Bruin Brigade Takes on St. Louis!

The Bruin Brigade got to travel to St. Louis to compete in the Bands of America Super Regionals at the Edward Jones Dome.

 

When Mom found out that Ben was going to be marching so close to Indianapolis, she knew she had to be there!  I'm glad it's close enough!  

It was only appropriate that the band would have dinner at Hard Rock Cafe!  It was  SO cool!!  They had the entire restaurant!

It's a stack of Ben's!

Look at that boy of mine!

I am such a proud band mom!

The band had a great run of their show!  Unfortunately, out of 64 bands, only 14 were chosen to go to finals.  Bartlesville was not one of them.  But that was ok!  It was fun for them to get to perform in "the dome" and against some great bands!

The highlight of the trip came when the Bruin Brigade was asked to play the National Anthem for the start of finals!  Seriously?!  Yep!  Coolest thing ever!!  Such an honor!

Broken Arrow Invitational

 Unlike the Owasso contest, we had beautiful weather for the Broken Arrow contest!  (Aside from the wind...)

The Brigade had a fantastic prelims performance and was THRILLED to make it to finals that night!

They ended up coming in 11th place (out of 12) but were happy just to make it to finals.  There was some pretty stiff competition there, for sure! 

Next major marching band event... Super Regionals in St. Louis!

8th Grade Band Night

Abby had been waiting for this night for the last two years (since Ben got to do it when he was in 8th grade) and was SO excited when it finally arrived!  The night when the 8th graders get to hang out in the stands with the marching band, as well as, join them on the field at halftime.  

Thanks to Ben being in band, Abby already knows a lot of band kids.  She received a very warm welcome when it came time for her to sit in the stands.  "Abby!!!!"  "Come sit by me, Abby!"  It was a great feeling for my slightly shy girl.

Luke got a nice surprise at the game!  We found his friend, Wade!  Wade was in Luke's class last year.  They became very good friends and miss each other dearly!  Luke was beside himself with excitement when we spotted Wade from way up in the stands!

YAY!!!

Ben was happy for Abby to finally get the chance to get a little taste of marching band.  Both of them are looking forward to being in marching band together next year, which makes this mama very happy!

I love, SO much, that the high school makes this opportunity available to the kids so that they get a taste of what they have to look forward to next year.

To say that Abby had a great time would be a huge understatement!  She couldn't stop talking about her night in the bandstands.  I think being in marching band is going to make my girl come out of her shell!  :) 

YIKES!!

 Who needs Halloween to put up Halloween decorations when you've got the real deal?!

 

I hate spiders!  But look how amazing that web is!

Owasso Invitational Marching Contest

Marching season has officially begun!  Ok, it started back in July, but the Bruin Brigade just went to their first contest.  We were all a little concerned that the contest wouldn't happen as it was pouring rain all morning and much into the afternoon.  We left the school, drove to Owasso and sat on school buses for about four hours!  The parents/chaperones were able to feed the kids, but it was definitely a very wet process!  The kids did fantastic and were thrilled to find out that the show would, indeed, go on!  The format would be slightly different, but marching would happen!

Due to the rain, the normal prelims/finals format would not happen.  Each band would march once and be judged solely on that run.  Honestly, the kids were just happy to do what they love!

Ben has a fantastic section this year!  I was one very happy mom when I asked Ben if I could take a picture of his section and he was happy to say yes!  No teenage boys sighs.  He quickly gathered his crew and let me take a picture.

The kids even asked for a silly picture!  A great group of "bone-heads"!

Finally time for some marching!

Look at my boy!  My heart just swells with pride when I see him doing what he loves!

  

(I am thankful for to have a photographer friend!)

Mr. Claussen giving his traditional post-performance speech.

These boys love each other so much!

 Could they be any cuter in their matching shirts?!  :)

The bruin Brigade had a super start to their season!  They received the Best Visual Performance award for their class.  Placed 3rd in their class. And placed 10th overall.  There is still plenty of work to be done and progress to make, but this was a great start!  It would have been nice to see how the results would have turned out if the prelims/finals format had taken place.  I am super proud of all of these band kids and the hard work they have dedicated so far this season!  I can't wait to see what's to come!