Concert Choir Day Eighteen: The End of the Bromantic Getaway called “Tour”

Aloha!

Well, if you’re reading this it means the tour has ended and the boys should be pretty close to making it home to their own beds tonight.  I doubt they are too interested in sleeping right away though with all of the stories they have to share.  It’s been a fantastic tour and I cannot begin to describe the personal growth, both physically and emotionally, that has taken place in only 18 long days. This has been anything but a vacation for these boys with thirteen performances along the way and the majority of every day in the public eye on their best behavior. 

These boys have done a terrific job this year.  We had our share of lost teeth, lost toothbrushes and a lost hat or eight along the way, but each time was used as a learning experience.  The boys rarely made the same mistakes twice and improved everyday along our trip.  In the coming days, the stories will trickle out about the jellyfish at the ocean, the head rush they got from eating ice cream at the Blue Bunny museum too fast or the incredible size of the Saturn V rocket.  With all of the things these boys have seen over the past eighteen days, it will take much more than a few days to tell all of the stories.  This is why we journal – it’s just too many good memories to remember all at once.

Of course, we cannot possibly go on these concert tours without the amazing support year-round from our families and friends.  The moms and dads that shuttled them back and forth to rehearsals, the brothers and sisters that we had to leave behind and buy souvenirs for that sometimes break before we get home, and the literally thousands of people that slap them on the back and tell them you are proud of them.  It takes everyone to make this work and we truly appreciate everything that has been sacrificed to make this happen.

Our hope is that the skills they learned stick for a few weeks so they can show you at home how they put their napkins on their laps, hold the door for others, and clean-up their rooms without complaining.  They have proven they know how to be great young men and I speak for the entire staff when I tell you the staff is very impressed with the job they did.

Enough blubbery stuff.  This morning went very smooth.  Technically, from Josh E.’s morning report the word of the day was supposed to be “hugs” but I think “smooth” is more like it.  It started when we woke them up this morning, right through breakfast, and onto the bus which I don’t think has ever run as effortlessly than today.  (We had amazing roads, great tires, a full tank of fuel and a tailwind.  Perfect situation for driving.)  To my knowledge, only one item was left in the hotel room and I have a very very good feeling it just got packed in his suitcase (his hat).  The boys were unusually quiet this morning as well, which was nice.  I made my rounds to check on them and they all seemed to be very content and comfortable.  It was fun.

For lunch, we called ahead to “Denny’s” and they were ready for us the moment we walked in.  A lot of the boys ordered breakfast for lunch.  They thought that was pretty cool.  I thought that was cheaper.  J After lunch, we began rest period.  The timing of the rest stops weren't great today, about 20 minutes sooner than I would've liked, so we had to cut it a little short.  A lot of the boys asked if they could continue napping after rest period.  We put in “How the States Got Their Shapes” and finished the series.  Stewart was lobbying very hard to watch “Space Jam”, but I didn’t think the boys deserved to end the tour on such a low note. 

We packed all of our things on the bus as we rolled through Maple Grove and Rogers.  The boys have kept things pretty clean this year on the bus which makes this part of the tour much easier.  With Rodney looking to head to his own home sooner rather than later, we tried to get everything ready that we would need for the concert ahead of time so he could do that.  That is no easy task, but the boys know the routine well enough to make it happen.

As we rolled towards Nowthen, the boys were getting very anxious to see their loved ones.  Some of the younger ones were fidgeting a lot in anticipation of their first Homecoming arrival.  There is really nothing that compares to the feeling you get of coming home triumphantly after a long concert tour like this.  The banners, signs and balloons help to make a great occasion ever greater.

Other than a few rain drops and being a couple minutes late, the arrival was perfect.  It was wonderful to see all of the families, including my own wife that I tend to have some feelings for.  (I think she’s “the one”.)  After hugging our mommies, the boys turned in their gear and received their cowboy hats and some other items from the tour.  Then it was off to dinner to eat some delicious food and catch-up with the families.  A lot of smiles and laughter was overheard which is always wonderful to see.

The concert went very well, probably one of the best of the tour.  Aaron kept it short and sweet, talking only when he needed to.  Since much of the talking during a usual concert is educating new fans about the organization, we passed over that part of the program.   The boys put a lot of energy into the concert and it showed.  It was a great night.

To finish off the evening, we had a few awards to hand-out.  Jeremiah Shoemaker was selected as “Most Musical” this year.  He did a tremendous job on tour and was very deserving of this award.  Joel Zimmerman took home the “Most Improved” Award.  Over the past couple of seasons he has worked very hard to continue to improve and had blossomed into a great young man.  The big award of the evening was the “Choirboy of the Year”, which was taken by Head Chorister Jacob Gordon.  With all of the awards, it is generally a difficult decision, but with all of the experience and great young men in the organization, this was an especially tough year for awards.  Congratulations to all of the boys this year.

The toughest part of the evening each year is the task of presenting our graduates with their plaques.  Many of these boys will spend 1,000’s of hours over the years with our staff as the grow into musicians and fine young men.  Sending them out from their days as a Choirboy can come with a lot of emotion.  Congratulations to all of our graduates.  We are very excited that more than half of them are excited about joining our Men’s Chorus next season.  With their additions, more than 24 men are now in that choir.  With a goal of 40 eventually, we are well on our way to reaching that goal.  Be sure to check this choir out in the fall!

So that is it.  An incredible tour has come to a close.  Thank you all for following along and giving us great words of encouragement along the way. There is still time to consider donating to our mileage fundraiser which goes to support the tour the boys just took.  You can still give here: http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Fund-The-Drive-Trying-To-Raise-1-For-Every-Mile

P.J., signing-off.

Concert Choir Tour Day Seventeen: The Day Before Day Eighteen (Part Two)

Aloha!

Sorry this is so late this morning.  It was a pretty fun night last night with lots to get in before bed.  When I last wrote, we were just about to look for a spot to eat our lunch.  We found a great little park in Missouri thanks to our GPS that had everything.  There was room for the boys to play some football.  There was a nice sheltered picnic area.  There was a great jungle-gym. And probably most importantly, there was a bathroom.  The boys had a chance to “be boys” and run around for a while since we were in no hurry. 

