Concert Choir Day Seventeen: Home

Aloha!

Since a number of you use this for your son's journals and other memory items, I will finish it out this year.  Makes no sense to have only 16 of the 17 days logged.

This morning was beautiful as the boys boarded the bus from Neillsville, Wisconsin.  Two of the ladies looked quite distraught as she was saying "goodbye" to the boys...she was afraid to give them hugs "because of how things are these days", but she wanted desperately to do so.  Before I could even get the permission out, the boys instinctively did it on their own to say their farewells.  I am more than a little certain that made her week.

The people of Neillsville were extremely kind to us.  It was one of the highlights of the tour, for sure.  Before we could leave the area completely, we had one more stop to make at "The Highgrounds", a veterans memorial on the outskirts of town.  The Highgrounds are the only 24-hour a day staffed veterans memorial in the country.  They are very much about healing and helping vets and they show it in everything they do.  Kirk, our volunteer tour guide, did a great job of showing the boys each of the exhibits and doing his best to instill the significance of the memorials to the youngsters.  The weather was already on the warmer side by 11, but the boys did a great job.  They also sang "America the Beautiful" for Kirk, who seemed very moved by the piece.

The boys ate their lunch on site and then boarded the bus for the ride home.  Honesty disclosure:  It wasn't the most pleasant day to be on the bus, with the temps again pushing our old bus's air conditioner to its limits.  With temperatures as high as they were in the bus, some of the anxiousness to get home and the fatigue of 17 incredible days began to wear on the boys.  They were tired and really wanted to just get home.  I wanted them to get home as well, as some of them were a bit on the cranky side.  As wonderful as they are, at the end of the day, they are still boys.  These days do happen.

The drive went fast, as we gave them a good long rest period to help prepare them for the concert.  At 3:35 or so, we pulled into the parking lot to a wall of family, friends, and other supporters who gathered to welcome us home.  Banners, flags, and balloons all waved around as we brought our 34 travelers to their final stop of the tour.  We were home!

The dinner was incredible.  There was so much food that I wasn't sure we'd be able to even put a dent in it.  After filling ourselves again, we warmed-up the boys and took the stage for what would be some of the boys final time.  The boys certainly saved their best for last, as well.  It was probably the best show of the year.

After unpacking the bus and saying our goodbyes, I have no idea what happened with the boys.  They are at their homes, and they are someone elses charge tonight - not this guys.

Thank you to everyone that watched this blog for the past 3 weeks.  Your comments and kinds words are inspiration for me to keep it going.  Thank you for your support of this organization and these great boys.  

P.J.

Concert Choir Day Sixteen: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Neillsville

Aloha!

If you are reading this, it means we are back in decent cell phone range.  The past 14 hours or so has been a nice disconnect from the constant barrage of emails and text messages.  For those of you waiting for an update – well, I’m sorry.

Yesterday morning was about as good as it can get.  It’s never easy mobilizing 40 people to get through the same breakfast line, cleaned-up, packed-up, and loaded-up on the bus.  On this particular morning, it went very well.  The boys were faster than their usual pokey selves and the motel we were at did an incredible job of getting all the boys fed well and on the road.  At one point during the breakfast, there were 5 different motel staff members helping to serve the food. 

…and about that food!  The line started with your usual oatmeals, cereals and toast.  Then it blossomed into a smorgasbord of pancakes, waffles, sausages, biscuits & gravy, four different kinds of juices, and the most popular stop:  the made-to-order omelets.  The boys ate like kings on this morning.  It was pretty great.

We were about to be leaving right now time, when the motel manager stopped us and had all the boys take one a beverage from his little lobby store.  He was so happy with the boys and their stay.  (They posted on our Facebook wall as well.)  3 minutes late, we boarded the bus and headed on our way. 

The first 99.9% of the drive was fairly normal.  The heat beat us pretty good, bringing the temperature in our old bus up to 87 at some points.  These buses just aren’t made for this kind of weather, especially when they are 22 years old.  Rodney did a great job of keeping it as cool as possible, but there was just little any of us could do.  The boys did very well.  They had games out for most of the ride, so that kept them calm, quiet, and in their seats.

Around 12:55, we stopped at McDonald’s for lunch.  The boys have gotten very good at ordering and getting situated in the store.  It’s never easy to get 40 people in and out of McDonald’s in 40 minutes, but we manage to make it happen pretty regularly.  We’ve learned a few tricks over the years that work well for us.  After several practice runs of it at other lunches along the way, the boys finally have it down.  Compliments about the boys came from everywhere – customers and employees alike.  It was a pretty proud moment for this guy.

