Pictures, Videos, and a Lot of Rambling About State :-)

Okay, some details about the State Band Competition. What a day!!! Christian had to be at Choctaw at 4:45 AM on Friday for the long drive to St. Petersburg. So I dropped him off with all of the essentials. A couple changes of clothes, some DVD's, a pillow and a TON of junk food. The would be competing twice on Saturday. Preliminaries would be in the morning with the best 5 bands from each category advancing to the finals in the evening. A long day that begins with practice after breakfast and ends with trophies presented just before midnight.

Adam, Hayden and I also left for St. Pete Friday morning. We had to wait until the kennel opened so that we could drop off Lexxie. She loves it there and always get a bath and a cute little bandana before she comes back home.

The drive went well for both the band and us. The kids stopped to practice at FSU and their buses arrived at their hotel in the early evening. We had no problems and checked into our room on base. This year, we decided not to stay in a hotel. Instead, we stayed at a TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility) on MacDill Air Force Base. It was really nice. Much bigger than a hotel room and WAY cheaper :-)

The Living Room with a pullout sofa and a pullout chair.

The Kitchen

The Bedroom
No pictures of the Bathroom, but it did have one :-)

Saturday, we went to the Preliminary Competition. We got there in time to see a couple of 4A bands and all 9 of the 5A bands. There were some really good shows, but nothing that made us nervous . . . until Timber Creek came out. They were good. And I had already seen their score from a local competition (92). Now the nerves start to set in. We were the last to compete. The kids did really well, now we will just have to wait and see.

The GINORMOUS screen that shows close up of the action on the field.

The Marine Corp Marching Band performed in exhibition, and then all of the bands came out for Officers and Seniors Retreat. During this retreat all of the 4 year seniors are recognized, 9th through 6th places are announced and awards (captions) are given for Best Music, Best Auxillary, Best General Effect, Best Visual Effect and Best Percussion. These are all of the awards that we swept at our Regional Competition. So, the seniors get recognized, the places (9th through 6th) are announced and the captions begin. Our hearts sank deeper and deeper as Timber Creek won every one of them. It was definitely an odd feeling.

Style Marchers waiting to enter the field for competition.

The stadium cleared out to clean up for the evening competition. Adam, Hayden and I walked a few blocks to a neat little restaurant to get a bite. Our dinner conversation definitely had a theme - Do you really think they'll beat us???? We called Christian to see how the kids were doing. He told us that they were disappointed, but okay. He said that Mr. Hannah gave them all the best pep talk he had ever heard in his life. He said it was like one of those inspirational speeches from a movie, it was that good. That made us feel better. Plus, we knew they would have all new judges for the second performance. The judges for 1A - 3A in the afternoon would now being judging the 4A - 5A bands in the evening and vice versa. It would be what it would be.

We went back to the Tropicana Dome and watched the Final performances for 4A, and then 5A. Timber Creek and Choctaw were the last to perform. Timber Creek did well again. Now it was up to us. As I saw the kids in their ready positions, I just kept saying to myself "Bring it kids, bring it, you gotta' bring it if you wanna' win it." They did, but would it be good enough?

Now we have to wait for the 3 A bands to perform, then the Marine Corp Band, then all of the bands have to march back in for Full Retreat, then the awards for 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A . . . are you people trying to give me a heart attack??? Finally, it was time for the 5A awards. They announce 5th place, 4th place, 3rd place, and then they stop - WHAT???? By now I am on the edge of my seat. Christian told us later that he was physically shaking by this time. The announcer talks for what seems like FOREVER about how much they appreciate the judges and how important and difficult their job is. They talk about how evident it is that their job is difficult because the spread between 1st and 2nd is only 4/100ths of a point!!! Now, I KNOW that we got 2nd place. But . . . when he announces the runner up he says Timber Creek. Huhh?? Holy Crap!! That means WE WON!!!!

Everyone from Choctaw starts cheering. We're not supposed to, it's really unsportsman like. But after losing every caption earlier in the day I think that we all just involuntarily exploded with relief and joy.

Waiting patiently to celebrate. To be good sports, the First Place bands don't celebrate until the other bands have left the field.

Christian and Kyle in the parking lot getting changed, and letting us know that they are NUMBER ONE!!

We tagged the car before we left. But, I had to change "Take State" to "Took State" for the ride home :-) I also had to add "2008 CHAMPS" to each side of the van.

Okay, I can't believe you guys have stuck with me this long. I'm going to go ahead and post this before I even get started on the welcome home in the parking lot. Suffice it to say that I posted 4 videos on YouTube. I also sent them to the Northwest Florida Daily News. So you can see the videos in two places!!!!

Here is a link to my YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/juliemichelle4
Here is the link to the NWF Daily News http://www.nwfdailynews.com/