Travel Day

I'm sitting in the Atlanta airport ... about 2 hours into a 3.5 hour layover ... and now that work things are caught up, I thought I'd update the blog! Have caught up the emails and talked to the office, so now there is not much to do besides wait for boarding time.

Last night Drew and I went to a special dinner for the parents of the Youth Board graduating seniors. It was very nice and we got to see the safe driving videos and pictures of the kids over the past 4 years. It was fun to see how Drew has changed over the past 4 years ... he looked so much younger in the freshman year pics!

The kids also gave the Youth Board director a "Class of 2008" collage that had some pics of part of the group that I took at a park a couple weeks ago, and also the kids all signed the mat with special messages for her. I know she is a faithful reader of this blog ... Jody, thanks for all you do for the teens in Tazewell County! You are famous now, being featured on the Tremont Scotts blog! :-)

I'm out of town through Friday night, returning very late. I'm headed to the area of VA where several tornadoes did some extensive damage yesterday afternoon ... not quite sure what to expect! I don't think the area where I will be staying around Colonial Williamsburg had major damage, but it was only about 20 miles away and closer to where I'm flying in, at Newport News.

Why does spring go by so fast?

I guess it's just because the kids are so busy ... but the weeks are really flying! TJ has had 2 fun field trips already (farm visits and a day at the symphony) and he's headed to the State Capitol and Lincoln Museum next week. He also has the concert to share the progress of the 4th graders learning to play the recorder this year. It's a great preview for them of 5th grade band, which he says he wants to participate in next year. Sign up is in a couple weeks, I think. And I'll be going to the Middle School soon for a parent meeting about his transition from grade school next year.

Abby also had a big field trip where she got to wear a pretty dress and load up on a bus to go the local community college for a dance company presentation. They had a special kids program with dance/play acts that were related to The Tortoise and the Hare, High School Musical and West Side Story. She thought she was pretty darn special! She also loved visiting the kindergarten classrooms this week when we went with TJ to the grade school open house. She's anxious to get started in kindergarten and riding the school bus each day!

Drew is sailing through the last 2 weeks of school, and is just 3 weeks from graduation. He has been busy with a group of seniors preparing a class video and winding down the year. Next Sat is prom, and shortly after that he has the breakfast ceremony for the THS Principal's Award he received, and that same night is the THS Awards Banquet, where he will have a few recognitions. He has his final band/chorus concert that same week, and next week he goes on the Senior Class trip to Chicago.

On Tuesday I leave for a conference in Williamburg, VA. I'll cut the trip a bit shorter than normal and come home late Fri night so that I don't miss out on the prom festivities next Sat. Seeing Drew and Taylor in the Promenade and sharing that special night just cannot be missed for a meeting!

Visit to Carthage College

Drew and I had a great visit to Carthage, and he's officially a student and all set for fall classes now!

We arrived Sunday just in time for the concert of the Ladies Choir and Lincoln Chamber Singers in the chapel where Drew is going to be singing a lot of songs over the next four years. It has a beautiful pipe organ and is the largest of its kind in the Midwest, I think the program said.

After the concert, we were invited to dinner by one of the Music Dept professors, a man who is likely to be Drew's private voice teacher for his college years, and he also is the accompanist for the choral groups. He was part of Drew's audition in Feb. We talked with the Director of Choral Music during the concert and set up an appt to go to his office the next day. Neither of the men recognized Drew at first ... and both commented that he had cut his hair since his audition! HA

The campus is starting to come back to life after the long, cold winter ... and thank goodness there was no snow on the ground! Sunday was pretty cold and windy off of Lake Michigan, but Monday was a beautiful day (mid-40's though) to walk around and take in the sights of the Lake and the campus.

