Band camp x3

LIVE- okay so I'm not sure how to make things bold...so you'll just have to deal with all caps for the catgory titles. It's summer. I'm spending a lot more time with my wife and kid...and I love it. I love them lots. We've been working slowly on organizing the house. Our downstairs closet is looking better than I ever remember. We're going to start a budget thing soon. By soon, I mean today. we're going to use the leftover cash for a debt reducing crackdown! It'll be exciting. This summer I'm going to be "working" at three band camps. The first one I have already done. It was a marching band leadership(drum major mostly) camp. It was a few days that were FULL of stuff. We did marching fundamentals, commands, squad competitions, conducting classes and an elective class. The walk between each of these activities, which also included eats, was about 15 minutes. Luckily for us, it rained all day for all of the days of the camp. There were two walks on which it didn't rain. Now, I know what you're thinking. That sucks. During that camp, I was only dry when I went to sleep. My feet hurt because of the wetness and walking. They were raw for a few days after I got back. I had to get my wife to bring me extra shoes. The awesome thing about it was the kids at the camp. They were right there with me...I guess I was with them... And there were zero complaints. They trudged through with smiles on their faces the whole way. Even when it was buckets, they were laughing and having a good time. I was thoroughly impressed with these kids. They didn't complain about the rain or the lots of walking or having to do all their marching in a parking garage or in a room that was way too small. They just got it done and succeeded. Awesome. I'm going to another band camp next week that is a concert band camp. I'll get to teach a class in this one! I have no idea what it will be though. I'll let you know. LOVE- I loved the band camp and the kids. That showed me that I'm definitely getting into the right business. Something I loved more though, was coming home. I missed my wife. I missed my kid. They are the ones I care most about. They are the ones I love most...even though the kid is in a hitting phase... I love being a father and husband. And not just because of my father's day present. But I'll tell you about it anyway :) I was up with my wife visiting her family for the week prior to father's day. Her mom has an iPad. I used it every chance I could...Mostly because they're super cool. So one day my wife and her mom went out together...as part of a late mother's day present and when they came back...SHAZOWIE! iPad for daddy day. I don't know if I'd go as far as oprah and say its the greatest invention ever in the history of man, but it's pretty awesome. I also got a $0.99 iPhone. MAKE MUSIC- before the marching camp, I thought I'd try my horn again. Up to that point I'd only been playing the trumpet for the most part. When Iicked it up, at first, I thought that I sounded kinda stuffy and contained. After I played a little I realized that that's how I'm supposed to sound. I was used to the trumpet which is much more bright and cutting in its tone. This just goes to show you...keep playing! Also, remember when I said I got a iPad? Well I got some apps that I really like that are music related. I first got a tuner and a metronome. Those are great. The metronome is just called tempo. It's good. It's got the tap feature and a bunch of different accent patterns and you can have presets and it has the tempo marking too (eg andante, allegro, presto). I recommend it. It's a whole lot cheaper than Dr. Beat...unless you have to buy the iPad...but it's on iPhone too. I also got these classical music apps. Theres two volumes. There's a free trial version that has partial songs on it. Then there's the full version. It's like $5. People were complaining in the reviews about the partial songs but they're a bunch of crazies. There's like 110 or 120 songs for 5 dollars. Try and find that on iTunes. There's also the iReal b app. Without the in app purchases, it's mostly a pocket rhythm section for any jazzers to improve your improv skills. Finally, and my favorite, is the Fingerings app. It has all the Fingerings for all the band instruments in multiple clefs and with...wait for it...tril Fingerings up to a major third trill.