This year...(hmm, I can't decide how to abbreviate this. Band and Orchestra. BO doesn't sound too good, but neither does OB. OrcheBand...how's that?) Orcheband was scheduled to go to Snow College. It is a short hop away but it isn't terribly exciting. However, June didn't know any differently, so we looked forward to a nice weekend away. Did I mention that I came as a chaperone?
We had to be over at the school at seven, so we got our morning routine accomplished and were on our way. (Actually, since I was slow in packing, I packed that morning and Dad made lunches. Thank you Tyler!)
Everyone signed in, so to speak, and then we got on the bus. June sat by Christina, so I was worried I would be lonely, but luckily, Christy Luque was a chaperone as well, so we sat together the whole time. In fact, Bowman could tell that we got along, so he switched and put us in the same room. It worked rather well. I think Christy and I were last minute additions. We only had one room (group of kids) that we were each in charge of. I had Evie, Alyson, June, and Christina. Three band girls and one Orchestra. They were a great little group.
We drove about an hour and ten minutes to Ephraim, where Snow College is located. I actually knew nothing about Snow College until going on this trip. We went to their Arts building first. It was a lovely building where the music and drama departments have their classes. The band had a practice so the orchestra went on a tour of the college. The tour was pretty cool and very informational. The campus is not too big, and it is mostly a two year college where people can get their associates degree while deciding what they want to do or getting the benefits of smaller classes. The facilities seemed nice and I never thought about where June should go, but Snow seems like a viable option now. I think she would like other places more, but in the end, I guess it will come down to acceptance and scholarships.
When the tour was over, we were back at the Arts building, but Orchestra didn't have anything to do for another two hours. So, we worked the system, talked to Wayne, our bus driver, and decided to take the kids bowling. We stopped by a mercantile shop on the way. It was super cute and also the first place I remembered to take my camera out. There were hundreds of fun, unique, crafty items. It is my favorite kind of store. We found a little Christmas bead spider that was cool. And fun pottery and interesting art.
Upstairs was a reception center. (I don't think they have a lot of places for fancy get togethers in town, and the Manti temple is not far away, so this place might be used frequently?) Christy got on the piano and played some music. She is really talented and amazing.
At the bowling place, we all ate lunch. It was okay. The scones were the best thing. I also was still getting used to my braces, so it was really fun to go clean my teeth after every meal. :(
We had to pay for the kids to bowl, but they did give us a great discount. Everyone bowled one game. I played with Abby and June.
Check out our awesome bowling shoes. We all had a different style.
My score was 91. You can barely see it up there. Not so great. I was trying to break 100 as usual. I thought at the end I could make it. I hit 9 pins and only had one left. When it set back up, the machine knocked it down, so I thought I would get my spare and have one more frame. But the machine didn't count it and ended my turn. Lame. Even sadder was the fact that I had the second highest score. One other person got a 94 and Miss Hornback tied with me at 91. (Orchestra students are not the best bowlers.) But it was a good time waster since we had nothing to do and Ephraim isn't know for its entertainment.
Back at Snow, it was Orchestra's turn to play. They had a clinic with the Snow College Orchestra director, Dr. Smith. June said they learned a lot. It was really cool. Band took the college tour during this time.
Finally, we were all finished for the day. We went back to the hotel and changed for Phantom of the Opera. We all went to Roy's pizza for dinner. It was like a huge buffet. Randomly our table (in the middle) was chosen to go last. So we sat and played Mau. Evie and Alyson had never played. They caught on quickly and it ended up being the game we played the entire time we were there.
Back in the Arts building, we went to see the Snow College production of Phantom of the Opera. Here is a lady taking tickets at the door. I thought her costume was cool.
But she wasn't the only one. There were many theater goers who were very dressed up. Some were just fancy in evening gowns with sparkles and sequins, but many wore masks and costumes. Some ladies were quite immodest which was a shock to our tender young innocent girls. I sat between June and Dax. I didn't know Dax but after talking to him for a bit, I found out he plays piano in the Jazz Band. (That is what Robyn does at the Junior High.)
