Jazz festival at the midway

 

 

 

 

 

Alfonso Ponticelli and Swing Gitan: Chicago's best gypsy jazz band

 

 

Ming Ming and Lily danced so hard that they both ended up with blisters, for they had no shoes and the dancing floor was pretty hot soaking in the autumn sun, 

Picnic with the East Asian Languages and Civilizations department

football game after pizza picnic

MM was the goal keeper.. (the two of them look so big!)

 

 

 

daily things

science experiment with Daddy

 

 

MM made a laptop computer, with arrows controlling direction for bees

recent drawing

focused on an abacus 

pancake dinner with Avi and Nourit

I got last minutes tickets to one more concert at the Symphony Orchestra - Abiyoyo. An African folktale performed by Pete Seeger. his original performance is so good that Ming Ming, after viewing it on youtube, got really excited about the concert. The CSO version is quite different (replacing Ukulele with drum) but still enjoyable. a bit too short though.
Pete Seeger's video is here, enjoy! 

The benefit of living in a big city

The best subscription we did this year is at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO). We got tickets for three children's concerts. The first is a kid's version of music history, from classical composers to computers playing a role in the orchestra; the introduction is filled with images, stories, and a lot of interactions. The second one is about the making of opera: how narration and music is combined, what makes up an opera, how a story (about ice-cream) is told through singing. The last one is on dance and music, including classical ballets, modern dance, and musical. The mix of different media (like dancers and opera singers on stage) makes the concerts really fun and accessible for kids.

Ming Ming trying out a cello at the instrument petting zoo

 

 

bringing the dancing spirit outside the concert hall..

 

Lily and Kira-sophie joined in

moving to the Millennium Park for a picnic.

half of the greenwood commune left their beloved courtyard for downtown Chicago (just for one morning)

Kira-sophie caught my camera a lot because all the other kids ran way too fast in the fountain...

 

 

 

 

 

 

lovely day!

drawing and learning Chinese

 

 

music festival at the university

By Robert D. Singleton  "The Ants Go Marching" is a children's song that first appeared in Barney's Campfire Sing Along (1990).
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one,
The little one stops to suck his thumb
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching two by two,
The little one stops to tie his shoe
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching three by three, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching three by three, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching three by three,
The little one stops to climb a tree
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching four by four, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching four by four, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching four by four,
The little one stops to shut the door
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching five by five, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching five by five, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching five by five,
The little one stops to take a dive
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching six by six, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching six by six, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching six by six,
The little one stops to pick up sticks
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching seven by seven, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching seven by seven, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching seven by seven,
The little one stops to pray to heaven
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching eight by eight, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching eight by eight, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching eight by eight,
The little one stops to shut the gate
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching nine by nine, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching nine by nine, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching nine by nine,
The little one stops to check the time
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching ten by ten, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching ten by ten, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching ten by ten,
The little one stops to say "THE END"
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

on the way to the free concert

 

taking a break from concert

we listened to three bands: Tigist Bekele (Ethiopian pop), Haifa Ensemble (middle Eastern classical) and Chicken Fat Klezmer band (Jewish music)

the kids had a lot of free food. 

trespassing into the lab school playground on the way home.

MM's drawings

a drawing she made in school

also from school, her first trial writing her own name

drew this at home, another attempt at writing her own name

drew this tonight before bedtime, and wrote her own name!
two families of mice/monsters (with princess names) playing in a field (inside the circle) and two huge monsters living right next door to them (one upside down with three golden teeth).