This past Christmas, our present to the Facey kids was a trip to the wonderful Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by Frank Gehry, to see Beethoven in the House, one in a series of concerts for kids put on by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. As Kendall, the oldest, is now a clarinet player in her school orchestra, we thought it would be really cool for the kids to see a renowned symphony orchestra in one of the coolest concert halls in the world. We think it’s awesome that the LA Phil has a kid-friendly concert series that exposes kids to classical music and the arts, so we were only too excited to take the kids here.
Not surprisingly, all of the kids knew the iconic opening of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, but none of them knew that it was Beethoven that had composed it. So, they were in for a treat as we piled in the Land Rover I was testing for the weekend and headed off for Downtown LA.
One cool aspect of the Symphony for Youth series is that during the hour before the concert begins, kids can participate in all kinds of creative activities to learn about music, theater, and art. We decided to make masquerade masks for an imaginary ball. Here we are making them, and wearing them:
The concert itself was great, and the kids thought it was really sad that Beethoven couldn’t even hear his final 9th symphony (which contains the famous Ode to Joy) because he had gone deaf at the early age of 32.
After the concert, it was time to leave the concert hall for the next destination!
It was recently Chinese New Year, and this is the year of the Tiger. To celebrate, the Chinese American Museum held its Lantern Festival near Chinatown. The event had live performances as well as tons of arts and crafts projects for kids.
The kids made awesome paper lanterns, fans, embossed metal plates with their own drawings, and even abacuses!
No trip to LA is complete without a stop at Sprinkles for some gourmet cupcakes. Kendall and Jordan had been here before, but this was the first time for Mikayla and Ethan.
Despite the hour-long cross-town drive to Beverly Hills to get these cupcakes, the kids declared the trip worth it. Ethan summed it up best when he bit into his Peanut Butter Chocolate cupcake and exclaimed, “This is the best cupcake ever!!!” No argument from us; look at them!
Another awesome weekend with the Facey kids. We miss them already! Click below to see the album.
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| Facey Kids Weekend Feb 2010 |
Awesome commentary and pictures. Memories made for lifetime … fun for all!
I hope to do this kind of stuff with Berlin and Baby Kim someday. What a great idea, glad the kids enjoyed themselves.