45 Hours With 42 Teenagers

Whew...what a weekend!  We were so excited to be heading into a 3-day weekend, everyone feeling the need for a long weekend.  And what better way to ensure that your weekend is long than to spend it with 42 teenagers???

Actually, it was most delightful.  Loved it.  It was the annual trip to Seaside for all the varsity-lettering band kids.  And Brad and I chaperoned.  Fortunately, Alex doesn't mind having us around, and for the most part we don't "embarrass" him. 

And those kids are some kind of entertaining!  It is fun from start to finish with that bunch.  Watching them walk around Safeway and pick out groceries for the weekend?  Pretty funny.  You can tell the ones who have a bit of experience in a store, and those that have no clue.  It's a flurry of gathering chips and soda and Spam and eggs and Pop Tarts.

Some of the most fun was watching their performances, some planned, some not.  They played on the board walk for a modest but enthusiastic crowd.  One gal was happily shouting out requests and clapping along, as well as asking us for quarters to buy some trinkets.  Hey, at least she was an appreciative audience.

Then they marched down main street to the turn-around and played again.  A large crowd gathered there, and it was stunning to me how many people pulled out their cameras and took pictures.  I thought only parents did that!  I can't imagine them getting home from the weekend and saying, "And this is the high school band that we saw playing!"   Ah, well, they were a fun audience. 

This dog, "Lady", we encountered several times around downtown.  You probably had to be there, but this dog had the most hysterical, ridiculous, walk.  It looked like its legs would snap if it tread to heavily, perhaps that's why Lady pranced.

But the best?  Watching Alex and Michael walk through downtown playing Yakkity Sax.  They were extraordinarily entertaining, and people were loving it. 

They hatched some crazy plan to play Yakkity Sax in as many places around Seaside as they could. 

They drove around in a surrey playing it.

They rode the carousel playing it!

That was hysterical.  They played it for the entire length of the ride, changing the tempo every time through.  The ride operator was hesitant to let them on with the tuba, but he did.  And then he totally got into it.  A big crowd gathered to watch, and they got a rousing applause when the ride ended.  I told them they should have opened the saxophone case beside the ride, they could have made enough to buy themselves an elephant ear or something.

They then took their gig to the arcade and other places, and finally to the beach, playing as they walked all the way back to the hotel.  Nutty boys.

And there was lots of time to hang out and pay on the beach. 

Alex led the pack in doing the twist to make their legs sink in the sand.  Nice.

On the second night, they had their annual bon fire on the beach, preceded by a rabid game of Ultimate Frisbee.  Man, these boys play to win.  The girls were wise to stay away.

 

Anyway, while we were there, we were able to squish in a lot of fun ourselves.

I don't think it's right to go to the beach and not get an elephant ear!

Brad and the girls rode the bumper cars, of course.  I happily took pictures.

And we enjoyed so much beach time.  Loved it.

 

 

Fun times, great memories.  A perfect weekend!