Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Kellon and Music

As many of you speculated before Kellon was even born, he definitely has an affinity towards music. It's been really fascinating and even nostalgic for me (Dad) to watch this unfold. We've "caught" him before listening to music while he was sitting at the computer desk and he would close his eyes and sway with the music. Lisa and I just stood there, trying to conceal our presence, and watched him enjoy the music. I can tell you that I know what he's feeling. There's a cool feeling that us musicians have when we really sit and enjoy - or engage - in music. It washes over your whole body and it's not about ears anymore, it's about the moment and the song. It's about connecting with the rhythm, harmony, and melody. It's engaging in the music even when just listening. I can tell that Kellon already has this. Even in the way we can be anywhere and when a song or music begins playing he'll stop - almost the way a dog does when it stops and the ears perk up - and look for the source of the music.

Tonight, I wanted to show Lisa the new home audio system that Joe and Elaine Cardinal gave to us. I installed it last night and stayed up way too late enjoying some U2 video from their Elevation Tour DVD. So, after dinner I turned U2 back on and started with "Bullet the Blue Sky." I turned it up a bit and Kellon had to get his drum sticks and play along. The whole time this was on, he just stood about five feet away from the TV locked on the images and the music. I next - and who wouldn't be moved by this - played "Where The Streets Have No Name." If you've never seen this tune on this dvd, it's incredible to watch. Kellon was in absolute awe. He stood motionless in front of the television completely focused and engaged in what was going on. He totally forgot that we were there and probably even where he was. I managed to finally think to get the camera and I took some footage of him standing in front of U2. Check it out:


Of course, Lisa and I are doing everything we can to foster this love, appreciation, and talent for music. Kellon loves to play the drums and has actually really wowed us with some of his abilities (see previous blog of Kellon playing drums). He has a drums set at home and loves to play often. He also loves to play our piano, and I can't pull out my guitar without him pulling out his. He will often come over and give me his little guitar and say "Daddy play" and then walk over to his drumset so we can jam together.

Such special times...

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Videos from the Children's Museum

For fun, I decided to post a couple more videos from our trip to Ottawa. This first one is of Kellon walking through the museum and stopping by at "The Post Office."


And here's a video of Kellon working the Canadarm simulation in the SPACE exhibit. Check out how much he is concentrating!


Happy Birthday Chad

Here's a Happy Birthday wish for our brother-in-law out West! Chad, we hope you had a great birthday, and we're all looking forward to your visit in a few weeks!


Friday, April 18, 2008

Kellon's Trip to Ottawa

Lisa and I took Kellon to Ottawa today to spend a day specifically on him and enjoy the capital city. We took Kellon to the Children's Museum in the Museum of Civilization. He had a lot of fun and never slowed even once. He would run from activity to activity. It's really funny how things that we think he'll be really be interested in, he's not always intrigued with, but some things we think he'll find boring have his attention until we're bored and pull him off! It was so fun just to see him enjoy the museum. Here are some more pictures from the museum:















Kellon "de-boarding" a Pakistani bus.
















Kellon checking some tools at the "Construction Exhibit."
















Mopping the deck!
















Checking out the fruit stand in "India."


And here's a cool little video of Kellon pulling a toy puppy in the museum. Click on the video to play it...

After the museum we went to Parliament Hill, got a couple of hot dogs from a sidewalk vendor, and sat on a blanket on the hill. It was such a nice day. Kellon had a lot of fun running about and coming back to the blanket for bites of his hot dog. What a great time!