On my other side was my crew. Looking good guys. Ready for the play??
The play was very good. They extended some of the scenes where they are rehearsing in the theater and I really liked seeing more of that. Also, this version was way more sensual. When Raoul and Christine kiss, they really kissed, and a lot. And when the Phantom would stand and sing with Christine, half the time he was groping her. It was actually a little awkward. The music was still amazing and the actors were good. It was a fun way to spend the evening. June managed to get a selfie with the Phantom afterward.
Then we headed back to the hotel and got ready for bed. I went in and played games a little bit with the girls. We played Mau of course. It was so fun. Earlier we had started a game of five crowns, but we never finished since we switched to Mau. It was a good choice. I left around midnight and Christy was already asleep. I went to bed quickly since it was going to be an early morning.
And bright and early, I was waking up kids and getting them to the breakfast nook. It was a small space and we had the whole OrcheBand and chaperones going through. Somehow we managed it in the allotted time. I was a little spoiled with only my four girls to watch. They were super easy and fun to be around. It was like a mini vacation.
We went into Manti that day to their High School. Manti doesn't seem too much bigger than Ephraim, but we were still on the outskirts. It was only a six minute drive from our hotel. The temple sits and overlooks the High school. It was literally a stone's throw away. It was so pretty up there on the hill. More on that later.
We got inside the HS before anyone was really at the school and we set up for Jazz band, I think. This part was a bit of a blur. All the groups made it on the stage eventually.
Also, Manti's Jazz band and band and orchestra played, so they all just took turns. Anyone who was not playing sat in the seats and waited. It was a bit of a bore. I think I feel asleep a couple of times. I think Christy is possibly snoozing here.
We played some telestrations (caveman telephone) and that was hilarious. We has some great pictures and sentences. Here is one.
Eventually that was all done and we took a break for lunch. We went out to get on the bus, but Wayne was gone. Maybe he fell asleep too? I took a picture of everyone waiting, many with their thumbs out, hoping to catch a ride when the bus showed up.
We even had one group of boys try out a four man tangled pushup while we waited. I was impressed.
When Wayne showed up, we jumped on board. He took us to a central spot and we all had to fend for ourselves. Our group walked a few blocks to Miller's diner. We had heard some good things, so we headed there. The donuts were amazing! Actually, everything there was pretty good. Much better than the bowling alley. I got chicken strips and June got a burger. And my donut of course. Heaven. I shared some with Alyson. We stole plenty of Christina's fries but paid her all back when our order came.
On the way back to the bus, I stopped by a cute candy store. I grabbed some suckers for the kids so I could bring them something home. I always liked getting treats when my parents came back from somewhere. Then back to the bus...quickly. They had made a rule that the last person back to the bus had to sing. The first victims were surprised, but after that, many kids would board last so they could sing. This time around, Dax took one for the team and sang. Here is Evie one time when she took a turn.
From there, it was back to the high school. They did a LOT of sectionals. We were packed in there while percussion played. I'm not sure why we all stayed in the band room. The lockers all had bars and the whole place looked like a dog pound with instruments in cages instead of puppies. For some reason, it kind of creeped me out. (I should have taken a picture.) We didn't have anything to do, so we started Mau, and randomly, Kenny walked by and we invited him in. Best decision ever.
Thus followed some of the best Mau I've ever played. (No picture sadly). Kenny caught on pretty quickly, but at the same time, he would still forgot. I made a rule where you had to slap your hand on the 3. Kenny almost always got a card for being last to slap the 3. Even when he was the one to play the 3, he would still be last. We eventually transitioned to a couple different places. We started out in front of the lockers, where we had to move when kids got out of class and needed to open their lockers. Please notice that Manti High School has the ugliest color combinations. I think they are red, orange, and ugly pink? The auditorium had the same colors on the chairs. They don't go well together.
