WGI (World Guard International) 2009

Christian and I after Choctaw's Finals performance

Here is another of my catch up posts :-) Last month, I went to Dayton, OH as a chaperone for Choctaw's Indoor Percussion unit. Each year they go to compete at WGI - World Guard International. It is the culmination of a lot of hardwork for young people from across the country, and in fact the world.

For those of you that aren't familiar with Indoor Percussion, you're not alone. I had never heard of it before last year. But, lemme' tell you, you gotta' check it out!! In a nutshell, drummers gotta' drum. They gotta' do it because it's in their blood. But what do you do when Marching Season is over? How do you improve without driving your parents crazy banging on everything in the house that isn't nailed down (and lots of stuff that is). Well, you just take the Drumline and the Pit and you move them inside. Roll out a vinyl floor big enough to cover an entire basketball court. Learn some awesome music, choreograph an intricate show, and practice, practice, practice. Go to several competition during the winter. Qualify to go to the World Championship. Then, come April, head to Dayton and strut your stuff! :-)

So that's what they do - Here are some pics:

• The Base Line practicing in "The Lot" (the parking lot at the University of Dayton Arena).
• Ashley applying eyeliner to Christian. All of the kids had to wear eyeliner to make their eyes stand out more during the competition. There were several boys that took a bit of persuading, but most were really good sports about it (and I think they gained a bit of appreciation for what we girls go through :-)
• About to perform. A moment of prayer before Finals.
• The Base Line after Finals.
• Practicing in "The Lot" before Prelims
• Backstage waiting for our turn at Prelims.
• Full Retreat after Finals. 30 units (15 from Percussion Scholastic World and 15 from Independent World) await the judges decisions. It's almost midnight and the everyone is anxious to see where they placed.
• Performing during Finals.
• The places have all been announced and a year of hard work has come to an end. The air is full of confetti thrown from 4 confetti cannons. All of these kids have so much to be proud of.
• Bags are packed and down in the hotel lobby waiting to be loaded on the bus.
• A packed house in Dayton arena watches the final performances.

• Bowling is a great way for the kids to wind down from a day of competition and keep their minds off of the next day's competition.
• 11:00 is lights out, although very few of them actually go to bed, they do get "taped in" to make sure no one wanders anywhere they are not supposed to be. They can still get out of their room and back in, but the broken tape will rat them out. So far, never a problem.
• A quick buffet in the parking lot. These guys have worked hard and they are hungry.
• Taking a break after yet another practice. This one was at an indoor Track field. The mats they are laying on are underneath a pole vaulting bar.
• Chaperones/Pit Crew sitting down to watch our kids perform. We can only rest for a minute though, we have to pop right back up after their performance to help the kids clear everything within their time limit.
• Susan and I mugging it up in the parking lot while the kids practice.
• Another outdoor buffet, this time it was KFC. The kids really liked that, it was a nice change from our usual offerings. Huge pans of chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, and biscuits. YUM!!
• Another chance to unwind before a competition. An impromptu Halo tournament. Yes, they bring their video games with them on these trips :-)
• Our last group meal of the trip. A Golden Corral in Alabama. We left Ohio at midnight (Eastern Time) the night before. Now it's 9:00 am (Central Time). These guys are worn out, hungry, and ready to get home.
  

So, if you wanna' see a bit more about this thing called Indoor Percussion and WGI. I have attached a link to a video. I tried to embed it into this post. But, for some reason I can't get the code to work. Choctaw competes in the PSW (Percussion Scholastic World) category. The link is to a video of several of the units in their category. Choctaw is featured 5 times (although don't blink :-) The video is 2 minutes and 02 seconds long. You can see Christian at 1:25 (again, don't blink).

Percussion Scholastic World Montage Video

Hayden's Spring Concert

Last week Hayden's school had their Spring Concert. It is always a very nice time with many different groups performing. The concert is held at "The Landing." The water you see in the background is Santa Rosa Sound (part of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway). The land behind the water is Okaloosa Island. Although it didn't rain, it was overcast so the water doesn't look as pretty as it normally does.

During the concert 5 groups performed - Beginning Band, Football/Symphonic Band, Jazz Band, Strings, and Guitar. It amazing to see how much progress all of the classes have made since their Fall concert.

Hayden has really enjoyed the whole band experience. He is really looking forward to kicking it up a notch next year.

Beginning Band

Hayden is to the right of Mr. Phillip's, in front of the Bass Drum.

