Middle School Choir Tour 2019, June 13 - 15

This year Lennon got to  go on middle school choir tour for the first time. I went along as chaperone again. The tour took us to Amarillo with a quick stop in Wichita Falls for lunch and a small concert at a senior living community where  they kids had a chance to also talk to the seniors there. Below is Lennon talking to one of the residents. After saying good bye to the very grateful men and women, we were on our way again.

We made a quick stop at the very large cross in Krum, TX for a bathroom break and a group picture. I took a picture of the potographers instead. I am also adding a few pictures I took from the bus en route. There were plenty of abandoned houses, at least one ghost town, and very, very flat land.

We arrived in Amarillo Thursday early evening for dinner at Amarillo's famous steak house big Texan, the perfect kind of place for me to eat, lots of meat everywhere and planty of dead animals on the walls. After dinner we settled in at our host church. We all had a long day ahead of us with a wake up call for everyone at 6:00 a.m. Friday morning.

 Lennon and his friend Logan, the two 6th grade boys in choir.

Friday, we had to get up early, which meant that my friend DeeDee and I got up even earlier to set up breakfast for everyone. Luckily, we had set out most items the night before and only had to get the perishables out of our giant coolers. We could not use a refrigerator at our host church this year, so we had to rely on our very large coolers and ice to keep our milk, yoghurt and cheese fresh.

Our first stop Friday morning was the Amarillo Boy's and Girl's Club, after that we spent some time in a local park and enjoyed the  beautiful weather (the low 70s were too chilly for me and I ended up buying jeans later in the day during our lunch break at the mall). We then headed for a homeless shelter that also runs a drug addiction recovery program. The kids sang for the guests there, then served them lunch cleaned up and visited with the people there. The guests appreciated the kids' music and enjoyed talking to them. Then it was time to head over to the mall for lunch and a little shopping. After lunch we headed out to Palo Duro Canyon for a guided jeep tour.

 Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the U.S. This was definitely the highlight of the tour for both Lennon and me. Such beauty!

 Blackfooted Daisy

Prickly Pear Cactus in bloom

 White Bee Balm

 Desert Christmas Cactus

After the jeep tour we headed down into the canyon for dinner and to see "Texas" the musical at the amphitheater. The visitors got a special treat, as our middle school choir was the pre-show event.

After a long day, we finally headed back to the  host church to shower and lay our very tired heads on our air matresses. Thankfully, we could sleep in until 8 a.m. the following morning before packing up the bus and heading back home after one more stop at an other retirement community where the kids assisted the residents with their lunches and sang for them again. We arrived back at our church in Plano at 8:30p.m.. Erik and the girls picked us up. We were able to have dinner in Plano before picking up Lukas and  Katharine from one of their "Newsies" performances at one of  the community theaters in Plano. Lennon enjoyed  the tour, so did I. Next year we need to make sure that Lukas will not be in  a theater production druing chour tour time so he can go on tour again.

Happy Birthday to me

Old man Erik turned 51 today.

Of course, I'll be reminiscing about these younger days in no time soon.

I spent my birthday working at home and watching the kids.

Bucket list for this year is to finally ship Borderlands 3, learn some new tech for work, travel somewhere cool with the *entire* family, get that Instagram thing finally set up for my art, and finally release a comic strip.

Some facts.

Typical day: Leave for work at 8 AM, attend Lennon's soccer practice at 5 PM, home by 8 PM

Typical weekend: Work and draw on my computer and drive kids around

Favorite date night: Dallas Museum of Art after dark

Currently reading: Lots of non fiction- a biography series on LBJ and a book about the American Revolution + The New York Times and Washington Post every day

I like to watch the previous night's Colbert episode with Iria every morning before the kids get up

Favorite foods: Pho Ga, Spicy chips, watermelon, grapes, mint crisp dark chocolate bars

Currently playing: Red Dead Redemption 2 and Borderlands 3

Current job at work: Going between Level Design (shipping BL3) and Narrative Art (storyboards and concept art)

Retirement dreams (because I am old enough to start thinking about it): Renting apartments in different European cities for 6-12 months at a time

Listening to: Green Day, Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Beatles, Classical.. nothing really new

Favorite thing to do with Iria: cuddle on the couch, when the kids are asleep

Favorite thing to do with Katharine: late night pickups in the car and art talk

Favorite thing to do with Lukas: talking about games and listening to his ideas

Favorite thing to do with Lennon: FC Dallas games and Chic-fil-A

Favorite thing to do with Keira: read to her at night

Favorite thing to do with Kassidy: solo time outside the house

If we do a birthday meal this year, I would choose the Indian food restaurant

I made my own birthday cake- double decker Duncan Hines yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

Planned travels: Little House on the Prairie reunion pageant with Keira in July, Lennon and Lukas to NYC sometime in the Fall, visit Cal Arts with Katharine sometime later this year, visit the folks in Boston at the end of next February during PAX with Kassidy and some assorted siblings, and maybe finally a soccer travel tournament with Lennon? He has been in Select soccer for 5 years, and we have never left Dallas once.