After a nice long rest period, we stopped at a rest stop on 94 – the same 94 that runs right through our backyard.  We are starting to get close, and the signs along the way for St. Paul are a constant reminder.  The boys are going to be a handful tomorrow.  They always are down the home stretch, much like a horse running home to the barn.  From here on out it is just a lot of pulling-back on the reigns.  As we were boarding the bus, Rodney mentioned that we were getting low on fuel –just over 1/8 tank.  We weren’t too far from the church, so the plan was to drop the boys off so they could prepare, then run up to the store to top the tank-off for the last leg of the tour.  

As we came into Neillsville, we passed the gas station that had diesel for $3.59 – a pretty decent price.  Being less an a mile from the church (and one mile back to the station), the plan to drop the boys off was still feasible.  In a pinch, we have been lower in the tank.  

We went about 3 blocks north, then took a left up a small hill.  Three blocks from the church, the bus stopped.  We ran-out of fuel.  Although there was still fuel in the tank, it sloshed to the back of the tank on the hill and left us stranded.  (For those of you unfamiliar with diesel engines, they are NOT something you want to run out of fuel.  It is quite the process to get fuel back in the lines and get you running again.)

The boys didn’t panic at all.  Immediately, they got quiet and I could tell the understood the situation.  Without missing a beat, Aaron gathered them all and began the walk to the church to begin preparing for the concert.  Since we were in Neillsville, the hometown of Karen Heineck and Julie Strub, we immediately called in for some assistance and got things rolling.  Rick Strub loaded everything we needed for the concert in his vehicle and brought it the rest of the way to the church.  Rodney found some local guys that knew a thing or two about diesel engines.  A local man, Dale, was on his way to our concert when he saw the bus.  He sprang into action, calling around to find the right people we needed to get the bus going again.  

One of those people was his father, who knew more than a thing or two about priming the fuel lines so we could get moving.  While he worked on the necessary parts, his son Dale called the local tire shop to get an industrial sized air compressor to blow the fuel from the tank up front to the engine in the back.  While all of this was going on, I made 4 trips to the gas station with fuel cans to get as much volume and back pressure as possible in tank.  Within 2.5 hours, a few weird looks, and a handful of guys in need of a good shower (temps on the bus reached 103), we had the old girl back up and running in time to catch the second half of the concert.  A huge thank you to Dale, his father, Ned (the air compressor guy), Rick, and Rodney for all their help with this.  We promise not to let it happen again!

The concert was very well attended and the boys did a great job.  The audience seemed very impressed with the boys.  Many had heard them the last time we were in Neillsville and commented on how well they did.  After an ice cream social provided by Roger & Mary Heineck, we handed-out mail and sent the boys home with their host families.  At the end of the day and all things considered, it was a pretty good day.

Boys are home tomorrow, so there is still time to donate towards our goal of $4,000 to help these boys!  Please consider a gift today!  Click here!

P.J.

Concert Choir Day Fifteen: Wednesday, In the Park, I Think It Was The Fourth of July

Aloha!

Being we were in Chicagoland, I thought that was an appropriate title for today's post!  Let's get to it.

This morning we woke from our slumber in the First Presbyterian Church in Sandusky. We ate our breakfast in the Fellowship Hall and packed-up our things.  We had a little extra work as well to help clean-up the spaces we used.  Our mantra, "leave everything better than you found it" was in full effect this morning.  This was a good example of that.  After the cleaning was done, the boys loaded the bus and we headed-out for Chicago.

The theme of the day was staying cool.  With much of the US sizzling in the sun, we had little sympathy as we trudged on through the temps in the high 90's.  The bus air conditioning is good, but not that good.  The temps in the bus throughout the day hovered around a muggy 82 degrees.  By the time 3:00 in the afternoon came around, it never dipped below 85.  It was fairly uncomfortable, but I don't recall hearing a single complaint from the boys, now that I think about it.

With today being an "off" day - our second in a row, the boys were able to stay in comfortable clothing.  We put them in their play clothes right away this morning and we stayed in them all day.  Very rarely does that ever happen on a tour.  The red polos will be getting a good workout the next two days, so I hope we can get them washed while we are in Neillsville, WI.

