Paul's Disney Audition in Chicago

On the day before Paul's 21st birthday we flew into Chicago for him to audition for the Disney band. We stayed at a friend's condo - amazing place right on the lake with great views of the Navy Pier and the Magnificent Mile area.

These two pics show the view from the dining room window of the Hancock building.



Here are pics of the living room and the view of the Navy Pier from that window.



We got to experience a lot of culture - we scored a couple of tickets to a concert on Friday night featuring Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra at Symphony Center. On Saturday Paul played his audition (which went well) after which we went to the Art Institute, and then went for pizza at Giordano's with a friend of mine who played in the Disney Band w/me back in 1983 (Paul had his first legal beer there).



After going to dinner, we went to one of the top jazz clubs in Chicago, Andy's Jazz Club, to hear the Nia Quintet - had great seats right up front.

8th Grade All State

Kayla did a great job playing 1st chair clarinet in the 8th grade All-State band - here she is in action.

A Day at the Beach

Not to rub it in or anything, but Carlsbad was sunny and 70 today (Jan 13). So while Chris and the kids were up in LA at a dance workshop, I spent much of the afternoon at the beach (after watching San Diego win their second playoff game to advance to the AFC championship). Here are a couple of pictures of kids (other people's) playing in the surf and one of the sunset.

Midwest Clinic

Julie and I just got back from our trip to the Midwest Clinic in Chicago - the conference is held in several hotels downtown. The primary conference site is the Hilton and Towers - same hotel as was used in the climactic final scene in the Harrison Ford movie The Fugitive. The ballroom above held the jazz concerts - it was the room where Harrison Ford confronted the bad doctor while he was giving his speech.

Of course, we had to spend some time shopping. The Disney store had Enchanted costumes on display in their store on Michigan Ave.

We also went up to the former Marshall Fields - now Macys. They still have the animated window displays at Christmas time. This year the theme was The Nutcracker.


On Thursday afternoon we went to the the Chicago Symphony Brass play a concert at Orchestral Hall, then went across the street to the Art Institute to check out their collection.



Food is always a highlight when we go to Chicago - on Saturday before heading home we ate lunch at Heaven on Seven. Great Cajun food - and the famous wall of hot sauce. If you can bring in hot sauce that they don't have on the wall, dinner for two is free.

See you all on Christmas day!

Christmas Give Away

Thought you would like to see my toy give away. Last year we served 2000 kids this year I expect to serve over 3000.

Sunset Dec 9

This afternoon we went to the beach to take a holiday photo for our Christmas cards. Caught a beautiful sunset.

Heavy Surf Day in Carlsbad

I just had to go down to the beach today for a while to see the huge waves roll in. We had 12-15' waves, the biggest in over a year. It was a beautiful day. It got up to 68 degrees on the beach, and I was able to walk around in shorts and a t-shirt. Not bad for December! Check out my video below on "Foam Snails".