Happy Father's Day Choo!

I'm interrupting the St. Louis NCC Choir trip postings for an important holiday -> Father's Day!

A long time ago we started a tradition that every year I would take a picture of just Choo and the kids together during trips - to see their growth over the years. I don't have all the pictures, back to the beginning of when we started this, in digital form but I was able to gather pictures from 2002 through today.

Thank you for being a wonderful husband and father! Happy Father's Day Choo!

Summer trip 2002 - Six Flags in Ohio

2003 - Didn't have a picture in digital form

Early spring 2004 at our house in Chicago

Fall trip 2004 - Washington D.C.
February 2005 trip - Miami for Gymnastics
April 2006 trip - Charleston for Gymnastics

November 2007 trip - Destin Beach
Summer 2008 trip - Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Spring Break 2009 trip - Perdido Key, FL

And, lastly, here's a pic that shows the fun Choo is constantly having with his kids! This picture is from Spring Break 2005 trip - San Francisco

NCC Touring Choir Trip to St. Louis - Day 2 (5/1), The Zoo

St. Louis has a wonderful free zoo and we spent all of Friday morning at it. (Also, Miss K took some of the pictures - she got some nice shots of the animals.)

I and another mom combined our groups for the morning - here is a pic of all the girls between our two groups.

This zoo had a very nice Bird Garden area with a beautifully landscaped walking trail winding through the exhibits and aviaries.

NCC Touring Choir Trip to St. Louis - Day 1 (4/30)

Our first stop of the trip was dinner on Thursday night at the Hard Rock Cafe located in the St. Louis Union Station shopping and festival complex. This looked like an area to come back to in the future as it has a lake with paddle boats, shopping, restaurants, historic guided tours and also houses concerts, festivals and other events.

To get to the Hard Rock Cafe from where the buses parked, we had to cross over the lake on this footbridge.

Miss K and one of the other girls in our group.
This was my first time in a Hard Rock Cafe so not sure if this feature is also found in others but we thought it was so neat - this is the light fixture in the entryway, created out of drums. It was beautiful and changed colors.

NCC Touring Choir Trip to St. Louis -> 4/30 - 5/3

I had the privilege of being a chaperone for the Nashville Children's Choir (NCC) Touring Choir trip to St. Louis. It was a joy to chaperone two other girls, along with my daughter, during the trip which consisted of a several concerts (3 planned and then a couple of impromptu concerts) and sightseeing. The touring choir members, chaperones and leaders set off in two tour buses Thursday afternoon, April 30th and returned to Nashville on Sunday, May 3rd.

I wasn't sure if I'd post about this trip or not since it is not "current news" anymore, however, as I was culling through the pictures to see which ones to keep, it reminded me of how fun the weekend was, how much the kids practiced for the concerts, how much the music blessed others and how much they learned about other people and St. Louis itself, I couldn't resist posting about it.

The Tango - Violin Spring Group Recital (4/26)

Also on this same April weekend the kids participated in their violin studio's Spring Group Recital at Scarritt Bennett (Whiteman Chapel). (Sunday, April 26th) The highlight of the recital was when the three oldest girls played The Tango - they had roses and feather boas to complement the performance!

Miss K with another violin friend!

Screamin' Seagulls - An Original Play (4/24)

Sunny Side Middle

Home of The

Screamin' Seagulls

An original play

Written by seven students, including Miss K, and their drama teacher, Mr. Baldwin.

Miss K and Mr. M both participated in the school play this year - the second performance they did on April 24th is the one we attended. Grandpa and Grandma Lee and Aunt Susan came into town to see the play as well as the other events during this weekend.

Miss K played the part of Ms. Fuddlemeyer (a math teacher wannabe art teacher, hmmm, sound familiar?) and Mr. M played the part of Choo Ah (a student, the name is a joke on Choo's name)!

Fan Club from church - several friends from church came to see the play, including Miss K's small group leader, far left in the picture.

All of the cast at the end with the paywrights gathering for recognition. It was too low of light to take pictures during the show.
The kids came out afterwards at separate times so we had to take the family picture twice.

Glen and Bree Wedding (4/18)

Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Glen Abney!

We traveled to St. Louis on Friday, April 17th to attend the wedding of my cousin Bree Anne to Glen on Saturday, April 18th. We arranged to stay at same hotel as mom and dad and Shantel and Joe. We had a wonderful time attending the wedding, seeing family and hanging out together for the weekend.

My brother Kurt took the pictures at the church as it was very low light and he has a steadier hand than I do right now to take the slow shutter speed pictures! I've posted some pictures as part of the blog entry and, as usual, if friends with me on Facebook, I'll have all the rest posted there.

Bree coming down the aisle with her dad

Glen and Bree saying their vows

On to the reception - hanging out while the bridal party has pictures taken

Time for cake!
Cute cake topper!
Cuttin' it up on the dance floor - Shantel on left and then Miss K and Mr. M
Brother and sister taking a swing (Shantel has taken dance lessons)!
Connecting with family and friends at the reception