When we arrived at the motel, neither Aaron nor I really wanted to fight traffic in this heat and on a hot bus for 3 of the next 6 hours.  In addition, we needed to find a place to eat the Chicago-Style stuffed pizza we had been promising the boys for 2 weeks now.  In order to simplify our evening plans, we needed to find a better plan, and fast.  Aaron found a great fireworks display in a park 1 mile from our hotel and I worked on getting the pizza we promised delivered to our motel.  Once the plan was set, we had to sell it to the boys.  I made my pitch, room by room, and not a single boy voted to go to Navy Pier.  I was expecting at least a handful of unhappy boys, but  the vote came down to 34-0.

The pizza came from Giordano's and it was incredible!  Many of the boys could only handle one piece since they were so large.  Rodney said it was probably the best pizza he has ever had in his life.  I probably concur with that.  After filling our gills to the gills, we spent a little time digesting the food while we waited for the darkness to get closer.  Around 7:00, we grabbed our hats and cameras for the short walk to the park.

Along the way, Adam and a pair of boys took a detour to get three cases of water for the boys.  With all the heat the past few days, we have been going through water like crazy. Counting the 3 cases this evening, we have gone through 13 cases of water in 3 days.  You don't have to worry too much if your boys are drinking enough!  (The bathroom breaks are at a high pace as well....)

The boys had a little more than and hour to kill until the show, so several of them checked-out the band playing at the park.  There were a few other attractions, but the boys were mostly content playing games in the field.  Around 9:32, the first shot fired up into the sky and illuminated the entire surrounding area.  It was a very good fireworks show.  (We figured it would be as thousands of people were staking-out their spots more than 2 hours beforehand.)  The whole show took about 35 minutes and ended with the Grand Finale, which I posted on our Facebook Page.  The boys had a great time at the fireworks and we walked the mile back to our motel.

All the boys showered and hopped into bed.  I just did another round of checks and they seem to be well on their way to dreamland.  I feel like a broken record, but it was another great day!

 There is still time to join our Tour Fundraiser.  Two more donations occurred today, bringing our total up to $2,562 towards our goal of $4,000.  Thank you to everyone that has helped to keep this program strong and available for all boys!  To contribute, please click here and help today!

P.J.

Concert Choir Day Fourteen: What Goes Up, Must Come Down!

Aloha!

Still a little worn-out from all the fun yesterday, but we’ll be resting just fine on Saturday!

Yesterday was another great day.  I feel like I am typing that line just about every post now.  The fact is, the things these boys are doing is pretty awesome.  I’m even having fun going to some of these places as a staff member.  

Tuesday was Cedar Point day, which was the most anticipated day of the year for many boys.  If it’s not the biggest and best amusement park in the world, it has to be on the short list at the top.  To put it in terms you may understand, Cedar Point makes Valley Fair look like the Sherburne County Fair on wristband night.  Tucked in the shadows of the enormous roller coasters and thrill rides are the rides that would still dwarf the best in Minnesota.   It was pretty sweet!

The day started with breakfast in our accommodations in Sandusky at First Presbyterian Church, where we performed the night before.  Since we were all together, it was a little quicker to get everyone on the same page and loaded in the bus.  We took it pretty easy since the park didn’t open until about 10:00 anyways.  We had the whole day to spend there, so time was on our side for sure. 

The park is located on a point out in Lake Erie.  After a scenic drive down Cedar Point Causeway, we arrived at the Taj Mahal of thrill parks.  The boys measured their height and divided themselves into two groups:  the crazy, extreme group, and the grounded, reserved, logical group.  Lisa, Kenny, and Adam took the extreme group while Aaron and I led the group of 10 boys who live a little further from the edge.  We let the boys find new partners for the day so everyone had the chance to do what they wanted.  It was a nice break for some of the partnerships.  

A very short, but wet line of storms played with us throughout the morning.  By the time the boys were on their second ride, every single one of them was soaked to the bone, but that wasn’t going to derail their plans of fun.  The rain was actually our friend on this day, as it helped keep the insane lines away for the entire day.  The boys were able to get in several more rides because of the shorter wait times and crowds to navigate.  It was a pretty good deal for us.

The boys spent the morning getting their fill for rides until we met for lunch in a pretty sweet picnic area around 1:00.  Then it was back to the park for more rides.  The extreme group was able to get on every big ride in the park during the course of the day.  The less extreme group went on several car rides, tilt-a-whirl, and bumper car trips. To get their money’s worth.  Everyone had a good time.

The only pictures we managed to take during the day at the park were on this incredible extreme ride by Lisa.  The ride shoots you straight-out and then straight-up at 120 MPH.   Many boys thought it was the best one.  Crazy boys.

