Carowinds!

Well, it sure has been a crazy week! On Friday I took 88 7th and 8th grade orchestra and chorus students to the Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte for their annual music festival competition. Needless to say, my week was consumed with permission slips, after school rehearsals, t-shirts, charter buses, etc. But, the trip went great, everyone had a wonderful time, no one got left in Charlotte, and my chorus received an excellent rating and my orchestra received a superior (the highest that they give)! I really didn't want to leave Anna Kate for 18 hours, so she and Luke both came along for the day and we had a wonderful time! Luke's parents met us at the park so that they could help out with Anna Kate so Luke and I could focus on the performances (and ride a couple of roller coasters!). Here are some pictures of our day:

Anna Kate's first amusement park ride was the carousel!

She wasn't allowed to ride the horse because she's too little, but she got to sit on it after the ride was over!

Our next ride was Snoopy's train!

But the most exciting ride was the whirlybird helicopter ride!

As you can see, Anna Kate loved it (or she just likes smiling at Mommy!)

After all of that excitement, this is how Anna Kate spent the rest of the day!

And here's a picture of my orchestra performing for the judges before we left for home. Unfortunately, my photographer (Luke) didn't get any picture of the chorus because he actually had to conduct while I accompanied them on the piano.

And if you want to hear a little bit, here is an excerpt of a piece called "Songs of the South". Enjoy!