Monday was a full day of preparation for fall ... Drew had his photo taken right away for his Carthage student ID and was whisked off to do a personal assessment of what he needed for his major and to get registered for classes. Music majors, unlike many other majors, start their coursework in their major right away instead of just concentrating on the core courses freshman year. So he will spend about half of his day each day in the Music Dept and perfecting his vocal and piano skills in preparation for teaching. He made an interesting choice for his language credits (2 classes) during college and chose to take Chinese. While it will be tough, he has a bit of China in his heart and has a real interest to learn some of the language. He met with the Chinese language professor and thought she was a pretty neat person. They teach language total immersion, so she started out yesterday speaking nothing but Mandarin to him ... he said he knows he looked a bit like a deer in headlights, but he did at least know what "Ni Hao" (hello) meant when she said, "Ni Hao, Scott Drew!" And he also knew why she said his last name first! HA

We had lunch in the dining commons (pretty good, actually) and he spent the afternoon in the Music Dept. We had a private meeting with the Director of Vocal Music and Drew got some guidance on how to prepare prior to the fall. He also shared with Drew that next January is the Carthage Choir's trip to Europe, which did not break Drew's heart. HA Their tentative plan right now is to be gone about 16 days and sing in local churches in Berlin, Prague, Hamburg, Vienna and Paris. Not too shabby.
After his meeting he sat in on a rehearsal session of the Carthage Choir and got to meet some kids, plus hop into the tenor section and work on a song they were learning. So he felt pretty good about that.

He left with his student ID, Carthage student email address, an idea of fall class schedule ... and a lot of excitement about the years ahead!

Milestone Days

Had to share this cute pic of TJ & Abby after an exhausting day of play!

Yesterday was a milestone for Abby ... she is one step closer to school, as we went for her kindergarten screening. She was so excited to go! She asked me several times if this meant she was going to kindergarten now instead of preschool ... so I had to clarify that kindergarten didn't start for a few months. HA

She would have nothing to do with wearing pants for the special day ... she had to find just the right pretty dress to wear to the school. It was so cold and damp that I had to dig out some tights, but she got herself all prettied up and off we went. She chatted with the kindergarten teachers as we waited, and she marched right back into the screening room without looking back. The teacher who took her back was TJ's kindergarten teacher, and she was his teacher when we made our trip to China 4 years ago. She was so excited to see Abby there!

Drew has a milestone of his own ... tomorrow he and I will head to Kenosha for the Monday morning registration session at Carthage College! He'll set up his fall classes, get his student ID and Carthage student email address, and meet with the Music Dept faculty. Should be fun! Except for they are supposed to get up to an inch of snow today/tonight ... UGGGGGH!

News Story Link

Here's a link to the Peoria Journal Star story on yesterday's awards, with quotes from Drew,
http://www.pjstar.com/stories/040808/REG_BG9JNIS2.049.php

A special day

Today I was proud to go to Springfield with Drew and see him receive an award in recognition of all the work he has done with the Tazewell Teen Initiative! This group is made up of primarily local law enforcement and government officials ... and Drew fits into the mix as the President of the Tazewell County Youth Board. The Initative was formed to address the large number of teen driving deaths that occurred in our County over a 15 month period. Fortunately, that trend has stopped and no Tazewell County teens have been lost in the past year.

He received the "Award of Distinction" from the Director of the Illinois State Police at their Award Ceremony this afternoon. Other members of the Initiative who received an award were the Tazewell County Sheriff, Tazewell County Coroner, an IDOT representative, and a woman from the Tazewell County Health Dept. He was definitely the only kid in the room receiving an award, and there were very few recipients outside of the IL State Police ranks.

As soon as the ceremony was over he was swarmed by a few reporters wanting interviews. One was IL Radio Network and is an audio spot that will run on talk radio around the state, I think ... but the other lady was writing a story that may appear in tomorrow's Peoria paper. So we'll see if he gets a mention there or not.

We're very proud of Drew and the passion he has found for this effort. It's wonderful to see him thinking outside of the bubble of school and his friends, and moving on to thinking about making his overall community a better place.

Spring is Here!

Thank goodness the signs are all here that winter is over and spring is here! We enjoyed a beautiful day and I took TJ and Abby over to the lake in our subdivision to drive their remote control boats.

TJ got this new boat for Christmas and he has just been itching to get it out on the water. He has had it out on a couple of chilly days, but this was a much nicer one. Today was a good trial run, and he'll have several months straight to enjoy it at the marina when the boat is in the water and we are spending weekends out there.

Here's a You Tube video of today's run ...



Abby also has to get in the action, of course! How lucky can a girl be to inherit her brother's "old" remote control boat when he gets a new one!

