Off we go... (on a bus) **updated**

Every year our High School choir, the GrovesEvergreenSingers, plans a performance tour in a different place as part of the curriculum, usually in conjunction with some kind of vocal experience whether it's a competition or a clinic and usually with some type of performance to attend, too.

The kids hold fundraisers all year to offset the costs of the annual trip and they also put in a lot of extra time in rehearsal to make their performances as polished as they possibly can be.

Tim directs this choir, as well as its madrigal group and several other choirs, and I am lucky enough to have the flexibility and know-how to be an effective chaperone and all-round group mom. Both of my kids were 'raised' in this choir. V has graduated, obviously, and J is currently a Junior and tenor section co-leader.

We've been to Disney's Magic Music Days clinics and performed in the Magic Kingdom. If you go to the home page of the choir, above, you'll see a pic of this trip. V is two to the left of Mickey and J is right over his head. We've been to Toronto, West Virginia, New York and even as far as England and Wales. Now THAT was an incredible experience!

We've seen Ragtime, Phantom, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - IN England!, Jeckyl & Hyde and even the world premier of The Lord of the Rings (Toronto), a three hour long musical that never made it to Broadway (probably because it was too expensive to put on!)

Today I'm off again, this time to the windy city ~ Chicago!

This evening is the first time I will see WICKED on stage, though I've heard it from V's room countless times! LoL I'm really excited about it. For more info on the musical, look here.

Tomorrow will be the vocal competition, Music in the Parks, then some time at Six Flags Great America, which is where the Awards ceremony for the competition will take place. We'll stay at the park as long as the kids have energy. Notice I said kids. The adult contingent will undoubtedly peter out before them!

Then Sunday will see us at the Field Museum, the Navy Pier and the Museum of Science and Industry and coming back home. Every day is packed full, mostly to tucker out 23 teenagers!

I'm planning on bringing my FitFlops with me. I've adjusted really well to wearing them but I don't get the chance to wear them often enough to see any differences in my muscle tone. I'm taking other shoes but this will be a good chance to walk for a long time in the 'flops'.

Speaking of walking... I've started wearing a pedometer to see how much walking I do in a normal day. They say 10,000 steps is optimal. On a normal work day I now know I walk 5,800 steps, give or take, in a 5 hour shift.

Adding the rest of the day of errands and running around town still finds me short of optimal, but still, not too bad ~ and better than I had originally thought. I need to think about adding a daily trek around the park or something, but all in all I've been pleasantly surprised that my crazy work environment actually has me up and around!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, and don't forget to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Thank a surviving Veteran, visit a military cemetery, attend a community memorial service, comfort a soldier's greiving widow or widower, or go to AF Mom Deb's site "RememberingTheFallen" and read or even leave a comment.

**For anyone wondering what they can do to observe Memorial Day from home, it can be as simple and as powerful as this website linked to the Wall in DC.

Another military mom writes: "It's a powerful site, in terms of functionality and emotionally. I didn't really have a name to search so I clicked on View and then zoomed in using the tools above the picture. Once you zoom in close enough to see the names and click on a name, details will load in a pop-up window. Not all names are clickable but most are. You can search by name, military branch, enlistment type or hometown... and dozens of other options. On the home page that you access by clicking above, scroll down just a little to the Browse By section and click on All names by any category."**

I'm not sure yet what I'll be able to do, but it will be on my mind and I will be back home on Monday in plenty of time to honor the day and our fallen heroes.

Back to packing and I'm outta here!