Wednesday... time to relax!

After all our performances yesterday and Monday, kids and adults alike were ready to RELAX today. We definitely did that... and had some adventures too!

First off this morning we traveled just outside the city to the San Jose Mission. Very cool place, and our guides gave us a good idea of what life on an 18th century mission was like.


One of my favorite moments on the Mission tour though was when our tour guide pointed out the Yucca plant, a type of cactus. Kevin H. wanted to go have his picture taken with it because it looked like a giant corn. (You can take the boy out of Illinois, but not the Illinois out of the boy, apparently.) The following conversation ensued after Kevin was jabbed with one of the plant's giant spikes. Kevin: "Ouch!! This thing is sharp!!" Ms. Wych: "Well, it IS a cactus." Kevin: "IT'S A CACTUS?!" And so, lesson learned... listen to ALL of what your tour guide says!


After the Mission, we made the 1.5 hr trek to the Twin Elm Ranch. What a great place! VERY nice people, good food, lots to do, and a few hilarious singing cowboys (Dead Eye, T/Roy, and Justin) who lead the horseback rides. During the 5 hours we spent there, the kids were free to do whatever activities they chose. Offerings included lasso lessons, wading in the river, hanging out by the pool, volleyball, basketball, horseback riding, relay-racing, or just sitting around playing cards. All the kids (and adults!) had a fantastic time, and my personal favorite part was seeing the students really enjoying themselves without cell phones for a full five hours!

Lasso lessons! All I have to say about that is that it is HARDER than it looks!

A group shot in the river. Tanner, Allyssa, Kyler, Tyler, Matt Z, Marissa, Dani, Anna, Kyle, Jessica F., Jake, Maegen, Rebecca B, Kasombra, Becky M, Kelly, and Allison!
Audrey, Andrea, Sarah, Emily, Alex, and Mr. Muir are ready to go out on the trail! Audrey was very happy that "if she'd only brought a horn," her horse would be just like a unicorn.
Out on the trail!

The ranch owners organized a number of hilarious relay races for the kids. See video below!

Now I already told the story of Kevin's misadventure with the Yucca, but there are a few other "Quotes of the Day" for today.

"Ms. Wych, do you have any breath mints? I got a minnow in my mouth." -- Kasombra, while playing in the river.

"Mr. Anderson, do I need to wear pants for this?" -- Tony J., actually spoken yesterday but I forgot to mention it.

"M'am, do we know who's on this bus? For instance, if someone is in the bathroom when we leave the missions, we won't leave them behind?" -- The Bus #2 guest tour guide on the way to the Mission. No, we never take attendance and prefer to leave as many kids behind as possible... (Kidding!)

"Hi, my name is penguin and I am a cute penguin. -- Emily K" -- submitted by Erin W. via a piece of cardboard stuck under my hotel room door, with a plea to "please post!"

"Ms. Wych, I got stung by a scorpion, what should I do?" -- Kyle A.

YES, you read that last one correctly! No worries, it was a very small scorpion and he's just fine. :) But, I must say, I had NO idea how to answer that question!

So, there you have it! A great day! We're ready for the caverns tomorrow, then the trip home... I'll try to get one more blog post in via cell phone or email, but if not, see you back in Illinois!

Tuesday Part #1.... El Mercado

Well, so much happened today that Blogger won't let me put all the pictures in one post... so this will be a three-part post! However, I'll write the posts starting with the end of the day and ending with the beginning, so as you read down the page, the day progresses in the appropriate order. We started the day today at El Mercado, San Antonio's open-air market. See photo below... it's a VERY colorful place!


Our performance area was... cozy... but we had a nice awning for shade, and Mr. Anderson and I got a good workout climbing up and down the flowerbed every time we had to switch conductors. :) We had a nice little crowd gather as the shops opened up and the market filled with people. It was great to see a few of our MCHS band families who flew in for the performances!


The guard joined us in performing "Tiger Rag" and "Thriller." Kudos to Sam D. for a very era-appropriate routine to accompany "Tiger Rag"!


