Annie at Zilker! (Well, rehearsal anyway)

DA got to perform in Annie (well, a rehearsal at least) on the Zilker Hilside Theatre for the first time this week. She's been waiting for this opportunity for about, oh, umm, THIRTEEN YEARS! The hillside looks beautiful. They've made improvements to the paths in front of the stage and added a porch to the tech booth at the top of the hill. Evidently some changes have been made backstage as well, but I didn't get to see those. Even though the girls seemed a bit overwhelmed by the size of the stage and the incredible set the first rehearsal at the park went great. And most importantly, DA WAS ON THE ZILKER STAGE FOR A REAL PURPOSE - not just playing around like she did when she was younger. She's well on her way to a dream come true.

Shreveport

Last weekend DB and I drove to Shreveport for a swim meet. When you look at it from it outside it seems ridiculous. We drove for about 6 hours each way, stayed 2 nights in a hotel, and she competed for about 5 minutes. Crazy, right? A closer look shows a much greater adventure...

We left home about 10:00, just like we had planned. Everything was going great. John had replaced my brakes, and Puck (my MINI) was running beautifully. Outside of Temple my light that says I have a flat came on. There's no spare in my car because it's so small, and you're supposed to keep runflat tires on it so that you don't get a flat, but they're expensive so I have regular tires and a can of fix-a-flat. I pulled over on the access road to I-35, and checked the air pressure in all the tires. I couldn't see any problems, but I'm no mechanic, so we continued into Temple and somehow managed to find a Discount Tire Center (after a couple of other stops). The guy there checked the tires and explained that replacing brakes messes with the flat tire sensor, and that was probably the problem. So with a light flashing - and that really messes with my head - and only an hour out of town, we continued down the road.

We had a wonderful time playing with JB's Garmin that he let us borrow (changing voices is great fun!) as we travelled along and finally made it to Shreveport in time for dinner with the team (about eight hours after we started). I didn't know any of the parents very well, but the company was great. 

DB swam well at times, not so well at times, and dove in on one race to find herself with a very stylish goggle necklace...but she kept on swimming. We got to spend two days with just the two of us in a nice hotel and in the sun. She got to swim (her passion), and I got to knit and read (my passions). It was fun and relaxing. I even got to make my first trip to a casino with some other parents while the kids went to a dance sponsored by the meet. :-)

Sunday afternoon we started our drive home. Again, I had great company and a chance to spend time alone with my daughter. We were able to talk without interruption! And we made it in record time (for us), about 6 hours. All in all it was an incredible weekend. We should do it again sometime.

The Next Rite

JB went to Freshman Orientation yesterday. Last night while waiting for DA at rehearsal I got a text from him...


JB: Anthropology I should get a BS, right?
Me: Yes, that would be better than a BA
JB: Why exactly?
Me: Because it's a science so a BS looks more dedicated. But I have a BA in chemistry and did ok... It just doesn't look as good as a BS
JB: Gotcha. Well the only difference is with a BS you have to have a certain minor and with a BA you can have anything
Me: Remember anything can be changed as you go along. Archeology for a minor?
JB: Uh, idk. I will check when I get back to my room and book
Me: Or maybe sociology
JB: People? Gross
Me: See what you're interested in that's easy :-)


Then the conversation stopped, but he actually ASKED me about it! I was excited. Then totally came the text that is probably more normal...


JB: I need a check for 7152 dollars please.


Ahh,  I'm learning the joys of a college student (Oh, and I learned today that archeology is a specialization within anthropology and it's a liberal art - not a science, hmm. 

Graduation

One down, two to go - or one down, one to go. It depends on how you look at it. One child has finished with his childhood, two are still my babies - or one graduation finished, and one yet to sit through. (A perk of twins is sometimes you get those good kinds of two-fers!)


JB's graduation was...well, a graduation. The speeches were nice (DA's boyfriend's sister was valedictorian so she did one). Everyone behaved (no bare butts). JB looked handsome and happy. It was LONG. There were about 500 graduates. At one point Pops let me know how many minutes until JB would be called based on the data he had collected, i.e. number of names called per minute and number of names left to go. At least it kept him entertained.


The bottom line is - we're done. I got a little choked up when they started playing "Pomp and Circumstance", but overall did better than at my students' fifth grade completion ceremony (but I was thinking of JB then, too). Now, on to the next step...Wednesday he heads to San Marcos overnight to register for next year! Now, THAT'S  going to be an adventure.