Plan B

Hello, kids. Today's blog is brought to you by the letter B...

BAND: First of all, we heard the scoop on Carter's brass trio late last night. They are going to State Solo & Ensemble! So he'll be there for two events! Awesome.

BUTT-KICKING: Woke up early (for a Saturday) and went to strength / resistance class. Our instructor had a tournament so he kept class short but jam-packed with some butt-kicking activities. We were his "sled dogs" for part of it. And I believe I will be feeling it in my backside tomorrow!

BOOK CLUB: I had just enough time after class to go home and splash before heading to our Face to Face Book Club meeting at the coffee house downtown. This month's book was When I Found You by Catherine Ryan Hyde. The story of a man who finds an abandoned baby in the woods and how their lives intertwine over time. There. No spoilers. A good read! We had a very good discussion about troubled teens, spousal support, unconditional love and leaving a legacy. Check it out.

BASKETBALL (or BUTT-KICKING PART 2): Hubby and I traveled up to Marathon to watch the Assumption girls play their last regular-season game. There was a 3-way tie for first place in the southern part of the Marawood Conference. Due to multiple tie-breakers, we were playing the second-place game in the Marawood Crossover Game today. We beat Phillips, second place in the northern part of the conference, quick soundly: 63-41. After the second game (first place in north and south), they gave all-conference awards. Our five seniors all got awards from 1st team to honorable mention. And one of them was the conference player of the year. Well done, Lady Royals. Now onto the playoffs!

BACK ROADS: Since Jim's mom is from Marathon, he knows all the back roads to get up there, whereas I would take the Interstate for as much of it as I could. When I suddenly found us driving through Moon, Wis., I wondered what kind of Saturday drive we were taking. Just a random trip to the Moon today. Not as nice as Jim's home on Mars or mine on Venus. And frankly, I couldn't find my way back even with a map!

BEHIND: Spent my evening catching up on ordering photo prints for Camp Crop-A-Lot next weekend. A few dozen of the ones I already had printed came back with heads cut off, etc., because the photos were in so many different formats (phone, regular camera, Facebook). So I had to re-do those and get them uploaded. Will pick up the prints at Walgreens tomorrow and basically will have to get everything organized and packed tomorrow! Hopefully my schedule pans out because I do not have a Plan B for that!

Top Brass

For as much as we tend to give our children props for their athletic success, I should note (pun intended) that I am equally proud of our son's ability to kick brass!

Time to toot our horn...

For the third year in a row, Carter was named to the Marawood Conference Honors Band – basically an "all-conference" selection for music rather than sports. The 14 schools in the Marawood Conference span from Assumption in the south to Park Falls in the north.

All of the honors participants spend the day together practicing for tonight's event. Free day from school! The location of the Honors Concert (which includes choir, too) changes each year. Thankfully, we only had to travel the 15 miles to Pittsville High School this year. That meant, it wouldn't be a super late night so Jim's parents could ride along, too.

The All-Conference Choir included 96 members, I think, with 10 of those selected from Assumption. Awesome. Under the guidance of guest director Dina Safford, they sounded great!

A composer named Jim Scheuer directed the band, which also played one of his songs. That was cool. I may be biased, but the band sounded phenomenal. We had a half-dozen band members represent our school. Coincidentally, 5 of our 6 were also in cross country this year. Royal talent runs deep, I guess!

Carter was among four baritone players selected in the conference. He is seated in back on the right side so I did not see him all night, but could hear him naturally (ha), and caught a glimpse of him during the final bow.

See? LOL. That will have to do. Of course, his band teacher was there all day, too, and got a nice shot of the AHS group. She knows how to take care of us scrapbooking moms!

Grandpa and Grandma Austin enjoyed the concert as well. Nothing like a little culture to launch the holiday season, right?

Congrats to all!