Kellon Drumming

At my high school choral concert this past December, Lisa and Kellon came dressed up and enjoyed the evening. We bought Kellon his tuxedo after his Aunt Melanie asked him to be a ring bearer in her wedding this past August. He still (barely!) fit into it. Before the concert, Kellon encouraged all the students with a virbrant "Good Luck!" which drew much praise. During the concert, Lisa had to remind him that he was an audience member, not a performer because he kept joining in with the choral songs. After the concert, we brought Kellon up to the stage and let him play the drumset. He had a fabulous time, and as you can tell in the video, there is no lack of enthusiasm! He talked about this for weeks. Everytime we drove up to the school he's say: "I wanna go concert, play drums!"

He seems to enjoy the stage quite a bit. The other day, Lisa and Kellon stopped into the school. I took Kellon out the stage because I had to check and make sure all the lights were off. Before I dimmed the lights, Kellon walked downstage center, right in front of the "audience" (the room was empty at the time), stood upright, held out his hand, and belted out the theme song to "Veggie Tales." Lisa and I just stood there with our mouths open...we couldn't believe what we were seeing! We never taught him to do this.

Christmas with Grandma Cindy

On Friday, Dec. 21st, we traveled to Grandma Cindy's house for a Christmas get-together. It was a lot of fun. Kellon had a great time opening gifts and he and Robbie enjoyed wrestling by the Christmas tree. Jay and Amy were here as well and it was great for Kellon to be able to see them. As you can tell by the pictures, Kellon was the recipient of many gifts, and he enjoyed playing with every one of them! His "big" gifts were a Tonka truck from Grandma Cindy, and a "laptop" from Uncle Jim and Aunt Jennifer.

Winter Begins

This evening, Lisa and I took an evening stroll through our back yard. We were in awe of the beautiful scenery in our one acre. The pine and fir trees were heavy with new, wet snow and the sky was aglow as it always is in winter when there is a blanket of white on the ground. Even in the darkness, it didn't seem dark. So, I guess winter is here. It's only November 27th, but it looks like I won't get to mow my lawn that one last time. And those leaves in our back lawn are going to have to stay where they are. Winter is here! I'm a four-season guy, and I always look forward to the next season. Most of all, though, I look forward to exploring the next season with my beautiful wife and amazing little boy.

Kellon Goes to A Hockey Game!

A friend of ours gave us tickets to go and see a Clarkson hockey game. Lisa and I took Kellon and he had a blast. It was actually his second Clarkson game this year, but he was much more into the game this time. Every time the crowd would cheer (or sometimes jeer) Kellon would clap his hands and yell in huge excitement. He made it through the whole game! It was good that we got seats right on the glass because he can stand up and we're not worrying about him falling down a few rows. He would stand at the glass and yell, and believe it or not he didn't jump at all when a couple players slammed the glass just inches in front of us. Lisa and I jumped, he just sat there. We got him some french fries, which he tore into. He love to dip! What a great night. Clarkson won 3-2.

Kellon's 2nd Birthday!

Kellon had a great party to celebrate turning 2 on November 12th! His grandparents and aunts and uncles that could make it came, and of course cousin Robbie. There was a pretty big Winnie the Pooh theme among the gifts, which thrilled Kellon! He also got a big track for racing cars down, and loves to play that with Mommy and Daddy or whomever will! Mommy made a drum cake, but Kellon mostly just ate the ice cream! He also really liked the balloons that Daddy got for him. All of our wonderful family that couldn't come either mailed or brought gifts by throughout the week. So Kellon got spoiled for a week straight! Hard to believe our baby is 2, but if you ask him, he'll tell you!

Kellon the Musician

Kellon, although he is only 2, is already starting to take an interest in music. His parents are obviously quite happy about this. The story goes like this:

We were given a "child's" drumset (the one in the picture) by some friends last spring. Kellon immediately took to that drumset and played it up to 2 full hours a day. He played it constantly. We actually were OK with the noise somewhat because we saw that he was really having a lot of fun.

I guess it was around his first birthday that Kellon really started playing the piano. He would sit on either my or Lisa's (or anyone, for that matter) knee and really plunk away. It was evident that he was really listening to what he was hearing, and focusing on the different sounds of the notes. This is really fun to watch!
Lisa and I decided to get him a little guitar for his birthday. He loves his guitar and he's so careful with it! He ALWAYS puts it away in the box that it came in.

Since Lisa and I were able to get a new computer a few months ago, I've been able to get back to doing some recording of some scratch songs here at home. Every time he hears one of my tunes come on he says "daddy's songs." He likes to play along with "daddy's songs" on the electronic drumset that I borrowed from my colleague at school. He actually keeps a semi-decent beat. I don't know much about how a two-year old should be playing drums, but Lisa and I are constantly impressed with how he keeps time and puts little beats together.

Don't worry though! It'll be at least another year before we officially start him with formal music lessons. I'm hopeful that he'll really be a good musician!

Fall Colors in Lake Placid

On Saturday, Oct. 6th, we took a trip to Lake Placid to view the fall colors. It was a great day! We arrived and took the Gondola up to the top of "Little Whiteface", then toured the beautiful downtown of Lake Placid. After meeting up with Chris's dad for a late lunch, we headed back for home.

Kellon had a great time in the gondola. We think he enjoyed the ride more than the view! Because the gondola is completely enclosed, he was able to walk around in the car without Mom and Dad getting too nervous. He had a great time. We had to watch him pretty close when we got to the top - for those of you that know Kellon, you know that he has no fear! He doesn't yet realize that he can't do "big jumps" off anything.