in the Fall.  It's not always easy to get Reina to practice but boy do I love hearing her play. 

Father's Day Weekend

Today we celebrated Father's Day and my parents' 46th Anniversary!  Big day!  On the way to church this morning, I asked the kids a few questions about their Dad and here are their answers.

What do you like the most about your dad: 

Reina:  How he takes us camping. 

Will:  I like when Dad takes me out to eat. 

What is your favorite thing to do with Dad: 

Reina;  Go camping with him (there's definitely a theme here.)  Reina is sitting next to me right now and she also wants me to add that she likes it when she and dad roughhouse.

Will:  I like to go hunting with him. 

What is your favorite memory of Dad:

Reina;  I can see him at my wedding in the future.  (So she can see the future)

Will:  When I shot my first rabbit.  He also says when he hit his first home run but I questioned how that was a memory of dad and not just a way to mention his home run on the blog. 

Is there anything else you want to say about your dad?

Reina:  He is handsome, he also tries hard.   I also appreciate how when we goes hunting, he usually gets meat or something for us and even when he doesn't get anything, he says he had a good time.

Will:  He's my dad.  I'm glad he's alive.  (Side note, when Will signed his dad's Father's Day card at bedtime last night, he lovingly scrawled "happy birthday Dad."  So we have some to work to do in the holiday recognition department. 

Will, Uncle Glenn and Baby Cousin watching Will play video games.  

It rained buckets while we were at the movies on Saturday and these two bing-bongs ignored the dry deck or their cozy doghouse and instead got soaked in the backyard.  The house still smells un-lovely.  

I took Reina on a work trip

Last week, the day after the last day of school (more on that next time!), I had to travel to Riverton which is about four hours away for a work conference.  My duties at the conference were pretty light so it seemed like a good opportunity to bring along a kid or two.  The oldest kid opted out so he could stay home and practice baseball which also means hanging out on the couch and enjoying some quiet time.  So Reina and I packed up the car with work stuff and a swimming suit and headed west.  

We listened to music and a book on tape as we drove through central Wyoming.  Reina was a great co-pilot and it was fun to see that country through her eyes.  

Reina passing the time with my camera phone and captions.  

The first night, we had dinner with all of my colleagues who were also attending the conference.  Reina was amazingly patient during the 2+ hours it took for us to order, get our food and eat it.  We were at an old fashioned steakhouse, along with half of the county apparently.  

Posing in Hudson, WY

A mural outside of the restaurant.  Reina wanted to pretend that we were on vacation. 

"Mom take a picture of the restaurant and my teenager face!" 

 The next day, she was patient while I attended meetings and such.  That night, we walked to a pizza place with more co-workers.  The wait wasn't as long this time and the pizza was delicious. 

Pizza with eyes electronically added.  

Swimming after pizza 

 On Friday morning, I attended a few more meetings, we packed up the car and headed back home.  On the way back, we stopped at a site along the Oregon Trail.  Reina will be studying Wyoming history next year, plus I always stop for historic sites, if time allows. 

"Mom, are there rattlesnakes here?"  

Summer kicks off in full swing tomorrow with some day camps, more sports stuff and hot weather.  I'm glad my summer got off to a fun start with a cute traveling partner and a chance to show her more of Wyoming.