While the boys were exhausting themselves, I ran up to Wal-Mart to find some dinner for the boys.  The picnic area had permanent grills on site that we could use, so I bought foot-long hotdogs, chips, and pop for all the boys to eat.  By 6:00, we had it all ready for them to eat as they came-out from the park.  The boys were pretty beat and the majority had feet so sore from walking that they just needed to sit for a few hours.  We made the decision to head back to the church for the night and get an early bedtime, given the late night we would be having in Chicago the next day. 

We did give the boys the option for a sunset walk just a few blocks away on the shores of Lake Erie.  A handful of boys took us up on the offer and had a neat time checking-out the beautiful shores of the Great Lake. 

 

Around 10:00, we gathered our freshly-showered boys and I told a couple of short stories to help calm them down before they hit the hay.  It was another good day.

P.J.

 

PS – There are only 3 more days left on our Tour Fundraiser.  We hope to raise $4,000, or about $1 per mile and memory we are making for these boys.  Please take a minute and check-out our page.  Every donation helps to make an impact on these boys!  We can’t do it without you!  Click here to go to the fundraisingpage.

Thanks!

Concert Choir Day Thirteen: We Have an Erie Feeling...

Aloha!

The boys are safe and sound, tucked into their air mattresses here at First Presbyterian Church in Sandusky, Ohio.  This is a much more pleasant town than I was expecting.  Nestled along the banks of the Lake Erie between Cleveland and Toledo, this city boasts many miles of shoreline and a very resort town feel to it.  I like it!

The day started in Tonawanda, New York with the boys all together in a motel where we stayed for the two previous nights.  Our schedule was pretty relaxed this morning, so we used the opportunity to hand-out the clothes from the day laundry trip the night before and also give the bus a thorough cleansing.  These boys had it pretty messy, so we used this as an opportunity to learn from our dirtiness.  Since we had everything unloaded from the bus, we also used this as a chance to switch seats for the last time on the tour. 

We had our first minor injury of the trip - an occurrence that is bound to happen when traveling for 17 days with 34 boys.  Young Mr. Joel was burned by a little hot water from a coffee pot at breakfast this morning.  It's got a nice little blister to it, but it wasn't bad enough that we needed to go to the doctor.  He's a trooper and says he is doing "just fine".

The trip to Sandusky wasn't real far, so we left about 10:30 am and headed West.  It wasn't long before we were in Pennsylvania.  Since fuel was a little cheaper there, we filled-up the tank ($513 worth - ick) and got the free cup of coffee you get with every 50 gallons of fuel purchased!  No joke - if you buy 50 gallons of fuel, you get a free coffee.  What a deal!

Our next stop was just down the road in Erie.  The Cracker Barrel was our choice for lunch today, and boy did they deliver a good meal!  We called ahead to give them an hour and a half warning that we were coming.  That gave them plenty of time to prepare enough table space and puzzle games for our arrival.  The boys ate pretty well and we had a few minutes to sit out in the rocking chairs on the front porch.  The manager commented on how great the boys were and one of the waitresses said this was the best bus group she had ever seen in all her years of working here!

The boys took a good, long rest period after lunch on the bus.  Our birthday boy, Alexander, got first choice of where to sleep today.  Finding a good spot to sleep during rest period is somewhat of an art.  There are special ways you can sit in the seats and special places on the bus that are better than others.  On cold days, when the AC is working very well, the nice place to sleep is on the back floor, just above the warm motor.  On hot days, like today, the ideal place is up front, just at the point where the floor starts sloping-downward and the vents for the AC begin.  You get great airflow there.

When the boys woke-up, they were in Ohio and at a rest stop about 30 minutes outside of Sandusky.  We changed on the way into town and could see the rising towers and coasters at Cedar Point in the distance.  It is a pretty formidable park!  After taking the Head Choristers and Assistant Head Chorister in to the church to look at the layout, the boys prepared for the concert and ate a wonderful sloppy-joes and corn on the cob dinner. 

The only downside to this beautiful old church is its lack of A/C.  With the temps well into the 90's, much like Minnesota is experiencing, along with the rest of the country, the old wooden building became very much like an enormous sauna.  With fans blowing everywhere, we dressed the boys in their concert uniforms on the air conditioned side of the building where our changing room was, and spent as much time over there in the cool air as possible.  I took the opportunity to try and be proactive with my pre-concert speech.  We went over all the protocols if you feel faint and what to do if someone next to you faints.  It's as basic as it sounds:  catch them.  Then I basically explained to them that they were performers, the audience was just as hot as they were, and it was their job to put on a good show.  I also threw in some "soldier sympathy" for them by showing them the temperature on my phone in Baghdad, Iraq and explaining what soldiers go through and how much worse it is than the little warmth we have here, not to mention all the equipment and clothes they have to wear.  If soldiers got to run around in the breathable tailored suits Wanda Mae made for us, our soldiers would be much cooler indeed!

