Sweet Sounds of Saturday

The two non-morning people in the house were up at 6 a.m. today. No typo there. Yes, it is Saturday. But yes, I had to get Carter up to the university in Stevens Point by 7:30 a.m. for the State Solo & Ensemble competition.

I have been ready for a nap for 18 hours!

It was really nice to see and hear him in action, though.

His first brass ensemble was with these four, playing a pretty cool version of "The Entertainer." I thought they sounded great. The judge had a few nit-picky things to say but said overall it was a very solid performance.

Between his performances  another band mom and I were able to listen to some others from Assumption. I have to say we certainly have a lot of musically talented – vocal and instrumental – students at our school. Very impressive and a privilege to hear!

Carter's second performance was after 11:30 a.m. – a brass and woodwind ensemble performing "Allelulia." Very, very good. I did video both performances but have not had time to upload them. I also do not know how Carter's groups scored because the minute he was done, we had to book it all the way down to Nekoosa for a baseball double-header. He had to change into his uniform in the car!

Game time was at 1:30 so we all figured it would be a nice day. It was in the mid-50s after all. However, we had the clouds and some 20-30 mph winds to deal with it, so we were bundled up once again.

The other reason it was not such a nice day is the outcome of the games. We lost both of them.

We were definitely not getting the hits like yesterday. Carter kept hitting the ball straight to the opponent. Or popped it up to get it to them in a roundabout way.

Not that they have any excuses, but this was the third double-header in as many days. Even the pros don't do that.

You can tell by my "seriously, Mother Nature?!?" face that the players weren't the only ones tired. They MAY be physically tired but we fans are just plain tired of having to bundle up in blankets and winter hats in May! Just ridiculous!

Lukas was the smart one who stayed home from the games to start packing (sad face). Actually, he really wanted to see if the 27 pair of shoes he's bought will fit in his suitcase and not add too much weight. OK, not quite 27. But I think 5 or 6 pair will have to be shipped.

When we got home, we all warmed up with some bratwursts on the grill. While I was in musical heaven, Jim and Lukas went shopping at Ski's Meats, which does have 18 varieties of brats – and we had at least 6.

We cut them in half so Lukas could try more than one flavor at a time. Our flavor selection today included: Bloody Mary, Italian, Raspberry Chipotle Chicken, Wild Rice & Mushrooms, Red and Blue (red onions and bleu cheese) and Caribbean jerk. I am partial to the ultra-spicy Bloody Mary ones, but all were good, according to our taste testers.

After dinner, the boys just chilled for the evening and Jim and I did the same with some friends. I'm pretty sure we couldn't squeeze another activity into our day. Not only is it already past midnight, but my mattress pad is heated up.

What am I waiting for? G'night!