Kellon Drumming - June 2008

We shot these videos after my concert this spring. Kellon really wanted to go up and play the drums. Nearly everyone had gone and we let him sit down and play. He's just wearing a t-shirt because it was incredibly hot and sweaty in the auditorium that evening.

If you really listen to his playing, you can hear two beats: a "hip-hop" beat and a straight beat. Click on the picture to play the video. Enjoy!







Hope you enjoyed the videos!

The Tulip Festival and Ottawa Trip

Each year, Ottawa holds the "Tulip Festival." Lisa, Kellon and I went up for a Saturday to enjoy the tulips and have a fun day. Lisa's sister, Melanie, and her husband Chad, were arriving later that evening in Ottawa so we decided to make a day of it. This first picture is relatively early on in the day. The tulips were really amazing and we enjoyed our walk through the sprawling display. The weather dudes forecasted some rain but we didn't receive any until later that afternoon. Kellon really enjoyed being on our "trip" and he had a great time with Aunt Cheryl, who spent most of the day with us. After seeing the festival, we picked up Cheryl, got a sausage from the famous sausage vendor across from the Parliament buildings and visited Andrew Hayden Park, flew a kite, and then visited the Museum of Nature. The rest of the pics show you a bit of the fun we had that day. Best of all, we picked up Mel and Chad at the airport later that evening. Fun day...















Kellon having fun on the sidewalk. This picture just looks cool to me.

















Posing for the Camera!



















On the slide with Aunt Cheryl (the headless lady...) at Andrew Hayden park. The park was Cheryl's idea and he really loved it. He love that slide. He must have gone up and down that thing dozens of times before we had to peel him away. We bought him a kite and that finally got him interested in something else!
















At the museum of nature...showing the T-Rex who's boss....

















After the Museum of Nature, we went to Wakefield, Quebec. It's a really cool town outside of Ottawa only 15 minutes or so. Lisa and I have been her before and we remembered this really cool covered bridge. So we stopped by. Kellon got to throw rocks into the water with some strangers...he loved it. Here's Kellon and I going for a stroll in this cool bridge.

















I just love this picture...



















All of us on our special day...

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! Today was a great day. We went to church in the morning, then Kellon and I took Lisa out to lunch. After lunch, we came home and Kellon had some time in the swing. We also took some pictures. But, we missed the window for Kellon's nap, so Kellon stayed up and mowed the lawn with Dad.

We wish a very happy Mother's Day to all the Moms in our lives. Hope you had a special day!



(Lisa at 26 weeks!)




















Kellon, Mommy, and the little girl...















Kellon LOVES his swing!

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...

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!

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!