Mr. Phillips is such a great teacher and a good sport. See his two toned hair? Well, he is normally a brunette. But, he told the kids that if they raised "X" amount of dollars during their last fundraiser, then he would die his hair blonde. They did their part, and he kept his end of the bargain. Poor thing, he didn't realize what a process it is to turn brown hair blonde. It took three hours to make the transformation. He says next time he will have to find another incentive :-)

Solo and Ensemble

Recently Hayden got to participate in "Solo and Ensemble" evaluations. He has been working on two pieces and got the opportunity to play them in front of his first real judge. He did very well and received a "Superior" rating!!

Waiting and warming up in the cafeteria

Hayden's time to shine!!

Emerald Coast Winter Classic

Last Saturday, February 7th, Choctaw hosted the Emerald Coast Winter Guard and Percussion Classic. Throughout the day we hosted 10 Percussion units, as well as 17 Colorguard units. The kids had a great time and got another chance to perform in front of an audience and be evaluated.

It won't be too long before we are back in Dayton, OH showing off for thousands!!

Christian in uniform.


(1) Pre-performance Practice
(2) The Happy Gram Table - this is what I did all day :-)
(3) A packed house


(4) Choctaw Percussion rolls out their floor for their show "Shattered"
(5) Choctaw World Guard in ready position for their show "Valentine"

Celebrity Servers

Last Night we had a fundraiser at Golden Corral. The Percussion section pre-sold tickets for dinner at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Then several of the kids were our waiters for the evening. It was a good time and the kids walked away with a few bucks in their pockets.

Christian and Co. - Sarah is standing on a chair and Christian is crouching down. Guess they wanted to try something other than being the tallest and the shortest.

I made TIP jars out of recycled peanut butter jars. I didn't realize how many we had! We made a lot of PB&J's during football season.

It's funny how a kid who has to be asked to clear the table at home will clear your plate every 6 minutes when there is $$ involved :-)

High on Paint Fumes :-P

More fun in the Band Room today. I didn't actually paint anything, but I still managed to kill a few brains cells breathing in what everyone else was painting. I swept and gathered up random belongings, and took LOTS of pictures. We're making progress.

We had lots of help painting today. First of all we had two band parents/professional painters who gave us a tremendous head start by doing all three coats of the top green stripe and one coat of the bottom green stripe the night before. They probably would've finished all of the green, but they ran out of paint. They have been soooooo wonderful!

Today, armed with more paint, parents and students alike picked up rollers and brushes and knocked out another chunk of this huge job in short order. They did the white stripe in the middle, finished the bottom green coats, and tackled both the entrance and the exit. Tomorrow, we will let the white and black dry.

Monday, our two pros will come back in and put a 6 inch black stripe between the white and the black while we try to put everything back in some order before the kids come back on Tuesday.

The kids will be surprised about the new walls, and probably a little confused about the fact that we moved everything. It will definitely take them a while to find their instruments, textbooks, and random clothing. The textbooks and random clothing I don't feel bad about. Isn't that what lockers and closets are for? But, all those instrument cases do look alike. Oh well, hopefully they will get over it.

Our Progress

Back of the Band Room (Panoramic View)

Before we removed the cabinets (northeast wall)

After we removed the cabinets

After a lot of sweeping, vacuuming and painting

I wish I had taken all of these pics from the same angle. But, I didn't think of it at the time. Oh well, to get an idea of the perspective look at the air conditioner vent (the black hole near the ceiling).

Long time no post! Today I'm back with lots to talk about :-)

It's the end of the semester and the start of a four day weekend (1 day off for a teacher workday and 1 day off for MLK day). Both of the boys did well this semester. Hayden got straight A's and Christian got a 3.0.

I have been busy lately making tutorials. It's a lot of fun. As you all know, I love crafting. Making videos that people are actually watching has been very rewarding. I will be posting two more this week.

I also spent some time this week auditioning for Stage Crafters next production - "Is There Life After High School"? I didn't get a part :-( But, it is NOT because of my age, as my children have been teasing me (the play is about people that have been out of high school for many years). It was disappointing not to be cast. But, I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Several of my friends did get a part and I will probably help backstage in some way. So, it will still be a lot of fun. If you're in the area come see it the first and second weekends in March.

Stage Crafters will be having their annual banquet next weekend at the Soundside. I will be the photographer again this year. I'm anxious to see if "Jekyll and Hyde" (the show I did last year)wins best show. I hope so, but I hear that "Godspell" is going to give us some tough competition.