We received another matching grant this morning as well, this time for $500, bringing the total amount of matching dollars to $1,400 remaining.  We are quite a bit behind our goal of raising $1 for every mile of the tour.  If everyone that read this blog each night contributed $1 every time they read it, we would shatter our goal.  Almost 400 people a day are reading this!  If everyone that was following us just took 2 minutes and went to this link and gave just a couple dollars, we could help raise almost $3,000 much needed dollars for these boys.  You’ve seen the experience these boys are receiving.  Please help us continue it. http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Fund-The-Drive-Trying-To-Raise-1-For-Every-Mile

After lunch it was back onto the bus for a good rest period.  Even without a concert last night, I still wanted them to get some rest and relax.  Usually, we would let them have the day off from naps but I think the staff just needed the break as much as anything.  They have been very wound-up as we get closer to home and the hour or so we didn’t have to give constant reminders was nice.  We used the rest period to fuel the bus as well since we had the opportunity. 

The rest of the afternoon was very laid-back on the bus.  We played about 7-8 games of Bingo and gave out lots and lots of prizes.  Stewart got a BINGO in 5 numbers. (Okay, it was rigged.  We had some hat pins to giveaway yet and I told anyone that won they could give-out a hat pin to everyone on the bus as a prize so Stewart took that option).  We also watched about 3 more episodes of “How the States Got Their Shapes”. 

We arrived at the motel around 5:30 and got all the boys checked-in.  By 6:45 we were on our way to our dinner reservations at the nearby Cracker Barrel.  They weren’t quite ready for us yet so we let the boys that still had spending money left go shopping for a few minutes.  They seated us in the restaurant and we let the boys order pretty much any meal they wanted.  We like Cracker Barrels because we know the boys are going to get a good home-style meal that isn’t going to destroy our budget.

Back at the motel, it was straight to the swimming pool.  We didn’t stay in there real long because the chlorine was a bit strong.  That stuff will mess-up a singer’s system.  You might not know this but we have a pretty important concert coming-up tonight.  The boys understood.  I sent the younger boys up to get showered and asked the graduates to stay in the pool.  We have a big crop of them this year and I thought it was only right they had one last chance to dunk me in the pool, especially since they have never been able to do it.  They got close a few times, but they failed.  (They did get Stewart earlier in the night though.)

I also used this opportunity to chat with the graduates about what their favorite memories were from being with the Choirboys.  They had some good answers.  I won’t share them here because I want to encourage ya’ll to ask them about it when they get home.  They are a good group of boys that have done a lot of great service for this organization and audiences around the world. 

Around 10:15 we gathered the boys for a quick story before bed.  This has always been a tradition for Choirboys, but we don’t get to do it as much these days because of the higher rate of host home stays.  (Back in the day, we would bring sleeping bags along and often sleep in the basements of churches.  It wasn’t ideal, since there were no showers, but it was cheap.  This always provided us with a chance to get together for a story, something we just can’t do as much today.)  By far, the most popular story ever told by John was “The Crops, the weather, & the people…the things that were important.”  It’s been absolutely impossible to come-up with a story that compares to anything John ever told, but we keep trying.  He has such a gift for that kind of thing.  It’s an unwritten code that you don’t tell other staff members stories on tour either, so I had to start from scratch on a lot of our stories since the only stories Stewart or I were ever really told came from other Prefects.  J  #prefectproblems

We put the boys down for bed and ended another great day. 

-P.J.

Concert Choir Tour Day Seventeen: The Day Before Day Eighteen

Aloha!

The boys are on a new code we just invented called “Code Silencio Greeno”.  Some of their voices are a little tired from seventeen days of excitement so nothing more than a whisper is permitted for an hour this morning.  They can play their games and everything else they want, but we want to try to limit the amount of noise we make.  It’s glorious.

This morning we packed our bags and said our goodbyes to the great people of Bella Vista, AR. They had a lot of great things to say about the boys and I think all of them waited until the bus pulled-out to leave so they could wave to the boys on the way out.  It was a very good stay.  Four of our boys took it upon themselves to sing for their host dad an a cappella rendition of “The Marine Corp Hymn” since he wasn’t able to be at the concert.  That was from Jacob K., Chris H., Arteom K., & Josh O.  Very nice.

We were loaded up and on the road ahead of schedule.  The boys were a little wound-up this morning, but historically the day before we get home is one of the best of the tour.  They have the enough energy to get done what they need to do and the knowledge to do it.  A great combination.

The only real thing we had to get done today was bus related.  With a lot of miles on the freeway, we knew a good truck wash would be available somewhere along the route.  The mission was to stop at one today and give this old girl a good bath so she was shined up by the time we got to Nowthen tomorrow.  I think I was more impressed by the shiny rims than Rodney was, but both of us were pretty tickled.  The Blue Beacon Truck Wash did a fantastic job.

The rest of the morning has been pretty mellow.  The boys are all relaxing and playing their games.  Some of the older ones are taking naps on their own.  That is one good way to pass the time.  After lunch we will probably play some BINGO and if we have any battery power left on the phones/laptops, I will try to get some more of your questions answered.  (If we don’t get to them, you may need to ask the boys TOMORROW when we get home.)

I will write later tonight when we get to the motel.  Until then,

-P.J.

Concert Choir Tour Day Sixteen: "We're all working together; that's the secret." - Sam Walton

Aloha!

Happy Independence Day!  The boys had a great time today.  Let me tell you about it now.

This morning the boys were able to sleep in a little until 10:00am.  They met at the church and we wasted little time.  The first order of business was to get to the local country club so we could go swimming.  Obviously, the boys enjoyed that idea.  The drive was about 20 minutes so the boys asked for more “How the States Got Their Shapes”.  They love that show.

The boys were very warned yesterday that their journals would be checked before they were allowed in the pool.  Some of them decided to test that though, and I am sorry to mention that about four of them did not get in the pool today.  I feel like such a meanie…That cost be the “Staff Member of the Year Award” this morning on the bus.  Stewart won by a landslide.  He also won “Most Improved Staff Member of the Year” and “Most Musical Staff Member of the Year”.  A resounding victory, all tabulated by the auditing firm of Joey & Leibig.

The time in the pool was great, but on the shorter side of things.  The boys were most excited to have a pool that made it all the way to 8 feet deep.  They swam for a good hour before having an “All-American” lunch of hot dogs and apple pie.  Before we left for the day, we sang a few songs for the staff of the country club that had to work on the 4^th of July, as well as the patrons that were in attendance.  By the third song, we had quite a nice little crowd.

The next stop was at a modern art museum in Bentonville called “Hotel 21”.  This had a number of modern pieces that some of the boys found very enjoyable.  Essentially a block away from this was the original “Walton 5 & 10” – the birthplace of Wal-Mart.  Obviously, as the largest company in the world they didn’t have much use for the old store other than a museum.  We brought the boys through to see the history and depth of the Wal-Mart company.  It is impressive what they were able to accomplish, but even more remarkable was the humility of Sam Walton.  The same old Ford pickup he drove to work each day and the cheesy Wal-Mart trucker hats he wore as his trademark were on display.  (In hindsight, I wish I would’ve picked one up from the gift store.)  He is an icon in the business world and a good man to emulate.  The boys really enjoyed the museum and spent as much time as they could going around to the interactive exhibits, including Sam’s actual office encased in glass.

