It began in June when we were down in the Salt Lake Valley with our oldest grand kids. We'd dropped our grandson Jeff off at the Missionary Training Center for him to begin his two year mission to the St Louis, MO area. We had spent almost 3 weeks at the kids' house with all the celebrations and activities related to the beginning of his mission. We took him to the training center to begin his mission on June 6th and a few days later John and I headed out for a big bluegrass festival in Grass Valley, California. The 3 oldest grand kids wanted to come with us and spend a month with us so we headed out and got to bring them with us.
As it turned out the teenage brain has set in and the kids didn't enjoy their time at the festival whereas years ago they used to love to get to go with us to bluegrass festivals. It was a boring week for them and it sort of spoiled it for grandpa and I but we understand how it is with teenagers and so off we went to get them home here where they could do the fun things they love around our house here.
Before the final drive home though, we stopped off at Weiser for 3 days at the National Fiddle Competition so that I could play some music with my friends there and the kids enjoyed that slightly better cause there was a lot of booths of people selling their wares and they had fun shopping. Other than that though they were bored once again so anxious to get back to our house here.
Once home we enjoyed another 2 weeks with them and Tanner our 13 year old loved that grandpa and I had brought his Honda 100 motorcycle home with us so that he could actually ride it. You see where he lives, right in the city, there's no place for him to ride and now they'd just sold their truck so they didn't even have a way to haul it somewhere that he could ride. Grandpa and his dad had made a rack for it on the back side of our 5th wheel and we were able to get it here for him. The next two weeks leading up to my 4th of July annual family reunion was spent riding the 4 wheelers, swimming, and Tanner riding his motorcycle. He's a really good cyclist and was able to take it way up into the mountains on the trails with no trouble controlling it at all. I was totally amazed at how well he had remembered how to ride. You see his parents had him riding a little Suzuki 50 when he was only 3, but on that cycle you didn't have to shift, so now with this larger bike he had to learn to shift. He took to it like a duck to water and wanted to ride it day and night. I was so happy that we could get it up here to our place so that he had that opportunity, and surprisingly he's grown so much that he's almost too big for the cycle already, but it was really a good two weeks for him especially. He was in 7th heaven getting to ride it as much as he wanted every day.
Then came the 4th of July and we hosted the family reunion once more, so that entailed the bluegrass concert here with the grand kids getting to play. Tanner who had always embraced getting to play didn't want to play with the kids this year so I began to see him pulling away from it like the others have done also, but when he was one on one with me he enjoyed playing still and has become a real decent bass player. When their parents left at the end of the reunion this set of grand kids went home with them. I was sad to see them go.
Now during this reunion time our oldest son Tyler and his family came with their 3 kids, Pyper, Ryker, and Greisyn. They got to stay with us an extra week once the reunion had ended so it was really enjoyable to have them all to ourselves. When the adult kids left though we got to keep those 3 grand kids for the rest of the summer. John and I had so much fun with them and they learned so much and grew so much in the 7 weeks that they were here.
Pyper learned to swim in the deeper water and not be afraid of it, and even though she still needs to wear a life jacket this was a huge step, because just 2 years ago she was deathly afraid to be in water deeper than her knees. Now here she was swimming clear out to the dock in Gail's pond all by herself so her parents just couldn't believe the progress that I was able to make with her there. Then Ryker also learned to swim but he's never been afraid of water so he actually learned to swim without his life jacket and now can swim across the pond and back several times with no life jacket. Greisyn also learned to trust his life jacket so was swimming way out into the pond too and I would send pictures home to their parents showing how good the kids were doing. I think we swam in the pond almost every single day that the kids were here.
Ryker learned to ride the 4 wheeler even better than last year so was able to take it all by himself and go around our property here just like a pro, and meanwhile Pyper learned to drive one by herself too. I would always ride behind her though as she was just learning but at least she wasn't afraid and she did it all by herself each day. Once again their parents were in shock at all the things these kids were learning to do!
Now I'm saving the best for last. I was able to really work with the kids musically and they advanced like crazy. Pyper learned to play the bass, changing chords fluently in the Key of D, and Ryker also learned to play it even pushing down notes on the fingerboard. His true passion is for the mandolin though and he's always loved mandolin. He found our oldest grand daughter Cortney's mandolin here in my bedroom and he immediately gravitated to it and wanted to play it all the time. I was able to teach him to play 4 songs while he was here, all three parts to Boil Down the Cabbage, Hot Corn, Cold Corn, and Angeline the Baker, plus one more Handsome Molly. I taught him how to take breaks and come in right with the singing and the down beat as he took his break on it. It was so awesome that these kids were playing so good and we were having so much fun each day playing music together. We were able to play music pretty much every day that they were here too. Ryker promised me that he wouldn't ever stop playing!
John and I were able to take them to the Hardtimes Festival where they played the "Kids In Bluegrass" and did a fantastic job! Then some of us from my Foggy Mtn Girls band along with 2 of Gail's grand daughters, Callie on fiddle and Victoria on banjo, and then Pyper on mandolin competed in the band contest and we won it again this year! Pyper was so excited that we won and we had Joy, the mom to Callie and Victoria take our picture in front of an antique car that was there. It was so exciting for Pyper that she talked about it the rest of the summer.
