Skip to main content

All Good Things Must Come to an End

By

Ooof. Arya's high school marching band career is officially over. The four years felt incredibly long while we were at the height of each season (July - October), but they flew by so quickly.

On Saturday, October 12, my mom, Deb, and I headed to downtown Minneapolis to watch the RHSMB compete in Youth in Music (the MN state championship). They won Class 4A and went on to win the grand champion (1st place in finals). They are an 18-time state champion! We also found a new place to park, which made the in/out of Mpls a million times easier. I even beat Arya home this year!


Coming onto the field for finals


The following Monday was the final (Minnesota-based) rehearsal of the season. The RHS stands were packed, and the senior run-through was amazing. I'm so proud of these two trumpet players (Arya and Aaron.) They did great!


One final MN message from the directors to the kids 




The following weekend, my mom and I traveled to St Louis, MO, for a BOA Super Regional. Sixty-five bands from twelve different states! The weather was really hot when we arrived on Thursday, but by Saturday, there was so much (needed) rain in St Louis that there was a 3-hour rain delay on the competition. With the lightning and rain, it wasn't safe for the kids, chaperones, etc., to be outside unloading the equipment. Rosemount came in 4th in Class 3A (a little surprising, but still proud of them) and then finished 9th in the finals. Not too shabby! There were some absolutely amazing bands competing in this super regional, and it was fantastic to see them perform.

It was a really late night (the awards were at midnight due to the rain delay), which made our 5am wakeup to get ready for our flight a bit rough. But we made it home and were there to welcome back the RHSMB with a police escort and community support! I am so proud of Arya and her commitment to this activity. It is hard. Like, really hard. Physically, mentally, emotionally. It taught her so much over the last four years, and she met some wonderful people through it. It's going to be tough to say our goodbyes at the banquet in a few weeks. I know that the trumpet section is in great hands, though - the parents and kids are phenomenal!

Flying to STL!


Sunny day in Missouri



The Arch was closed due to the government shutdown, but we could still walk around the base. It's an amazing structure.


Looking over the Mississippi to Illinois


We went out for dinner and drinks with my mom's cousin and her wife. It was a wonderful first night in STL, and we even got to see some spooky friends.




Our hotel view—we were super close to the Dome!


We spent the afternoon at a local mall.


Rosemount has arrived at the Dome for their prelims comp!


On Saturday morning, we joined Aaron's parents for the RHSMB's final rehearsal. Talk about an emotional time...this staredown was a favorite part for us to watch in the show









Once rehearsal was over, the kids headed back to the hotel to rest, and we went to this really neat miniature museum. There was SO much to look at, but this display was my favorite. If I were 3" tall, this is where I'd want to live.




My mom and I went out for a late lunch, and the No Kings march went right by our restaurant. Love seeing people exercising their 1st Amendment rights, even when the weather is horrible!


Our seats for finals were almost as high as you could go (there was one row higher than ours). A kid in front of us nearly fell over the seats, which was terrifying for a few moments. 



There's the staredown in uniform!


The Broken Arrow band is impressive—they won 1st place in the finals (ranked #4 nationally on HornRank week 6). They took over a marching band IG account for 24 hours, and here was one of the answers to their questions. AHHHHH!


And now we're back to everyday life. Busy, but definitely with additional downtime. Yesterday, though, was a busy evening. Arya worked, went to her bff's surprise birthday party, and then to her house for a sleepover. Meanwhile, G had his own birthday sleepover party with a few friends at our house. Arya came home for 15 minutes in between her bff's party and sleepover, so at 11:45pm on Friday night, there were 5 kids in our kitchen. And Scott and I were trying to stay awake just a few feet away.

Saturday night will be slightly quieter. G will be hitting the hay a bit earlier, but Arya has been with Aaron all afternoon (it's his birthday), and then they are going to the fall formal at RHS. They're getting ready at Aaron's house, so I'm excited to see the pics once they are all dressed up!

There was a beautiful pink rainbow earlier...


...and this was the sunrise that it was reflecting!


A weird, sleepy expression from Pria at the end of a long week


We're all looking forward to the easier times that we have ahead with schedules. It's going to be so great to have Arya at home for dinner with us regularly!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grandparents, Birthdays, and Sprinklers, Oh MY!

By
What a whirlwind week we've had...I was trying to get everything wrapped up at work so I could take my 5-day "furlough" from last Wednesday, through tomorrow. Wednesday was my first day at home, so Ava and I had a ton of "fun" getting everything ready for the upcoming activities. I did have a wonderful massage, so that started my vacation off very well... Gramma Karen and Grampa Doug drove in from KC on Wednesday afternoon. We had a great evening catching up, and enjoying the nice weather (until the downpour that happened right as they were leaving our house!) On Thursday, Scott, Dad, Mom, and I drove down to Cannon Falls and Rochester to check out the areas for potential future homes/land for us. At some point, we'd like to move south of the Cities. Ava was a very good little girl, especially considering that she was stuck in a car for most of her FIRST BIRTHDAY!!! We went to Applebee's for lunch, and the wait staff came out singing to someone else...I...
3 comments
Read more

Goodbye Sweet Spanky

By
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...
2 comments
Read more

The Early Bird

By
I realized that I skipped a chunk of pictures that I wanted to share...things were super busy last weekend, so we'll blame my lapse of memory on that! The focus was so much on Ava's party, that I neglected to share the family birthday photos, too. Two weeks ago, we invited all of the grandparents over for a wonderful dinner of smoked prime rib (and other yummy sides), and then topped it off with a raspberry mojito birthday cake for the newly minted eight-year-old. We like to experiment with different birthday cake flavors for her birthday, and this one was MUCH better than the watermelon cake from last year (gross-gross-gross!)      Saying cheese with Grandpa Doug! G and I took a break from the present pics to take some selfies ;) Even his cars made an appearance! Super excited to be receiving an aquascope! And no birthday is complete without something from American Girl - this time is was a pizza party set - awesome! We have also...
Post a Comment
Read more