Fiddling Friends...

Haley and Alex at 5 and 8 years old

Haley met Alex when she started fiddling with Next Generation Kids at 5 years old. They were the youngest two in the group for a couple years so they gravitated to each other and became good friends. I have been catching up on scrapbooking that is years behind and finding little gems like some of the pictures in this post and others have been sent to me by Alex's mom because she has been organizing her pictures lately as well.

Here they are at 6 and 9 years old.

Again, at 7 and 10 years old.

I think they are 8 and 11 here.

 It has been fun watching them grow up together. They take lessons from the same fiddle teacher and attend some of the same workshops and camps. They compete in the MidAtlantic Fleadh together in a trio with their friend, Keegan, on uillean pipes and hope to qualify for the All Ireland this year. Their first year competing as a trio, they decided at 10pm the night before the competition to put their names on the list and worked up a couple tunes while playing in the session. They had no idea what trio playing should be like but entertained the judge. They qualified by placing 2nd in the under 15 last year but the boys weren't able to make the trip to Ireland. Time will tell what this year will bring. They really enjoy swimming during the day and playing music together all night long while at the Fleadh for the weekend.

This one was from two years ago so...9 and 12?

Yesterday, we went to help Alex celebrate his 15th birthday...he had an Irish session style birthday!

These kids have all grown up together in Next Generation Kids. It is hard to believe they are all in their teen years with Haley not far behind. Mike and Alanna are Newt's age and heading off to college next year! Time sure does fly! The all share a common passion for Irish music and their age differences don't seem to matter at all in their friendships. Alex's mom said he thinks Irish music might be "weird" to people who don't understand it and love it. We think it is awesome!