Purdue Junior Band Experience

We headed back to Purdue this weekend so the kids could participate in the marching band's Junior Band Experience.  Dorothy was invited to join the twirlers when we were there last weekend.  At the time, I said no because I didn't think we would be able to get a close hotel with only a week's notice.  With a 7:30 am call time (and their time zone is an hour earlier than us central time zone folks), I knew there was no way we could participate if we were not staying close to where we needed to be.  I checked on Sunday, and discovered that there was a reasonably priced hotel very close to campus with availability, so I emailed the staff member who had offered to let Dorothy join and asked if it was possible to still add both kids to the roster.  She said no, but that we would be on the mailing list for the following year, which was fine.  Monday, I got a call from a different staff member, asking if the kids would still be interested in participating.  When we had asked the kids about it, they were very enthusiastic about the idea, so I said yes without asking Kevin.  I had the hotel booked before I even sent him a message to inform him that we would be heading back to campus for the second weekend in a row.

The kids had a great time.  Thanks to the Purdue Band staff who let the kids join at the last minute.  We will be sure to sign up early next year.

 There was one other little girl Dorothy's age/size.  Dorothy was fairly unsure about everything at first.  Every time I would look over at their practice, she was giving the Purdue twirlers her best, "you have got to be kidding me" look.

 The Purdue twirlers spent a fair amount of time prodding her and trying to get her to turn the right direction.

 Once she fully woke up, she got more into it. 

 They broke the junior twirlers up into three groups based on age and ability.  Dorothy's group was with the Silver Twins and two line members.  She can't remember the title of Silver Twins and instead calls them the "Twin Sisters."  She also can't remember the name Goldusters for the band's dance line and calls them the "Feather Dusters."  Kevin and I now also call them the Feather Dusters.

 There were just three girls in Dorothy's group.

 I didn't get nearly as many pictures of Malcolm because the band members were on the other side of the field, and didn't practice as much.  They were mostly just watching the marching band practice.  The girl standing behind Malcolm is the daughter of my college roommate.

 After practice, the kids marched back to the Hall of Music with the band.  Malcolm was too far away, and his picture came out all blurry.

 Once back at the Hall of Music, the kids had a break to eat.  They were all given little drawstring backpacks that were filled with snacks and a water bottle.  I went over to let them know that Kevin and I were heading out to meet up with friends, and they couldn't be rid of us fast enough.

From here, the kids marched with the band to Mackey Arena and had nice, close seats for the band's concert before the game.  Then they were fed lunch, and had a chance to hit the Big Bass Drum.  I'm a little sorry that I missed that, but we were tailgating and enjoying mimosas, pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage, with friends we hadn't seen in nearly 20 years.  

 The kids sat in a group until after the band did their pregame show.  After pregame, the kids went with their assigned band member and sat in the band with them for the first half of the game.  Malcolm was in the mellophone section and Dorothy was assigned to the Golden Girl.  They both learned several cheers and said they had a lot of fun.  When they came back to us after halftime, they both knew most of the words to Hail Purdue.

 Dorothy, waiting to go on the field at halftime.  She's the one kneeling right behind the camera men.

 Malcolm, far right, walking on the field for their part of "Be Our Guest" during the Disney themed halftime show.

 He said the best part of doing the junior band experience was getting to go on the field.  "I didn't know it was real grass!!"

 They had their back to us, but Dorothy did a great job doing her routine with the Purdue Twirlers.  The lady on the far right is a former twirler (I started at Purdue the year after she left).  She was helping out and said she got a video of the girls.  I'm hoping to get a copy of the video.

When I picked Dorothy up after halftime, she commented about how well Dorothy had done all day.  She was very impressed with her endurance.

 Almost all together!

 After the junior band was done, they went to the sidelines to watch the rest of the show.  Malcolm was too far back for me to see.  This is all of the twirlers from all of the groups.  The Purdue Twirlers finished their halftime show in the South End-zone, so the girls all had a great view.

