Thursday – Georgia Tour 2011

8:16am  I’m feeling the pain.  Maybe breakfast will help!

9:24am  Headed to Coca Cola!!!!  I don’t think I’m the only one feeling the pain.  Makes me feel better that the kids are dragging too.

10:10am  Coke!

10:16am  We are waiting to watch a movie about everything Coke.  Suddenly, I’m thirsty.

10:36am  If you like Coke and retro advertising, this is the place for you.  Amazing history of a product.

10:45am  Movie was a cartoon.  Cute, but no history.  We are now on the self-guided tour.  I thonk Coke and Blue Bell go well 

12:15pm  Coke store? Awesomeness.  Headed to Hard Rock Cafe!!!

12:40pm  The big bummer is that they didn’t have New Coke in the tasting area.  We asked, but they don’t produce it all!!  Haha!!

12:45pm  Hard Rock doesn’t have Coke.

1:41pm  Hard Rock was yummy.  Off to Stone Mountain!

9:11pm  Miss us?  One thing about bus trips is the lack of phone charging areas.  I think we had a phone in every plug at Chick-fil-a just now.

To recap, Coca Cola was cool.  Especially the gift shop.  I think I’m still spending money there.  Ask your child about some drink from Italy.  It was in the tasting area.

Hard Rock was fun.  They turned up YMCA and we all did the dance.  They put the BCC on the TV.

Stone Mountain was a blast.  So much to do there anf very beautiful.  A big group of us took the cable car to the top of the mountain.  Very nice.  The choristers sand “The Climb” at the top overlooking Georgia.  A nice moment.  I will work on coordinating SD cards so we can get pictures up on picasaweb.

9:19pm  We are somewhere in Alabama headed back home.  I can safely say that everyone is ready to be home in the comfort of their own bed.

Wednesday – Georgia Tour 2011

If you gave up on us last night, check out the end of this blog.  Regardless, everything is on http://picasaweb.google.com/brenhamchildrenschorus

7:41am  Breakfast.  Then we check out and head toward Atlanta.  Jeff will sleep on the bus.

8:25am  Waiting to board the bus.

8:35am  Headed to the Blue’s Clues production at CSU!  This is where I leave you as the CSU theatre department does not have good wireless service.  Will return after the big show!

I may need to borrow money later.

10:58  Back on the bus.  Blue’s Clues was great!!!!  Everyone had a great time.

All of us received our very own Handy Dandy Notebook with a green crayon!

Then the choristers got to write Blue a birthday card (it was her birthday today).  The best part?  They read some of the cards in the show!!!!!

After the show pics with the characters.  Tickity was our friend during the theatre games from yesterday.

5:00pm  A lot has happened since I last had a signal!!!  I will upload pics in a little bit.

Basically we are at the Atlanta Braves game!  Just drove up.  The wild life park was great.  Choristers got to feed all sorts of animals from a bus.

7:10pm  We were early so we ate at a place across from the stadium.  Now we are in our seats.  Guess what?  Rain Delay!!!!!

7:18pm  They keep showing the radar on the giant TV.  I think they missed their 10 min. window to play.  Also, picture uploading is not happening at the moment.

7:23pm  They have cleared the open air seats.  We have covered seats!!  Hopefully, I will be able t upload soon….

7:29pm  The storm with heavy lightening is freaking the kids out.  I explained that wer perfectly safe under a giant metal and concrete covering.  Boy #2 (I numbered them) is squeezing my arm.  Boy #2 is not my boy.

7:31pm  We get to listen to organ music!  And watch a Phillies/Florida game!

7:34pm  Rain is falling.  It looks like snow!!  Wait!!!!  Hail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7:38pm  3 staff members separately just told me to write “all hail has broken loose at the Braves game.”  Great minds think alike?

7:40pm  Radar on the giant TV still looks more red than any other color.

7:43pm  Rangers on the giant TV!  Tied at 2 in the bottom of the 2nd at NY.

7:44pm  Everyone is having fun.  Quite the adventure.  Weather is clearing now as the storm was moving fast.  The field workers are pushing water off of the field.

8:04pm  Still lightly raining, but we are scheduled for an 8:30pm first pitch.

8:15pm  Rain has stopped.  Looks like we are on schedule for 8:30pm.  My phone battery is gonna die soon.  I’ll go as long as I can!!

8:19pm  So Dippin’ Dots seems popular with the choristers at this game.  How long has Dippin’ Dots been the ice cream of the future?

8:31pm  Introduction of players.  About to start.  Excitement is in the air.  The one Met fan is sitting in front of me.

