LeanderMomma

Thank you so much. She really would like to be in one of the Redwood state parks. We visited Arnold in June after she completed some of her testing in Sacramento, and it was incredible beyond words. Those trees!! They are truly amazing. She scored in the top 2% on the test she took, so supposedly she gets to be one of the first cadets to choose which park she wants to work in. I'm with you, though. California has way too many issues for me to ever want to move there, but it sure will be nice to explore it when I'm visiting my daughter!

well we all know it takes me awhile to get on the BANDwagon!

:D It’s a miracle it gets done at all, right?

Oh gosh, I’ve been so focused on Hurricane Michael, I didn’t notice there was another one! We plan to go up to Lubbock, then west across New Mexico to Albuquerque tomorrow. Then on to Bakersfield on Thursday, and Sacramento on Friday. Gonna be a long trip!

She’s so excited. This has truly been her dream for years now. She got both her bachelors and her masters in criminal justice and she has been biding her time, working at a job she hated (but kept it for the good pay and benefits), and waiting on this insane 18 month long process to wotk out in her favor. They started with over 500 candidates and narrowed it down to 40 that they actually gave contracts to. We’ve been on pins and needles the last few weeks waiting on the final word and steadily losing hope as the class start day loomed ever closer. Lots of tears have been shed this past week or so as she and I pretty much lost hope after being SO sure she had it wrapped up. (Man there’s nothing more painful than seeing your child work so very hard for something just to have it yanked away at the last minute). Today’s phone call was such a joyous celebration. My baby is going to get to live her dream!

Now y’all got me all weepy.

You know, I have to agree with you on that one. It really is better, at least for Texas bands.

I need to see Hebron and FloMo again and Marcus for the first time before I can make any predictions myself, not that mine matter a hill of beans.

Oh good! I miss Leander going to this contest.

Oh I missed that! It was probably easier to see those types of mishaps from inside the stadium rather than online. I always get nervous by those tarps, especially when a corner curls up or I notice kids tripping on them. Speaking of tarps. This may or may not be the right place for this, but what do y’all think of O’Fallon covering the entire field again this year with the white tarps? I know folks seemed to love it in St Louis and Indianapolis last fall, but I ain’t gonna lie, I absolutely HATE it!! I hope it doesn’t become a lasting trend because YUCK. Yeah, I definitely have strong opinions about tarps. And again, that’s one of a zillion reasons nobody is asking me to be a judge.

I will be super anxious to see how this one plays out and I’m really rooting for Cedar Park to take the gold!

Looks like you got cut off mid sentence? I will get that darn flu shot, I’m sure. Looks like I will be watching this one from FloMarching for sure now. My 27 year old daughter finally got word today that she’s been accepted into the park ranger program with the state of California and we hit the road tomorrow morning. She and I will be pulling a uhaul behind her SUV, and we gotta be in Sacramento by Friday so she can be measured for uniforms. This has been an 18 month long, very expensive process, and we had all but given up hope these last few weeks that it was going to happen, but it is finally becoming a reality for her. Class for the program starts on Monday and I am so excited for and proud of her!!

Wow was it ever close between the top 3!!

this should probably be in Upcoming Contests. Takigan will be fussing at us any minute.

Like San Antonio. That one is a DO NOT MISS for sure.

Uhhh, yeah, that’s early! I’m still trying to decide whether to drive to Waco or just watch on Flo. I have autoimmune disease, and these full day competitions truly wear me out beyond description. I’m still recovering from BOA Austin and a 10 day round of bronchitis, I’m pretty sure my rheumatologist would say, “dadgummit Cindy, STAY HOME!” But Doc....BAND!

It is definitely hard to believe that they haven’t won one yet considering all of CP’s accomplishments.

How’s this....here are my personal top 5 picks for Saturday: 1. Cedar Park 2. Marcus 3. Hendrickson 4. Dripping Springs 5. Round Rock

. I think it’s actually “A plethora of topics very loosely related to the BOA competition in Waco this Saturday.”

When Leander goes to Grand Nats, we account for that separately from normal band fees. Leander, like many other bands, uses Music Travel Associates to plan the whole thing, and we make monthly payments to them for over a year. It sure helped us doing it that way in 15/16 because $1300 is a hefty sum for a family to come up with all at once. And that was just for our band kiddo. My hubby and I went as well. We also plan to go back next year even tho we no longer have a child in band. I am already storing up rewards points on my credit card so we can spring for a nice downtown hotel! I love walking around downtown Indy.

OTOH, Leander is neither a wealthy nor impoverished school. We have our wealthy areas, but for the most part, we are a very middle class school. Typical band fees for us run around $450 to $500 per year. Leander does a lot of fundraising, and amazingly, just raised over $106K at their annual March-a-thon. I remember back when the goal in 2013 or 2014 was only like $20K. They keep setting the fundraising bar higher, and the students and parents keep surpassing it. Very impressive to see how hard they work on raising the needed funds without raising fees.

All in due time. With the peculiarities that happened at DFW last Saturday, it’s only natural that we would still be discussing it. No worries, we will be talking about Waco soon enough I’m sure.

Oh how funny. I don’t remember that!

Ha, not weird at all. That’s great. And Preschool life is the best life! I’m really pulling for Keller this year. They’re always one of my favorites. In fact their cloud show (Ascend?) was one of my all time favorites a few years back!