 After halftime, we picked the kids up and brought them to where we were sitting.  Obviously, there was lots of room.

 They worked on the snacks that they had leftover in their backpacks.

 I'm not sure who had the bright idea to hand out free foam hammers at the game.

 It was a close game (much closer than it should have been), but Purdue lost it in the end (in true Purdue fashion).  Malcolm took it really hard and actually cried.  I am very tempted to send this picture in to the email address they announced at the game to "share your best Purdue football fan photos."

 Dorothy took the loss much better and twirled in the stands while the band lined up for their post-game concert.

It cleared out fairly quickly, so we headed over to Slayter to say hi to some friends and get a good seat for the concert.

 All tree stumps must be climbed.

 We are still working on how to do a proper salute.

 We were center front for the concert, and Dorothy didn't move when the Director of Bands came up to conduct.  We did make the kids move back a bit for Drum Major break-down.

 After the concert, Dorothy wanted to say good-bye to all the twirlers, so she basically stalked and hunted them down.  They all humored her and she had a nice long chat with the Golden Girl.

 One of the line members offered to let her try on her cape, and Dorothy was insanely happy about getting to wear it.  Last week, the number one thing she talked about was how the twirlers all had capes.

 We posed for a couple of quick pictures on the way back to our car, but things were getting pretty goofy.

They got to dip their hands in the water at the fountain, and amazingly, no one ended up drenched.

They both had a lot of fun and said they want to go back and do the junior band experience again next year.

Purdue Football Weekend

We didn't plan ahead very well, and waited until about a week ago to figure out if there was a football game that we thought we should try to catch this year.  It turned out that the upcoming weekend was the only one that fit our schedule, so we quickly threw together a weekend trip.  Friends had some tickets they weren't able to use, and I found a hotel not too far away, so we could go over on Friday afternoon.  Malcolm had a half day of school on Friday, so I picked Dorothy up a little early from her school after getting her brother.  The only major snag was that a tree fell on Thursday evening, and it blocked the garage.  Dorothy happens to go to school with a little girl whose parents own a tree service business, so I called them first thing Friday morning, and they came right over and got our driveway cleared so we could get the van out and go on our trip.  Many thanks to Tree Guyz for their quick work!

We made  it to West Lafayette in time to catch the very end of the marching band rehearsal.  Kevin dropped the kids and me off at the practice field and he went to park the car.  We only got to see a tiny bit of pregame, but the kids liked what they saw. 

 Dorothy played with her baton on the sidelines while the band huddled.

 

 We walked back with the band from the practice field to the Hall of Music.  During the tuba breakdown, Dorothy went and talked to the feature twirlers.  She was a little shy and wasn't sure what to say to them.

 

 They were nice enough to pose for a quick picture with her.

 Malcolm, watching the band march up the street.  He had to stand up and move back to the sidewalk shortly after this.  As the drum line passed, one of the drummers (a snare, I think) tossed a drumstick at his feet.  I tried to have him return it, but they said it was for him to keep.

 After dismissal, this twirler, Erin, stopped and talked to Dorothy for a long while.  Dorothy showed her her finger twirls and they talked about being at Nationals at Notre Dame this past summer.  Dorothy was a little quiet, but she really enjoyed having one of the twirls spend so much time with her.

 Dorothy needed to use the restroom, but there was a bit of a wait until the band cleared out a little.  Kevin and Malcolm went for a walk around campus, and Dorothy and I waited outside the Hall of Music for them.  While we waited, I took a few pictures.  I suggested posing the the Band Key.

 Then she wanted me to take pictures of her with the two busts out front.  Al's nose made a great handle for her to pull herself up with.  Sorry, Al.

 She also used Spots' nose to climb up, but this time she let go of it once she was up there.

 Kevin and Malcolm returned from their walk.  Malcolm has his drumstick over his shoulder.

 Dorothy then insisted that I take her picture again because now she had her baton.

