Tag: kids

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Tonight Koa performed with his 2018 high school marching band for the final time. Marching season is over, but it was an amazing year for the kids – the band won first place in the UIL State Competition which means they are state champions for their division (6A)! It’s an amazing accomplishment and the first championship for them in school history.

Here’s a link to the local Austin news report about the band, and also below is their performance at the UIL competition:

Next up for Koa is a trip to Indianapolis to perform with his percussion group at PASIC. So busy, but he loves percussion. がんばって Koa!

またね～

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today Koa performed with his high school band in the Bands of America super-regional competition at the Alamodome in San Antonio. There were maybe 30 marching bands competing over two days, and Koa’s band did awesome – a 4th place finish! It was really an amazing performance, and the kids were so pumped and excited!

Mariko and I drove down for the finals portion of the competition which started at 6 pm, and ended at 12:30 am. (I’m actually writing this on Sunday) And Koa’s band’s preliminary performance was actually at 7:15 am earlier in the day. I can’t believe how much energy they still had for their 10 pm finals performance, but they brought their A-game for sure. I’m so happy for them!

Before we went to the finals performance, Mariko and I got some dinner at Rosario’s Mexican restaurant, which was pretty good. But what was really cool was the awesome makeup on the girl at the next table over. We just had to ask for a photo.

I hope you had a great day!

またね～

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today Koa’s high school marching band competed in the Bands of America program for the area. It was a pretty huge event at the nearby stadium, with maybe 20 bands performing, starting at 9 am, and concluding with the awards ceremony at about 11 pm. It ran later than usual because it rained in the middle of the day and some performances were delayed for an hour or so, but luckily, the event didn’t get rained out.

Koa’s high school did great and finished 4th place overall, with a special award for Visual Achievement. I think they are very happy with the result, which is a huge improvement from last year’s 10th place finish. They worked so hard and that effort really paid off. 💪

All the performances were great, and it was so fun to see the kids really giving it their all. What an excellent event!

I hope you had a nice Saturday ☺

おやすみなさい

こなばんは。How’s it going?

Tonight Koa performed at his first high school football game. He’s part of the Front Ensemble, which is part of the Drum Line. Since he plays the vibraphone, and those instruments are so large, he just stays at the front of the band with the rest of the front ensemble, and their marimbas, gongs, and other large percussion pieces.

After the game, I asked if Koa liked it and he said it was super-fun! I’m glad he enjoyed his first-ever high school band game. They sounded great, btw!

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～

こなばんは。How’s it going?

This morning Koa’s marching band had a “March-a-thon” through the neighborhood as a fund-raiser, practice, and to have fun. It was pretty cool! I think all the kids (especially the Freshmen like Koa) had a blast and it was really special because they had a police escort as they marched on the streets. I think the route was about 2 miles from the high school to the elementary school that both Bay and Koa attended, and it was under the hot sun so the Koa was pretty wiped out in the afternoon. But he had a great time, and it was awesome to see him marching with the band, even though he wasn’t playing an instrument. (Front ensemble percussion instruments are too big to march with).

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～