...has finally come to an end.
Week 1: Jared was in Pittsburgh at Dalcroze training. Kids and I were home where I had a relatively easy work week consisting of twenty-three lessons, one in-house rehearsal, and one gig. And it was easy, because my dad was here. We even got a vacation day with him, so the four of us and my brother spent the afternoon up at Mowich Lake. Dad spent hours with the kids on the playground and at the pool, got my car washed, helped with laundry and kitchen stuff, and managed many nap walks. I even got a chance to shampoo the carpets. Dad also took Jared to the airport at 5:00 am, a short-night's sleep after he arrived.
Week 2: Jared was still in Pittsburgh at Dalcroze training. I was teaching Sunday through Friday at the Walla Walla Suzuki Institute at the other corner of the state. Kids came along, and we had a wonderful host family to stay with. Jared's parents came over from Oregon and played with the kids while I was in class. They also wrangled up delicious meals and picnics. They took the kids to the pool and to playgrounds and spent lots of time under the trees on the university campus reading books and doing nap walks. Among other things, I taught two rep classes where I had the SAME students every day for five days in a row, not to mention piano accompaniment. It was wonderful. It is amazing how much one can get done in group class with ensemble, articulation, dynamics, cueing, phrasing, and tempo when you don't have to keep back-tracking! I could get used to this.
Week 3: Jared was still in Pittsburgh at Dalcroze training. I had a student play a first-ever-for-me book 1 graduation recital, I taught a bunch of lessons, and I taught at the annual three-day Suzuki Day Camp in Tacoma where Anne was also enrolled. This was a week of trying to get us in bed while it was still light, getting kids up much earlier than they wanted to, and messing with the nap routines. But... we got my mom. She found us lots of food, kept the kitchen clean, kept the laundry machine running, took the kids on field trips, and went with Anne to her classes. Mom also picked up Jared from the airport late at night after the rest of us were in bed. (We had one day in between weeks when all four members of our family were home simultaneously.) And good news - Jared passed all the rest of his license exams so he will not need to do Pittsburgh next summer!!!!
Week 4: Jared was teaching at the Suzuki Institute in Eugene. I took Ronda Cole's book 2 course in Ypsilanti (the step-sister to Ann Arbor.) And in Ypsilanti, two dear college friends and their one-year-old came up from Akron to spend the week in the dorm with us and take care of my kids while I was in class. They played with all the toys we brought, they made peanut butter sandwiches, they fixed the tires on my stroller, they took the kids to the firehouse museum and the hands-on children's museum, they bought sidewalk chalk, and they even gave us rides to and from the airport. I took a book 1-6 overview with Ronda eight years ago in Florida, and I've wanted to take another class with her since, because I wanted to get more answers to the question, "Why are her students so successful?" I think I got lots of answers, as well as some other great technical and musical ideas.
It was a month where grandparents and friends worked hard to help us out, and it was a month for which I am grateful and cannot repay my nannies for all their amazing generosity.
Nanny month is over, but workshop month isn't quite. Jared and I are teaching at Japan-Seattle Suzuki Institute this coming week, and Anne is also enrolled.
I was not at all organized about photography in the last month, but I will share with you here are a few random pictures.
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| Laundry folded... playing school |
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| Eastern Washington |
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| Our hosts in Walla Walla had a big box of matchbox cars. They were very popular with my kids. |
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| Anne made two friends who lived two doors down from our Walla Walla hosts. I have seen the future with Anne joyriding in this pink princess jeep. She is a wild driver! |
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| Walla Walla park |
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| In front of the music building |
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| Evening sky in Walla Walla |
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| Nap time with Grampa |
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| This was the house where their great-great grandparents Cole lived once upon a time. |
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| Eastern Washington |
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| If you look very carefully you can see a wind farm on the right side of the hill in the distance. |
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| Mama managed a double nap time on our day home between events. |
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| Anne took about twenty of these photos on our way to Detroit. |
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| Dorms at Eastern Michigan University look much nicer on the outside than the inside... |
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| Some familiar names on this program |
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| The kids went on a field trip to the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum and they loved it. |
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| The ambulance was Anne's favorite. |
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| Since the beds were up high, we put the mattresses on the floor and took the sheets off during the day. It was a great place for trampoline bouncing and wresting matches. |
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| On the last day of the institute, she told me she was too tired to practice, and she promptly fell asleep next to her instrument. |