The next stop was “Crystal Bridges”, which was essentially a personal art museum for Alice Walton.  It’s amazing and features so many incredible pieces of work.  We saw everything from some of the original works of George Washington all the way to works by Norman Rockwell and even Andy Warhol.  One of the first paintings we saw when we walked in was about 400 years old and was sold to Alice Walton for the minimal sum of $31,000,000.  Needless to say, I was fairly anxious bringing 28 boys through this exhibit.

On the way back to the church, Bill Plante (Mary Jo’s brother) wanted to bring us by a Chapel constructed by one of the original settlers of Bella Vista.  This chapel constructed almost entirely of steel and glass was described by one of the boys as “a big bird house”.  I could see that.  It was located on a hill in the middle of the woods.  Nobody was staffing it and the doors had no locks.  It was about as much of a community building as you could ever find.  We walked right in a made ourselves at home.  We took the time to take some photos and sang a little song to share with everyone in honor of Independence Day.  You can listen to it here.  It was a great stop to end the day.

We finished-up our episode of “How the States Got Their Shapes” on the way back to the church where all of our host families were waiting for us promptly at 5:00pm.  Many of them were attending fireworks again tonight, although I know a number of them had other activities planned like Mini Golf and ice cream.  I imagine they will be having fun and should all be headed to bed fairly soon, around 9:45 tonight.

Tomorrow is fairly early start at 8:00am.  It’s onto Clive, Iowa.  I have a TON of questions for the boys and will answer as many of them as I can during our drive, but conserving battery power seems to be an issue on these longer bus trips (380 miles).  Anyone want to sponsor tomorrow’s journey?  We have a matching grant that was generously offered for the next $1,000 donated to this cause. http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Fund-The-Drive-Trying-To-Raise-1-For-Every-Mile

Until tomorrow,

-P.J.

Concert Choir Tour Day Fifteen: Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes

Aloha!

The boys should all be home from fireworks by now so we have a second to get you up-to-date.  Today was fairly routine which is really not a word we have used too much this tour.  By routine I mean the schedule; the people and the places never get familiar, which has been wonderful.

The boys arrived at Custer Road Methodist in Plano right on time this morning.  We were actually a little ahead of schedule, so we took the opportunity to have the bus crew go through and sweep the bus.  Ben has really stepped-up the past few days and done a great job in leadership roles.  I’m pretty proud of him.  He and Chi are doing about as well as two tour partners could do, especially with their jobs in the choir.  Once the sweeping was done, we hit the restrooms and were on the road five minutes early.

The reports from the host families were great – they really enjoyed having the boys for two days.  You can sort of tell by this point in the tour who had the most fun.  Those boys tend to forget more things and this morning was no exception.  Three hats were left behind…never a good start, but we managed.  They knew they messed-up by this point in the tour and we really don’t need to say much in terms of corrective actions.  It’s all about learning from this so it doesn’t happen again.  This is why we bring extra hats.

Our attention to detail was lacking a little this morning so we had a little “market correction”, if you will, during our bus ride this morning.  More or less it was a conversation with the boys about the fact that tour is not over yet, despite the fact that we are going to be 1/3 of the way there by the end of the day.  They get that there is still work to do, but they are excited to get home as well.  We all are.  Every year we liken it to horses knowing they are headed back to the barn after a trail ride.  Sometimes you need to pull back on the reigns so you don’t smash into the barn.  Whoa, little Choirboys.

The ride was pretty quiet this morning.  Jacob G. had all the boys finishing-up their journals before they could play their games.  To help him see who had their journals done, he rewarded the boys that finished with a cowboy hat.  The Choir had some left-over from years ago that we didn’t really care to store during the moving process so we plan to give them to the boys as an added souvenir.  They seemed to like them, so that works for us.  Our first rest stop of the morning was just on the Texas side of the border.  Our last stop in Texas.  The boys in the photo were the ones done with their journals by that stop, so we rewarded them by putting them on Facebook.  (By lunch, I am fairly certain everyone was caught-up on their journals).

Lunch was at a pretty cool park located on no map.  I actually learned about it from a local employee of a Wal-Mart somewhere in some town in southern Oklahoma.  I’m not typically into stereotypes, but if you’ve ever heard backwoods southern talk – this guy had it.  I couldn’t really understand where he said the park was, but I can read arm gestures from my trips to Europe when you couldn’t understand anyone for four weeks at a time.  It was “thataway, ya’ll”.  So we went.   There was no park.  So we went further.  There was a park.  We ate lunch.

The boys didn’t have a whole lot of time to eat today.  I kind of had to rush them since we had a lot of ground to cover and the estimated time on the GPS kept getting later and later.  We love being in Bella Vista, Arkansas.  It’s getting their in a bus that is the difficult part.  It’s not really on any interstates, which means lots of stops signs and other traffic considerations.  It also means no rest stops, which makes things more difficult.  You can’t just bring 28 boys to a gas station like you’d want to.  (Believe it or not, we kind of have a formula for estimating how much time it’s going to take to get through a bathroom.  Sometimes, it is actually faster to leave where you are and go to another location, then come back.  If you are going on a trip with a bunch of boys, I can share some tips later.  If you are going on a trip with a bunch of girls, you are on your own.  My #prefecthacks won’t help you.)  We managed today, thanks to a couple of well-timed truck stops and a park for lunch that had a quite “rustic”, but serviceable facility.

 

Anyways – how did I get stuck on that???  After lunch the boys took a great nap.  About an hour and a half of snoring and drool.  Those are the good ones.  As soon as the boys got up, we stopped at a Pilot Travel Plaza (those are the good ones, along with Flying J’s) and got right back on the bus.  We were well behind schedule by this point.  The boys requested more episodes of “How the States got Their Shapes” so of course I was happy to play an educational program for them.  We actually were able to get almost three more episodes in this afternoon!

 

As we neared Bella Vista, we drove through Bentonville – the home of Walmart.  I know not everyone is a fan of them, but I am amazed by what they can accomplish and have had the joy of doing some reports on them back in business school.  It doesn’t get much better than their supply-chain practices.  Tomorrow we will be back in the area, benefiting from the numerous civic projects they have contributed to around here.  Should be fun.

