By Ginny Bill

Hello to everyone in the land of ice and snow. I'm writing my blog tonight from our hotel room at the Potomac Mills Best Western, in Virginia. The last several days have been very busy, and very enjoyable. I think that it's safe for me to say, speaking for everyone, that, as a band, we've had a lot of fun so far.

Group photo in Fairfax hotel.

We arrived in Newark, New Jersey Saturday night and went immediately to our hotel, very close to the Newark airport. The next morning, we all got up, ate breakfast, and hit the road, traveling via charter bus from Newark to Fairfax, VA. We arrived in Fairfax at the Lord of Life Lutheran Church that evening, where we were greeted by gracious and generous members of the congregation.

Setting up before practice at LOLL Church.

The parade banner

We rehearsed basic marching skills in Fairfax that afternoon for about 2 hours, then we were all ushered into the church, where we met members of the church youth group. After a short time socializing, we were ushered into another room in the church, where we shared a lasagna dinner with the church congregation. After we ate and socialized some more, we left the church and checked in to the Fairfax hotel, where I am now.

This morning we got up relatively late, and headed in to Washington DC. We spent the day in our nation's capitol, sightseeing and walking around the city. In small groups, we were allowed to go around the monuments and memorials, and the Smithsonian Institutes.

Today was an excellent learning experience for many of the students in the band, who had never ventured to our capitol. We finished the day off with a hearty meal at a buffet restaurant here in Fairfax, and returned to the hotel.

Tomorrow is the big day! The band as a whole is excited. Many people would think that, considering that we may well be performing for the largest audience that has ever witnessed any event anywhere in the country EVER, we might be a little nervous. Personally, I can say that I'm actually not too tense about our performance. I am confident in the members of the band, and in our ability to perform in stressful situations. We've practiced an immense amount over the last semester of school, and longer than that. Many of us can say that we have been practicing and performing for the last four years, all to the reach the pinnacle of high school level performance. I'm excited for our band tomorrow, and our performance should be great. To everyone back home, have a good night!