Salvador Dali

We headed out of town on Memorial Day for a quick excursion to the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg. The museum is home to 7 of the 18 masterwork paintings by Dalí, the most of any museum in the world.

The building is amazing just on its own.  It is a simple rectangle with 18-inch thick hurricane-proof walls out of which erupts a large free-form geodesic glass bubble. The view from the bubble was stunning. 





For lunch we decided to try something a little different, the Hangar Restaurant and Flight Lounge located at a private airport off the Tampa Bay.





Mason enjoyed getting a up-close view of a helicopter taking off.

Pride and Honor

Mackenzie had the honor of performing at a Memorial Day service at her percussion instructor's church.



We had the option to just drop Mackenzie off but decided to stay and enjoy the service.  I'm so glad we did, it was actually very interesting. Numerous patriotic hymns were sung and a memorial wreath was presented for local police, firefighters and EMT's who had lost their lives in the line of duty. The names of Naples soldiers from World War I up to the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars were also read.   



Mackenzie performed percussion with a brass band from the church.  They played the U.S. Armed Forces Medley. This was an exciting song because members of the congregation stood and were recognized as their service branch hymn was played.



This event was a milestone for Mackenzie. This was the first time that she had been asked to play percussion outside of a school event. She and her fellow freshman classmate, Zack, were personally chosen by their instructor to perform.

Another Letter (even better)

Just as Mackenzie was recovering from the honor of the academic awards, she was handed another surprise. The GCHS band hosted their annual band banquet last Friday night.  The banquet is a fun ceremony where the school celebrates the success of the band and gives out a number of individual awards to students.  My elementary school was hosting its annual carnival that same night so I toyed with the idea of skipping the banquet all together.  However, I made a quick last minute decision to sneak out of carnival and headed over to the high school. I arrived ten minutes after the start and saw Mackenzie along with all the other freshman leaving the stage after receiving their Varsity Letters for band. I settled in my seat thinking that I had missed Mackenzie's excitement for the evening.  Boy, was I wrong!  One of the first awards given was for the "most improved" freshman girl for the entire band.   You can't imagine my surprise when Mackenzie's name was called. With over 100 freshmen in the band, this is such a big honor for Mackenzie. We are so proud of Mackenzie; she entered into marching band with no prior experience and has excelled!     



Sadly, Mason has ended up with a walking cast for the next four weeks. This has ended his current basketball season and put a damper on some of his upcoming 5th grade graduation activities. Hopefully he will be given a removable cast which shouldn't interfere with any of his summer plans.

No bones about it ...

... having a kid in high school often comes with a few surprises. We entered the Underclassman Academic Awards ceremony tonight with no great expectations. We knew Mackenzie was going to be honored with some type of an award but we were unsure as to which one. You can't imagine our surprise when Mackenzie received an academic varsity letter for scholarship. Congratulations, Mackenzie! She has worked so hard for this honor.



Speaking of bones, Mason might have fractured his first one.  He fell while shooting hoops in the driveway. After an X-ray today we were given a referral to see an Orthopedic Specialist for a probable fracture to the base of the 5th metatarsal in his foot. So far he has been a real trooper!