All-State

 We received some wonderful news last week.  In September, Bode auditioned for the Florida All-State Middle School band.  He had to play scales, do some sight-reading, and perform two pieces for a group of judges.  Kids from all across the state did this.  The results were published last week, and Bode was selected!  Pretty cool for him.  He gets a trip to Tampa Bay in January for four days where he will rehearse with the other members of the All-State band, and then they will perform for the Florida Music Educator's Conference.  One of us (or both) will go with him, so it should be a fun time.

The Meigs band did a tribute to veterans this week.  We asked Bode if there was anything special planned for the concert; of course, he told us no, but when we opened the program, we saw this:

At the very top, you can see Bode was scheduled to play Taps with two other trumpet players.  I think they played very well--Bode called it a Taps Echo.

They played a number of nice selections.  Here is America the Beautiful.

Nana and Papa came to the concert.  I tried to get some pictures, but Bode is definitely a teenager when it comes to taking pictures, so this was the best I could do.

To celebrate Bode's All-State selection, we took him to his favorite restaurant, Magnolia Grill.  I got a picture of Bode as we were going inside--I don't think he was thrilled with having his picture taken :-)

I tried to get some shots inside the restaurant, but the lighting was too low; below is the best I could do.

Bode got the filet mignon and loved it.  

The weather is getting cold here--it was below 50 when I woke up this morning!  Brrr...