I am a HUGE fan of Jon Schmidt! I have seen Jon and Steven Sharp Nielson in concert 4 times. They have now started a group call "The Piano Guys" and I just LOVE LOVE LOVE everything they do. But their most recent video is my hands down FAVORITE of all time. I just can't stop watching it!!!
So truth be told, I would totally be FREAKING out if anyone was doing this to MY Yamaha, but it sure is fun watching it be done on someone else's piano:)
So my husband has been telling me about this place for months! Chris came to the MIM last year with his co-workers and they all loved it. It's out in Glendale but totally worth the drive.
We were wondering on Friday what we should do for our LAST weekend of summer vacation. Carlie had early morning oboe lessons in Mesa on Saturday, so we all loaded up, went to lessons and then headed out to Glendale to the museum:)
Such a COOL place. They have instruments and listening stations for TONS of countries. Here are some of the cool pics:
We LOVE Grandma Donna!!!
Max HAD to have a pic in front of the New Zealand Display--notice the "Haka" on the screen?
An early marimba made with gourds
Check out turtle shells!
Early oboes
More early oboes:)
Max & Ethan found their Halloween costumes:)
I want this in my house!
And this one...
And this one too....SOO CUTE!
Okay, so this next picture is one of a "square" grand piano. I actually remember the story behind this from my college days! So back in the day, people made "square" grands and "kidney-shaped" grand pianos. Well, the piano council of the United States got together and decided that "kidney-shaped" were better than the "square" grands--in all honestly, there was NO difference in the sounds. So they pulled ALL of the square grands off the store shelves and BURNED THEM!!! So now when you see a square grand, it is because it was in someone's home at the time of the big piano bonfire:) What a waste!!! I want one of these too!!!
Max at the "Rock-n-Roll" display
There is a beautiful "Steinway" concert grand piano in the lobby for anyone to play:)
Best part of the museum is the "Hands on" room. There were ALL kinds of instruments for my kids to try out--okay, so I tried them all too! Soo fun!!!
Well our vacation was finally winding down:( Driving down Highway 1 on the California coast is absolutely BREATH-TAKING! Seriously the prettiest road trip I've ever been on.
Just before reaching the castle we saw these things and just HAD to pull over!!! I have NEVER seen Elephant Seals before and was absolutely stunned by them! I could have watched them for hours! There was at least 100 of these enormous creatures!!!
I had to take a video of these things moving along the beach, talking to each other and bathing themselves in the sand: (the burping noises are the seals:)
Our next stop was going to be at Hearst Castle in San Simeon, CA. This unfinished castle was built by William Hearst and his architect Julia Morgan. William Hearst was a very successful business man with his newspaper in San Francisco being his main business--in his prime he operated 32 businesses! The construction began in 1914 and continued over the next 27 years. It was really quite amazing. I wondered how it could take 27 years to build but I quickly understood why when I learned a little more about William Hearst. He loved the art/architecture/style of the European countries. He loved this plot of land in California that he grew up camping on as a child. He wanted to combine these two things, and well, he did just that. The castle was truly "recycling" at it's best. They couldn't just draw up plans for the house because the house needed to be built to accommodate his artifacts that he acquired. William bought statues, artwork, tapestries, old choir risers, sarcophagi, fireplaces, and anything else he liked. Here are some of the pics of the inside:
A Tapestry
This is the ceiling
Only 1 piano in this entire place!!! What?!?! I should have walked out:)
The chairs in this room are old choir risers:)
Some shots of the outside:
Max was all about finding the sarcophagi (coffins) on the grounds:)
The view from his castle
We tried convincing the kids that it would be a PAIN to live here. How would you EVER make the decision each and every day to swim in the outdoor pool:
Or the indoor pool?!?!
One of the coolest things about William Hearst was that he was not some weirdo that liked to keep all his things to himself. He LOVED to share his castle with everyone. He often flew friends out--mostly famous actors/actresses--to his castle for weekend parties. There was tons to do there--pools, tennis courts, and a full on ZOO (with polar bears, zebras, and giraffes)!!! When William came on some hard financial times, he donated the animals to local zoos. But the zebra stayed and you can STILL see the descendants of the original zebra running around the property with the deer and antelope! We saw them while we were driving away!!! Look REALLY close!
So we were absolutely EXHAUSTED at this point of our vacation. We spent the last 2 days in Ventura, CA. While we were here, we caught up on all of our lost sleep:) So we slept late and enjoyed the rest of the time at the hotel pool/hot tub and the beach:
We had a fantastic time but it was sure nice to get back home again too:) This summer was just jammed-packed with fun. It went by way too fast for me but boy we sure had LOADS of fun:) Back to reality again:)
So we left San Francisco to drive to our next destination: Monterey, CA. My older brother, K.C., and his family live there. K.C. is in the Coast Guard and has been stationed here for a couple years now. Monterey is definitely one of the most BEAUTIFUL places I have ever seen! But it's COLD in the summer!!! I had my coat on the entire time! My brother's home is owned by the Coast Guard. They have the cutest home right in between a working lighthouse and a golf course. Check out these views literally RIGHT outside their windows!
Point Pinos Lighthouse built in 1855--and STILL in use:)
The Golf Course on the other side of their home
The beach a short walk away
This was hands down our kid's most favorite part of our entire trip! (Next time we'll just drive to Monterey and stay all week--save a lot of money that way:) The kids just LOVE LOVE LOVE playing with their cousins. We definitely don't get to see them as much as we would like to.
Because their home is right next to a golf course, there are a TON of golf balls hit into their yard. The kids had the BEST time "hunting" for golf balls. It was kinda like Easter all over again, but with a LOT more to find:)
Seth, Max, and Ethan
Carlie and Cali
Such fun:)
So after literally finding hundreds of balls, we all headed down to the beach to find crabs in the tide pools:
This beach reminded me of "Goonies"
I could not get Hanna to keep her shoes on:)
Tatum was TERRIFIED of the hermit crabs:)
Brave Ethan:)
Max just wanted everyone to see his "owie" on his leg--he didn't even cry by the way:)
Hanna was the bravest of all--a crab in each hand!!!
We had one full day in Monterey so we had to hit the "World-Renowned Sea Aquarium!" It was pretty darn amazing. LOTS and lots of Jellyfish:
This is the most amazing seahorse I've ever seen! It was called a Leafy Sea Dragon
Here the kids got to experience a tidal wave!
Lots of things to touch:)
Tatum...terrified but touching the starfish:)
We sure had the best time at Uncle K.C.'s house. On our last night there, we HAD to visit the amazing Point Pinos Lighthouse before we left and we were in luck because K.C. has his own personal keys to the lighthouse--which is NOT haunted thank goodness--yes, I was concerned about this:) So we had our own personal tour of the lighthouse and even got to go to the very top--which no one is allowed to do:) We felt so special:
Oh yeah...we got our own personal tour of the lighthouse:)
So a HUGE thank you to K.C. and Carolynn and their kids for being the most WONDERFUL hosts! We had a BLAST and can't wait to see you guys again at Thanksgiving!!!
This is the Meeker family residing in beautiful, sunny Chandler, AZ. Chris and I have 4 beautiful kids: Carlie (23), Ethan (21), Maxwell (18), and Tatum (16). Thanks for stopping by:)