We made it to St. Bernard’s Church around 5:31pm – 59 minutes before our concert time.  The boys were well-prepared, as we spoke at length about the different things we needed to accomplish in that amount of time.  The moment the bus stopped, we had boys going every direction accomplishing their duties in a very organized and efficient manner.  #proudprefect.

We also officially picked-up Mary Jo here tonight.  Her brother Bill and his wife Joann are the contacts here in Bella Vista and have hosted the boys on several occasions before.  It was great to have a familiar voice around helping us out.  It will be fun to have her with us for the next 3 days.

The host families for the next two days were prepared to eat dinner with the boys, so we introduced the boys and they had about 20 minutes to eat and converse with their families.  Then it was off to get changed quickly before warming-up in the hallway.  By 6:31, the boys were walking in two straight lines onto a stage in a sanctuary most of them had never seen before.  They handled it like pros.  While it wasn’t an ideal situation, it was the only time on the tour they had to “make do” and they did great.  The first half of the concert took a little longer to get used to the space than we would’ve wanted, but the audience was very appreciative and enjoyed the boys very much.  At intermission, the boys knew they needed to turn it up a notch and did a great job of resting and preparing for the second half.  They certainly stepped it up when they came back on and ended on a very strong note. The “Salute to the Armed Forces” was fun to watch with many Veterans standing to be recognized in the crowd.  The audience gave a standing ovation at the end of the concert and proceeded to stand throughout “thank you very much”.  They simply adored the boys. 

After the concert we enjoyed some cake before the boys headed to the local fireworks with their host families.  Apparently, that is the thing to do here.  We are pretty sure every set of boys was headed to see the fireworks tonight, so we will have a full report on those in the morning.

So that’s, that!  Another healthy, fun and energetic day for the Land of Lakes Choirboys.  Start working on your signs!  (Take a tip from the experienced families: make one sign, then store it in the garage until next year.  Make a game out of it and your boy will think it’s pretty funny.)  We will be home before you know it.  Before you do though, take a moment and visit this site.  We could use the help.

-P.J.

Concert Choir Tour Day Fourteen: Presidents, Grassy Knolls, A Choirboy Combine, Cowboys & Ice Cream

Aloha!

Let’s get right to it.  This morning was pretty fun to watch the boys come in from their host homes.  From the perspective of the boys, they were all smiling and very happy with their host families.  From the perspective of the host families, they were thrilled with the boys and eagerly awaiting night number two of hosting tonight.  The boys took right to their jobs and got the bus loaded in great time.  On the way to our first stop we watched another episode of “How the States Got Their Shapes”, which the boys love.  Today included Texas, which was an added bonus.

The first stop of the day was at the 6^th Floor Museum and the site of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.  It was one of those places that you could just feel the history and the weight of the events that happened there.  Before we could feel the weight of the site, we needed to take-up a collection amongst the boys for loose nickels and dimes we could use to feed the parking meters.  It seems our blogger was tired of lugging around 30 pounds worth the change in his wallet and cleaned it out that very morning.  Smooth move.  Rodney gave us a dime, but I told him the “thank you” letter for the write-off would cost 12 cents plus a stamp, so I rejected his donation.  J

 We arrived about 30 minutes early (before the museum was open) so we took the boys to the Kennedy Memorial and the infamous “Grassy Knoll”.  To the majority of the boys, the “Grassy Knoll” was a hill on the side of the road with grass on it.  Tonight, most of the boys probably still think that, but in about 30 years it will hit them that this wasn’t just any grassy hill on the side of the road.  It was “the” grassy hill on the side of the road, earning it the distinction of a “knoll”.

The staff was pretty much in agreement:  this was one of the best museums we have ever been in.  You start on the first floor of the old book depository where you receive what is essentially an iPod with a pair of headphones.  Then you take an elevator ride to “the” 6^th Floor where Lee Harvey Oswald took his infamous shots.  Each chapter on the iPod device is a part of the story, beginning with the culture of the 60’s and the race between Nixon and Kennedy for the Office of the President.  Then it goes into the Cold War and some of Kennedy’s stances on social programs before bringing you to the day of the assassination.  There were great artifacts, such as an invite for a Presidential luncheon that Kennedy was headed for after the parade.  No aspect of the story was left untold and by the time you got to the actual event, you felt a connection with a President that died now 50 years ago (this fall).  I am assuming there will be a lot of special stories on the assassination later this year and now the boys can say they were there.  Incredible.

The museum has everything, including the actual room and window where the shots took place.  It’s encased in glass now, but you can look right at it and look out the next window over or the one on the 7^th floor directly above it.  You are almost as close to history as you can get.  It was great, but they wouldn't allow you to take any pictures inside, so you have to imagine it a little.  Some of the boys took a long time going through the exhibits, which was awesome.  You never know what you are going to get bringing boys through museums, but this was as close to a home run as you can get.  We all made it through the gift store before heading back to the bus for lunch.

We made our way from downtown Dallas to the suburb town of Arlington.  Along the way we saw numerous impressive road systems.  Texas does not mess around with their overpasses and bridges, so you should not mess with Texas.  We also passed one of the cooler amusement parks ever in Six Flags, as well as the amazing Ballpark at Arlington where the Rangers baseball team plays.

 

Our appointment for the Cowboys Stadium was at 1:30pm.  You cannot possibly fathom the size and enormity of this facility until you have seen it for yourself.  Holding 80,000 people for a game and 105,000 with standing room only seating, this monstrosity of a stadium captivated the boys for most of the afternoon.  (…and to think the new Vikings stadium is supposed to rival this one…)

Our tour guide came out and met us at the stadium.  The first stop was the premium seating where we were able to sit in these amazingly padded seats and stare up at the largest suspended television in the world.  Before we could even ask, he let us know that “yes, we do play video games on there all the time”.  The ends of the stadium is apparently supposed to be similar to the new Vikings design as it is the same designers on both projects.

The next stop was the luxury suites.  On the way, we passed a fraction of the over 3,000 HD TV’s in the concourses which added-up don’t equal the size of the big screens over the field.  No expense was spared for this incredible building.

We took the freight elevator to the basement where the corridors are large enough for motor coaches and semis to drive right into the stadium.  The boys got excited when the guide said they were going to see a locker room and got even more excited when they were told they were going to the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader’s locker room.  They were allowed to take pictures in there, but only if they attempted the exact same pose as the personalized posters hanging above each Cheerleader’s locker.

 

After that, it was over to the player’s locker room, but before entering they were told in no uncertain terms that they were not allowed to touch anything.  The reason of course, as any locker should be, the lockers are made of imported wood from Africa and have a value of more than $9,000 each.