One other thing I did was praise them for what I consider one of the most amazing things of the tour.  Usually, we have about one boy every other concert or so that feels ill and sits out a portion of a concert.  Sometimes these are legit, but often times they are an indicator of other issues.  This year, we haven't had a single note missed on stage because a boy wasn't feeling well.  To me, that is amazing!  (After tonight, the streak continued as well!)

Despite the heat, the boys performed one of their best shows of the year, earning yet another standing ovation and winning the hearts of another audience.  After the show, a special guest introduced herself to the boys from in the audience.  Jackie Mayer, Ms. America 1963 is from Sandusky and happened to be in the audience tonight.  Even though the boys were already half-changed when we discovered this, we made them go put their hot blue shirts on and come take a picture for this unique meeting.  She loved the boys and spent a bunch of time talking with them after the photo.  She was great to meet and a nice ending to another great day!  That is also when a few boys were "bombed" by passing birds as well.  Ethan got the worst of it, right on the side of the face.  It's not nice to laugh, but that was pretty funny! 

The boys are all together tonight in a wing of the church used to house mission trips.  There are about 40 air mattresses all ready for us, complete with a kitchen, shower facilities and some room to relax.  It's a pretty great deal for us and it works-out perfectly!  All the boys took a shower tonight and should be dreaming about roller coasters and long lines right about now.

This kid needs to get to bed so he can keep up with them in the morning,
P.J.

Concert Choir Day Twelve: As Much Fun As We Should Be Allowed to Have

Aloha!  

The boys are having a rest period now so I finally have a few minutes to throw some Sugarland on the IPod and catch everyone-up on yesterday’s awesomeness.  In my 19 years with the Choirboys, this was one of the best days we’ve ever had.  It started a little something like this…

With all the boys being in a motel for the two days we are in the Niagara Falls Area, (we are technically in Tonawanda, NY – a suburb of Buffalo), I work them up about 7:15 and readied them in their travel uniforms for our church service in nearby Lockport, NY where we had our concert the night before.  The First Presbyterian Church in Lockport was very good to us during our stay and our two performances.  They took very good care of us while we were with them, including a full breakfast spread for the boys this morning.

Our church service went very well.  Many parishioners were commenting and still giving donations to support the program from the concert the night before.  One elderly lady mentioned that this was the best choir concert she had ever been to.  That was very nice.  (One story from the night before I somehow forgot to mention:  One man came-up after the concert looking for Ethan.  He had to meet the boy who was doing such a great job smiling on stage.  During the course of the past week or so, Ethan has found a new gear on stage and has turned into a rock star smiling machine on stage!  It’s been fun to watch, and having this kind of reinforcement from a perfect stranger did a ton for his confidence on stage – fun stuff to see!)

For those of you that may be unfamiliar with upstate New York, Lockport is a major town on the Erie Canal and the site of locks for raising and lowering boats on the Erie Canal.  To our luck, the national heritage site museum was located directly across the street from the church and the canal was a block past that.  Instead of rushing to the Niagara Falls, (not like they were going anywhere anyways…), we spent an hour going through the museum.  In that hour, we also brought them in two groups down to the locks so they could watch them working.  Most boys had no clue these even existed or had any idea why they were even necessary.  It was a fun way to educate the boys and a great museum.  (Thank you to the museum for letting the boys go through free of charge.)  Our timing was great as well, as a small boat was going through the locks, so we got to watch it rise and move into the next lock through the enormous metal gates.

After the museum, we boarded the bus and Rockin’ Rodney drove us out to Niagara Falls.  The previous day, we found a nice picnic area on Goat Island, so we headed back there again to eat the lunches provided to us from First Presbyterian in Lockport.  The highlight of the two lunches was probably the high number of seagulls circling around to scarf-up on little scraps left behind by the boys.  It was a little difficult to keep the boys focused on getting more nutrition than the birds, but we managed.

Our first stop after every meal is the bathroom.  It seems like all we do sometimes is consume things or return them to the Earth on this tour.  The side effects of traveling with 34 boys.  We then decided it would be best to stop at the “Cave of the Winds” first.  It’s actually not a cave at all, but more of a deck that brings you under the American Falls.  It might be the best $7/boy we will spend the entire tour.

