Annie's quartet traveled to Glassboro, NJ for the MTNA (Music Teacher's National Association) Eastern Division competitions this weekend. It
was only a 20 minute drive from where Vance's relatives live, so we decided to go too and make a party of it! We headed out on Saturday morning with Vance's mom, stopped in NYC to pick up Adam, and arrived
shortly after lunch.
Annie and the guys from her quartet were coming over for dinner,
and preparation was already underway.
Egg rolls were being rolled and fried.
Rice was fried.
An extremely large assortment of sushi was picked up
at a local restaurant too.
And no Asian dinner would be complete without
ginger chicken (10 lbs of it to be exact!)
Kimiko excitedly kept watch and was the first official greeter.
The first of many!
Lauritz, Drew and Khanh were introduced and so it began!
First up: Time to eat!
Lauritz was surprisingly good with chopsticks!
After dinner, we took a short break from eating for a short
performance by the quartet.
We were very impressed!
Next up: A surprise birthday cake for a slightly early
celebration of Annie's 21st birthday!
And a gift that needed a little help from Khanh to open...
with his switchblade!
Inside were 21 gifts - some fun and some useful.
Next up: Dessert!
Ice cream cake, chocolate pudding dessert, brownies, raspberry squares, rice krispie treats, fruit dip, cookies - I may have forgotten something!
Next up: BINGO
After a little explanation of the rules for Lauritz, we began.
As always, Kathy was the official Bingo Master!
BINGO is always fun, for young and old alike.
There were lots of prizes to pick from!
Khanh won a few very useful items!
Drew chose a few much-need hair accessories.
Before they left to go back to the hotel, the quartet
had a huddle.
Is Annie making a prediction, perhaps?
They were scheduled to perform on Sunday afternoon,
with Lauritz participating in the solo competition in the morning.
We packed up and left the next morning
to bring Adam back to the city
and make our way home to Connecticut.
We waited anxiously to hear news of the results.
On our way out, on the backroads of New Jersey,
we saw an enormous flock of snow geese in the sky.
They were circling and landing in a field that was out of view.
I wanted to get a picture, so we pulled off the road and
I got out of the car. I was amazed by what I saw!
It was like a national snow goose convention! Thousands
of geese had landed on a farmer's field.
I read up on these geese and I guess it is common for them to
travel in flocks of several hundred thousand.
Further research revealed that snow geese are symbols
of
loyalty,
teamwork,
confidence,
protection,
fellowship,
determination,
and communication.
Maybe we were witnessing a sign of what was to come that day.
Using all of these qualities,
the quartet went on to take first place
in the MTNA Eastern Division Chamber Music
competition for wind instruments!
I received this text message from Annie:
WE HAVE NEVER PLAYED BETTER IN OUR
LIVES OMG IT WAS LIKE THE PERFECT PERFORMANCE
They advance to the national competition
held in Texas in April.
Also, after realizing he forgot his dress pants
at school and borrowing a pair from Khanh,
Lauritz won the solo Young Artist competition
for woodwinds.
Congratulations! We are so proud of all of you!
It was quite a weekend! Thanks to our NJ relatives
for all the work and preparation to make
our visit festive, fun, and filling!
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