Choir Retreat Part Two

One of the best parts about working in the kitchen at the choir retreat is it was right next to where the kids practiced so we got to listen to beautiful music the whole time.

Their choir director brings in a guest conductor to work with the kids during the retreat and they get tons of work done.  They were working on their Christmas music so it really got me in the mood for the holidays!

 Another fun part of the retreat is seeing the kids in their crazy jammies at night.

 Tessa is lucky to have some many great friends!  Tessa wore her crazy cat sweatshirt from Goodwill at the retreat!

 They have a talent show each evening.  Tessa and her friend Rachel did a funny rendition of 3 Little Pigs.  They drew eyes on their chin and talked upside down - pretty entertaining!

 They also divided into groups and put on skits.  Tessa's group did a parady of choir class.  Tessa was Ms. Taylor - the choir teacher.  They were very funny and Ms. Taylor laughed right along with them!

 Here's the whole choir -group photo!

They then wanted to take a photo of just the photos.  One of the moms kept asking the non-seniors to get out of the photo until she realized they had gotten out of the photo and the majority of the group was seniors!  They are going to lose a lot of voices after this year!

Choir Retreat

Tessa and I just spent the last three days at the beach at Camp MacGruder in Rockaway (just 30 minutes south of our beach house)

It was the annual fall retreat for the Westview Concert Choir.  I went along as a parent chaperone and worked in the kitchen - of course.
The best part though was getting to be there with this cute girl.

I was there with a great bunch of women and another mom of former Westview students was in charge - she has done the food for the retreat for 11 years and still does it even though her kids have all graduated from Westview!  That is dedication.

The food was great and we had a fun time in the kitchen.

The first night we served a potato bar for dinner and dessert was homemade brownies with ice cream.

 The next morning was eggs with delicious homemade cinnamon rolls - so good!  I ate two!

 Lunch was a make your own sandwich bar along with some delicious homemade vegetable soup and cookies.  These kids ate good!

 Dinner was a baked pasta and sausage dish with green beans, salad and french bread.

 Dessert was some amazing apple crisp!

 Breakfast this morning was pancakes and sausage.

 Overall the weather wasn't too bad and the kitchen help managed to fit in a beautiful walk on the beach on Thursday morning.  Unfortunately it rained during the afternoon during the kids free time but they managed have fun anyway on the big swing and the boats on the lake.

We found the most amazing piece of driftwood.

I came home very tired.  The kid's curfew each night was until 12:30  - they had skits and programs each evening and the last night their Up session went until one a.m.  After they were all in bed we took turns patroling the bunk cabins to make sure they were all in bed and no one was escaping so our bedtime was even later.  You throw in a few snoring women in the cabin and let's just say sleep didn't come easily!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

This post is day late - sorry!

Yesterday was my dad's 82nd birthday. 

He and mom came for dinner on Sunday and we celebrate with dinner, a cake and a game of Five Crowns.  I won - sorry dad!

Of course I made him cake.

We only put two candles in the cake - mainly because I didn't have 82 and we didn't want to have to use the fire extinguisher to put them out!  That would have ruined the cake :)

We love you!

Slash Bash

I have one more post from my trip to Utah to share.  On Wednesday Logan was involved with the Slash Bash.  It was an event put on by an advertising firm that Corporate Alliance works with.

They brought 500 pumpkins into an old grocery store parking lot.  Logan was running the sound system and music for the event.

Everyone that came got a free T-shirt and of course had to sign a waiver that they wouldn't sue if they got hurt.

Clark and Lizzy met Cali and I there and Emily and the kids came over too.

There were different ways to smash/slash the pumpkins.  There was a catapult which we didn't get to do and then the cherry picker.  I don't know what else to call the thing. 

 Even Addi went up for the ride!

They also had areas roped off where you could use a sledge hammer, golf club or some type of machete (not sure how to spell it) to demolish the pumpkins.  A great way to take out a little frustration or anger.

I was the only one smart enough to put on the safety goggles - don't want to get any pumpkins guts in my eyes!!

 A golf club was Cali's weapon of choice!

 Clark went for the sledge hammer of course!

 We even got Lizzy to give it a try!

 Logan figured out how to it it with the side of the sledge hammer and it sliced the whole thing in half!

 Addi got a little help from Logan

 Even mild manner Emily took a few swings - they were very gentle swings!

We had a great time and got rid of a few stresses!