9:16pm  Top of the 4th and we’re leaving.  More storms on the way.  We did see a hit ple for a homerun right in front of us!  I thought it was cool.

10:00pm  Still here.  Leaving has become quite the adventure.

10:16pm  On the bus!  We got our exercise in for the day, and fortunately it wasn’t raining hard at the time.

11:57pm  We are in the room.  Since I had technical difficulties with pictures, here are the pictures I wanted to post:

Blue’s Clues

 

Wild Life Reserve:

 

What do they sell at the gift shop?  And yes, we were asked if they could by one…..

 

A couple baseball pics.  The rest will be on http://picasaweb.google.com/brenhamchildrenschorus

 

That’s it.  Tomorrow is Coca Cola, Stone Mountain, and HOME!!!!!!!!   I will do best to keep it going.

Goodnight.

Tuesday – Georgia Tour 2011

I’m not going to create a slide show on the blog today due to time constraints, but all pictures are on http://picasaweb.google.com/brenhamchildrenschorus for viewing and download.

8:15am  Breakfast.  If you look at the breakfast pictures from yesterday, you will get a good idea about what we look like.

OK, fine.  Here is your cute breakfast picture.

9:35am  We are off to Columbus State University again.  This we will be on the theatre side instead of the music side.

9:42am  Lots of hair braiding on the bus today.  None of the boys have asked their chaperone to braid their hair…

10:00pm  We have arrived!

10:25am  We took the tour, and now we are playing theatre games.

11:53am  I had zero data signal in the theatre.  I will try to catch up.  Theatre games went awesome.  We have nutty kids!  Now we are walking…

Dance studio.

12:14pm  Lunchtime!!!  Off to Jason’s Deli.   In the meantime, I will upload some phone pics to the blog.

These next couple are for Kevin Patrick.  This is the black box he designed, but has never seen….until now!!!!  (my real camera took better shots.  Check in later)

12:30pm  Lunch at Jason’s Deli was great.  Factoid:  3 girls spent more on food than did 5 boys.  Tallest boy spent nearly $13 while the smallest boy spent $6.

2:30pm  we have arrived at Golden Acres Baptist Church.  The choristers are learning about breathing and relaxation from Steve Pace.  He is the gentleman who is the founding director of the Voices of the Valley group from last night.  I can’t be sure,  but some of the kiddos may have relaxed themselves to sleep!

3:00pm  BCC is giving a clinic to the children from the church.  They are playing music games and theatre games.  BCC is also teaching the children the music and dance from “I’m a Believer” which means there may be a big party at the concert!!

Allow me to take a moment here to apologize for the lack regular blogging today.  The wireless signals have been terrible.  Sorry!!!!!!  Let’s hope for better tomorrow.

5:20pm  Choristers are still having fun with the church kids.  They have been divided into “families” so each BCC chorister is the head of a “family” of church kids.  Very cute!

5:56pm  GUESS WHAT???  A nice person just gave me the wifi password for the church!!!  Get ready…

So, we are eating now, but here are pictures from the ” families” acting out scenes from Disney movies.

6:30pm  Showtime in 30min.  Will add more later.  By the way, the pizza is Papa Johns! (my favorite)

7:10pm  Show is on!  They opened with “This is a Celebration” with Martha on the piano.   Cinemania time now!

They are doing great!  As usual!

Soloists are doing great!!

Still going!

Still going!!

The big finale!

8:06pm  All done.  A little mix and mingle with church folk and then we should be off to the hotel.

Camera pictures for the day from various cameras will be uploaded in a couple hours for your enjoyment.

8:17pm  Thoughts from Jeff:  I know I have been frantically trying to catch up, but you must know that our children were awesome with the church kids.  Their ages ranged from preschool to 8th grade or so, and the BCC were very kind, patient, and loving to all of them during both the game and teaching moments.

Jennifer just asked the choristers if they were ever frustrated with their “family” kids.  All raised their hand.  Jennifer -”welcome to my world!!”  Perhaps a disciplinary turning point?

Monday – Georgia Tour 2011

Slideshow of the day is at the bottom of this post.

Everyone got a good night’s sleep and a good breakfast!  At 8:40am we are off to our first non-Piccadilly performance of the week.  The bus is calm and all look good in the purple chorus shirts.

9:00am  Springer Opera House!!!  We are meeting the academy people.  Choristers will divide into groups and join the academy students in their acting classes.

We are getting to see the academy in action during their morning routine.  Great fun!  Very positive!

