Check out the boys’ piano recital -
Joey plays Train
Nicky plays Misty
I have several videos of the boys to post for your enjoyment. First is Joey’s middle school orchestra’s end-of-year concert – just one song. Following this post, you’ll find the piano recital performances for each young man. Hope you enjoy!
Last Friday, during yet another BEAUTIFUL afternoon, Joey & I were sitting on our porch and decided to visit Grandma Jane’s over the weekend. So, after Joey’s middle school 3K Fun Run on Saturday morning, we headed to Little River for an on-the-spur overnight visit. It was just as lovely in South Carolina as it’s been in Durham. We had dinner on Saturday & lunch on Sunday outside at the Little River waterway. It was delightful!
Here’s Joey enjoying the view from the waterway!
And, can you imagine at the end of March, Joey wading in the ocean!
Every February, our piano teacher has a recital that features only duets from her students. Nicky & Joey were paired up this year (imagine that!) and played a rousing duet – the All-American Hometown Band by Walter & Carol Noona. Here’s the video (via YouTube) – ENJOY!
On February 9, 2012, my son turned 16. I CANNOT believe that we have a 16-year-old. And then on February 15, he received his driver’s license! This just cannot be – I am NOT old enough to have a 16-year-old!!! But, apparently I am and I do.
Here are photos of the first time he left the house with the car – can you tell Mom is crying?
Laura didn’t post it so I will – here’s a beautiful picture of Maddy and her friends as they are off to their Valentine’s Day dance. The consensus of the Kreiling men was that they are not happy that Maddy is all grown up!!! Those young men courting her better watch out!
It’s an annual event in the Raleigh/Durham area – the Krispy Kreme Challenge. The participants run 2.5 miles, eat 12 Krispy Kreme doughnuts, then run the remaining 2.5 miles. The Jordan High School cross-country teams has participated for several years, and this year was no different. They are called… The Kreme Team.
Unfortunately, Nicky was unable to consume all 12 doughnuts, but he did complete the running part. Our “third son” Romel was successful, as was Zack (on the right in the picture). Patrick (in the back in the picture) also did not finish the doughnuts.
Never a dull moment at the Kreiling house!!
OMG!!! Joey is a teenager today! He was greeted this morning with balloons and streamers in his shower and a giant birthday cookie is waiting for dessert this evening.
Here’s a picture of Joe at the Middle School cross-country district meet. All of the public schools in Durham participated – Joey placed 5th!
Happy Birthday, Joey!
I’m proud to announce that Nicky recently completed Suzuki Book 3 and had a graduation recital for friends & family. His program included -
What I’ve Done…………………………………………………………..….Linkin Park
The Wild Rider, from Album for the Young, Op. 68 #8…….…….…..R. Schumann
Sonatina, Op. 36 #3………………………..………………………….……M. Clementi
I. Spiritoso
Little Waltz……………………………………….…………………………….C. Gurlitt
Sonatina, Op. 55 #1…………………………………………………..………F. Kuhlau
I. Allegro
II. Vivace
Clocks……………………………………………………………………….......Coldplay
Teasing Song……………………………………………………..……………..B. Bartok
In Dreams……………………………………………………..……. H. Shore/F. Walsh
Here’s a picture of Nicky with Miss Jennifer, his piano teacher. Hard to believe Nicky has had 10 years of piano! And he’s still going strong – go Nicky!
Well, since Amy sprained her RIGHT ankle, she was unable to drive. So, a last minute change was made to the Kreiling-Little Odyssey itinerary. Laura left her car in Durham and we all piled into the Yukon to make the trip to Philly. The camper also remained in Durham until we can find a spare tire/rim.
It was decided that Maddy, Joey & Nicky would fly to Chicago from Philly on their own!!! Tante Evi (actually Mark and the family, including little Logan and baby Natalie) would pick them up at O’Hare and Grandma & Grandpa Little would pick up Maddy from Tante Evi’s.
