...Grand Champion Field...

...as I said...I was gone all day Saturday...so this post will be (at least) twice as long to make up for it...HA!

...after a fairly late night...we were up with the sun to catch our chartered buses for the 3 hour tour...queue Gilligan's Island theme song here...

...the kids loaded everything...instruments...food and a lot of water under the buses...

...one stop and 3 hours later we arrived at the West Virginia Oil and Gas Festival...

...there were a bunch of these old Bessemer engines thumping and hissing away...they say they were once used to pump oil...

...we were right on the shore of the Ohio River...it's huge...this is a working ferry...

...the other side of the river where the ferry docks...remember the old eighties song...'Don't Pay the Ferryman'...loved it...

...I just loved this old Eastman building where the parents set up shop for the parade...

...said parents...

...the band judges...

...this small town parade began as they so often do...with vintage cars...

...and beauty queens...

...jugglers...

...crazy...(and stinky)...little cars...

...and clowns...

...and giant bubbles...

...then our perfectly aligned band...there were 15 other bands in the parade...I have pictures of them all...but thought I'd spare you all that scrolling...

...after the parade...we headed over to the gorgeous consolidated county school for the Band Festival...we had some lunch and I found a seat in the stands to watch...

...the band ready to march onto the field...

...it was all very very formal with salutes and permission to enter the field...

...here's the salute...

...and they begin...

...as they moved from this zig zag line...

...to this perfectly straight one...you should have heard the cheers from the stands...

...I'll just show you a few more of their formations...

...just because they are so perfect...

...it really was their best show yet...

...a phone photo of the trophies in front of the Director's seat on the bus...they won GOLD in every category...HONOR BAND...and GRAND CHAMPION FIELD!...those were a couple of happy buses rolling back into town at midnight...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week...