For starters, we went through line and got our ponchos.  As a rule of thumb, (except in the Army), if you need a poncho, it’s going to be fun.  Whether it’s front row at a Gallagher show or “Cave of the Winds”, you’re probably going to be smiling when you are wearing a colorful garbage bag.  To make this an even better deal, we were each given a pair of sandals to keep.  How cool is that!

The line was about 35 minutes long, but it seemed to go by quickly, for a 35 minute line.  An elevator shaft brings you down to the bottom of the falls and a long deck brings you right up to the point where the water hits the rocks.  We weren’t technically “in” the falls, but don’t ruin it for the boys.  These boys were as happy as I have ever seen a group of boys in my life.  Sam Strub was smiling and giggling so hard I didn’t think we were ever going to get him back!  The boys spent a good 15 minutes getting soaked from head-to-toe in the spray from the falls on the Hurricane Deck.  It’s something they will never forget for the rest of their lives.  Seeing their faces and excitement is something I will never forget either.

Soaking wet and faces sore from smiling so hard, we took a few more pictures and made the journey back up the elevator.  After a water break at the bus, we ate a snack and made our way about a mile to The Maid of the Mist.  It was probably a miscalculation on our part to put these two events in this order.  The Maid of the Mist was not nearly as cool as the Cave was, but the boys had fun anyways, sitting in the middle of the Horseshoe Falls.  It was one of the moments where we gathered the boys together and reminded them to look around and be proud of where their hard work, dedication, and musicianship has brought them

 

Our Maid of the Mist tickets allowed us to go in the giant observation tower jutting over the Niagara River with a fantastic view of the falls.  We were really high up there!  Naturally, the only way we could get out of the place was to go through the gift store.  Several hundred of your dollars later, they let us leave.  I’m not sure how Rodney did it, (and I probably don’t want to know), but about 300 yards away from our gift store was a Land of Lakes Choirboys bus, cooled and ready to whisk us away from this place.

We called ahead and made some reservations for the Old Country Buffet that was less than a mile from our motel.  The boys literally gorged themselves on every kind of food you can imagine.  We let them go a little more crazy than usual, particularly on the desserts.  They earned it.

We made it back the motel around 8:00pm.  The boys turned in their travel uniforms so Adam and Kenny could bring them up to the Laundromat to get them cleaned for the next few days, since we are all together and will not have the availability of host home laundry help.  Adam learned an important lesson on the first dryer he tried:  the “25” on there signifies the price of the machine, not the number of quarters that machine needs in order to operate.  One of the dryers went a really long time – you can guess which one.

The boys were showered and in bed by 10:00, still giddy with excitement from the awesome day that was.  Tomorrow we board on the bus and head to Sandusky, Ohio – the home of Cedar Point, which as you can imagine, is not something the boys are looking forward to at all.  ;-)  

The boys are continuing to make many great friends and new fans along their tour this year.  It’s remarkable how they can win people over in such a short period of time.  The manners, singing, and experience these boys are getting are so refreshing to so many.  We are still trying to raise funds to help support the tour and organization.  With the help of so many generous people, we have gotten about half way to our goal, but time is running-out.  Please make a donation here (http://givemn.razoo.com/story/2012concerttour) if you support the great experience of these boys and want to see us continue to be able to write these blogs for years to come!

 

Until tomorrow,

P.J.

Concert Choir Day Eleven: Down the Home Stretch

Aloha!

This has been a great year for host families and last night was no different.  There were more than a few tears shed by the families as they waved good-bye to the boys and got their final hugs in.  They really enjoyed having the boys and once again, we were invited back anytime.  That has been a recurring theme with these boys this year.  They have really won over the hearts of thousands of people so far and are making a great name for the LOLCB/Minnesota.

The day started like any other, first by getting the boys in their seats, counted, then getting all the necessary meds distributed to whoever required them.  Then, we pull-out the journals and recap all the events from the past day while it is fresh in our memory.  The boys have been doing  very good job with their journaling.  It helps to journal when you have so many good things to write about!  I hope that is being reflected in the letters home as well.  

A bit further down the road, we had Jeffrey, our “Officer of the Day” come forward and give the Daily Report.  The “Officer of the Day” is a new position we created this year to help give some more responsibility to the older boys.  They are responsible for taking attendance in the morning, handing-out vitamins at lunch, carrying in the banner that we present to the host families, and a few other small tasks throughout the day.  It was become a fun position to have.  About 10 boys or so have done it, with more yet to come.  I plan to make a few small tweaks to it, but I think it could be a staple in our program for many moons to come.