Here are the intrepid travelers on their own, in the airplane -
All three arrived safely in Chicago and are having a great time with family.
Meanwhile, Laura, Katie and Amy stayed in Philly to allow Amy’s ankle to heal, visit with Uncle Craig and let Katie do some horse shows. I love to take pictures of Katie with her horses!
So, that’s Thursday, 21 July 2011. Tomorrow, Laura, Katie & Amy make the drive to Chicago, rejoin the kids and spend Saturday with the Chicago grandparents. Sunday, we’ll be on K-L Odyssey #4 – Thomson, IL with Nana & Grandpa Z. All told, we’ve already put over 6000 miles on the good old Yukon. Amy’s estimate of 5800 miles seems to be a bit under the mark.
More to come…
Our attempt at a 2-day drive home from Colorado became a 3-day drive when the tire on the camper blew out in Nashville, TN -
It took AAA two hours to arrive and help unwrap the blown tire from the axle and install the spare. By that time, it was 9pm and we headed to Knoxville for the night (thank you, Uncle Craig, for using your bonus points to get us 2 hotel rooms for free!!!). We definitely did not want to drive through the Smokey Mountains at night without a spare.
We arrived in Durham about noon. We dropped off Walter and Nicky, and 5 hours later, Laura, Amy, the girls and Joey were on their way to the beach!
I haven’t downloaded all the pictures from the beach, but here are the beach bums -
And a proud grandma with her grandkids -
A week at the beach was much too short for us, but the condo rents well and is booked until next spring. So, we had to leave. Note the beautiful kids and their new outfits – back to school clothes were purchased with a day at the outlet malls. A shopping must for young teens!
Here’s our campsite -
This is the fire master schooling his apprentice in the art of making fire -
This is how Laura spent most of the vacation -
And here’s Maddy trying to get a good signal to talk to Uncle Craig -
The 2nd week of our odyssey, we visited the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was beautiful. Our campsite, Camp Dick, was located outside the park, about an hour away, but it was great, too. No showers or running toilets but who needs those when you’re camping???
Here’s the road one drives on to pass through RMNP -
And here are pictures from our mountain climbers -
Amy & Katie do not climb mountains, but Katie did go on a 4 mile hike to a mountain waterfall. Amy, however, stayed at the campsite with her sprained ankle. On the third day, all except for Katie & Amy went on a climb to two mountain lakes (Walter, would you name them in the comments?). And on the fourth day, Walter and the boys climbed to the summit of Flattop Mountain.
In between mountain climbing, we drove through the national park, visited many gift shops in Estes Park, CO, had picnics, and took lots of pictures. It was great!
How can you go to Colorado and not attend a rodeo? So, on a Sunday night we made the trek to Greeley and attended our first rodeo. It was quite the experience!
The kids were just trying on the hats – we DID NOT purchase cowboy hats for everyone! Amy did look for a pair of cowboy boots but was unlucky to find a pair she liked.
What’s a rodeo without some good food? Here’s Laura eating some BBQ chicken on a stick and Nicky enjoying a big, juicy BBQ sandwich -
Of course, there’s the main attraction -
A fun time at the Greeley Stampede!
As part of our grand odyssey of the summer of 2011, we stopped in Myrtle Beach for a week at the condo. Thank you, Grandma Jane for a GREAT week!
We had wonderful weather for the beach and we even squeezed in a shopping day for those necessary back-to-school clothes the kids HAD TO HAVE! Unfortunately Nicky elected to stay behind in Durham and run with his cross-country team – we all missed him.
Here are some pictures -
My, how those kids have grown! Only three more years until the oldest goes to college – how can we (the parents) be that old???
While staying in Mueller State Park at Colorado Springs, we visited the Garden of the Gods.
It’s a vast park of red rocks that are in beautiful formations. Here’s the entrance rock that’s called Balanced Rock.
Here are some more pictures from the park -
A little farther up the road is the Cave of the Winds. It was too expensive to visit the cave, but they had a ropes course near the parking lot. We let the kids climb the ropes -
