Monday, August 6, 2012

My Grandson Ryker is a bluegrasser thru and thru

I had a heart warming and heart breaking experience today with my 9 year old grandson Ryker.  He's always loved to play bluegrass and jam with me from the very first time I put a guitar in his hands at age 7, but when he heard me play my mandolin for the first time his eyes lit up and he came running then begged me to teach it to him.  Ever since that first time he heard me play it he's been hooked on the mandolin. So last year I found an F style Savannah brand, which is Chinese made of course, but it's a beautiful mandolin with super cheap tuners, but it actually sounds good and looks beautiful too.  Anyway I was able to get him this mandolin for only $200 including a hard shelled case.  It's even got the curly maple sides and back, finished in a nice sunburst and as I said it plays easily and sounds pretty dang good for tone too.  So he's had this mandolin for a year now and has gotten a few lessons from me but now this summer we've really had the chance to start learning it better.  He's self motivated and practices it on his own 4 or 5 times a day plus the lesson time that we have together.
Now the point of this blog...
Today I went to town to teach my regular students and my grand kids were with me of course.  He loved that he got to come to the lessons and I had my core kids in The Bluegrasshoppers practicing for their stage set that they'll be playing on stage over Labor Day Weekend at Round Valley.
Now Ryker won't be able to be with us for this festival because I have to return them home to Pocatello, Idaho before Labor Day so that they can be back for school.
I didn't mean to hurt the poor little fella's feelings but I announced to the rest of the Bluegrasshopper band that he was going to sit in with us today and just practice, but that he wouldn't be playing with us on the stage at the Round Valley Festival.  Little Ryker looked at me and his whole countenance changed.  His eyes welled up with tears and he held back from crying but I felt like the worst grandma in the whole wide world.  I'd hurt his feelings and made him sad that he wasn't going to get to play. His thoughts were that I just wasn't going to take him.  I knew that I needed to set things straight and console him so I asked my Bluegrasshoppers to go ahead and practice the song "Man Of Constant Sorrow," and I'd be right back.  I took Ryker aside and explained to him that it wasn't anything to do with me not wanting to take him to this festival but that I had to have him back because of him needing to start school.  I explained to him that if I could I'd keep him forever and he would be able to go to all festivals with me but that he would have to be home to start school and this was the only reason he wouldn't be able to come and play.  Then I put my arm around him and told him that there was a good side to this though and that is the fact that because he has to go back to start school, we would be able to play for his class again and that our practice today would help him to be able to play better for his school when the time comes. He cheered up and regained his composure then joined in with our practice once again and was exuberant to get to play, but boy for a moment there I felt like a real crumb bucket of a grandma. 
It was an innocent remark by me to explain to the other kids that he wasn't new in their band but was just there to play with us for today.  I had no idea that his feelings for playing bluegrass are so close and in his soul so deeply at such a young age.  It taught me a valuable lesson.
Grandson Ryker playing with the Kids In Bluegrass at the Hardtimes Festival July 28th, 2012