Aaron recapped the previous night’s performance with the boys and gave them a rating of 8.8, which I believe is the highest of the tour so far.  They are doing fairly well – it’s just really tough to get a score over 9.  The boys then had a few hours with their games and Ipods while we went the rest of the trip into Niagara.  They had very little time with them the past few days, so they were more than a little excited to be playing with them again.

At Niagara Falls, we took out our lunches and used the restroom first.  Today’s trip to the falls was just a short one – about enough time to check-out the Horseshoe Falls and eat our lunches.  We also made time to check-out the Nikola Tesla statue that is built on the site.  Pretty cool.  The boys were obviously impressed by the massive size and power of the falls.  They will be experiencing it firsthand tomorrow…More to come.

After lunch, we went  little crazy and thought it would be a good idea to stop and resupply while we had the time.  Instead of making a list of what batteries, disposable cameras, headphones, toothbrushes, etc. we needed and buying them with a staff member, we just brought everyone in at the same time.  To my surprise, it actually went okay!  The boys behaved themselves for the most part and proved very useful when I needed someone to transport the 8 cases of Aquafina.  (For those keeping track at home, we go through about 2 cases per day.)

After Target, we drove to our motel in Tonawanda, about 15 minutes away.  The boys got checked-in to their rooms and had about 45 minutes to rest.  They need their rest so much right now.  All the running around we have been doing the past few days has taken its toll on the energy levels of the boys.  They are exhausted, and so are the staff.  Sunday Night we plan to give them a night-off in their rooms to relax, play games, and rest-up.  It will be an early bedtime.

Although we were in a motel for this stay, we still arranged to have a concert in nearby Lockport, NY.  Lockport is a community on the Erie Canal with several locks and dams.  The church we are singing in was built in 1855 and holds several beautiful Tiffany stained-glass windows.  The rock that was blasted-out of the canal was used to erect this massive church more than 150 years ago.  It also has some other interesting features, like the organ in the middle-front of the church that has an underground passage way to get back to the choir room.  The organ also rides a platform up and down, depending on the needs of the church for that day.  I’ve been to a lot of churches in my days, and this one was certainly unique!

The people at First Presbyterian in Lockport couldn’t have been nicer to the boys.  For starters, they spoiled them with grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, with plenty of fresh fruit, beans, veggies and other fixings to eat.  After the concert, they had an outdoor reception in the courtyard with cookies and punch.  (Sunday morning, they would again roll-out the red carpet with a full spread of breakfast, including fruit, homemade cinnamon rolls, and breakfast pizza in three different flavors.  It was pretty impressive!)

The concert went along well, although it was quite warm in the church without air conditioning.  The doors/windows were open to provide a nice cross-breeze.  While the boys were singing, I took a short walk to check-out the locks on the Erie Canal to see if it would be something the boys would like.  I think they will find it very interesting!

After the concert, the boys had their cookie and boarded the bus back to the hotel.  In all honesty, it wasn’t the best behaved afternoon for our little cherubs, so we had a little “quite reminder activity” to help refocus them for the last six days of the tour.  They are doing fairly well on the whole, but they are so tired right now.  I think the activity got the point across.  Our expectations of the boys do not waiver depending on what day it is. 

 

At the hotel, it was showers for everyone and hit the hay!  Sunday should be a great day, with a church service in the morning, a surprise/unplanned trip to the locks around 11, and a few hours to do “Cave of the Winds” and “Maid in the Mist” in the afternoon before relaxing at the motel for the night.  Dinner might be at “Old Country Buffet” as well.  

P.J.

Concert Choir Day Ten: Back on the Singing Horse

Aloha!

We’re finally starting to get caught back up with the blog after several days in a row of intense memory-making.  Thank you for your patience!  Whew!  Right now we are headed towards Niagara Falls for two more days of performances and visiting some of the coolest places in the world.  The boys are very wound-up right now.  It’s a little annoying, but I am playing the “I have to write the blog” card, complete with headphones.  Headphones can be a Prefect’s best friend.  (Sorry about the lack of photos on this post.  There is limited internet, so uploading pictures would take forever.  We'll make it up to you tomorrow.)

Yesterday was a turning point for these boys, I think.  About this time every year, they finally figure it out.  The routine has set in.  The trust is developed between all of them.  Just about anything we can teach them about their jobs, the concert, the music, or anything else we do on this tour has been discussed at length.  This is where they decide to put it together and make it happen.  It’s like this every year – just part of the process.

