NG N SG +3: Mama and Son Date with Gavin

On Saturday night, the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra celebrated their 25th anniversary with special guest violinist, Rachel Barton Pine. Gavin's violin teacher is the principal violin II for the orchestra and she had told us this would be a special performance. She told us about Rachel Barton Pine and how she is a world-renowned violinist. I honestly didn't know if I would be able to appreciate it because I do not know anything about violins and/or an orchestra. But anyone could appreciate this woman's talent. It was an unreal performance and we both left in awe. She moves her fingers SO fast and moved the bow around like I've never seen before. I knew it was really special when I saw the music students bowing to her at the end of her encore performance. I'm glad Gavin got to see it because he is now very motivated to practice his violin skills.

Anyhow, these are pictures from the night. We also learned that people get REALLY dressed up to go to the orchestra. We did dress up but I was still underdressed compared to some women. Men wore full suits and some women were wearing long evening gowns. The 55+ age crowd was very well represented. :) When I walked up to the box office with Gavin, the woman looked at him and then looked at me and said, "oh, he's here to see the orchestra....that's good" but in a tone that I sensed as a little apprehensive about having him there. I didn't quite understand and thought perhaps because the show didn't start until 8pm, maybe there aren't many kids who attend. But later we learned why....right on the program, it says, "please don't bring young children" so I think the woman was worried my Gavin would not be quiet and disrupt the performance. But Gavin was very mature that evening and once I showed him what the program said, he was shocked and asked me if it was ok if we stayed and I told him that as long as he followed the etiquette rules it was not a problem. He told me he could follow the rules. He promised me he would sit still and be quiet the entire performance and he was. When the performance started he got really excited because it's a song he recognized. It was Mendelssohm's Violin Concerto in E Minor or otherwise known in our house as Flight of the Instrument Fairies from Little Einsteins. Gavin was excited he kind of gasped and looked at me with excitement but he signed to me that he was excited. Our sign language skills came in handy on this evening and I think it helped him to follow the rules since he could still "talk" to me during the performance. So, we also walked away with motivation to learn more sign language so we could communicate in situations like this.

After the performance, we went hunting for a frozen yogurt shop. We found one called "The Mix". It was good but it was no TCBY. Not my favorite at all. I came home and told Nick maybe we should open a TCBY franchise in town b/c I think it would do well. I miss my almond milk froyo- no other chain offers that. Anyhow, it was a great evening and Gavin was still thinking about it in the morning. He said, "last night was a great date" during breakfast today. I asked him if he would want to go to the symphony orchestra again and he said yes.

Before we left....