Choristers are in their acting classes.  I’m trying to be in all places at once, but it’s impossible.  I will say that this is awesome and our children are having a GREAT TIME!

10:10am  Still in classes.  Choristers are choosing to risk and be involved.  Very exciting to see!  Springer Academy teachers and students are being extremely hospitable.  Again, I wish I could be in 3 places at the same time!!

10:35am  Scene shop is fixing a broken umbrella!!  Raining Sunshine will happen!

10:30am  Rehearsing for the performance for the Springer Academy students.

11:21am  Showtime!!

(Side note… Massive cheers from the crowd when we mentioned we were the home of Blue Bell Ice Cream!!!)

11:36am  BCC is rocking it!!!  Crowd is thunderous in their applause.  They aren’t done!!  Be proud Brenham!!!

HIGH NOON  Performance over!!  They are participating in a Q&A now.  Very high toned!

12:11pm  Off to lunch.  The bus is buzzing.  The choristers will never forget this.  Getting to perform for their peer group who understands what they do!!

1:26pm  Lunch at Ryan’s done.  On the way to Columbus State.

1:35pm  Thoughts from Jeff:  the Springer Academy students asked really great questions during the Q&A.  It was fun for our choristers to talk about the what and the how of their preparation.  It was a really intuitive, thought-provoking, and fun exchange.

1:45pm  Arrived at CSU.  Getting a pipe organ lesson in their beautiful music hall.

2:40pm  Tour over.  Now being coached by Elizabeth Parker.

Clinic is lots of vocal technique stuff.  Choristers are being very attentive.  Breathing exercises, physical movements, and beautiful singing.

Choir room is amazing.  A real eye opener for the choristers.

3:00pm  Learning a new song for tonight’s joint concert!!  And it’s in Italian.

In return, BCC will teach The Voices of the Valley Community Children’s Choir the “Goose” song.  If you’re not familiar, go to the media page at brenhamchildrenschorus.org and click on videos from summer camp a couple years ago.

3:25pm  Pam and Martha are leading BCC in “This is a Celebration” for Elizabeth Parker.

3:45pm  Everyone is exhausted.  We are all going back to the hotel for MUCH needed rest before our hang with The Voices of the Valley Community Children’s Choir.  Choristers are still doing awesome depsite being zombie-like.  We’ll be back later! 

5:30pm  Headed back to CSU to meet with The Voices of the Valley Community Children’s Choir.  First up will be a pizza party!  Side note-please forgive my spelling as I’m typing all this on my phone.  I think I fixed all from earlier!

6:00pm  Mix, mingle, and pizza!

6:40pm  Playing a name game with both groups led by Elizabeth Parker.  All the choristers are getting along great!

6:50pm  They are now singing together.  Very beautiful.

Remember that new Italian song? I may try to get this video up for sure tonight.

7:00pm  The “goose” song!!!

7:07pm  I have it wrong.  The name of their group is The Voices of the Valley Community Children’s Choir.

7:21pm  BCC gettin’ ready to do what they do!

8:15pm  Party is over.  BCC did awesome!  Everyone is still mingling.  Thank you to the Voices of the Valley Community Children’s Chorus and CSU for having us!  Also, thank you to the Springer Academy for letting us participate in their stellar program, amd for being an awesome audience!

9:32pm  We took a detour and walked down to the riverwalk area for a while and took river pictures.  Very calm and relaxing.

See you tomorrow!

Below is the full slide show for Monday!  Also,all pictures are on http://picasaweb.google.com/brenhamchildrenschorus for viewing and download.

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Sunday – Georgia Tour 2011

4:45am call.  5:30am departure.  In awesome BCC tradition, we were on time with smiles on our faces!

I’m not really sure what happened after that as I fell asleep, but that could be an indication that all was calm and quiet on the bus. Our first official stop was at 8:30am at a Petro near Beaumont.

At 9:05am, we crossed into Louisiana.  There were cheers on the bus!  We attempted to watch movies, but the player did its own “shuffle” mode, and there was a short in the audio.  That made keeping track of the plot somewhat of a challenge.

12:30pm was the Piccadilly.  Yummy food and an impromptu concert!  The choristers performed beautifully and were very well received!  They even touched the waitress emotionally!

4:30pm brought us to a nice visitor center pit stop in Alabama.  No impromptu performance here!  Next stop is dinner (Shoney’s) then the hotel.

As far as bus rides go, this one is going very well.  Everyone is having a great time!

 

Below is the full slide show for Monday!  Also,all pictures are on http://picasaweb.google.com/brenhamchildrenschorus for viewing and download.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.