Arrrgh!!!

I could probably leave it at that, but you know I won't! lol. Our trip through the central Illinois and Indiana farmlands was wonderful. We got to watch the harvest in progress. I'm assuming that the farmers either got their crops in early this year, or the crops are drying out early due to lack of rain. For whatever reason, the harvest looked to be as much as one quarter of the way done! The farmers were harvesting both soybeans and corn. I thought the tradition was to harvest the corn first, because the beans suffer less damage in the field if the harvest is delayed.

We had to take a detour in Indiana, but I lucked out, and had been on those roads, and knew my way. I avoided adding an hour to the trip because I was familiar with the area. We arrived, and unpacked all the goodies and sat for a bit. My-Sister-The-Nurse had made a Crockpot of sausage and peppers and Nan put together a great meal around it. We sat and talked all evening, just us girls. The guys all had other things to do, so it was a girly weekend.

On Saturday, MSTN and I collected Nan at the school and drove her north to the competition. For some reason, I thought the competition started around 3:00, so we hurried up into the stadium. But, as we turned the corner, I realized there was almost no one there! I checked the program, and the first performance was scheduled for 5:00. We watched the class D, C and B bands perform, probably 10 or 12 bands, followed by the awards ceremony. I'm delighted to tell you that my niece's band won first place in her class!

The band set up props to create a huge clock face on the field. Props with numbers surrounded them in a circle. They did an incredibly daring move at the start of the program. As the show started, a line of kids created the minute hand of a clock and swept from twelve to about four. I know that doesn't sound so terribly amazing, but in corps-style marching, you avoid straight lines because anyone out of line, or out of step is so easy to see, and for every error the judges see, you loose points. My niece said they had worked on the opening for some time, moving kids in and out, until they found the group who could sweep the "hand" in a perfectly straight line. I AM SO PROUD OF THEM!!! I can hardly wait to see them next month!

Elegante Mother decided it was going to be too long a day for her, so she stayed home with my youngest niece. My niece decided to make Chicken Parmigiana and called her mother to discuss recipes. Nan was sitting in the stands with us, and a band was about ready to take the field, so Nan suggested that she get out a cookbook. The results were fine, but my niece definitely didn't like having to cut the chicken. Dislike of touching raw chicken must run through that side of the family! *G*

We got home late, and crashed. Sunday morning we had a few hours with the girls before they went off their separate ways. EM, MSTN, Nan and I had a leisurely breakfast before we had to pack up and hit the road. It was a MUCH too short visit. We all would have liked to stay longer.

The trip home went well. We avoided the road that had the detour, but were still able to drive home through the farmland. We were home in good time, and no one was any worse for the wear.

Nan, and K. and B., thank you SO MUCH, for letting us come to visit. We had a wonderful time, and I'm really looking forward to visiting again!!