Another good week for Drew!

Drew's senior year is winding down ... but his accomplishments are starting to grow!

On Monday he found out that he has been selected to receive the Tremont HS "Principal's Award" and would be attending an awards ceremony with his Principal on May 5th at Eureka College. It's a special honor for a senior to receive, and we're very proud of him! His Principal sent me an email today telling me there was no better choice than Drew, and that he is so proud of the way he has reached beyond the world of his peers to try and make his community a better place.

Also on Monday he received a letter informing him that he is receiving a special award from the Illinois State Police for his efforts in developing teen driving programs through the Tazewell County Teen Initiative. He is invited to a luncheon next Monday in Springfield to receive the award. The "Initiative" is a group of primarily adults and law enforcement officials that was put together after the large number of teen deaths in Tazewell County. Drew got involved through his work with the Tazewell County Youth Board, and it has been a great experience for him.

We received a call from the vocal music director at Carthage College ... wanting to be sure Drew had received the scholarship announcement and hoping to hear that Drew had indeed decided to attend Carthage! I told him we put the acceptance letter back in the mail yesterday, and he was very happy to hear that Drew would be joining their Music Department next year. He wanted to be sure we knew that the $10,000/yr they have awarded to Drew is their top honor, and they very much wanted to have the chance to work with him during his college years. I told the music professor we would be on campus April 14 for registration, and he wants to set up an appt with Drew to show him around and meet some other students. He also said that he would love for Drew to come to the choral practice being held that afternoon and even take part in it ... that the students just returned from their spring tour and are beginning some new songs, so he could participate with them. And he said he would love to get an early listen to Drew's voice in the ensemble! So I think that visit will offer him a lot more than just registering for classes and getting his Carthage student ID ... it will really give him a glimpse into the Music Dept and what is in store for him over the next 4 years.

Last Day in Sunny Destin!

Saturday it was time to go home ... but we were in no hurry as the forecast was for 83 degrees and set to be the warmest day of our whole trip! Who wants to drive on a beautiful day when you can be at the pool instead? Let's drive when it's dark and enjoy the heck out of our last day!


We packed up and got out of the condo right at 10 when we were due out, which is also when the pool opens. Spent a couple hours soaking up the beautiful day and letting the kids have one last swim before the long ride home. We pretty much had the pool all to ourselves for about 90 minutes ... most families in the complex were either hitting the road for home or had just arrived the night before and not up and moving around yet.

After a long game of "Monkey in the Middle" with a tennis ball, Drew got Abby working on her cannon ball technique. It was a riot, and I love this pic. Check out the pony tail action and the tightness of the leg tuck. I give it a 7.5 and know that she'll be scoring solid 9's and 10's by the next pool visit!


We used the clubhouse to change into some dry clothes and get ready for lunch. Then it was off to have a 2nd round of pizza at Mellow Mushroom for lunch. We hit a couple more souvenier stores and Drew finally got the little painted turtles he has wanted to buy forever. TJ has one in a tank in his room that we found at the river, and the kids have always loved the ones for sale in Destin. Drew snagged 2 so they would not be lonely. HA Their shells are maybe about the size of a silver dollar. I'm sure they will grow fast like our river one has!

So it was lunch in Destin, FL ... then we stopped for dinner in Nashville, TN. Breakfast here in Tremont, IL after arriving overnight ... and the unpacking has begun! Back to work and school tomorrow, and we're still enjoying the fun week we had and a little bronze glow from the sun! Drew is basking in the avalanche of letters from Carthage College confirming his scholarship monies ... as wonderful as it was to hear the words on the phone, it's nice to get that letter confirming the 20k a year! I'll take him back to Kenosha two weeks from today to register for his freshman fall semester classes on Apr 14!

Friday in Destin

A gorgeous beach day on Friday ... so gorgeous and relaxing, I forgot to take the camera! :-)

The beach was still offering up some pretty big and fun waves for playing in the surf, so the whole gang (minus me!) went out to play. The waves were curling like big Hawaii surf waves and they had a blast. Two waves were big enough to curl right over 6' tall Drew's head! YIKES!

We hit Pompano Joe's for a 2nd wonderful dinner and did a little packing of the suitcases on Fri night (sob, sob)