The boys were then given the chance to suit-up with pads and jerseys.  Next to the locker room was the press room, which is sound proof.  That is where the boys sang a song at the tour guides request.  His reasoning was so we could say “we sang at Cowboy’s Stadium”.  From there, it was through the tunnel that leads from the locker rooms, through a ground-level restaurant, and onto the field directly at the 50-yard line.

The first thing we did on the field was gathering on “the star” for a group photo.  One boy, (Arteom) blinked during the photo so they photo shopped Tex’s eyes (Dillon) on Arteom’s face.  It was amazing how soft the turf was.  The guide said we could stay as long as we wanted, so we did.  Boys raced the length of the field, played catch, ran around, and did everything else a boy on the field at one of the coolest buildings in the world would do.  It was great!  The only way we could get the boys off the field was by telling them that this was one of the last opportunities they would have to spend their spending money before we had to give it back to their parents.  There was no way this was going to be allowed to happen on their watch, so to the Pro Shop we went to help line the meager pockets of poor Mr. Jerry Jones.

For dinner, we cut across the stadium parking lot and found a great Cici’s Pizza.  Each boy started with a salad before cleaning-out the pizza selections.  There was even Macaroni and Cheese pizza which was a huge hit.  After another bathroom break, we headed back to the bus.

The ride home was filled with lots of stories and laughter.  You’d think for being as busy as the boys were today they would be tired, but they were wound-up pretty good.  They probably walked several miles over the course of the day, but it didn’t faze these guys. We promised them ice cream for having such a great clean-up two nights ago so we made-good on the promise at a Braum’s Ice Cream parlor on the way back.  (We knew they could clean-up quickly.  We just needed them to know they could do it and ice cream usually helps teach them that.)  Following our snack, we got back to the church where all of the host families were eagerly awaiting the return of the boys.  Within 3 minutes, the parking lot was cleared-out and everyone was on their way to finish the great day.

Whew!  That was a lot!  Tomorrow is on to Bella Vista where we will meet-up with Mary Jo for her first day ever on tour.  This should be fun!

A quick housekeeping note:  We are well behind our goal of raising $1 for each mile of the tour.  Please consider sending this link to your friends and family in hope that they will considering supporting this great program for boys.  Click here to Donate

Until then,

-P.J.

Concert Choir Tour Day Thirteen: Continued on Day Fourteen

Aloha!

Chi never really had a great chance to finish-up yesterday’s blog post so I am going to help him out so we don’t fall behind.

The rest of the trip to Plano was relatively smooth with only a couple “learning opportunities” for our leaders and their navigating skills.  We made it though, right on time, and the boys proceeded to lead the entire process of setting-up the concert. On the whole, the boys in leadership roles did a tremendous job for the day.  It’s never easy leading this group with all of the intangibles and unknowns in your day.  I didn’t really hold too much back from them either.  It was a true test of delegation and multi-tasking, prioritizing and learning to just say “no” sometimes.  Jacob G. really had the brunt of the workload, but he handled it very very well.  It’s really the highlight of this job when you can see a boy like Jacob, who starts all quiet and timid years ago, and is now leading 27 other boys on a voyage 1,500 miles from home.  This is a unique program with unique opportunities for boys that you just can’t get in baseball, boy scouts, or just about anything else.  We have a special thing and we need to hold on to it as long as we can.

The concert went very well.  The boys had a snazzy new way to get on stage.  I would show you, but I think they are going to try it at the Homecoming Concert (if they can because of the stage set-up) and I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.  I will just saw this much:  I was even impressed by how well they did it.

The space is one of our favorites to sing in.  The church is amazing.  Tall ceilings.  Balconies on three sides.  Just wonderful.  I could keep typing but I will just throw a bunch of photos on here which can explain it so much better. The boys ended the night by heading to their host homes.

Another end to another great day.

-P.J.

Concert Choir Tour Day Thirteen: They've seen us do it for two weeks. Now it is their turn.

The boys are now in charge of the tour.  They have proven they are up for the challenge so we have given them our seats, the GPS, and a handful of money.  Chi volunteered to do the blog this evening (In his words, "because obviously I am the funniest"), but he only got through rest period so you are going to need to wait until tomorrow for the rest of it. I will make sure we make it up to you with lots of concert pictures. SPOILER ALERT:  The boys are all fine and sounded great at the concert.  -P.J.

Today, just like any other was a great day full of excitement and laughter.  When the boys arrived at the church, Chi and his crew of bus-loading superheroes loaded the bus so efficiently they were able to fit Camden, Chi, Jacob K. and Josh O. into the bay.  Anyways, as they boarded the bus they noticed P.J. and Aaron moved their belongings to the middle of the bus.  This was because Jacob G., Noah, Camden and Jeffrey took over their jobs by running the bus.  As the day went on, the boys went through their normal routine. Up until lunch which was at a rest stop.

At lunch the boys ate quicker than normal so they could play on the playground there.  Then it was onto the bus for a really good rest period.  The boys slept for a loooong time.  It was great.

-Chi

Concert Choir Tour Day Twelve: Weekend at Boerne (Part Duex)

Aloha!

The boys are all at their host homes after a busy day so I have a minute to write to you all.  I’m sorry you had to wait a few extra minutes tonight.  My wife went sky diving today and I wanted to hear all about it.  She had a blast. 

Tonight’s concert was a pretty good time.  The boys woke-up a little bit later than we had planned, but they are pros and it all worked-out just fine.  We took the liberty of washing their white shirts last night and had the process of distributing them all back out to them today.  Thank you to those parents that ensured your son’s number was in his shirt.  That helped us a lot.

On the way into the concert (literally, as we were going in) one of the boys dipped his head in to grab a last second sip of water from the fountain before going on stage.  He got his sip of water, but smacked his head on the corner of the wall as he stood up.  I was concerned but he was tough and made it through the first half of the concert fine.  He had a little welt on there which we iced at intermission, but by the start of the second half you could hardly see it.  Our boys are pretty tough when they want to be, and so far they have wanted to be during the concerts.  As far as choirs go, they are pretty good about knowing when it is time to play and when it is time to work.  So far, we have had only one boy miss less than one half of a concert total due to illness (or any other reason.)  That is pretty awesome.

The concert went along very well.  The boys sang in good form and the audience seemed to appreciate it very much.  One lady approached Aaron in tears after the concert and said she “sat in awe” of the boys and their beautiful sound.  Another told him that “their parents should be very proud of them”.  Overall, it was a very good concert.  The boys cleaned-up about as well as I have seen in some time too.  It took 14 minutes flat to change, finish their jobs, unload the suitcases, clean-up the dressing room and get to the sanctuary to meet their host families.  A tremendous job.  (I did have to bribe them with ice cream in Dallas, however.  The deal was if they beat 15 minutes they got ice cream.  If they didn’t, I bought ice cream and ate it in front of them.  I know they never like to see me happy, so it worked like a charm.)

