Veteran's Day Parade

First of all, my whole family would like to THANK all those who serve in our armed forces! We appreciate the sacrifice you AND your family make. Being in a "military city," Veteran's Day seems to be a BIG deal. Every year, they have the Veteran's Day Parade. As it begins, there are usually flyovers from military planes. It is real neat to see them so close and in the air! This year's parade seemed to be one of the larger one's I have seen. It lasted almost 2 hours. It is so comforting knowing that our military people are here to protect us!

Along with the Military appreciation.....we are band geeks here at our home. Yes, everything seems to revolve around band...We must now switch our attention to my children.

Lucky for us, we were blessed with a WARM day! I ended up exhausted. I traded schools and helped out with the middle school. (only the 8th grade band gets to march in the parade) I was the "equipment" person. We took both seats out of my van and filled it with all the drums and LARGE instruments. I dropped off the instruments at the starting area of the parade, then went on and followed the buses to park the van at the END of the parade route. Notice that I was parked at the END of the parade route, and the kids were at the BEGINNING of the parade route! I had to walk back to the kids (1.6 miles...yes, I measured it on our Microsoft Streets and Trips program). I helped out with the kids, then went back about half way so that I could take pictures. Then I walked the rest of the way back to the buses with the band. (yes, that is a total of 3.2 miles just in case you wanted to know AND it was HOT outside!)

Chris, who is in his last year in middle school, got to march in his first parade.

Here is the start of the Timberview Middle School band. Here, we have Chris in the warm up area. Here he is at attention. He is the 2nd person back with his trombone covering his face.

(hmmm was that done on purpose?) Here he is actually marching in the parade.

Ok, so I'm a proud mama!

Here he is playing in the parade while marching.
Talk about talent!

Let's not forget Liberty High School.
They got to participate too.

Here is Jessica in the warm up area.
Notice the NEW color guard sweatsuit!

Here she is with her friend Amy.
The 2 have been in Color guard for all 4 years.
They also served as Co-Captains last year. Here is Ryan in the warm up area.
Isn't he so handsome in that uniform!?!
I still don't know how he can carry
that HUGE instrument all over the place! Here is Jessica actually marching.
Unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture of her performing. Even though you can't tell that Ryan is in that line,

he is the 2nd tuba over.

Notice how STRAIGHT that line is!

I have really enjoyed spending time with my children by helping out with the bands. I feel privileged to have such talented kids! They have really made it fun to be a mom. Sometimes, it is very tiring, I admit, but it is ALWAYS worth it!