Another day dawned brighter and earlier! Although we had been encouraged to go to bed early and get lots of rest, I am not sure that anyone was in bed before 11 PM with alarms set for as early as 530 AM. We departed at 7 AM for our festival which was close to an hour away in Leesburg. It was a lovely morning and an enjoyable ride, traveling the rolling hills of Virginia. Farmer Girl fell in love with Virginia and wants to move there to live in a house like Mt Vernon......but that is a later story!
We were greeted and ushered into a room for warm up and set up. There were dressing rooms for us as well. In the chaos, everyone was ready with time to spare. Warming up, Intermediate Band was first on the stage at 830 AM.
Intermediate Band did really well, but as most who were there and at the concert will attest, we think they peaked at their concert. You could tell they were tired, jet lagged and bleary eyed from little sleep and much activity. Their energy level and enthusiasm at such an early hour was less too. Phineas was drafted to play bass drum at the last minute so The Scribbler stayed on stage to help although neither are in intermediate band.
Advanced Band performed around 10'ish after another band and did well. There were three adjudicators present and they adjudicated right after each performance on stage in front of everyone. It was neat to hear and see their advice, suggestions and praise. They all marveled at the fact that each band only practices twice a week for an hour!
This is advanced jazz with The Scribbler on set. Beginning Jazz had all ready performed, but my pictures did not come out well so I deleted them. Don't tell Farmer Girl. The Scribbler was told she was a good drummer and that she needs to "drive the band". He wondered aloud if she was shy and asked the band. Some nodded their heads slowly yes or no and he told them to turn to her and say, "don't be shy." They did it reluctantly and a bit shyly. He guffawed and said, "No wonder she is shy!" I am not sure putting a shy person on the spot will make her less shy, but it was a moment of laughter for everyone including the shy girl!
One of our amazing soloists! He plays piano too. One of our trombone players received a Maestro award for outstanding musician that evening, only one of three given in a pool of over 500 musicians.
After our perfornamce, we traveled to a pre-planned tour of local Patrick Henry College for an afternoon. We were late as we got lost using a friends directions from her GPS. The one and only time we were lost. I am great with a map and/or a navigator, but if I am driving and I don't have either, things happen :) This trip did not increase my fondness of the technology of GPS's either. I would trade the best for a good map and a good navigator! I fear we are raising a generation of children who can neither read a map or follow directions. Technology can be a great thing, but it can break and it also leaves no room for human thinking and ingenuity.
It was a beautiful day although a bit chilly. The tour by Rebeccah at the lovely campus of Patrick Henry College was in depth and informative. It is a lovely facility and a testament to God's faithfulness. I would love for the Scribbler to attend this college although it is so very far away and they don't really have a major for her unless she is interested in politics or something akin to it. It is also just as expensive as one closer to home........This one only has a student body of around 400. We got to see one of the Harris brothers in the library (you know, the twins of Do Hard Things fame?) We also saw one of our Generation Joshua girls from our campaigning for Jaime Herrara.
The best part was seeing Betsy Reich again- a Teenpact state representative from Washington. She is also a twin whose sister attends a different college back east. She was one of the tour guides although not ours :(
Here we gathered for a alumni Teenpact Class photo with her and Seth McKinnis-a staffer from the Northwest who staffed our Teenpact Class of 2010.
This one is my favorite although I think one or two of them suffered consequences of jumping too far or too hard. Thanks, Betsy for a wonderful time. We always enjoy seeing you and being with you.
After the tour, we hung out in their lovely coffee shop whilst listening to our resident piano player (the one shown above on trumpet solo). It was so nice to relax and not feel pressured to go, go, go! After these photos, we had a little time to visit and even began throwing around a frisbee before racing off to the banquet.
We arrived a bit early to the facility which was very nice. There was time for visiting, doing hair and getting dressed. Our girls were quite lovely in their outfits-some that were just jazz pants supplemented with a dressy shirt. It was a bit disconcerting to see what passed as dressy by some of the other groups. None that were very modest and we actually saw that on stage as well as some of the girls wore very short and revealing skirts that didn't leave much to the imagination. One group walked by in VERY short and tight skirts and one of our group commented, "they forgot their pants!" :)
Farmer Girl was able to sit between two of her good friends, one of which she hadn't seen much on this trip so that was nice for them. They also sat with others at their table that they enjoyed dining with.
This was across from me as one from Farmer Girl's table came over to visit! Love all of these girls. They are all very straightforward, sweet and trustworthy in their friendship with The Scribbler.
Our band director was directed to choose two of the band members to go up and receive any awards we might win. He chose and asked two different ones each time which was really nice and focused on our seniors. Here are two of our favorite seniors. He is the winner of the solo award. LOVE this picture. They are courting, can you tell? I am not sure which award this was, but we received many gold and silvers and each of our bands received one or more levels.
This was an Advanced Jazz award. Isn't it HUGE? All I could think was how in the world will they get them home? Did you know they come apart into many tiny pieces? I didn't until The Scribbler was able to help reassemble them last Sunday.
Another Advanced Jazz Award! They are amazing even if they are all shy!
Our entire band with our fearless band director laying down in front. This one is for the paper back home!
Here again with all of the awards including the smaller one which belonged to one of our amazing soloists.
Beginning Jazz with their Gold Award.
Intermediate Band with their award. Can't remember if gold or silver........
Advanced Band with their award too.
And, our Advanced Jazz with the "Shy" drummer and their numerous awards and trophies. Many of these members have been striving and working towards this event for over 4 years or more. About half of them will graduate this year, but we are not sure who will hang around another year or two. Age affects whether they are allowed to compete or not as members often can't be over 18 or 19. We will see who stays......
My girls and I at the end of an amazing evening.
We all headed out for ice cream, but everything was closed so we brought it back to the hotel for everyone. Another late evening and long day. Snow is in the forecast so we will see what Sunday holds for us!
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