Arrrgh!!!

What a lovely weekend!

We left at 9:00 a.m. on Friday heading south and east for north central Indiana. We both detest Interstate 80 where it leaves Illinois and crosses Indiana, so we choose instead to make a slightly longer trip through the Illinois farm fields.

Harvest is well under way in both states. Farmers were working to get as much corn harvested before the rain comes this weekend, as possible. Perhaps half the bean fields were cleared, too. We had to slow for a few tractors pulling bins of corn to the co-op, but for the most part, the roads were in good repair and sparsely traveled.

We stopped for lunch at a truck stop sort of a place just into Indiana. We both had soup, a sandwich and fries. It was too much food. It's a wonder Dear Husband was able to stay awake. He drove the entire way.

Before we left, I selected about a dozen CDs to play. DH is a Mozart aficionado, so I chose about six CDs by different performers. We listened to two hours of Mozart Piano Concertos played by Rubinstein, before we stopped for lunch.

We stopped at a small bakery on the way, and practically bought them out. Sprouted wheat bread, Challa, and Cinnamon bread, lemon bars, Texas brownies, pumpkin bars and cherry-oatmeal crumbles, and cranberry-nut muffins! We had enough for a WEEK! lol My brother-in-law brought home apple cider and a dozen sugary apple donuts (that were to DIE for!), and bagels from Panera. Nobody had to make anything for breakfast of snacks all weekend.

We arrived before the first of the family returned. Frankette #1 drove up after school, and let us in, moaning that she was supposed to clean her room before we arrived. Unfortunately for her, our visit always means that she has to give up her bed, so there were sheets to wash and dry, and re-apply. She got it done in record time.

My sis, Frankie, was the next in, followed by her husband. We were introduced to two new members of the family....Hawkeye, a kitten that was rescued from the fields (having been dumped off by some despicable person!), and Tommy, a long-haired black and white tomcat of a remarkably calm disposition. My brother-in-law made jokes all weekend about sending one of the cats home with us.

Friday night I helped pack uniforms on the trailer, and then we spent a pleasant evening at home with the family. Sis made pasta e fagiole that was really yummy. We all crashed reasonably early. The girls had to be at school well before 6:00, when the bus was leaving.

We drove to the site of the competition and found seats up above the 50 yard line. We lucked out that the stands shielded the field from most of the wind. It was a brisk sunny day in the 50s. The band has a huge number of props that are used to delineate the performance area, and wind could have been an issue. Luckily, everything stayed in place for the performance.

The girls were in the very first band to perform. This is definitely NOT the spot you would choose IF you had a choice. The judges are reluctant to give a perfect score the the first band because they are aware that another band might come along later which could top their performance. The scoring of the top bands is usually fairly close. Often the difference in scores turns out to be just hundredths of a point. So...the girls gave their absolute best performance and hoped that the judges would recognize quality when they saw it.

I didn't realize it, but most of these bands are now amplifying the flutes and clarinets electronically. Frankette #1 is a clarinet player, and she told me that the equipment on her clarinet malfunctioned just as they took the field. Beyond that, the sound board died as well, so none of the flutes or clarinets could be heard up in the stands. I suspect the music judge was one of the two judges on the field, and that he knew what was happening. Their director chose very challenging music, and it was well performed. Even if WE didn't hear it, the judges did.

We watched fourteen bands perform over about three and a half hours. The awards ceremony followed the last performance. You heart is up in your throat, and you're in agony, waiting to hear what judges thought of "your" kids. They announced ratings in the order of performance, so we were the very first to learn that we had earned a GOLD! YES!!!!

Then, we had to wait for them to announce which five of these bands would be going on to compete at State this coming weekend. Again, they reeled them off in performance order. WE were the first announced!! YES!!!! The stands around us erupted with screams of joy!! (My voice may be off for a few days. *G*)

The kids loaded the busses and went to have a late lunch. We headed home to wait for them at the school. Parents lined their cars up facing each other across a wide aisle. Just before sunset, the local fire truck lead the busses into the parking lot. The busses pulled up three abreast and every parent laid on the car horn, saluting the entire band. It was marvelous to see!

We stayed with the kids to watch two videos of their performance. After having seen all 14 of the bands, it was instructive to see their performance again. It had incredible depth and challenge. I can't wait to see it in the RCA dome in Indianapolis next Saturday.

The girls joined us and we had a wonderful dinner. Three of the six of us at the table were celebrating October birthdays. We had yummy meals, but passed on the desserts. We were too full...and just to tired for any more.

Everybody fell into bed, and slept late. MY sister fixed an incredible noon-time meal (Sunday DINNER for those of you who are interested what we call that meal). We all had the chance to chat once more, before Dear Husband and I took off for home.

We had a lovely trip back. I drove about half of it, and despite my stopping four times along the way, we made good time getting home. Dear Husband has saved me a trip to Morris. We stopped at "Big R" to pick up six 50-pound bags of black oil sunflower seed. What a sweetie.

Half my face is sunburned. My lips are windburned and chapped. My voice is fractured from screaming with joy! I'm stuffed to the GILLS, but I had the most wonderful time! Thank you, Frankie and family, for making our stay perfect! Congratulations, girls! See you at the Dome!