Nampa Nights with Dad!

I feel bad because I am posting this sooooo late! This has been a crazy/busy couple of weeks and I am very tired today but know I need to get this post up!
Here are some pictures from Nampa Nights on the 10th of September. This was the last Nampa Nights of the season and I was a little sad about it. I was hoping to be able to attend as many of these as possible but I only managed to get out to two. Hopefully next year will work a little better!

This was a special Nampa Nights just for the fact that my Dad came with me and the kids! I had heard that the band specialized in 50's type music and I knew that was right up my Dad's alley! I remember listening to 50's rock and roll quite a bit when I was a kid so I was looking forward to hearing some of the oldies but goodies myself!

The trip was entertaining with Dad at the wheel! As we headed into Nampa from out of the country roads he immediately pulled his hat to the side and squatted down at the wheel. If I remember right he even kind of stuck his tongue partially out of the side of his mouth. Nampa in the past has always been known for it's gang activity and Dad was pretending to be a "low rider" I think. It caught me and the kids off guard - yes, Dad can be funny!


This was the band of the evening, "The Fabulous Chancellors" - they were a fun band although some notes that were hit vocally, I believe, weren't the notes intended but all in all they put on a good show. As we walked into the sitting area, I believe they were playing "The Great Pretender" - which I definitely remember from childhood!

I was a little sad that they didn't play as many of the 50's songs that I was hoping for. They had some 60's and a few early 70's mixed in there but I caught my Dad singing and tapping his foot often so I think he was enjoying himself!

It was great to see that both Tanya's parents were there. I have spoke with her mother before this but I hadn't seen her Dad since Tanya and I used to hang around back in High School! And of course I didn't see either of them much back then because Tanya had me and our other friend Shar Todd out delivering Avon all the time! :)

Tyler had a good time too, Grandpa had brought some pop and Rob had bought the kids some ice cream and there were free ice pops given out so as long as there is sweet treats, Tyler is a happy camper!

The crowd was a pretty good size again this time. Everyone is pretty relaxed and just sits back and enjoys themselves.

Kurt at work, of course!

Hailey being social!

Forcing Tanya to have her picture taken with Rob . . . see how it feels to be on the other side of the lens my dear!!!! What pressure!

During a break Kurt stepped back and chatted with us a bit. Nice to get a chance to chat and shoot the breeze!

Tyler with his ice cream . . . this sure looked tasty!

Now I forced Dad to have his picture taken with me. Thanks to Hailey for snapping the shot! I wanted proof for Dad that you could step outside and have fun!!!! Just kidding Dad, I know you do go outside to get the mail!

Zach and Hayden doing what they do best - reading and electronic things!

These last couple of shots aren't so good. I had to shut the flash off so it wouldn't make the pictures too dark since it was dusk out but for some reason when I do that the pictures always seem to be blurry.

This is after the show and the musicians are tearing down their instruments and the kids are trying to help tear down the sound equipment.

This last shot here is actually of Kurt starting to pack up the board. I thought it looked interesting because it almost looks as though some yellow bolt of lightning is striking him in the neck. Don't worry, he survived!

I sure hope you have enjoyed the post on my last Nampa Nights of the season! I am sure there will be more interesting things to share with you this year!

City Harvest Festival - Downtown Boise

This was an interesting day . . . this is the first time I have ever gone to one of Kurt's jobs from start to finish and all I can say is, Wow! I was pretty nervous about it because it was out of my comfort zone but I desperately wanted to spend some time together as a family and also get an idea of what Kurt's work day was like, and that I did!

This was the first time I have been in downtown Boise in about 3 years! I am not the best traveller in the world and even worse if it has to do with a lot of traffic and the possibility of interstate driving but thankfully, we could get downtown without the interstate for the most part and the drive went "swimmingly" well ( except for about 30 seconds when Kurt tried to get on the interstate but that's another blog in itself)!

We arrived at the Center on the Grove and it was already bustling with people starting to set up chairs and tables, a silent auction area, an alcoholic beverage area and Rob, Tanya and their kids Zach and Gloria were starting on setting up the equipment. I knew it was going to be a long day but I was up for it! I think I was worried more about Tyler because he hadn't been to an event like this either and I wasn't sure how he was going to handle it.

Since I don't know ANYTHING about setting up sound equipment and lighting, Tyler and I took a lot of walks to check things out in the surrounding area. I enjoyed it and so did Tyler.

Here is a sign of the events for the day.

Just a few shots around the stage where the setting up was happening and other things!
Kurt, Tanya and Hailey.

Tyler thought it was a blast to jump across the stage from one section of bolts to another. I actually tried to get him to go for a walk at this point but he declined, this was too fun!

The kids are great at helping. They really enjoy helping their dad. They actually know what they are doing. I felt a little useless but it was fun to watch.

This setting up process took hours. I am amazed at all the equipment needed for such a small stage. There was going to be a total of three different bands sharing the stage and there just didn't seem to be room for that!

The guys from Onomatopoeia showed up first and got all of their equipment on the stage. They were the main act and so everyone else had to fit their stuff in and around theirs!

At this point Tyler and I took another walk. It was really unique down here. We were in this little courtyard surrounded by skyscrapers. Tyler found this very interesting.

When we walked up to this Wells Fargo building Tyler asked if this was a real Skyscraper and he said he had never seen one in real life before . . . I don't know about that . . .

So, I told him to walk up to it and touch it and we will get a picture of him touching his first skyscraper!

We walked a little farther past the building and took a gander up the street - the city is an interesting place! This was looking to the right . . .

Looking to the left!

There was a neat grass area here and I wished I would have brought a football or a baseball and some mitts - would have been a great catching area. Tyler was content to just do a lot of running on the concrete edging!

