Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Inauguration Parade



Oh!  What a day!

Ciara got back from her once in a lifetime trip a few days ago. As most of you know she is part of the Central Valley High School Marching Band and Colorguard. They were invited to participate in the Presidential Inauguration parade in Washington DC.  They were one of 14 bands selected for the parade from over 2,800 applications.



It was a huge honor for these kids and they have been so excited preparing for this day. It seems like they have been waiting forever for the day to arrive and then suddenly it was here.  They headed off to DC the week before to do some sightseeing.


They had a tour of the Capitol thanks to our local Congresswoman. They went to the Washington monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Smithsonian, The Spy museum,the Holocaust museum and Arlington National Ceremony. And they also managed to fit in an attendance at a Inaugural ball.




I was surprised how unstressed I was about letting her go, but I think that when the time is right their independence just seems natural and she was more than ready to go.

We watched the inauguaration and the parade all day on TV just waiting to catch a glimpse of Ciara.  My friend Terry was fast with her iphone and managed to get this picture from the coverage



She came home exhausted and had finals the very next day but she had such an amazing time it was totally worth it. Next time maybe I'll get to go as a chaperone:)

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Simplify

My 2013 mantra....SIMPLIFY.

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