Suzuki Camp

I had a great week in Walla Walla. I learned so much. We were in classes 3 hours a day and observing children in their classes for 2 hours a day. Each day there were concerts and performances. It was a small group of 14 or so kids, which isn't very many. But I knew ahead of time that it wasnt the biggest program. I did see a little girl that had a deformed violin hand so she had a special violin made to switch sides. Instead of being on the left shoulder it was on the right and everything was backwards. Which was cool to see. Really it reinforces the fact that any child can learn to do anything, given the right tools and instruction.

My teacher trainer was very organized and gave me a lot of information and tips. She also fixed a couple of my bad habits, which is good, because it isn't something I really think about, but should. Here are a couple pictures of some fun stuff I did too.



The director has a speed boat and invited everyone out to the Snake river for some tubing and skiing. I didn't do either but it was a gorgeous afternoon and all the colors were so vivid. It is kind of desert like but across from this park, there was a gorgeous vinyard with bright green trees and grape plants. It took about an hour to get there, going through rolling hills of wheat. It was very pretty.


I ran up to the Columbia River temple. It is a small temple, and I haven't been here since the open house when we were living in Ellensburg. It was really great to go through a session. I was glad to have the time to drive up.



The kids got to play their violins downtown. They played in the plaza and then walked around the block in front of the businesses. People loved seeing all these little kids playing tons of pieces, together.




Of course, while leaving town I had to get some Walla Walla onions from Walla Walla. The ones I got were straight from the farm. I pulled up in the back of the field to the farm house. I got out of the car and the smell was amazing. It was so sweet, almost like a flower scent but you could smell a hint of the onion side. It was pretty cool.





On the way home I went over White's Pass to avoid the Fourth of July traffic through Seattle. There were some great views of Mount Rainier and huge waterfalls. I also stopped in at Yakima and got some Yakima fresh picked cherries. YUM.