After the performance, the students had some time to browse through the many shops in this very large open-air market. Purchases included multiple musical instruments (Erin W... the last post in this series will show the end result of THAT), a tiny pan-flute (me), a "Sheriff Rick" badge (students, for Mr. Anderson), and a giant wolf head decoration (two, purchased by Jeff B. and Justin M... not sure yet how they're getting those home on the plane).

Keep scrolling down for pictures of the band at the Alamo!

Tuesday Part #2... The Alamo

After lunch at the River Center Mall, the band traveled to the Alamo to explore this historical site as well as perform. What a cool place!

The sea of orange enters the Alamo...
A short video clip of the band's performance at the Alamo. Briefly featuring Audrey S.'s dad, one of a few parents who made the trip to see us! As you can see, we had a good-sized audience at this performance as well. In addition to the people who gathered around the pavilion, many people across the courtyard stopped to listen. Among them was a gentleman from Yorkville who, when I thanked him for listening to us, said that he wouldn't miss it! You'd be amazed at the number of Illinois-ans we've run into here.

And finally, the guard performing on the lawn in front of our pavilion. In the background is the biggest, fanciest post office I've ever seen!


All this and it's only 4 pm! Keep scrolling down for the rest of Tuesday's activities...

Tuesday Part #3... Boat Ride and Dinner

After the Alamo performance, we returned to the hotel for an hour to relax and change out of our polos and black pants. As I was sitting in my hotel room during this break time, I suddenly heard a loud ruckus out in the hall that... sort of?... sounded like music. Upon investigating, I found Melissa H., Erin W., Kelly M., Andrea A., Angela L., and Emily K. in the hall, all dressed up for dinner, happily performing on the wide variety of musical instruments that Erin had purchased at the Market this morning (I told you that would come up again!). Of course, this required not just a photo, but a video for the blog. For the record... the video cuts out just before Emily falls over. :)

Once everyone had freshened up, we headed down to the Riverwalk for a guided boat tour. It was nice to see the entire length of the River, as well as learn about the history of some of the buildings.

Our boat... as best I can make out, we have Aric A., Becky W., Austin S., Megan C., ???, Corey A., Jake K., Aaron C., Jessica F., Tyler B., Kyler F., Jeff B., Anthony A., and Molly W. Phew!


One of the other four boats that we filled as we pass on the river. I'm not even going to start listing names for this one!


We ended the evening with a VERY big dinner at Casa Rio, a popular Mexican restaurant along the Riverwalk. They had a huge party room set up just for us, and we were served a three-course dinner including chips, dip, guacamole salad, enchiladas, tamales, and a variety of other Mexican foods. YUM! Below, a picture overlooking the outdoor area of the restaurant. If you notice... it's the same view as the picture at the top of this blog that I arbitrarily downloaded off the internet as a picture of San Antonio. A little darker in my picture, but you get the idea!


All in all, a very busy day! The kids had a great time, and what a fantastic experience to perform at these historic sites for such receptive audiences. After all this hard work though, we are definitely ready for a relaxing day at the Twin Elm Ranch tomorrow (many of us prepared with new cowboy hats!). Well, this concludes the three-part edition of Tuesday... see you tomorrow!

Austin and Texas State University

Today was a very busy day! After an early breakfast, we loaded the busses for the ride to Austin, the state capital of Texas. There, we spent some time learning about Texas history (okay, and playing dress-up) at the Visitor's Center, and touring the Capitol Building. This state Capitol Building is the largest in the country, and had some very cool features. We learned that most of the desks in the Senate and House of Representatives rooms are originals dating back to the 1800s, and that whenever a new governor is elected, it takes two days to rotate all the governors' photos through the four floors of the cupola. AND, the Bus #2 group got the treat of a tour guide who looked exactly like Clark Kent of the Superman movie. :)

Ryan plays dress-up at the Visitor's Center...

A sea of orange making its way over to the capitol building...
and standing in the cupola area of the Capitol Building.
We received multiple compliments from staff members at both the Visitor's Center and the Capitol Building about how well-behaved and polite our students are... we agree! It's always nice to hear it from others, though. :) After touring the state capitol, we spent a few hours at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, a huge collection of artifacts complete with with a replica of the Oval Office. Then it was on to our clinic at Texas State University. Dr. Rod Schuler was a great clinician, and had a lot of helpful insights for our band.

