First and Second year Honor band

Tonight is my nephews big night. He is playing in an honor band that is chosen by their directors. 

I am so proud to call this young man my nephew. He is playing in the first year group a so tonight will be a quick night. It is neat to say that for the next at least seven to eight years not only will I be the wife of a band director but the aunt of two aspiring musicians. My niece wil be in sixth grade next year and is excited to play the flute. My nephew plays the trumpet. I think he secretly wants to be like his uncle Matt. I could honestly see Seth as a band director one day but we will keep that hush hush. 

You can't see him very well but he is the stock next to what looks like a trumpet case. The sad thing is I want to always see the cute little boy that was shorter then me but I can see that in no time, maybe by the end of summer, he will be taller then me. He is already taller then his mom. 

I am one proud aunt. I am keeping this program. Granted I have no clue what I will do with but I have it for something. I will update once the concert is over. 

Well Seth did awesom. Okay so the entire group did awesome. Thank you Heath Miller for directing these kids. And now some blurry pictures of Seth. 

Fine Arts Festival

 Well it is the fine arts festival in Vinita tonight. Right now I am sitting the middle school band room remarrying all the days and many evenings I sat in here for junior high band and choir. The smell is different because they did some remodeling and so the wet smell is gone. The sound is still annoying but that is the joy of a very oddly built room with risers. This is such a bitter time of the year. This is the beginning of the end of the school year. Tomorrow we leave for Branson then all to quickly after that is band banquet then spring concert then before we know it graduation. I have been with this group of seniors since they were in 8th grade. How crazy quick five years have gone. 

I know I will be spending more years coming to this building and sitting in the auditorium of possibly the most uncomfortable seats for any auditori and being envious of other auditoriums I have sat in nice seats. I think these were put in so people wouldn't fall asleep during speeches of the time. I know nice cushy seats existed when this auditorium was built. Oh well wood lasts longer then cloth so this works. 

One thing that makes me happy about the fine arts festival is to see the great talent we have in such a small town. Makes me hope this little town will always support the arts and music. 

Tonight our kids will play their district music that they got excellent ratings on. One is called Alamo and the other is The Legend of Ida Glen. If you are from Oklahoma you might recognize or think that looks familiar. That song was commissioned by JoAnn Johnson and the Glenpool High School band in honor of the history of their Townsend the oil boom of our great state.  This history nerd found this very interesting and fun. I love the story of Glenpool and how it was discovered to say the least. If you don't the story of Ida Glen and the Glen pool you might just google it to find out. Now I sit here and wait for them to set up chairs and stands.

Sorry I had to. Doesn't my husband look so in control. He is the one I blue directing traffic. 

Now isn't that a great looking group of young men and women. I  so proud of these kids and all their hardwork. Days like this excite me for the next school year but it is also bittersweet to say goodbye to a great group of seniors.  

I will try to update from here on out. We have a lot of great things getting ready to happen. One thing I am most excited about is the 1st year clinic in Wagoner next week. Granted I am usually not excited about the junior high bands because I don't get to spend that much time with them but my nephew got chosen for that band and I am excited to hear him play his trumpet. 

Branson

UIt is Branson morning. Granted it is not as early as Dallas morning was two years ago, not as tiring as Dallas morning. It is going to be interesting because I am driving our car up there. I will try to update as the weekend goes on  I won't be as quick on the draw as when we went to Dallas because I am driving but I will update when we stop. 

Ok so I am a horrible updater. I thought I had when we stopped at Lamberts but I must have not hit done and publish. Whoopsy bad. Well we made it to Branson about 1:30 and had some wonderful downtime. So much more relaxing and not rushed like Dallas. We have also been treated wonderfully and have met my expectations and beyond. 

We ate dinner at McFarlains at the IMAX and there was a special table that rose as you ate. To see the look on the kids faces was pure hilarity. 

A couple of our kids had to use booster seats to finish their meal. It was definitely a highlight of the weekend. 

We are playing at the Hughes Brothers theater and I was told in the 80s it was the Roy Clark theater back in the day. I think I might remember it. 

Our kids definitely made Vinita proud tonight. They did an outstanding job. 

Also isn't my husband handsome. 

Steven did a great job on his solo as well as Rowdy. I didn't get a picture of Rowdy because I was to afraid to get up. Very proud of these kids. 

JT and Noah were having a blast playing Circle of Life. These kids make my days when I am with them. Granted there are days I have to take a deep breath and count to 10 but those are fewer and far between every time. 

Also a little treat for my readers this is a rare sight but it is teenage boy in their natural habit flirting with a pretty girl. The adults were saying it was more like a teenage girl in a Branson show flirting with gullible teenage boys to buy stuff. 

Day 2 

Day started out uneventful and ended the same. I completely forgot to update while at SDC because I was having such a great day. It was cold at the beginning of the day and turned into a beautiful spring day. I think I got a beautiful sun kissed, ok I got a slight sunburn. We are eating dinner now at Cici's and once done we will head toward home.

I want to leave a little bit of advice and that is encourage your spouse if he or she is a director to consider taking a group to Branson. Parents encourage your director. They rolled out the red carpet for us every where we went. At Lamberts because we had such a large group they gave us two free meals and two goodie bags. At Branson the tourism center went above and beyond to make sure we were comfortable. The Hughes family were so nice to the kids. After a two hour show they did a q&a with our kids and allowed them to ask any question they could think of. Definitely look forward to the next time we get to go to Branson.