Marching Band Competition

This last Saturday Corey went to Silverdale with the BHHS marching band to compete against several other area schools (I don't know the exact number). They did a tremendous job and came in 2nd place. It was a really long day for the kids. Corey got to school at 7:30am and did not return until midnight. Luckily they had warm & sunny weather. Corey said she had a fantastic time although she was pretty nervous. We didn't make it out there to watch her perform, but we hope to make the next two which will be in Tumwater & Everett. Here are some pictures I took off her friend Ashley's Facebook page.

The whole group. I asked Corey why their outfits are green & black when their school colors are red, white & blue. She never did give me a good explanation. But the girls look really nice! Sam helping Corey with her make-up.

She looks very different without her glasses on. Such a pretty face!

Random Pictures from Gabby's Cell Phone

Gabby loves having a camera on her new cell phone. I downloaded a bunch of photos from her phone the other day. It's kind of fun to see what she gets up to when I'm not around.....

Somebody's birthday party....Jewell maybe?

I love this photo!

She had A LOT of self portraits :)

This was taken at her Earth party last month.

This photo of Gamma was taken when she came to stay with the girls while Scott & I went to San Francisco.

There are also a gazillion photos of Winston. He is quite photogenic!

Tacoma Art Museum & Brenda's Bday

I saw on msnbc.com yesterday that for today only museums around the country would be participating in "Museum Day", which would allow free admission to 2 people per household to any participating museum. Well, I just love free stuff (who doesn't?), and so input my email to get two free tickets to the Tacoma Art Museum. The three of us headed up there (Corey was in Silverdale for an all-day marching band competition) to check it out. Later on we met up with the Gattons for dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory to celebrate Brenda's birthday. It was a really fun day, and the weather could not have been more gorgeous.

An actual Renoir painting. The museum was small, but held a few pieces from some more familiar artists as well as many artists from Washington.

This painting was by Mary Cassatt titled "Two Women in a Garden".

They also had quite a large Chihuly wing. His glass sculptures are always amazing & fun.

I really liked these landscape paintings by Victoria Adams. It was hard to get a great picture of her paintings because no flash photography was allowed. So I took this one of Gabby taking a picture of her work.

This is "Leroy, the big pup" by Scott Fife. He was really cute...and big...you know how much I love big art!

The museum from the 2nd floor looking down. They had a room where you could paint or do other crafts. I tried to make an origami crane but it didn't turn out very well.

Here is Gabby with a giant origami crane.

Gabby in front of a fountain. That is the convention center behind her. I love that downtown Tacoma, which has had a very bad reputation for years, has undergone a bit of an "urban renewal". It is much nicer to walk around there than it used to be.

This giant sculpture of a Native American woman was carved out of wood.

After the museum we had lots of time to burn before we had to meet up for dinner, so we walked around and stumbled across this cute little store.

The cupcakes looked really yummy so we bought some for Brenda and some for us, too.

Then we walked over the bridge to the Museum of Glass, though we did not pay to go inside. We've been here before. Both Scott & Corey love it.

Gabby on the bridge to the museum. The bridge holds a lot of Chihuly glass works.

Gabby stretching to touch the wall. She is getting so big!

Pretty glass sculptures with the suspension bridge & Tacoma Dome in the background.

It looked like there were lights underneath the sculptures. It would be cool to see what it would look like all lit up at night.

Gabby checking out the water in these cool fountains.

This statue was right in front of the Tacoma Union Station. It was originally a train station but has since been renovated & can be rented out for special occasions. In fact, there was a wedding reception going on today so we weren't able to go inside.

We finally met up with everyone for dinner. Here are Jerry and Brenda.

The staff put a candle in one of Brenda's cupcakes & sang to her.

The whole group....Sara, Gabby, Scott, Susan, Bobbi-Jo, Jerry, Brenda, Theresa & Justice.

Re-Do

Butch has now officially been re-named Lucy. I think the new name suits her much better.

Butch

We lasted a whole 6 months before we couldn't stand it anymore and bought a new car. Wednesday night we brought home this little beauty-a 2010 Honda CR-V who is (tentatively) named Butch after the WSU mascot. It's even Cougar colors-crimson on the outside with a grey interior. We'll have to see if the name changes when the license plates come in (like my van who was Misty but became YAR). Scott said he is too old to shift, so we got him an automatic. Corey is happy because this will be the car she will learn how to drive in (gasp! yes, she will be taking driver's ed this spring).

I took this photo just as Gabby got home from ballet & she wanted to be included.

Nutcracker Madness

Will start soon.......Gabby auditioned for & was selected to dance two parts in this year's Nutcracker show. She will be a Junior Snow and a Junior Arabian. We can't wait to see her perform! But first she has to get through many hours of practice. I know she'll do great!

A Soggy Fall

I was waiting for KOMO to post the official rain totals for this past Friday when Corey was nearly drowned in the deluge performing at the football game. Here it is: "For Olympia, the 1.65" they received on Friday was their wettest September day on record." I really hope 2011 brings better weather because the weather in 2010 so far has been abysmal.