Another cool thing down there was they had these beautiful and huge plant containers! If I could have I would have backed the truck up and hauled them all away - some were down-right gorgeous!

This sculpture was interesting.

I wanted these containers BAD! I wanted to take a picture of them to drool over, made Tyler be my point of interest! He was so cooperative!

Back by the stage - Hi Zach and Hayden!

Tyler and I went for another walk in a different direction. Found this amazing sculpture of a man panning for gold. Almost the whole sculpture was made out of barbwire fencing! I know! I didn't realize it at first but when we started to take a closer look it was really neat. Tyler is attempting to steal his gold nugget!

This place had a lot of stairs and different levels - Ty liked it here!

Hmmmmm - wonder who's hand that is?

Tyler took the camera and took a few shots of things he liked.

Here is the first group, the Lounge Lizards - they were from a place called "The School of Rock" which I think is an actually school for kids to learn how to play rock -n- roll music. They were cute. The little guy on the drums was pretty good!

The second act was the Boise Opera. I didn't think I would enjoy it but I did. Their voices were great and they sung favorites like, Figaro and Carmen. Beautiful voices.

The third group I enjoyed immensely. They were the Giant Leprechauns and they played Irish fiddle music and I could have listened to them all day. A few of the men told dry jokes and were funny. Made you want to get up and do a jig. But, unlike Kurt at past events, I controlled myself and didn't dance in front of others.

Then, the last group of the night! I don't know exactly what kind of music they play, it is somewhat jazzy, funky, type music but these guys are spectacular! I don't think I quit smiling the whole time. They have so much energy and you can tell that they enjoy what they are doing. Committed Events has worked with these guys before and they have got to be some of the nicest musicians I have ever met.

The kids did have time to hang out and chat, walk around, play with things Zach had brought, meet new people and eventually eat. Did I mention besides it being very hot, sticky and humid that we nearly starved to death? It seemed ironic since it was a Harvest Festival and they were BBQ-ing chicken and corn and such but thankfully Tanya ordered a pizza!

I have gained a lot of respect for what Kurt, Rob and Tanya do for a living. I honestly don't think I have the stamina to do this on a continual basis but it was very interesting and I will definitely go again when I have the opportunity. All in all we all had a good time. I didn't get any pictures of things being torn down but if you go to the top left hand corner and click on "Tanya" you can find on her blog a whole bunch of different pictures and comments.

An Evening at the Symphony!

Not quite the Philharmonic but I had a great time! Kurt got the great job of running sound for the local Meridian Symphony! Hailey helped him set up and me and the boys got dropped off by Grandpa Ray so we could spend the evening together and ride home with Kurt.
I would do it again in a heartbeat!

The show was located at our newly built Meridian City Hall. They really created a scenic and cozy courtyard at the front of the building.

What I think is neat is that all of the people in this Symphony are volunteers and you could tell they all enjoyed what they were doing. The conductor mentioned that one of the musicians has volunteered now for around 20 years!

There was a pretty good turnout! There were stairs to sit on but a lot of the people brought their camp-type chairs and just carved out their little niche. One lady was just kicked back in her chair with her drink and a book, reading away while they played!

This conductor had a quick wit and very likable personality - you could tell he also enjoyed what he was doing. He had little stories and thoughts he would share between pieces. He was very funny. This group played their rendition of a Beetles tune, "Oba-dee Oba-da, Life goes on" it was a very fun and upbeat tune!

Kurt and his assistant!

Yes, the boys are sitting and listening. I was hoping that since Hayden is starting Orchestra himself this year in Middle School that maybe he would get fired up if he could see a Cello in action!

At performances I have realized that Tyler's "sitting still" limit is about 30 minutes then things like this start happening!

Time went way too fast and before I knew it, the great music, funny stories (and motorcycle muffler sounds across the street) were all over!

Ran into Shelley, Tanya's sister there - I won't say how I embarrassed myself by not recognizing her but glad I figured it out. I didn't know her husband was in the Symphony but we had a very enjoyable conversation and she informed me of more concerts in the future. I definitely would like to check them out!

Told the boys to pretend they were "working"!

Hayden tried to hide from the camera and not really sure what in the world Tyler is doing off to the left.

As people cleared away we started helping Kurt tear down the equipment. I told him I think we should buy stock in the company that he buys all this black tape from that he uses to tape all of the cords down so people don't trip on them.

Hailey telling me that there is a certain way to coil these so they don't get tangled. Kurt also tried to show me but he ended up taking it away from me and I just helped with getting the tape off of the other items. Hey, we all have our learning limits!

Tyler found all of the water features HIGHLY IRRESISTIBLE!

I really had to keep my eye on him!

What a ham!

This is what I TOLD Tyler to do . . . .

This is what Tyler WANTED to do!

I hadn't seen the new City Hall finished and I loved this courtyard walkway area they created! I could have lazily wandered there for quite some time! But it is only like thirty yards long - not too much wandering space!

Hey, when you see a photo opp, you take advantage of it!

The kids and I had fun.

I think in this picture Tyler might be related to James Dean! Hayden is too tough to talk to and Hailey is just enjoying herself!

Tyler just couldn't leave the plant alone. If you look at the previous picture the plant looks fine, then look at this picture and for some reason part of the plant is in his hand and another piece of the plant is bent over. . . . had to give him a speech about respecting things that aren't his.

Believe it or not, without my knowledge Hayden had walked across this waterfall part and when I saw them Hailey was attempting to walk across it with a whimpering Tyler in her hands in Flip Flops none-the-less! I put a stop to it - quickly!

Kurt had no idea where we had disappeared to and was a little confused on where all his help had gone . . . so back to work we went . . . . slave driver! :)