Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Music in the Parks 2018

Music in the parks is a huge event that everyone looks forward to all year. In fact, last year when I chaperoned, the band teacher asked if I could go again the next year and she gave me the dates. (That is planning ahead.)

As a reminder of what Music in the Parks is:

Orchestra, Band, and Choir all go to schools and perform.

They are judged and they do their best.

Many other schools come and perform and are judged as well.

Then EVERYONE goes to Lagoon, which is the main reason everyone came in the first place.

At an appointed time, the schools meet at a Pavilion at Lagoon and awards are given.

Hurrah!

This year I went with the band again, but this time Robyn was with me. And by with me, she wasn't in my chaperone group or even on my bus, but I knew where she was at all times and when we got to Lagoon, it was easy to meet up.

But first they went to perform. I missed one performance because there was a mixup with the tickets. They sent our tickets to the wrong school, so I went to pick them up. There would be a boatload of unhappy kids if we couldn't go to Lagoon afterward.

I was able to watch Jazz band though. There were a couple groups that went before them. One group was from Oregon and another from Idaho. I was surprised how far people came. One group had the strangest uniforms. Some groups wear similar clothes, or all black. Other groups have matching outfits. This particular group had matching hoodies! That seems crazy. First, sweatshirts don't scream professional, but the heat! I would think it would be super sweaty to play in a hoody. They did have a cute saying across the back. It said, "The best things in life come with strings attached." Ah, orchestra humor.


While waiting between numbers, I gave Radi a star tattoo. Just like his mom. :)


Robyn and I arrived at Lagoon and immediately got down to business. Cannibal, the Spider, the Skyride, and selfies.




June arrived a bit later. (Orchestra was the slowest group.) We met up with Christina and Kat, her older sister. And that formed our group of fun. We had a blast. We went around and did tons of fun rides and we played the Costco game almost the entire time.



It was busy at the park but not too bad. Sometimes there were no lockers. But there is always somewhere to put your things. Especially in front of one of those signs that says not to leave things.


The River Rapids were awesome. Christina and Kat got stuck under the waterfall. They were soaked. But it was a nice day so everyone dried eventually.

The awards ceremony was great. Our school won pretty much everything. We got first in everything, whether it was choir, orchestra, jazz band, or symphonic band. The trophies just kept pouring in. The kids were so loud and excited.


Here is the band/jazz all together. They got top ratings. Aiden won an award for best jazz solo, but they said his name wrong. They called him Adam. So everyone chanted, 'Adam, Adam' as he went up to get his award. What a great group of kids.


After awards, we got one more selfie with the roller coaster in the background. Which ironically is the ride that made me feel sick. I don't mind going upsidedown on Colossus, but it makes my head hurt. Not to self...skip that one next time.


It was a great day. I got to talk to the Gillman's on my bus. (They were the other chaperones.) We had a newer bus-driver who made everything interesting, including lots of hard stops and random side trips. June stayed later at the park, but Robyn was exhausted by the end of the night. And she was sick the next day. I think her allergies kicked in big time.

But it was a great day and it was fun to see some of the trophies on display at school. All these kids are really good musicians (and singers for the choir students). Good job gang!


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