Zach is off to Japan

After spending some time in San Diego, where he got to enjoy his time off in the surf, Zach is heading to the Marine Corp Air Base in Iwaknui, Japan. We got to spend a little time with him at Bonny & Steven's, who threw a small send-off party for him at their home in Bridge City. Zach is with the Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 242 (The "BATS") where he serves as a Naval Flight Officer.

We enjoyed seeing you, Zach! Send us your address when you get settled so we can mail you "BAT" things we can collect from Austin!

The Music Man!

In an attempt to recreate the great theatre experience Alex & I had together in A Christmas Story back in 2001, Eric & I decided to audition for PALT/Lamar Theatre's joint summer musical production of The Music Man, set to open in July. A Christmas Story gave Alex & I some very special memories of time spent together as father & son, so I went into the audition expecting The Music Man to do the same for me and Eric. What I didn't expect, however, was for each of us to land such great roles!

Eric was determined to get the part of Winthrop, and he did. You may remember a little Ron Howard playing the part of the little boy with the lisp in the 1962 film. Eric read and re-read for the part, each time working hard to improve over the last attempt and showing anger with himself for any perceived slip-ups. I was very impressed with his determination. He has a great lisp, practically spitting out his S's all over the director!

Myself, I was content with a chorus role just to be in the show with Eric. I told them as much, but wound up winning a coveted spot as a member of the quartet! My buddy Rich Kilhken had come along to the audition with me to offer his support to the director as a vocal coach for the quartet. They were glad to have him, and I know his input helped win my spot since he was already familiar with my voice and blend.

As a result of our success, we are now looking at a very busy summer. Rehearsals for Eric will be 6 days a week while mine will be less for the show itself, but plenty additional rehearsals specific for the quartet. Just as A Christmas Story dominated the Christmas season of 2001, The Music Man will dominate the summer of 2008. I'm confident it will be worth it.

Trade Day Tycoon

 Eric's class hosted a trade day this past week and Eric showed some real entrepreneurial talent. The challenge was to create a unique product the you would sell or trade for other kid's products. Eric chose to make custom multi-colored crayons that would mark the paper with random multi-colored strokes as you colored with them. He made them by melting down the colors together and then pouring them into cookie molds to reconstitute into new crayons.

Success! His crayons, which he called Fuggies, worked great and was the most popular product of the class. His only mistake was not making enough of them. He sold out quick and had money to burn ...or melt.

Riverfest 2008

We finally were able to enjoy Riverfest this past weekend, after the Chamber decided to move it from Mother’s Day weekend. Every year prior, it was held on Mother’s Day weekend, which meant we couldn’t attend as we would usually be going to Conroe. This year, we spent several hours over the course of three days at the park riding rides (a lot), eating (even more), watching the washer-board tournament, and finally getting to watch the boat races. It was a really good time.

It worked out perfect this year too, since we also had Tom Biesiadny in town for a visit from Fairfax, VA. Tom is a good friend of mine from my days on Port Arthur City Council and he was in town for the week before moving on to Big Bend National Park. Having Riverfest at the same time gave us something extra to offer Tom during his visit. Tom came in via Amtrak, sparking my interest again in travelling by train for a family vacation sometime in the future.

It was good to see you, Tom!