Nelson Family Blog: October: Football games, Band and Soccer

Here we are, halfway through October already. I cannot believe how fast this year keeps flying by. We are definitely in a busy time in our lives right now. We are basically full-time busy with work, band, soccer, and whatever else we can try to sneak in.

I'm a couple weeks behind, so I will try to catch you up. A couple weekends ago, we went to Brandon for a band competition. This one was nice because it was so close to home and easy to get to. Elliott really wanted to go to the card store in Brandon, so him and I went early. I let him shop for Pokemon for a while, and then we met John and Emma at the football field. John, Elliott, and I helped unload the truck, and then helped bring props onto the field again. It was a rainy, cold day. So, it wasn't the best conditions. Jefferson put on a good show, and they ended up getting first place in their class, Best winds, and Best percussion. It was a great day! Besides the weather anyway. Emma had a blast as well.

The whole next week ended up being really rainy, so Elliott had a soccer practice and a game cancel. So, we actually had a little bit quieter week than we were expecting. But, going into the weekend, the weather cleared off, and we got ready to host Festival of Bands in Sioux Falls.

I actually have been part of the committee to help plan, organize, and volunteer for the Festival of Bands. So, we had some meetings leading up to the Festival and I volunteered to help downtown for the parade. On Saturday, I had to be downtown at 6:30 am. It ended up being cold and windy, so that kept things interesting. But, I helped hand out vests, badges, and coordinate where all the volunteers needed to be. Basically, we were the volunteer headquarters and just had to help everyone out, get organized, and answer questions. We stayed fairly busy for the first couple of hours, and then by the time the parade started, we could just sit and enjoy it.

John came and joined me for the parade. We had a fun time watching the bands go by and perform. We also enjoyed some warm coffee, because it was really cold. Jefferson was the last band to march, and Emma got to help carry the banner. So, that was really fun to watch her lead the band down the street. After the parade, everyone headed to Howard Wood Field for the field competition. Jefferson was also the very last band to perform at Howard Wood, so we went home for a few hours to rest and catch up at home. At around 6pm, Emma wanted to head to Howard Wood Field to watch some bands play. So, we watched some bands perform and sat with Jim and Bard for a while. Then, we helped get Jefferson on the field, and they performed to close the night. They put on a great show. They of course couldn't compete since they were a host band, but they put on a great show.

After that busy weekend, we headed into another busy week. Elliott had a couple days of soccer practice and a game night. The soccer game ended in a 3-3 tie, but it was a really good game. The rest of the week was filled with work, scrambling for supper, and band practice nights.

This past weekend, we went to Orange City for a band competition. I had never been to Orange City before, and it was a cute little Dutch town. We left home around noon. We ended up getting to Orange City a little early, so we did some shopping at Ace and Fareway to waste some time. And we ended up finding some good Bubblr' deals and we stocked up. So, it wasn't a total waste of time. Then, we met at the Jefferson trailer and helped unload. It was very hot and windy. It was in the 80s, and the windy was really gusty. We didn't know if we even would be able to use all our props because of the wind. We ended up using the props, but the parents had to stay on the field and hold down all the props because of the wind.

So, since we had to battle the wind, it wasn't the best performance that Jefferson had ever done. But, they did well enough to place second in Class 4A, we got Outstanding Visual Performance, and were a top 4 finalist. So, they got to move on and play in the finals. So, we played again at 9:15pm and luckily the windy went down significantly by then. So, they were able to do their show without parents on the field, and they rocked it. They ended up getting Second place overall with a score of 86.5 and they received Best Visual Performance. They lost to the first place team by a tenth of a point. It was really close. Both bands did great! It was an amazing, tiring, stressful, and exciting day. I was so proud of Jefferson. They also shut off all the lights, let the kids run onto the field, and then had a fireworks show. The kids loved it. It was a super fun event.

We didn't get home until 12:30 am. Then, we had to get Emma from school once the busses were back. So, it was a late night. Sunday was a super recovery day. We all slept in, and we mostly just hung around at home and rested.

The kids didn't have school these past couple of days. So, I filled our days with eye doctor appointments, dental appointments, and orthodontist appointments. It was nice to get so much done on some days off. Elliott also went out to the farm for a couple of nights to live the farm life. We also hit up Last Stop CD shop and did some shopping on our days off. I also took a few days off work, and I have enjoyed the break. gotten some projects done at home, and now I feel ready to go back to work again. Tonight, we are bringing a grill, our bikes, and some others things out to the farm, having supper, and then bringing Elliott back home again.

Elliott had a soccer game on Monday night. It was cold, so we were bundled up with blankets, hats, gloves and coats. The game was pretty good, but our team couldn't get the ball down the field, and we did not get many shots on goal. But, Elliott played goalie all game, and he had over 30 saves. So, he was very busy. He had a great game. They ended up losing 3-1, but it was a hard fought game, and could have been a lot worse if Elliott hadn't been making such great saves.

This next weekend is going to be another crazy one. We are going to Ankeny, IA for our last band competition. It is 4.5 hours away, so we are in for a long drive. We are planning on spending the night in Ankeny, because we don't want to get home at 5:00 am. But, I am both happy and sad that this is the last weekend of band competition. I have really enjoyed the season, met a lot of other parents, and enjoyed watching Emma find a new passion. But, I'm ready to have some weeknights and weekends back. Band has required a lot of time and energy, and money, so I am ready for a little break. And Emma is still in Varsity Band, so there will be concerts and other things as the year goes on. And, she might even be in pep band, so we might have some basketball games to watch later this year.

So, anyway, that's what has been going on with us lately. It's still busy, but everyone is happy and healthy. It's starting to get cooler, and the days are getting shorter, so we are trying to enjoy the nicer weather while we can. Here we go in our last full week of marching band!