We have also been busy with the Band Room Re-Do. We are on Phase 3 now.

Phase 1 was the removal and cleaning of all of the trophies

Believe it or not, this isn't all of the trophies

Before (top) and After (bottom)

Phase 2 was cleaning and spackling walls

Washing Walls and Hosing off disgusting A/C vents

Phase 3 was demolishing and removing the instrument cabinets

The kids with their "weapons" of choice

Before (top) and After (bottom)

Here is a funny video of some of the Instrument Cabinet Demolition.

You've Got a Lot of Gall!

Okay, the big news of the week and part of the reason that I haven't posted lately . . . turns out Adam and his gall bladder decided to get into it with each other this weekend. He woke up in pain Saturday morning. He just put up with it most of the morning, but by 2:00 pm we were in the emergency room. Poor thing, he was miserable! They admitted him around 8:00 Saturday night and that is where he had to spend the weekend :-( It was very frustrating, a lot of testing and waiting. By Monday, they had finally confirmed that his gall bladder is kaput and has to come out. Luckily, it is not infected so it did not have to come out right away. So, Monday evening he finally got to come home. He will be scheduling the surgery for some time after Christmas. He's not looking forward to it, of course. But, in the end it will be a good thing and eliminate a lot of discomfort. Thoughts and prayers welcome :-)

I'm off work today - Christmas break starts tomorrow!! Yeah! The kids get out of school early today so I've been trying to get some things done this morning while they're not around. Got a few things wrapped and organized. Then, I put on a pot of pinto beans with a ham bone we saved from Thanksgiving. The whole house smells yummy. It would be even better if the weather was chilly. But, it's flippin' 70+ degrees this week. Crazy! Santa will have to wear shorts this year I guess.
The boys and Adam put up our Christmas lights earlier this month. This year, Hayden wanted to get up on the roof and help. Luckily, I was inside when the decision was made to let him. It makes my hands sweat just looking at this picture. I am NOT one for heights. Turns out Hayden's not real crazy about them either. Christian is insane and will walk and jump around on the roof like he's on solid ground. He skids and slides and makes me very nervous. One day I just know he's going to slip and I'm going to find him tangled and mangled in the bushes. Hayden is a bit more cautious - for now anyway.

Last week, Hayden had his first band concert. He was very excited about it and it went really well. It was a 2 hour concert with all of the different groups performing (Beginning Band, Jazz Band, Concert Band, Guitar Class, Strings Class, and Chorus). We really enjoyed it. It was especially nice to see our handsome young man all dressed up. He looked so nice!!

Looking sharp!

This is Christian with his girlfriend Nicole. They have been going out for almost a month now. They've been good friends for over a year. She is a really neat girl!!

This picture was taken on Eglin Range. Nicole's dad is in charge of a project to test the effects of explosives on a special kind of glass. The bags are reffered to as "fertilizer." They are 4,900 pounds of real deal explosives - not hooked up to detonators in this picture :-) Nicole's dad invited Christian to come watch the test (the kids were on Thanksgiving break). Once everyone was a safe distance away, they detonated the bags. It made a HUGE hole in the ground, I felt the shock at home (10-15 miles away), Adam felt it at work, but . . . the glass didn't break, only fractured inside and remained intact.


I'm sure I've got more to catch you up on, but I'm going to close for now. Gotta' go get some more Christmas preparations done. Have a GREAT day!!!

Fort Walton Beach Christmas Parade - 2008

Last night was the Fort Walton Beach Christmas Parade. Luckily, it wasn't very cold outside (low 50's). Last year it was really cold.

Just like last year, we got Lenny's subs to eat before the Parade. We got our sandwiches and then copped a squat on the sidewalk outside and ate. The strategy is to find a spot next to a parking lot that has easy access to the streets that get you away from the parade when it's over. The spot also has to be near a food place, and have a good view. "Our spot" has all of the above :-)You know you live in a military town when Santa arrives in a C130 :-)
The Choctaw Color Guard

The rest of the Band marched in between the Color Guard and the Pit.
Christian played the Trap Set (center) for the parade.


Having problems with another video. I'll have to upload it later :-(

Bake Sale Goodies

Well, some of you probably know that I am NOT a great cook. I can cook, I just don't enjoy it that much. Lucky for me, Adam loves to cook. So, I usually just keep him company in the kitchen and help him clean up afterwards. When it came to the Christmas Bake Sale, I wanted to contribute. So I was trying to think of things I could do that were cheap, easy, fun for me to make, and would appeal to others.