Dr. Schuler working with the band...
The percussionists....
An attempt at a video of our clinic! The sound quality is not great because it was taken on my phone, but hopefully you get the idea.

After the clinic we headed back to San Antonio and took over the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.

Other "highlights" of the day included Kelly M. getting a full-body stripe from laying down on a line of newly-layed caulk... and Tommy P. asking during the middle of our Q & A session with Dr. Schuler how many Texans actually have a southern drawl. :) Much to our surprise, Dr. Schuler gave us a very detailed description of how the various Texas accents are distributed!

Time for bed... tomorrow is performance day!

Greetings from Shamu!

Everyone had a great day at Sea World today! The weather was perfect and the park was empty enough that the roller-coaster-lovers got as many rides as they wanted and we got to see lots of great shows.

The directors get a photo op with Shamu...
The boys take a shot at the girls on the lazy river...
Allison, Rebecca, Kelly, and Becky pose at the front of the park...
Molly, Anthony, Aric, and Becky grab dinner...
And Abbey, Jess, and Kasombra are wiped out at the end of the day! (Note Kasombra's new cowboy hat!)
On the chaperone end, we discovered that band trips age a person more than we previously thought! One of our moms (who wishes to remain nameless!) realized while in line for a rollercoaster that she's actually a year older than she thought she was. On the student end, some comments about San Antonio have been...

"Can I stay here??" -- Erin W. (I pointed out that she also asked to stay in East St. Louis)

"I love this place!" -- Aaron C.

"The eloquent accomodations in addition to the architectural detailing create a pleasing environment fit for the likes of the MCHS Band." -- Emily B. on our hotel... yes, that is a direct quote.

Hopefully tomorrow I can post some comments from the students after our clinic at Texas State University. Our clinician is very well-known in the music world and it should be a GREAT experience for everyone!

Out and back

We had a little time to begin exploring the Riverwalk this evening. Such a cool area!
Some kids opted to stay at the hotel, and in return got to see this fantastic view of the city from the rooftop pool area. The lighted building front and center in the photo is the oldest cathedral in the U.S.

Oh, and Mr. Jepsen arrived safely. :) Needless to say, we are all ready for bed... on to Sea World tomorrow! And thank you again to Mrs. Gordon for her fantastic trip planning!

We made it!

We have arrived safely in San Antonio! All our travels this morning went very well... we were even entertained on the plane by a singing flight attendant! Even so, we are happy to be back on the ground in Texas. Mr. Jepsen, however, experienced not one, but TWO flat tires on the Band Trailer on his way to San Antonio. Fortunately he is now back on the road and we look forward to his arrival tonight with all the band instruments. Thanks to Melissa for this charming picture of one of the flats being repaired. Thanks Mr. Jepsen!


Our hotel is very nice -- the marble lobby features a beautiful stained glass window. The group favorite, however, is definitely the rooftop pool. Below, Stephanie, Sarah, and Denine enjoy the view of the city and the beautiful 80* weather!
Our plans for this evening include a hot dog and chili dinner at the hotel, beginning to expore the beautiful Riverwalk area, and a pizza party before heading to bed. Off to dinner now... more later!

Luggage Check is a Success

Thank you to everyone -- students, parents, and chaperones alike -- for a very efficient luggage check tonight! Right now our instruments our safely on their way and luggage is neatly lined up in the band room waiting for our early morning arrival tomorrow.

Below, Mrs. Gordon swiftly coordinates the plethora of paperwork!

Mrs. Williams searches luggage. Black socks... check!

Megan and Jill make sure everyone has their green t-shirt for the airport on Saturday!
Hopefully everyone is in bed by now getting lots of rest for tomorrow... see you at 5:50!

Welcome!

Welcome to the brand new MCHS Band - San Antonio 2010 Blog! We will be making updates to this blog throughout the trip to keep family and friends at home updated on our activities in San Antonio.

The next post I will be making will be to inform everyone of our safe arrival in Texas. I will try my best to update soon after arriving at our hotel, but please be patient!

Hopefully we will be able to include some photos, and maybe even a few guest-posters, as our trip progresses.

Here's to a great trip!