Summer School

Katharine is not taking any dance classes this summer, but she is teaching one .

That is better than working at McDonalds (my first summer job).

She is all dirtied up because she had to rush to a Newsies performance afterwards.

Extra Extras

Iria took a few extra pics of the cast today, on their way to a dress rehearsal.

Newsies Preview

Lukas and  Katharine are hard at work rehearsing Newsies. The cast is huge:70 kids! Opening night is this Friday, June 7th.

Lukas as Bunson, Pulitzer's assistant.

Dog Days

Sherman always seems to be waiting for a lap on the couch and monitoring the kitchen for any food activity.

Sunday Scrabble

Still Sketchin'

Katharine continues to fill her sketchbook up, and starts an online portfolio class at CalArts this summer (that's a really good art school, btw).

Here are some recent sketches:

And the artist herself :)

Mothers Day at the Zoo

In a typical selfless gesture, Iria asked for a family membership to the Dallas Zoo for her Mother's Day present.

Although after observing her spending 20 minutes observing an Okapi eating leaves close up, I suspect that there was some personal interest in that gift as well.

Happy Birthday, Kassidy

Miss Kassidy turned 9 years old today. 

We love our quirky little child, and she continues to provide lots of surprises and love as she grows up.

Yesterday she chose Chic-fil-A for her birthday meal.

She woke up first this morning- I took this photo through groggy eyes peaking out of my bedroom in my boxer shorts.

Once everyone was up, we got to our morning cake and presents. This is kind of becoming a Doescher tradition, more by necessity with our busy schedules than anything else.

Kassidy Facts

Kassidy is scared of thunderstorms, and frequently asks "Will there will be a tornado tonight?" before going to sleep

Kassidy always has a very messy room

Kassidy started reading Harry Potter this Spring, and sorted herself into the Slytherin House (which she is quite proud of)

Favorite TV show: Power Puff Girls

People sometimes say that I still baby Kassidy too much

Best friends: Kate, Oliver, Bella, Mary, Amy

Kassidy still sleeps with her baby lovey, which is now just a mass of tattered strings and rags

Favorite games: Fortnite, Playohouse

Favorite school subject: math

Least favorite school subject: writing

Favorite thing to do with Katharine: play Super Smash Bros

Favorite thing to do with Lukas: play Fortnite

Favorite thing to do with Lennon: play ball

Favorite thing to do with Keira: Play Harry Potter pretend games

Favorite thing to do with Mom: snuggle

Favorite thing to do with Dad: drive to swim class

Dream vacation: Massachusetts at the Grandparents house

Dream pet: a white poodle

When she grows up, Kassidy wants to be a "Tapperina" (mix of tap dancer and ballerina)

Favorite Youtube characters: Toka Life

Favorite dance class: Tap

If Kassidy was a superhero, she would want the power of flight

Favorite food: Mac and Cheese

Least favorite: chewy and sticky candy

Favorite drink: Coke

Favorite childhood memory: Receiving her first pink recital costume

Favorite season: Spring

Favorite book series: Babysitters Club

Kassidy started to grow her hair out this year, so next year's picture will look a lot different

Kassidy likes to stay up late, and is usually pretty grumpy in the morning

Kassidy gets in the most trouble when she screams

Favorite song: Hooked on a Feeling

Favorite Youtube show: Annoying Orange

Favorite cartoon character: Bubbles (Power Puff Girls)

Birthday presents: fortnite money from Lukas, card from Keira, ice cream from Katharine, stuffed toy from Lennon, Harry Potter Legos from the Grandparents, Power Puff toys from Aunt Sue and Uncle Peter, a Slytherin robe and Toka Life books from the parents

Lazy Sunday

Before it stopped being lazy and we had to rush out to choir rehearsals, soccer games, and dance competitions..

Done

 Definitely done with competition for this year. Not sure yet  what next year will hold. We shall see.

Last Competition

Keira's team had their last competition yesterday. They got a high gold and 10th overall for their jazz dance, and a platinum and 5th overall in their age and skill category.  Katharine will perform her  tap solo one last time tonight. 

Multitasking

Here are the boys playing on the switch while watching a twitch stream at the same time.

Katharine tried sketching them, but they moved on to the next thing before she could finish.

Blow, Gabriel Blow

These are my favorite pictures of last weekend's competition. Katharine has learned a difficult tap solo to the song "Blow, Gabriel Blow" from the musical Anything Goes this year. The girls will perform at their last competition this weekend, before we head towards recital right before Memorial Day weekend. The beautiful costume was custom made for Katharine.

When you have to wake up your child but it's so hard..