There were 13 host homes for our 14 sets of boys tonight.  The boys did an exceptional job of introducing themselves to their host families tonight.  Really good eye contact and firm handshakes.  I liked that.  After grabbing their gear they were on their way.  Another successful day!

Tomorrow is Plano.  That is a beautiful church that we have been to before.  Should be a great time!

-P.J.

Concert Choir Tour Day Twelve: Weekend at Boerne

Aloha!

I have a few minutes here for a little midday update.  The boys are resting in the First United Methodist Church here in Boerne (pronounced like “bur nee”) after a very successful morning.  Our first stop was at the Catholic Mass in Seguin where we have been staying the past two nights.  The host parents were all very happy with the boys behavior and the staff heard many compliments about them.  The boys had a good time from the sounds of it as well.  Two of the boys got up early this morning to feed the sheep at the ranch they were staying at.  I asked them how it was and they said “not too baaaaaa-d”.

During the service, one of our tweets was retweeted on Twitter.  Nick Hoffman, a former Choirboy that is now in the country band “The Farm” retweeted a picture we posted yesterday.  The napkins read “Home Sweet Home”, which is also the name of the song they first released about a year ago.  They are touring the country right now.  When Nick retweeted the photo, it went out to more than 35,000 people in an instant.  If you are not following us on Twitter, you can do so by searching for us at @thechoirboys.

The church service went very well and the congregation couldn't have been more generous to the boys.  In addition to providing four meals for the boys, they also hosted for two days and contributed to one of the more generous freewill offerings of the tour.  They also asked Aaron to speak during the service to the congregation on the subject of “commitment”, using the boys/parents dedication as an example.  As if that wasn't enough, the Priest asked the congregation to take-up a special offertory during Mass this morning to support our efforts bringing in almost $850 very unexpected, but appreciated dollars. This was a fantastic stop on our journey!

The weather was much milder this morning as the clouds moved in overnight and stayed throughout the service.  We saw our first measurable rain of the tour as the first service was just finishing-up.  (Sidenote:  Ben C. is snoring underneath a table next to me as I write this.  I think he was tired.)  Rodney had just washed all the rims by hand and put the new hub cab covers/lug nut covers on the tires before the rain came and muddied them up.   He sure works hard to make sure the boys are riding in style wherever they go.  He cares a lot for the safety and experience these boys get and it really shows.  We are very lucky to have him.

 

Once the rain was almost at its heaviest, it was naturally the exact time Mass was being let-out.  The boys did a little running through the rain and made it to the bus as dry as they could.  We didn't have much time however.  Our second service of the morning was at the United Methodist Church in Boerne, about an hour’s drive from where we were at.  We knew it would be a rush, but when two places want you to sing at the same time, you do whatever you can to help them out.  Especially when they are both hosting you.  The bus rolled-out of the parking lot and we began our trip in the rain which really helped to keep the bus comfortable.  I saw the “6” flicker on the thermostat in the left-hand column.  I thought that was broken at the last 2 weeks…

With our next service starting at 11:00am, we made it to the church by 10:40.  We didn't need to warm-up or anything, but we did need to use the restroom.  By 10:55, the boys were in their seats directly behind the altar, ready to go.  They sounded very good in this space.  (AGAIN, a beautiful space to sing in. I should have pictures later tonight)

 

Immediately after service the boys had a pulled-pork sandwich lunch with this very good creamed corn recipe that I hope I can get to share with you all.  The boys enjoyed it.  I took the opportunity to have a little “wake-up” chat with all of the boys that will be returning next season (the non-graduates).  I pulled just those boys to the side and had them form a circle around me.  This was our chance to physically show them the leadership opportunities that lie in front of them by showing them what the core of their choir will look like next year.  It’s going to be a young choir, but we find ourselves saying that almost every year.  A lot of good young guys will have great opportunities to lead in only two months time. 

I am thankful they have had some good mentors this year in our graduates that are moving-on.  Hopefully, we can get most of them to stay in the Men’s Chorus this Fall.  At this point, it is looking like that is going to happen.  There is a very real chance the Men’s Chorus will be 25 strong by September and 30 or more by Christmas.  The program is building now and it is the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of dedicated individuals over the past few seasons.  This is fun!

Following lunch, the boys started some of their tour jobs.  With the concert being in the afternoon today, we were able to take it easy after a busy morning.  They are sounding very good now, so rest is the main ingredient in ensuring the concerts are as good as they can be.  Aaron and Lisa have them pretty much where they need them by now, so it’s all about putting the polish on the program and a little spit to make it shine.

 

I have one final thing to pass along from a few days ago.  We have never done this before, but I think it is good to mention.  The staff held its discussion about the boy we would like to present with the Most Improved Award.  This is a very special and important award for us, as we believe it rewards boys that are working towards self-improvement.  ALL of these nominees this year are deserving.  It was very difficult to select just one and in all of the years I have been behind the decision for this award it was the most difficult.  The nominees for Most Improved were Sam Strub, Joel Zimmerman, Dillon Nagel & Aaron Otten.  The boys themselves don’t even know that list yet, but if you would like to congratulate them on their achievement, please feel free to.  We intend to let those four boys know very soon.

That is it.  You are pretty much updated.   I am going to throw a question on our Facebook Page to help stir-up some social conversation on there.  The question will be something like “Do you have any questions for the boys about touring? “Things have died down in the “likes” and “shares” department so I want to build that back up again.  If you would like to participate but don’t have Facebook, you can send an email to mail@lolcb.org and I will include it on the conversation.

Later ya’ll!

-P.J.

Concert Choir Tour Day Eleven: Git on down dem der slides, ya'll!

Aloha!

Your boys are all pretty awesome.  I don’t know if you knew that or not!  ;-)  Today was a warm one, but you wouldn’t know it from talking to the boys.  They had a great time today and did very well.  We had a couple boys that got a little tired and cranky after several hours in the sun, but they were good by the time we got them cooled off and fed.  That generally helps. 

This morning started much later than any of the others so far on tour this year.  We met back at 10:00am which gave the boys plenty of time to sleep in.  We didn’t waste a lot of time and got on the road towards The Schlitterbahn.  On the way, we watched the first of what may be many episodes of “How the States Got Their Shapes”, a History channel series about the different states in the country and the history that led to their present-day shapes.  As boring as the synopsis may sound, they actually really enjoyed them and clambered for more on the way home.  With all the traveling we do, it only makes sense to have a series like this to share with the boys.

