Monthly Archives: July 2013

Catch a Gnarly Wave, Dude

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Geocaching – First Time Out

The kids and I tried geocaching for the first time today. If you haven't heard of it before, think of it as a real-life, GPS-based treasure hunt. People hide containers and post the GPS coordinates online. Your job is to find the container. They always contain a small log book you can sign, and sometimes they contain trinkets - if you take one, you leave one. The kids loved it - especially the part where the GPS tells you that you're in the right place and you have to start searching every nook and cranny in the area to find the container. We found four caches today, and the photo on the right shows the stuff we brought home from the caches we found. Hopefully the next people to find them like what we left ourselves! If you want to know more about it, here is the link to the main site: geocaching.com.

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Jake Shimabukuro

Dad and I took Carter to her first real concert last night - we saw Jake Shimabukuro at the Stockbridge Theater. This guy is phenomenal - he started playing when he was 4 (he's 36 now), and became famous by accident, essentially. Check out his wiki page to read the story. It was a great show last night - it was just Jake and a ukulele, blowing us away for two hours. He can make that thing do anything, from bluegrass, to flamenco, to classical music - at one point he even plugged into some effects pedals and pulled of some hard rock style, all-over-the -fretboard-at-lightning-speed craziness. Carter's eyes were as big as dinner plates half the time - and I'd have to admit my own probably were too. We got to meet him after the show, and I took Dad's picture with him. My only regret is that I didn't bring one of my ukuleles for him to sign! You'd better believe that I will next time, though!

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Black Cap 2013

We were up north for our yearly vacation last week - but didn't actually take many pictures this year. But we did get this one, from our yearly hike with the kids up to the summit of Black Cap. We were too early for the blueberries this year though, unfortunately.

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Curly Maple Uke Finished

Three days ago I finished the second of the trio of new ukuleles I've been building. This one is for me - it's got a mahogany top, curly maple back and sides, and a curly maple neck. I love the look of that curly maple! I've been playing it for the last couple days and it sounds pretty good. I've got a couple of very minor buzzes to work out - I think the saddle needs a sharper crown on one end. Pretty minor change, but I'll need to take the strings off to do it and I don't want to stop playing it. :) It's got a nice bright sound due to the maple back and sides, the intonation is really good, and the action is really low. Now just one more of the trio left to go! Think I might start a tenor size once the cherry soprano is finished.

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Fireworks 2013

We took the kids to their first real fireworks on Thursday night. They complained nonstop about the bugs - at least until the fireworks started. Once the show began they were laser-focused and awestruck. None of the pictures Lori took of the fireworks themselves came out, but I did find this Kodak moment tucked away on the camera.

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