More Pictures!

Mrs. Glover, one of the Kenmore East chaperones (pronounced "shapones" in Mr. A language) has shared her Photobucket album from New Orleans. Here's the link:

http://s1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee472/bdbertino/New%20Orleans/

Also, in order to keep maintaining the blog for a little bit, I need to keep up the ad count. Please click on the sponsored sites to help out with this! Thanks!

We're Home!

After bussing for the past 30 hours, we're finally home. I know that for myself at least, my bed is beyond irresistible. Just a I announced, feel free to email me any and all pictures you have of the trip and I'll post them as they come in. Thanks again to everyone for such a memorable trip. It truly is a trip to remember always! My email is br.j.goy@gmail.com for those of you who don't have access to Charms. See y'all in 3 hours!

Another Day Gone :(

Our last night in the hotel :( We had an extremely packed day today! We started our day really early today with a 7AM departure from the hotel. We went to Destrehan High School were we got to see their Drum Corp and Color Guard, both of which are amazing and have placed gold in states this past year. Then, the combined Kenmore East and Tonawanda bands got to work with Mrs. Toale and the Destreham band, which also received a sweepstake to compete at states this year. We played for each other and then worked on combined numbers, including a read-through of a new piece for both bands, Sam Hazo's In Flight. Then, the Kenmore East String Ensemble played for the students and exposed them to a new form of high school music in the form of a string program, which they do not have at their school. Then we ended our visit by playing two numbers with our giant, combined jazz bands. We went from Destreham to lunch and from lunch to the Wetlands Watching Park where we got to experience hands-on the meaning of the wetlands to the Louisiana coastal areas, including New Orleans. We planted trees, petted gators and snakes, and fished in the bayou, all the while learning important scientific and cultural facts through hands-on learning and interaction with our 8th grade, very-well versed, guides from Hurst Middle School, who run the park under the direction of their teacher, Mr. Barry Guillot. After spending time there, we went to dinner at the Cajun Live Music Restaurant where we danced and ate and enjoyed the life of New Orleans. Three members of Kenmore East's band, Nate Weller, Brendon Grabowski, and James Benders even got to take the band stage for a set of numbers that you'll be able to see in the pictures. We then returned to the hotel to enjoy some relaxation time to spend in the pool or hanging out in the rooms with friends before we turned in the night. We'll be up bright and early tomorrow though! Keep looking for picture updates as I post them as I get them from our photographers, the students!

Long and Fun Day is done!

After a nice long day, we've finally arrived back at the hotel! We visited Loyola and Ogden Museum of Art, got walking tours of the French Quarter followed up by bus tours of New Orleans and the damage done by Hurricane Katrina. Bus #3 (Tonawanda's bus) ran into a little bus trouble today though...but they got a nice, new bus out of it! Then we finished out our day with food, dancing, and gator watching at the Bayou Barn. Such a fun day! Pictures are coming out within the hour. I'll post as they come up.

We finally got here!!

We arrived at put hotel half an hour, finally! Getting showered and heading to bed. Wake-up is at 8! Pictures will be up tomorrow, sorry for such a long wait!

Summary so far

I apologize for not being able to upload any pictures or blogs since we left. There has been no way for me to gain access to internet anywhere so far. The bus has no WiFi and none of the places we've been to so far has had any either. Right now we are in Alabama on our way to New Orleans and we're stopping to eat in about 45 minutes in Tuscaloosa, AL. We are, as far as I know, still planning on arriving at the hotel around 12AM (1AM Buffalo time). We've had a long day and a half traveling and we had an absolute great time at Mammoth Caves, KY. I will uploading all the pictures sometime in the early morning when we arrive. I will have full access to the hotel WiFi then. Thanks for your patience!

Know Where We're Going

Ms. Bauser has put together a map on Google Maps of the places we are traveling to. I've put the map in the right sidebar for everyone to take a look at. Click on the blue markers for links and more information on the sites and places we are visiting in New Orleans. Get to know where we are traveling too! And a thank you to Ms. Bauser for putting together this map for us!

Shout Out!

A shout out To our friends in Germany on the KenTon exchange trip who are checking out our blog! Thanks guys! Hope you're having fun and I hope everyone is enjoying their vacation!

Almost there!!!!

Trip packets are done! Bags are being packed! We're counting down the days!! Only 3 days!!!

6 days left!!

5 days

120 hours

7223 minutes

until we leave for New Orleans!!