Skip to main content

Indy 2024

What a whirlwind the last few weeks have been! The 2024 marching band season is officially wrapped up, and we're getting a taste of normalcy back in our lives.

The RHSMB had their community send off on Sunday, November 10, and there was a great turnout. The kids did a wonderful job, even though it was chilly outside. The best part is the senior run through, where only the seniors perform the full show...it's fun, awesome, and usually hilarious. The one lone tuba player had quite a cheering section from the other tubas in the stands. Gotta love that support!

Community Send Off (before the band took to the field)


Ava, my mom, and I all headed to Indy on Thursday, November 14 (Ava by motor coach, Mom and I by air.) We didn't really see Ava in the 4 days that we were there, but I loved knowing that we were only blocks apart for much of the time. It was really fun traveling with this group - we saw lots of people we knew, and had fun chatting with other parents.

Day 1: Thursday, November 14

Headed off to Indy!


Here we go!


We made it!












Out to dinner at a yummy Italian restaurant (walked in the rain to get there...and took an Uber home)



Day 2: Friday, November 15

I was quite fascinated with this old mail chute in the hotel (this was on the 5th floor)


and it all lands in here! (first floor)


Heading in to see the kids in prelims



Ava's by the back table on the left



The kids are getting their group pic taken


Celebrating a successful day at a pizzeria by our hotel (along with a TON of Pacers fans...the game was just 2 blocks away from our hotel)



Mom and I watched some really great bands, made friends with a retired band director, and then had a nice lunch at Mexican restaurant by the hotel. We then did some shopping at a downtown mall. We were pretty tired and opted to stream the prelim awards. RHSMB made it into semi-finals - we were so proud! They were scheduled for an 8:15am semi-final performance on Saturday, so we knew we needed to get up early the next morning. However, we had a (self-proclaimed) rowdy karaoke bar across the street from our hotel. It was like a full-blown party until 3am, every night we were there. Ugh.

Day 3: Saturday, November 16

RHSMB is loading into the field


We had great seats, way up high - you can see so much more of the show up there!


Ava's ON the table in the back!



And then we got to see Ohio's marching band "TBDBITL"...they were so much fun to watch!



And we were exhausted, so we Door Dashed Noodles for dinner - I got some judgy pasta


The RHSMB didn't advance to finals, so we had a very relaxing night, with no pressure for our group to win. Overall, they came in at #21 (out of 113 bands total.) Pretty darn good, and we are so proud of them!

The rest of the last several days have flown by in a blur...lots of work, school, activities, etc. It's been fun, just really busy!

Winky dog in the morning


We got another snowfall and it was chilly, so we had to bundle up on our walk


G and I went to see HitPig - it was funny (and really short!)


Pria has decided that she can throw her leg over me while we cuddle in the morning, lol


Out for a walk with the kiddos and the doggo...brrr!


We're looking forward to an upcoming shorter week. We've got the RHSMB banquet on Monday night, work/school on Monday & Tuesday, and then we're relaxing at home on Wednesday, leading into Thanksgiving. We're getting the Christmas tree set up and lights on this weekend, in preparation for decorating next weekend. Can't wait to see that beautiful glow!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Goodbye Sweet Spanky

This is a post that I'm not very excited to write.  As you probably know, our oldest dog, Spanky, had struggled with health issues (ear infections, seizures) his whole life, and recently, his health had severely deteriorated.  He hadn't been eating, his ear infection was so severe his face was swollen, he had a hard time getting up the stairs, and he very rarely wanted to play.  Last week we got a few tail wags from him, and he ate a few bowls of food, but it was a 50-50 chance that he would actually keep the food down. On Thursday, we made the decision that if he wasn't any better by this weekend, we were going to put him down.  I know Scott didn't want to make that decision as Spanky was a very special dog to him - he truly was his little buddy, following him around everywhere, wanting to be wherever Scott was, and howling his sadness whenever Scott would leave him. Throughout Friday night, it became clear that Spanky wasn't going to have a miraculous recovery...

Happily Ever After?

Lately, I've been adding to the Disney Princess movies in our collection.  Last week I bought Beauty and the Beast for Ava.  That was never a favorite movie of mine, but now that I've seen it several times in the last week, it's growing on me.  I figure this is a good chance for me to catch up on some of the stories that I missed out on! Watching all of these princess movies has me thinking about fairy tales...why is it that it's always the evil stepMOTHER?  Or the mom is dead, and no one has taken her place?  Very rarely is it the father who is evil, or dead.  This has actually come up as a topic in more than one conversation lately, and has me a bit intrigued.  Fairy tales are often not very happy - and usually someone dies at some point.  I was a giving an overview of Snow White to a friend of mine, and as I was going through the story, both of us were horrified at the message - mom dies, evil stepmother wants to murder her pretty stepdaugh...

What's Black & White?

It's officially summer in Minnesota.  We've passed the 1-2 weeks where it's pleasant outside, and have moved into the hot and humid midwestern summer season.  This calls for some FUN in the SUN!  We were hoping that Ava would enjoy the water a little more this year than she did last year (I took her to several weeks of swimming lessons in a lap pool, where the temp of the water was just a wee bit too chilly.  It didn't go well for either of us.)  Plus, she has a new swimming suit I was anxious to have her try out, so at the very least, I knew she would look cute. :) So, Daddy decided to set up the sprinkler for her one night after dinner.  This, too, did not go very well.  Perhaps it's because he sprung the sprinkler on her without warning, causing her to run to me, with fear in her eyes, and very wet hands...  After that, we never got her to come near the sprinkler (way to go, Daddy), and she decided to play with my potted flowers...with h...