 On our way to dinner at Lafayette Brewing Company (which was no where near as good as it used to be), we stopped by Riehle Plaza, where Kevin and I got married.  There was a fence around the train station, so we could only be on the front steps.  (Photo courtesy of Malcolm.)

Dorothy wanted to take our picture too, so we went with a silly pose and Malcolm jumped it.  I actually kind of like this picture of us.

 We hadn't planned to catch the morning rehearsal on game day, but we happened to be walking by after parking, so we stopped to watch.  I went around front with Dorothy so that she could see the twirlers while Kevin and Malcolm stayed at the back of the band.

 The drum major happened to stop right in front of where Dorothy was sitting.

 With the Big Bass Drum.  It was cold, so Dorothy has on her jacket, but her shirt underneath has the drum on it.  The jacket has the drum on the back.  Either way, you can't see it here, which is too bad.

 One of the crew members offered to take a picture with all four of us, so Kevin and I jumped in too.

The same crew member offered to let the kids hit the drum.  Malcolm felt too embarrassed to take a turn, but Dorothy took a whack at it.

Dorothy and I once again went inside the Hall of Music to use the restroom.  On our way out, the auxiliary director offered her a signed poster of all the twirlers.  The first thing she asked was if we could put it up on her wall.  We didn't want to drag the poster around all day (and it would get very wrinkled in my purse), so Kevin took it back to the car while I walked with the kids toward the stadium. 

 The Extra Special went past us and I asked if they would pose for a picture.  They were nice enough to stop, then they offered the kids block P tattoos.  Thanks, Reamers!

 They had fun walking in the moon walk footprints outside the Neil Armstrong building.

 Malcolm wanted his picture with Neil Armstrong.

 Dorothy didn't want to have her picture taken until after her brother did it.

 We even stopped at the Purdue sing on our way to get some lunch.

 Dancing inside Mackey Arena where the band now does their pregame concert.

 Dorothy and I walked around to the side so she could have a better view. 

 After the concert, she got to go down on the floor and take pictures with the twirlers.  She was a little shy to go out there by herself, but a couple of the twirlers held her hand to walk her out on the floor.

 With the twirling line.

 With the solo twirlers.  I love that the baton they gave her to hold is almost as big as she is.

 It was family day at Purdue, so they had a free kids' area set up.  We had some time to kill, so we checked it out. The kids "won" a ton of tattoos as prizes.

 Malcolm rode the mechanical bull.  Dorothy sat on it, but wouldn't let go of me, so I had to take her off.

 The Indianapolis Colts had a booth set up.  Malcolm is throwing the football through a hole.  Dorothy wasn't tall enough, so she threw the ball while sitting on Kevin's shoulders.  I don't have a picture, but Dorothy also met two of the Colts Cheerleaders and is now the very proud owner of a singed Colts Cheerleaders poster.  One of the cheerleaders she met was a former Goldduster with the band.  She saw the drum on Dorothy's shirt and asked if she liked the band.

 The tennis club had a very low net set up and the kids could hit balls back and forth with them.  Malcolm loved this, but was really bad at it.

 Game time!  At this point, Purdue was doing too terribly, so we were still fairly enthusiastic.

 Dorothy really got into yelling, "Go Boilers!" but she mostly did it once everyone else was quiet.  Luckily, most of the people around us found it funny.  Probably because her "loud" voice wasn't overly loud.

 Malcolm was very please with his foam finger he had picked up at the kids' area.

 By the end of the game, they were tuckering out.  The stands cleared out a lot but the end of the game, so we let the kids move around a fair amount.  I need to figure out how to get videos downloaded because I have a few of them dancing away in the stands.

 This photo pretty much sums up Purdue football fans everywhere.

We stayed for the band concert at Slayter, and then had a long walk back to our car.  It was late when we got home and both kids were out hard about ten minutes into the drive.  It was a vert time and both kids have been asking when we can go back again.  Maybe we will try for another women's basket ball game.