Grandson Ryker playing bass and is sister our grand daughter Pyper playing mandolin.
He's just like me with a tender spirit with such a passion to play and at only 9 years old it's already there.  I hope he always has this same passion to play and that he'll be just like me when he grows up wanting to play like crazy.  I have taught him guitar, bass, and mandolin and he does pretty well for a 9 year old who rarely gets the help he needs for sure.  Anyway I've had deep feelings in my heart all day because of what happened earlier today.
I'm editing this post from what I had written earlier, because we were headed out the door to a neighborhood dinner and I was pushed to hurry so forgot to say the other very fun thing that happened today.  After our lessons, I went to the bank to deposit my pay I earned playing for the Hardtimes Festival last weekend.  All the ladies in the bank know that I teach bluegrass and that I play in a couple of bands.  Now living in such a small town our banks are much more personable than big cities so as I was doing my banking one of the ladies working at a desk began visiting with my grand kids. She was asking them about their names and what they've been doing all summer with grandma etc.  Naturally the grand kids told her about getting to play bluegrass.  When she asked them who their teacher was of course the answer was grandma.  So she commented that she'd like to hear them play sometime.  Well upon this request the grand kids tell her that they have their instruments in my Jeep.  So she asks if they'd like to bring them in and play for the bank.  I'm thinking okay I'll just grab the mandolin and the guitar and they can take turns on the mandolin because I didn't have either of their little Martin guitars with me.  So I head out the door to grab my guitar and the mandolin when Pyper says to me "what about my bass, I want to play my bass."   So then I of course couldn't leave her out on her main instrument so I had to haul in the big bass, the mandolin and my guitar.  They all helped me of course.  We played 3 songs for them "Hot Corn Cold Corn" of which Ryker took a break on it, then he played "Boil the Cabbage" with all 3 parts to it on his mandolin while Pyper was on the bass for those two, and finally we switched out and Pyper played mandolin with Ryker on bass for their favorite song, "Barefoot Nellie."  All the ladies in the bank just went crazy to hear them play.  As we were walking back to the car putting our instruments away the bank president came running out to the parking lot and thanked us for playing for them and told all the grand kids how good they were and how much they enjoyed it.
Our day in town ended with a bang.    I love you Ryker, Pyper, and Greisyn.  You guys and I will always play bluegrass together. How many people can say that they played bluegrass in their local banks for all the tellers... You guys can! 
5 year old grandson Greisyn, sings and "holds" the mandolin

Thursday, August 2, 2012

I love being a grandma

I haven't posted in here for quite awhile at least for me it's been quite awhile, so tonight I am making sure that I don't go to bed until I take the time to write my thoughts.
My kids have all been so good to me allowing me to keep my grand kids in the summertime as much as I want to, or as much as possible with church camps etc.  Every one of my kids have been so good to let me have them and John and I have had so much fun through the years doing all these fun things with them. 
One set of our grand kids lived with us for 6 years while our oldest daughter went back to college and got her PharmD degree so we became very close to them.  The other set of kids lived with us for about 2 years and during that time had one baby grand daughter.  This was Pyper who is now almost 11 years old.  The last 3 years we've been able to keep her and now her brother Ryker who's 9 and their younger brother Greisyn who is almost 6.  We have so much fun every summer with all the kids. 
In June we were able to take our 3 older grand kids with us to Grass Valley, then to Weiser and then on to our home here where they got about 10 days before having to go home with their parents. 13 year old Tanner got to learn to really ride his motorcycle well while they were here and we would take him way up the mountain onto trails where he honed his skills.  I wish we could have kept him here a little bit longer but he's of age to be going to scout camp so his parents had to take him home after our July 4th family reunion. 
Now our son Tyler and daughter-in-law Deena have also been so good letting us have the kids for as much time as we want in the summertime too.  The parents came for our family reunion and then left the kids when they had to go home around the 12th of July and we are going to get to keep them clear until the end of August. 
I cherish every moment I have them because we get to have so much fun and I get to teach them life skills that they don't get to learn at home.  Pyper has always been afraid of the water and timid to try hard things.  This summer while she's been here we've been able to teach her to be comfortable  floating all over the pond and finally today she even let go of my hand while swimming and floated for 3 or 4 minutes without panicking.  This is a huge step for her and I even took pictures of her doing so well so we could show her parents.  At the end of our swimming time I asked her if she was ready to get out and instead of the usual yes, like she couldn't wait to get out of the water, I got the response "I think I'd like to swim a little bit longer."  I sent pictures of her way out in the pond without me and floating alone for the very first time today. 
The other very cool milestone we've crossed is that she was willing to learn to ride the 4 wheeler by herself and is now driving all over the place on it with confidence and a new feeling of self esteem in all these things she's overcome this year. 
Ryker learned to swim without his life jacket a couple of days ago and he's now doing really well and doing better and better each day. I sent their parents pictures of all our fun today and their mom sent back an e-mail to the kids so excited that I could feel her pride through her words. 
I really feel like I've grown super close to these grand kids this summer, even more than all the past years. 
Every day Ryker gets out his mandolin and practices on his own several times a day.  He's self motivated to practice and learn and I get so happy when I see him go get out his mandolin and play it. 
Today was no exception, not only did he practice it 3 different times but when I'd mentioned to the other kids that we needed to take a little time to practice our music tonight he never let me forget it and reminded me asking if we could play on our front porch like he'd remembered us doing a few years ago with a friend of mine. 
Finally at 9:00 we headed out there in the dark and spent an hour practicing.  He can play a guitar, mandolin, and bass already and is learning them quickly and well.  His sister Pyper is learning the bass and mandolin and she is also very self motivated to learn.  She sings our bluegrass songs around here all day long as we do different activities.  Okay I guess I'm rambling now and so I need to just write all about how our day went today and call it good.
After our morning breakfast, I took all 3 kids down to the garbage dumpster on our way to the post office.  Ryker who is always very helpful jumped right out and into the back of the pickup to help me get a whole lot of sheet rock scraps into the garbage.  We made short work of it, so then we headed to the post office where I mailed off Jeff's care package.  When we left there I took the kids into "Hoots" cafe so that they could see where I go to play my fiddle when I always talk about it with them.  They got to sit up to the counter on those fun vintage swiveling stools and I bought them an ice cream cone. 
When we finished that we came home and almost immediately went on a 4 wheeler ride up into the mountains.  We saw 3 mules up there which was fun, and several cows of course along with a grouse bird who flew up beside us on the trail.  When we came home we were all dusty and hot so we put our suits on and headed to the pond for a swim.  By the time we got home from that it was time for me to fix dinner, and then we practiced music late tonight.
My back patio door is full of hand prints, and my bathrooms need cleaning, but those things don't bother me a bit when I have the kids here.  There is plenty of time to wash the hand prints when they go home but for now my focus is on having fun and teaching them valuable life long skills. 
Pyper, Greisyn, and Ryker having fun in the cone flowers.