I had a lot of fun making these four things. I thought that several of these, especially the Snowman Soup would make cute little teacher gifts. Let me know what you think.

Snowman Soup

These cute little guys were so easy and cheap to make. They are basically a little hot cocoa kit with an adorable poem on the back. Great for that little "I'm thinking of you" gift.

Front of Snowman Soup Package

Back of Snowman Soup Package

Want to make these for yourself? The following is a list of "ingredients." You can create your own labels. Or leave a comment, and I will be happy to send you the PDF documents to print out (12 labels/poems to a page). NOTE: If you are not subscribed to my blog (first of all, shame on you :-) secondly, if I don't personally know you, I will not know your email address. You will either have to leave your email address in the comment, or subscribe so that I can send the PDF documents through your subscriber link.

Inside the cellophane bag:
1 Packet of Cocoa
1 Candy Cane
1 Hershey Kiss
8 Miniature Marshmallows (in a smaller cellophane bag labeled "Freeze Dried Snowballs")
(leave me a comment to receive the label in PDF Format)

Outside of the cellophane Bag:
1 Piece of Colored Cardstock 4 1/4" x 4 1/4"
1 Snowman Soup Label (leave me a comment to receive the label in PDF Format)
1 Snowman Soup Poem (leave me a comment to receive the label in PDF Format)

Poem for back label:

When it's so cold that you holler and whoop,

It's time to bring out the Snowman Soup!

Pour the packet in a mug.
Add the snowballs too.
And throw in a kiss from the snowman to you.

Now add some hot water use the cane to stir it.

Sip slowly and you'll feel the warm winter spirit!

To see another take on this project you can visit the site that I got the idea from.

Choctaw Crunch

Hayden got a big kick out of making the popcorn "old school" style. I guess the only way he has ever seen me make popcorn is in the microwave.

Recipe for Candy Coated Popcorn

4 quarts popped corn
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
Wilton's Kelly Green Concentrated Paste Icing Color (found in the cake decorating section)

1. Keep freshly-popped corn warm in large baking pan in 200°F oven.
2. Combine sugar, corn syrup, butter, salt and cream of tartar in medium saucepan.
3. Bring to boil, stirring constantly.
4. Cook to 250°F without stirring.
5. Remove from heat.
6. After boiling action ceases, add flavoring and color.
7. Add soda and stir in quickly but thoroughly.
8. Pour at once while foamy over warm popcorn; mix gently to coat corn.
9. Shape into balls or spread onto cookie sheet and break into pieces when cool.
   
   
   We mixed the "candy coated" popcorn with "regular" salted popcorn for that sweet-salty combination. Let me know if you would like to use this for a fundraiser for your school or organization. I can easily change the name and color to suit you and send you the PDF.

Style Marcher Sticks

These are store bought orange gel sticks covered in chocolate. I just put 3 in a little cellophane bag, tied it with a ribbon and attached a cute little personalized tag.

Dum Dum Sucker Presents

I was trying to think of some other things to do for the bake sale. I remembered that we had a bunch of Dum Dum suckers. I've seen tutorials for decorating flat suckers, but never sphere shaped suckers. So, I was trying to go to sleep one night when this idea HIT ME!! It was all I could do not to jump out of bed, go into the office, and make one right away! First thing the next morning, I started the trial and error process and finally got it to work - YEAH!!

Definitely needs a better name. What do you think of Gift on a Stick?

I wanted to make 50, but only had time to make 20. Here they are all together.
I am so proud of these!!! Can you tell??

So after all of that, the Bake Sale went very well. There were lots of lots of scrumscious goodies, and everything was packaged so beautifully!! You can see pics in this post. By Saturday, when we went to clean the Band Room (future post :-) There were just a few bags of Choctaw Crunch and a few Style Marcher Sticks left. The Snowman Soup and Dum Dum Present Suckers were gone. YEAH!!! So, it appears that the band made a good chunk of money with the Bake Sale!!

From Chemistry to Christmas Music

Thursday night was Science Fair Open House and the first night of the Choctaw Christmas Concert and Bake Sale. So, Adam, the boys and I spent a bit of time bouncing from school to school. Thank goodness the boy’s schools are right across the street from each other :-) First stop was Choctaw to drop off our goodies for the Bake Sale. There were so many yummy looking treats and all of them wrapped up so nicely. Here is a picture of our contributions.