The Schlitterbahn was packed by the time we got there.  By packed, I mean wall-to-wall people seeking refuge from the 106 degree weather.  Once we found parking, we brought our lunches in and proceeded to eat right away.  No sense wasting perfectly good sliding time with food.  We were able to bring our own lunches and cases of water in, so that was a big financial relief.  After a thorough slathering of sunscreen we let the boys break-up into groups based on the level of rides they wanted to embark on.  This meant some of them went with a different tour partner for the day.  It’s a nice break for them to hang with a different person for a few hours as well.  The boys went from there to the rides and many got on several before our first regroup time at 2:30.

At 2:30, we gathered them all at our central location and did a check-up to make sure everything was going well, which it was.  The boys really wanted to get back to swimming so we didn’t waste much time in that heat.  We did take the opportunity to move to a better location on the other side of the park.  There is too much to do in one day.  We spent the day in the original Schlitterbahn park.  There are actually three of them on the grounds, but with the incredible heat they are experiencing (it’s even hot by their standards)  we elected to stay at the park that allowed us the least amount of times spent in lines.  This was a good move, in hindsight. Once we were settled back on the other side of the park, we reapplied the sunscreen on all of them and released them back out into the wild.

At 4:30 they made their way to our meeting spot and we began the process of getting them all through the showers, changed, and through the surprisingly inexpensive gift store.  By 5:10 we were on the road and headed back to the church.  We put another episode of “How the States Got Their Shapes” in.  Some of the boys fell asleep on the way back.  They played pretty hard today.  Early results show the sunscreen worked very well.  Only a few spots on the cheeks where they didn’t get it enough.  Much better than this past week at the pool party.

Back at the church they had a great spaghetti dinner all prepared and waiting for us with “enough to feed an Army”.  They boys challenged that claim and put a fairly sizeable dent in the food supply.  They didn’t reach the end though.  After lots of milk, lemonade and water to go with it, they rendezvoused with their host families and were on the way home by 7:00pm.  A much deserved early night for all of us.

Tomorrow is a busy day with three performances.  We will need to be on our toes.  The temps appear to be dropping some overnight and some relief is insight for the old thermometer.

 

Until then,

-P.J.

Concert Choir Tour Day Ten: We remembered the Alamo!

Aloha!  The staff is just settling into our hotel here in Seguin, Texas and the first thing I’m sure any of us are doing is cranking the AC and enjoying it for a few minutes.  My goodness it is hot down here!  It hit triple digits again and it’s not looking like we have any relief tomorrow with the forecast saying it should hit 104 degrees where we are at.  It’s alright though – these boys are tough and the temperatures really don’t faze them as much as you’d think.

This entire day was pretty good.  Probably not as much fun as yesterday, but it was still a good time.  We woke the boys up around 7:45 and made our way back to the Texas-shaped waffles.  Afterwards, we packed-up our belongings and loaded the bus.  We made it out of there a few minutes later than we wanted, but it wasn’t too bad.  (The perfectionist in me pouted about it for a good 20 minutes, but I’m over it now.)

Our first order of the day was to retrieve Ben from the San Antonio International Airport where he was scheduled to meet-up with us.  His plane landed good and early in the morning, but we weren’t going to be able to be there until noon or so.  On the way there, we decided it would be more fun to play a little joke on Ben.  Josiah fired-up the printer and each boy gave the name of an individual they wanted to pretend they were waiting for at the airport.  The boys got fairly creative with it.  The plan was to have Ben go through all of them and find his name at the end of the line.  Watch the video to see if we picked him up or not.  J

After the airport, it was off to The Alamo.  We tried to find some good authentic Mexican food down here, but all of the restaurants were too small and the wait would’ve been too long.  We found a fun Fuddruckers on the San Antonio Riverwalk that could accommodate us at a reasonable speed.  With the temperatures exceeding 100, the longer it took for our food to come, the happier the staff secretly was to sit in that AC and wait for it.  They had one of the new Coke machines that lets you pick from about a million different combinations.  The boys get such a kick out of those things.  I was pretty fascinated to see them change the syrup inside.  It comes in cartridges that look almost exactly like an ink cartridge you would find in a copy machine and they change almost as easily.  Quite interesting!

After lunch it was off to The Alamo.  We elected not to have a guided tour since we had already watched a video on the events that took place there.  It was also ridonculously hot outside.  Believe it or not, but The Alamo was not an air conditioned structure back in the day, and it still isn’t today.  We took some time and made our way through all of the exhibits, including Davey Crockett’s long rifle.  The history in there is remarkable, but it’s importance probably changes depending on which side of the border you reside.

After our trip through the mission portion, it was off to the gift store, which was full air conditioned.  I wanted to keep the boys in there as long as I could, but we also had a timeline to contend with that required us to get on the road sooner rather than later.  The boys all had a chance to go around and buy wonderful trinkets.  I was a little disappointed to only see one coonskin hat.  Oh well.  The hot items of the store were these little Alamo pocket knives.  Being that they were from the Alamo, fairly priced, and engraved with their names, I gave them the opportunity to buy them on the condition they stayed with me for the remainder of the trip.  Only five of the boys took the offer up and their parents will be receiving a nice pocket knife in about seven days to hold on to.

Once we single-handedly helped pay for the restoration of the roof, we made our 4 block walk back to the bus.  Rodney shut the bus off to come to lunch with us and peek in The Alamo since he had never seen it.  He is big into Louis L ‘Amour and apparently The Alamo is featured in his writings.  He ducked-out early to get the bus ready for us and said it was 98 degrees in there when he got into it.  Thank Heavens for the AC!  He had it down to 77 by the time we got there.

With only a short 45-minute ride to Seguin, we put the boys down for an abbreviated rest period.  They used it very well.  (This group does quite well with rest period, but I am sure some of that can be attributed to the busy schedules and the heat.)  Once in Sequin, we were greeted with some great signs.  They were obviously quite excited to have us in town for the night.

We woke the boys up and brought them inside.  We were a little on the early side and we had one more deadline yet to deal with today:  The Choirboy of the Year voting.  With the holiday weekend looming, we needed to send in the names for the awards today in order to have them done by the Homecoming Concert.  We conducted our first round of balloting several days ago.  From that, we produced the following list of nominees that received at least one vote:  Eli Nelson, Aaron Otten, Joey Leibig, Ben Couch, Arteom Katkov, Grant Schumacher, Chi Asangwe, Jacob Rud, Thor Klein, Jeremiah Shoemaker, Noah Carpenter & Jacob Gordon.