Pyper

Ryker shows me how he can balance on the front of the 4 wheeler.

Greisyn loves wearing this big helmet. 

Greisyn loves playing with Maggie who comes to the pond with us every day.

Ryker is showing me how he can swim with no life jacket and I take his picture so he can show his parents how good he's gotten this year. He's so proud of himself!

Now Ryker wants to show me how he can float. "Take a picture of me floating grandma."

Look grandma no hands, hurry and take my picture before I fall. 

Pyper floats without me near her for the very first time today.  I had to take her picture so that we could show her parents how good she's doing.  She's always had a horrific fear of water so this is a huge step for her.

Pyper and grandma practicing and getting her confidence up to float alone without me near.  You can see from the previous picture that she did it too!

Pyper and Ryker having some fun now that Pyper has shown that she isn't nearly so fearful anymore. I'm so proud of her conquering her fear!  We did it Pyper!
Am I tired every night?  You bet I am, but I'm so happy that I get this opportunity each summer.  I wouldn't change it for anything.  I just found out that my other 4 grand kids are going to get to come spend a week with us this month too. 
All 11 of them got to spend time at grandmas and grandpas once again this summer.  They love it and call us the day school is out each year asking when they can come.  Ryker said to me that he wished he could stay here for 6 more months, then he said, wait maybe I'd like to stay here about 2 more years or maybe even till I'm 16. 
Earlier this summer our 13 year old grandson said that he loves coming here because he can just have so much freedom to wander around.  Tori our 15 year old grand daughter had so much fun here too that I think she would move in and live here too.  Then Cortney our 17 year old grand daughter told me that she loves it here because a person can just be themselves and not worry about how they look or having their makeup on or anything like they do living in Utah. 
Me I have to agree with everything each one of these kids have said.  I love my grand kids and being a grandma is what I was meant to be. 
Today was once again just awesome.