I started to describe them, but that turned into a whole ‘nother post. I will try to get that posted really soon. Suffice it to say (for now) that the items in the picture are Snowman Soup, Style Marcher Sticks, Choctaw Crunch and Dum Dum Sucker Presents.

I'm really proud of these Dum DUm sucker presents. I usually just copy other people's ideas. But, this one is from my very own head :-) They are Dum Dum suckers inside a little present.

All the goodies!!!

After dropping off goodies, we headed across the street to the Science Fair at Pryor. The Media Center and Science Lab were filled with all of the Science Fair entries. It was really neat to see all of the hard work and interesting topics. After perusing the different experiments I considered myself very thankful that Hayden didn’t pick anything really gross and disgusting. Let’s just say there were several “lets see how long it takes this food to rot” projects :-) We are glad Science Fair is over. We learned a lot! The Open House was a great chance to see how to make things even better and more fun next year.

Hayden in front of his Scinece Fair project
How Liquid Effects the Super Absorbent Polymer Sodium Polyacrylate.

Okay, now back to Choctaw for the Christmas Concert. The Chorus, Madrigals (select members of the Chorus), Concert Band, Symphonic Band and Jazz Band all performed Christmas Music. Yes, ACTUAL Christmas music with the words “Merry Christmas” and “Jesus” and everything!!! Yeah!!!! There were Toy Soldiers, Elves and Santa even came. It was really neat. I didn’t take very many pictures or video because without being able to use a flash it’s hard to capture anything correctly. But I had to get this song on video. It’s a bad video, but I hope you will get an idea of how much fun these kids have. They were very entertaining. This is the Fruitcake Song sung by the Madrigals. They do it every year and it is one of the highlights of the concert. It’s basically a funny song/food fight. Since the audio isn’t great, I’ve included the words. And note how prepared the band is (sitting on the stage) with their umbrellas :-)

Okay the *&#* video won't load right now. I'm going to post this anyway and try to load the video when we get back home. Until then :-)

Update:

Okay I got the video uploaded, but for some reason I have lost the seond half :-( Soooo, until I figure out what happened and fix it I included another clip from YouTube. It's from last year, and ironically this one picks up where mine leaves off (from the other side of the auditorium).

FRUITCAKE LYRICS

Bass:
Sift the flour and fold in eggs

Alto:
Now you add the lemon peels (I would say a cup or two) Then some raisins, dates and figs. Just how much is up to you.
(repeat Bass and Alto sections together)

Tenor:
Pecans, Walnuts and Hazelnuts Almonds and all other 'crazlenuts'!
(repeat Bass, Alto and Tenor sections together)

2nd Soprano:
Cinnamon! Cinnamon! Don't forget the Cinnamon, other spice is always nice, but don't forget the Cinnamon! Cinnamon! Cinnamon! Don't forget the Cinnamon, other spice is always nice, but don't forget the Cinnamon!
(repeat Bass, Alto, Tenor and 2nd Soprano sections together)

1st Soprano:
Way up high go candied cherries glistening like Christmas berries. Add some rum (but just a drop) Then it's time to *hic* stop!
(repeat Bass, Alto, Tenor, 2nd and 1st Soprano sections together)

All (ending):
Have yourself some fruitcake! *MMMMM*

Good Search

I'm leaving this post at the top of my page for a while.

Scroll down to see the latest post.

After, of course, you set your default search engine to Good Search.

Why google when you can Good Search :-)

The Choctawhatchee Style Marchers thank you!!

What if you could donate a penny (maybe even several pennies a day) to the Choctawhatchee Style Marchers without having to get out your wallet?? Well, now you can!!! Our fabulous Executive Board has found a Search Engine that is powered by Yahoo and donates 50% of their profit to non-profit organizations. It's called GoodSearch. Their tool bar is super easy to download and use. Here is the link to do it with. http://www.goodsearch.com/Toolbars.aspx

You're gonna' search the web anyway, right? Why not toss us a penny each time you do?? Trust me, pennies add up quick!! Click on the banner below for more details, or just click on the link above to install the toolbar and get started. We haven't even advertised this yet and we already have money in our account.

Yahoo!!! I mean GoodSearch :-)

Countdown Clock

Okay, three posts in one night. I thinks after this I am headed to bed :-)

Just had to post this cool countdown clock. For those of you that have not let me talk your ear off in the last 6 months - the Style Marchers will be performing in next year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!! Too exciting!

So, if anyone out there has any fundraising ideas, or tips and tricks for getting 200+ teenagers to New York City and back - I'm ALL ears!!

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/