ABC....American Band College (aka Adult Band Camp)

Vince attended 2 weeks of his masters program at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, OR. The program is known as ABC, the American Band College. It is the largest masters program in the country for band directors. At the end of three summers, Vince will have a masters in conducting (band, not electricity).

The program is super practical; none of that educational philosophy stuff. Each day he had classes with world class clinicians, conductors, guest soloists, and composers. He played his trombone 3 hours a day, performed in two concerts, slept fitfully in a non-airconditioned dorm room, and met some really great folks from all over the country. He also learned what "skpye" is!

He has two big projects to complete before August 11th and the '08-'09 school year will also involve working on his second year projects.




Tony, Kevin, Mike, Brad, Aaron, & Vince before the July 4th extravaganza.

The 200 member ABC Band performed on July 4th. This piece (Suite of Old American Dances by Robert Russell Bennett) was conducted by Robert Ponto, director of bands at the University of Oregon. (The video engineer apologizes for the shaky camera work. She had to film and keep track of a 2 year old!)

Miles goes bowling!

Last week, Miles went bowling with the ASB kids from Marcy's school. The bowling alley had special little shoes--just his size! They also got out the lightest ball and a special ramp that he could just push the ball down. Add the automatic bumpers to prevent gutter balls and it was a recipe for success. What a fun afternoon!

A visit from the Guamanians

Vince's dad (Jerry) and stepmom (Alicia) visited from Guam this last weekend. We really enjoyed spending time with them and it was fun to see Miles hanging out with his Guama and Guampa. Here are a couple pics of us at the park across the street.

Look out world...here comes trouble on three wheels!

After a very wet, cold spring, summer may finally be coming! We took advantage of our beautiful weather this weekend by getting outdoors.

The last couple days have been just about perfect in Miles’ eyes as he got to play with his buddy Nolan, pile rocks in his new sandbox, and cruise around the parking lot of Marcy’s school on his trike. He's not really into pedaling yet because he can get around much faster using this strange scooting method he’s mastered; it looks awfully uncomfortable to us but he seems happy, so who are we to argue.

Our little Picasso

Miles officially turned two and a half this week and is talking up a storm! He loves puzzles, "driving" the car, and anything to do with vehicles. He's also started singing for us...his ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Row Row Row Your Boat are staples of his act. The show stopper, however, is a song called, "I dig dirt."

Anyway, we realized that we hadn't posted anything on the blog in the last couple weeks, so here's a little glimpse at what we do around the Caruso house to amuse ourselves.

Enjoy.