Then we went to the lunchroom since we had time to kill. There we had an amazing game including the CHEESE. What a great rule. If you had the cheese in front of you, you couldn't get any cards. (I had to morph the rule on the fly. I kept changing how I wanted it to work, but it eventually was great.) Kenny realized he could talk when he had the cheese because he couldn't get a card for it. Awesome! Hope Bates sat and watched but we never could get her to play. To be fair, she never saw the game with only the basic rules. It was so fun!
Next up for sectionals was orchestra, so we lost Kenny and June. So Evie, Hope, Christina, Mr. Bates and I went to check out the temple grounds. You have to be really careful crossing the super busy, super big street, but other than that, it was a nice, yet soggy walk. We walked all over the grounds. (Oh my, I saw a grandma with braces. So impressed she would fix her teeth at that age.) Then temple is beautiful.
We had some trouble with a gate that we couldn't decide if we should try to open or not. But we couldn't figure it out, so we decided to skip it. Then Mr. Bates came over, examined it and just pushed. Duh. (Didn't try that.) Stairway to heaven.
At the top, we found this cute alcove and took some more pictures. We toured all around the grounds and had to avoid a LOT of deer poop.
On the way back to school, we saw a couple with a cute dog. I felt compelled to take a picture for Robyn. (That is just how my brain works.)
Back in the school, we taught Miguel Mau for a moment. (Over the course of the trip, we probably introduced at least a dozen people to Mau.) Then Band was up for rehearsal and I lost all my gals. But June came back and we just hung out until it was time to go. Thanks to Wayne, our bus driver, who drove us all over and was almost always waiting for us. (He was the bomb.)
Finally we left the High School. We were there ALL day. We headed back to the hotel and got dressed for evening activities. Then we went to dinner at Malena's. (Hey, it almost sounds like my name!) It was a Café Rio style place. I thought it was pretty tasty, although some of the kids complained. Free food...just love it.
(Sadly, that was my last picture. Apparently I was distracted and forgot about my phone the rest of the time. Please forgive me. I guess it means I was having fun.)
Then we went to the rec center they have there. I got rackets and glasses and a ball and we started trying to play a cutthroat version of racquetball. (Me, Christina, and June.) We were only playing around 15 minutes when we got kicked out. Snow Blast (a college event) had reserved the entire building except the pool. So those swimming were fine, but the rest of us had to find something else to do. Bummer. We went over to the student center because there were tables. We found Ruben and Kyler there (both introverts) and we convinced them to play with us. Guess what we played? You got it. Mau. It was really fun. I was very impressed with Ruben. He would only play if we invited Kyler. I don't think they are close friends, but he didn't want him to be alone. Naturally, we would invite anyone, but I was impressed he was looking out for another. We had so much fun, we were the very last ones back to the bus. We almost missed the group photo. Phew. (Oh, I wonder who has that photo?)
Then back to the hotel. Some of us showered and then I went to play games with the gals until late again. We played Trigger which I had never heard of. There are true false questions and you have to answer by slapping down one of your hands. (Right hand true, Left hand false.) It was actually quite difficult to get it correct quickly. People were slowly eliminated until it was just me, Christina, and June. We were a little punch drunk. Christina and I missed several in a row and we were laughing so hard. (Apparently Ground Hogs don't have teeth, according to me and Christina.) Finally June and I won. That was tricky.
Then we played some Bang Dice. I think I won both times. I was an outlaw and I think the sheriff was finally killed. Then I was the deputy and June (the sheriff) and I won. Then it was definitely time for bed. I went back to the room and Christy was just getting in bed. She told me about her adventures and how they found boys in the girls' rooms. Kids like breaking rules and oddly, they didn't have any code of conduct for the kids to sign. They weren't even told the rules. Crazy. I guess Choir tour is way more strict. Then I was out. Long day.
The final day was actually quite anti-climactic for OrcheBand. Well, only for Orchestra really. We drove back home and the Orchestra had a clinic at our own High School. Then the band continued on to SLC, but Orchestra went home. Nothing more for them. It was sad to leave my Band girls, but I am technically an Orchestra mom, and it was really quite nice to go home and get stuff done.
First tour for June and I think she had a really good time. I loved being a chaperone, so I'll have to see if I can help out again on the next one.
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