Friday, March 11, 2011

Karaoke, Basketball, and the Circus

The weekend before last we had quite an eventful weekend.  Friday night we had plans to watch Terry play in a basketball game at GACS.  This was the annual GACS Faculty versus Legendary Globe Trotters Game.  Terry plays in a basketball league, but most of his games are late so the boys don't get to see him play very often.  The game didn't start until 7pm so we had planned to go out to eat as we usually do on Friday nights.  Friday afternoon I was sitting outside with Hayden while he played just before picking Isaac up from preschool.  I was looking at an Atlanta Parent magazine and came across an ad for a restaurant on the square of Lawrenceville called Singing Bean.  It mentioned that they had kids karaoke every Friday night from 6-8.  I immediately thought of Isaac.  Isaac has always loved music, singing, and being on a stage!  I thought this would be something fun and different to do so I told Terry that we should go for a little while before his game.  Isaac of course lit up when I picked him up from school and told him about it.  We got there at 5:30 thinking we could eat before the karaoke started.  We sat down in the karaoke room and Isaac immediately wanted to know when the karaoke was going to start.  He had never done karoake before, but we explained what it was and he was ready!  A couple young girls came in with their parents.  One was probably 6 or 7 and the other was probably 10 or 11 years old.  I started second guessing my decision to come as I reminded myself that Isaac couldn't read and therefore wouldn't be helped by the words on the screen.  He seemed a little intimidated, but still ready to sing so I started looking through the book of songs and trying to think what he could sing.  I saw that they had "This Is The Day" and smiled knowing that was a worship song he liked.  I thought that he could sing that with a little bit of help from us.  However, when the song started I quickly realized that it was a different version then the one we were used to.  So, he stepped down so we could think of another song.  The younger of the two girls started singing a popular hit song and did well for her age.  Isaac really watched her and I wondered again if this was a good idea.  He still wanted to sing so I decided we better stick to a song that he knows all the words to, a real kid song.  So, I suggested Old MacDonald.  Now if we were at home he would never want to sing that song on his stage, but I think he felt as I did that he better stick to a song that he really knows.  When it was his turn and the music started he proudly started singing.  Terry and I stood in the back taking pictures and trying to record it with our phones while at the same time singing along with him so he would know which animal was coming up next.  Everyone clapped and as soon as he got off the stage he asked if he could sing another one.  After the girls had another turn he got back up on stage and sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Another family had come by this time and everyone was so sweet cheering for him.  By this point Terry had to leave to go to his game, but Isaac pleaded for one more song so he sang Jesus Loves Me.  I love that he sang this one because it is what I have been singing to both the boys since they were born.  I was really surprised and impressed that he didn't hesitate a bit about getting up on stage in front of a group of people that he didn't know.  I kept telling him how great he did and how proud I was of him on the way to the basketball game.  He seemed proud of himself as well.  I think we will be returning to the Singin Bean!

As I mentioned earlier every year some of the faculty at GACS play the Legendary Globe Trotters.  We got there shortly after the game had started and quickly spotted our friend Sara with her two little boys.  Her son Henry is Hayden's age and they are in Bible class together and she has a little boy named Cole who is just 3 months old.  Henry, Isaac, and Hayden enjoyed playing on the bleachers together.  We would point out when the daddys were playing and had the ball and they would cheer.  We were sitting right behind the players and Isaac often tried to talk to his daddy and decided to help himself to the players' water.  It was fun to see Terry play, but we were only able to stay until half time as it was past the boys bedtime and still had to drive home and get them in bed.  We told daddy bye as well as Sara and her boys and headed for home.  On the way to the car Isaac talked about what a great basketball player daddy is.

On Saturday we took the boys to the circus for the first time.  Mimi and Papaw got us all tickets for Christmas.  I was really excited because I looked forward to seeing their reactions and because it brought back memories from childhood.  I went to the circus one year for my birthday and invited a few friends.  I think it was maybe my 8th birthday.  They invited me to the ring and let me ride on one of the elephants!  I am going to find those pictures and I will post them.  I had heard that there was a pre-show for kids so I wanted to get there early.  From the minute we walked into the arena Isaac was a little nervous and asked daddy to hold him.  He knew there would be clowns which he isn't crazy about and he didn't know what else to expect.  Terry did convince him to walk and hold his hand.  We found our seats and I was a little disappointed to look down on the floor and see how chaotic the pre-show was.  There were three different rings with shows going on and tons of people walking around trying to see everything.  Since there were so many people it was hard to see much of anything.  We picked up some clown noses and Hayden got a circus tattoo on his arm.  Shortly after Hayden and I went back to our seats the show got started.   I think Isaac was immediately in awe as they started with a circus parade.  There was so much to look at that it was hard to take it all in.  Hayden seemed to enjoy it as well as first, but it didn't keep his attention as well as I thought it would.  He quickly wanted to move around.  It might have partly been because we had already been there for an hour for the pre-show.  The show was quite spectacular.  The prices were as well!  We knew snacks and such would be expensive, but they were even more so then we expected.  A large lemonade was $10.  So, we all shared one and guarded it like it was gold so that it didn't get spilled.  I think Terry was in awe of the show as much as anyone.  He was constantly pointing things out to Isaac.  It was cute to see them glued to the action and trading comments.  I regretted not hearing those comments and seeing more of the show because I was wrestling with our little monkey.  All in all though we had a great time and it was a great family memory!

No comments:

Post a Comment