We started Friday as late as we could to allow the boys enough time to rest.  Typically, when I wake boys up in the morning, there are about 5-10 that are just lying in bed, waiting for their permission to get up.  On this day, I don’t think any of them were awake before I got there at 8:00.  They were tuckered-out!  

The Best Western we were at was a very good one, as far as Best Western’s go.  When you stay at as many different motels as we do in June/July, you can easily notice the small differences.  For example, motels with automatic doors are a good start.  The second thing that you can look for is an on-site manager, which this one had, and she was good!  The third thing we look for is if they are ready with our key cards and mail before we get there.  The ones that are prepared are on their game.

The breakfast at this motel was well above average.  The boys had all they wanted of bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns, waffles, fruit, yogurt – pretty much anything they would want.  If the boys left this area hungry, it was their own fault.  (I don’t think any of them did.)

After eating, there was a little time to spend in their outdoor pool, but first we needed to wash some of their uniform shirts so they had something clean to wear.  The hotel offered to through their travel uniforms in their big washer/dryer instead of making us stand at their single guest laundry with a stack of quarters.  This was a HUGE help to us – probably one of the highlights of my day.  This saved us about 2 hours in staff time and saved us from having to put uniform shirts over the back of bus seats to dry them out.  Gets pretty humid on the bus when that happens, as I am sure you can imagine.  With temperatures well into the 90’s here, it was great to get this help.

The boys were pretty pumped to get into the pool, as you can imagine.  The water was nice and cool as well.  It was an outdoor pool, with plenty of sunshine and the air wasn’t miserably hot yet, as it was only 10:00 in the morning.  After about 35 minutes, we put the boys back into their rooms and had them pack for the trip to Auburn, New York.  By 11:15, we were on the road. 

Since we were in a motel the night before, we didn’t have bag lunches and needed to find some lunch on our own.  The best option for us on a day like this was to go to a buffet, where we could save some money and time.  We tried to get into a KFC, but it didn’t have a buffet, so we went down the road a little to a Pizza Hut.  All the boys had their salad before eating a truckload of pizza.  We are down to just one picky salad eater – yay!  The wait staff at Pizza Hut was apprehensive at first about having a group of 40 come eat, but they warmed-up to the boys very quickly.  By the end, they were extremely impressed.  The manager even knocked an extra 10% off the meal because they were so good.

After lunch, the traffic picked-up considerably.  We were running about 20 minutes behind schedule, but with traffic, that ballooned quickly.  The amount of road construction on the route did not help either.  Since the church we were performing in was so beautiful, it hosts several weddings each weekend.  We had a tight window schedule to meet if we wanted to get some stage time in, as they had two wedding rehearsals this evening as well.  We missed our early time slot unfortunately, but we still had plenty of time to relax, eat dinner, and go through our normal concert routine, minus some stage preparation time. 

 

Everything at St. Mary’s in Auburn was terrific.  They spoiled the boys with a wonderful chicken dinner!  The boys then warmed-up in the amazing sanctuary before changing for the concert.  The church routinely hosts boy’s choirs, so the crowd was very nice with lots of knowledgeable audience members.  The American Boychoir, the Rochester Boychoir, and the Boston Boychoir all perform there.

During a lull in the action, I sat the boys down and had a little chat about everything.  It was a great chat.  I also had the privilege of presenting Jacob Rud and Thomas Stewart with their level one leadership pins.  They have been doing a fantastic job lately and certainly deserved them.  More pins to come….  

The concert went fairly well, musically.  Considering they have been away from the singing for  a few days, they bounced back nicely.  During the concert, we had a special feel-good moment.  Aaron has a part in the concert where he asks the audience members if they have any questions, which they always do.  It’s a nice little break for the boys, and a great chance for the audience to ask questions they are dying to have answers for.  There are always a number of really good questions.  (It’s my new favorite part of the concert.)

On this particular day, we had many questions about their practice schedule and other things from the adult members of the audience.  Just before we were about to go on to “Minnesota Morning”, seven year-old Xavier in the third row raises his hand and asks the boys what it is like to sing on a stage.  Aaron really didn’t have a great thing to say, so he simply showed him.  For “Minnesota Morning”, we have the boys actually sit on the stage in a casual fashion.  Aaron brought little Xavier over and placed him right next to Sam in the front row and started the song.  It was so cool watching him sit there in the middle of the boys.  A lot of the audience members were “ooing” and “awing” as well.  It was pretty cute.

The end of the concert went very well, also.  We finally broke the 15 minute clean-up mark!  (I had to bribe them with a cookie, but it worked…) The boys met their host families and headed home for the evening. 

 

It was a great day!

P.J.