Today, the boys voted from the Top Five vote recipients on the first ballot.  Those were: Jeremiah Shoemaker, Noah Carpenter, Jacob Rud, Jacob Gordon & Joey Leibig.  From there, the selected their final three:  Jacob Rud, Jacob Gordon & Noah Carpenter.  Congratulations to all of the nominees!  I don’t think I am out of line saying this, but I was very impressed that not a single one of the guys nominated voted for themselves this year, even though they had the opportunity.  I have never seen this before and it is very telling of the character all of these guys posses.

The concert was great and these people were so appreciative.  Four times tonight they stood and applauded for the boys.  The boys sounded pretty good to boot.  The audience asked during the Q&A session to here one of the songs again, so we did at the end.  Afterwards, there were some of the most amazing cookies I have ever had.  The boys met their host families and headed-out for the night.

Tomorrow we are at the Schlitterbahn most of the day, so I will try to take a lot of pictures for ya’ll.  Sorry there were so few today.

 

Time for bed.

-P.J.

Concert Choir Tour Day Nine: You got sand where?!?

Aloha.

Everything is covered in sand.  Everything.   Fun is sure messy and a lot of work.  Remember how I said yesterday was the best day so far?  This might’ve topped it.  Who knows anymore? Seems like every day we have is the newest greatest day.  Maybe they are all just that good?

Today was all about relaxing, taking a break from music and touring, and being boys.  We started by letting them sleep in and apparently, they needed it.  Stewart has been increasing his responsibilities as the tour goes along (and doing quite well, I might add) and said most of the boys were still sleeping when he went in at 8:00am.  That generally doesn’t happen unless they were pretty tired.  We ate breakfast here at the motel.  The boys got a good kick out of the waffle maker that produced Texas-shaped waffles.  Can’t make that up.

Shortly afterwards, I had an idea to surprise the boys with mail tonight…lots of it.  I would need the help of all of you though to make the goal of 100 letters/emails a reality by the end of the day.  (Wow!  Did you all respond well!  We got so many letters I wasn’t sure what to do.  We seriously got about ½ of a ream of paper worth.  The stack was amazing.  Thank you.  25 of the 28 boys received mail, including Ben who isn’t even with us right now, as well as Rodney.  He sure enjoyed that.  It was easily the biggest day for mail I have ever seen.)

We had a morning tour scheduled on the USS Lexington, a WWII/Vietnam era aircraft carrier that saw a lot of action and is now docked in Corpus Christi to serve as a museum.  The weather was already hot, so we knew it had potential to be a long day. Luckily, about half of the inside of the ship was cooled with air conditioning.  This helped tremendously.  We split the boys into two groups for the tour because of the tight spaces and meandering turns of a naval vessel.  The boys learned about so many things on the ship that I don’t even know where to start.  Jeremiah was once again the “Tour Guide’s Pet”, always having the answers to the tough questions.  The tour guide was quite impressed with him, and the rest of the boys.  He had served on the USS Enterprise and now serves as a volunteer tour guide for groups like ours.  We made it to all the important areas.  The flight deck, the bridge, the hospital, the engine room, and of course the gift shop.  There was also a wonderful air conditioned theater where we watched a movie on rescue operations, including some amazing footage of the earthquake in Haiti.  It was all in 3D as well, so the boys got to wear the glasses and had an awesome time.

As we were making our way to do our shopping with my group, former Choirboy (’91-’96) Joe Hayen, his wife and beautiful daughter “Lila” were coming towards us.  Joe lives in Corpus and saw that we were in town from the Facebook post I made earlier as I checked-in.  He knew we were in Texas but since we weren’t singing in Corpus Christi, it wasn’t on the concert schedule.  Once he saw we were in town, he loaded the family in the car and came down to say “hi”.  The boys all had the chance to meet him, do a count-off with him (he was #29 as a boy so it worked perfectly) and we sang “America the Beautiful/God Bless America” on the stage for him and his family.  A number of other visitors and volunteers gathered while the boys were singing and a very nice applause took place afterwards.  I tried to pull a fast one on Joe when we posed for a picture, but he was ready for the “#3 Smile” and struck his pose on cue.  After all these years, it’s pretty remarkable how many little things like that are still the same.  We said our farewells to Joe and headed back towards the gift store to begin our shopping.  It was great to see him!

Once all the shopping was finished, it had gotten to be quite late for lunch.  (Virtually zero complaining out of the boys though.)  Aaron made arrangements at the Golden Corral right by our motel.  This place was amazing.  Probably one of the biggest buffets I have ever seen with the largest selection.  The boys all started with a mandatory salad and beverage (because they needed the fluids), then it was pretty much up to them what they had to eat from there.  Boys had everything from liver to chicken to meatloaf.  For dessert, they had their choice of the doughnut bar, cotton candy machine, or the chocolate fountain with marshmallows or strawberries.  Most of them did the responsible thing and tried all three.

After lunch we swung through the Target next door and replenished our water supplies with another 12 cases and a cart full of Gatorade.  We also stocked-up on more sunscreen and after-sun lotion.  With the weather still being quite warm, we elected to take late afternoon naps since the tours in the morning wore us out pretty good.  NOBODY objected. 

Around 6:30, we woke them up and had them get ready for swimming in the ocean.  Aaron scouted-out a great spot on South Padre Island about 15-20 minutes away from the motel.  With all the boys loaded up, we took the short drive out there.  After a few precautionary words of wisdom, they were off into the Gulf of Mexico, jumping into waves and having the times of their life.  27 boys, swimming off South Padre Island in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, with the sun setting on the horizon behind them and not a single care in the world.  It was a little surreal, and in thirty years I hope they realize how amazingly lucky they are.  (They will, trust me.)

The sand and salt were everywhere so we brought them up to the showers on the shore and began the process of cleaning-up this mess.  They did very well getting their stuff together and in no time we were on the bus headed back to the motel.  It’s all north from here on out.

Since lunch was so late today, we ordered 10 pizzas and had them delivered back to the motel so we could eat them before bedtime.  I started the time consuming task of handing out all of those letters.  It took virtually the entire ride home to get them all out and the smiles on the faces of the boys made it that much more fun.

We got the boys back to their rooms and straight into the showers.  The pizza arrived and we had them each come down to get a couple of pieces.  Stewart had them all down by 10:20 or so.

Another great day is in the books.  It’s very hard to journal when you are taking so much time to have fun!  We will do our best in the morning. 

We are starting-up our annual fundraiser to help off-set the costs of touring.  Last year was a great success and we are hoping for similar results this year as well.  Please consider helping us reach our goal of $1 for every mile we travel.  http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Fund-The-Drive-Trying-To-Raise-1-For-Every-Mile

-P.J.