Finally after a busy summer of fun it was time to take the kids back home to Pocatello but not before dropping John off at the Round Valley Festival area for him to work on finishing building the stage that they'd begun last year. When Ryker found out that they weren't going to get to stay for the festival and play on the stage he cried. I felt so sad for him and then Gail suggested that they could get on the stage and play before we had to take them home and that I could get pictures of them. So even though they couldn't play on the stage for the festival they could play on it beforehand and I could take their pictures. This cheered him up and so when we dropped grandpa off he and Pyper and Greisyn got up there and I took a whole lot of pictures of them. I got some wonderful shots, and it was a fun way to spend my last summer day with them.
As we drove home I was able to talk to the kids about a festival being held right there in their own town of Pocatello that very weekend and how I could take them to that festival. Ryker went with me for two full days and he stayed up clear until 1AM and midnight the next evening jamming with a whole group of us the entire time. A new friend we met there Joel, was a dobro player and Ryker was really taken with his dobro so this guy went home and brought one of his dobros for Ryker to play and jam. Before the end of the festival he actually made Ryker his own Hawaiian guitar/dobro to keep at his house and work on playing and he also offered to help him keep learning it now that I'm home which was way nice too.
Finally to top off our perfect summer the kids put on a concert for their other grand parents and an aunt and uncle on their mom's side of the family. That side of the family were so impressed that I thought they were going to cry when they saw the kids playing so well, then I took them back to the festival for the last day and signed them up to play the open mic time. They got on stage and played 2 tunes, Hot Corn Cold Corn where Ryker got to show how he could take a lead on his mandolin and how he could come in on the downbeat and everything, and Pyper got to play the bass and show that she could keep great time on it, and then per the kids' pick they wanted to do their favorite song they learned this summer, "Barefoot Nellie" which switched Pyper and Ryker on the bass and mandolin duties. It was an awesome way to end our summer.
Now before I end this post I want to say one more thing. I got a phone call yesterday from our daughter-in-law LaDeena telling me that Pyper went into the office at her school and told the secretary that she'd learned to play the bass this summer and then she sang the song "Barefoot Nellie" to her. The secretary told my daughter-in-law Deena how cute it was and how impressed she was that Pyper could play the bass. My heart about pounded out of my chest with pride to hear this.
I'm praying that my older grand kids will come back to playing and grow up to have the desire to learn more and once again want to play, and that my younger ones who are so enthused right now will keep up the good work and stay with it forever. I've taught and given every one of my 11 grand kids the opportunity to learn, and it's been a huge blessing for me to see them each have a time in their lives when they embraced it and loved it. I have a feeling that Pyper and Ryker are going to stick with it though because they're both self motivated even while I'm gone to keep practicing. I taught Ryker how to tune his instruments too.
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| Playing with the "Kids In Bluegrass" on stage at the Hardtimes Festival over in Montana, July 2012. Ryker and Greisyn. |
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| Pyper and Ryker playing on stage with the "Kids In Bluegrass" at the Hardtimes Festival. |
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| The winning band from the Band Contest. We called ourselves "The Hens and Chicks." Pyper was so proud that we won. We each got a jar of Huckleberry jam and the button you see the kids wearing here. It has a picture of two hillbilly guys on it and says. "We Dun Won" Hardtimes 2012. |
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| Ryker learning to play the dobro that our new friend brought for him to try. He jammed both Friday and Saturday night with us until around 1AM. The next day he told his mom, I won't be home with grandma until after midnight, and he thought it was so cool that he got to stay up that late playing music each night. I got a real kick out of it! |
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| Playing Hot Corn, Cold Corn at the open mic time for the Pocatello Festival. Ryker is taking his lead. He did great and afterwards I had 3 different parents come up to me and ask me how I teach the kids because they want to teach theirs and don't know where to start or how I do it. |
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| The Round Valley Festival that their grandpa helped build and this was the day that we had to take them home so before we left grandpa there we let the kids get on the stage and play while I took their pictures. They loved it! |
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| Greisyn who's almost 6 here is still too young to learn to play so he sings with the kids. He gets upset though that he doesn't have an instrument so sometimes we let him hold one while he's on the stage. Next year I'll begin teaching him. |
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| 11 year old Pyper loves to play the bass and is learning it really well. She can really sing good too and can sing while she's playing it which is hard for some people to be able to do. I'm so lucky that my friend Joel who lives in Pocatello sold me this smaller quarter bass so that the kids can learn on it. She looks so small with this bass but the bass is only about half the size of a regular bass. They call them quarter basses. This one is even a Kay Bass which is a real find as instruments go. |
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| Ryker playing the Cole mandolin that I'd bought for my oldest grand daughter Cortney. She was told that if she didn't stick with it and play it then it came back to me, so since she isn't playing it I've had it at my house. Ryker immediately gravitated towards that better mandolin and played it the entire time he was here, so I let him take it home to keep practicing on. His mom tells me that he gets it out every day is plays, so I'm very excited to see his self motivation. |
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| Pyper playing her bass and singing. She's really good at both! |
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| Ryker takes his turn on the bass. Not many 9 year olds can say that they know how to play 3 instruments, but he sure can and is learning them all really good too. |
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| Ryker playing the Cole mandolin that may end up belonging to him if Cortney doesn't come back to it and if he sticks to playing. |
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| Pyper chops the mandolin whenever Ryker takes the bass. I love these guys and love that I get to teach them. It's the best thing ever in life getting to be a grandma! |
