Monday, October 27, 2008

Birthday Fun

So yesterday was my birthday, and I wanted to do something fun that I don't normally get to do. I was debating on taking a nice drive in the mountains, but I ended up deciding that it would be fun to go to the zoo! Kevin took me to breakfast at Village Inn and then we drove down to the zoo. We thought it would just be a leisurely afternoon at the zoo, but then when we got there, we discovered it was "Boo at the Zoo" day. Basically, all the little kids dress up in Halloween costumes and go trick-or-treat around the zoo. The zoo was PACKED! There were so many people there, but seeing all the little kids in costumes was almost as entertaining as seeing the animals (almost but not quite!). They were so cute. Here are some pictures from the day, including some black bears sunning themselves and some snow leopard cubs.We saw this ENORMOUS bison and couldn't resist taking this picture:)

Monday, October 6, 2008

Alumni Band

Every year for homecoming, the CU marching band invites alumni back to participate in Alumni Band. This year was extra special because it was the 100th anniversary of the CU marching band. They had some really fun activities planned for band alumni, and it was a huge celebration. Usually, about 75 alumni show up. This year, we had about 200! It was so great to see so many people I haven't seen in so long. They charted us into the show, so we had to learn a few moves in a very short amount of time. We played one song during halftime and then the alma mater and fight songs. It is always fun to go back and be a part of that experience. I still love the rush of performing in front of 55,000 people!!!
On Friday night before home football games, the band always does a pep rally down on Pearl Street (they call it the Stampede). We went to that, and then they had reserved the back room at Old Chicago for band alumni, so there were a bunch of people there. Saturday morning we had rehearsal and then a lunch was provided. Then was the game. The game was fun, but we lost :(. Oh well, at least we got to see some old friends! Kevin's older sister, Katrina, was in the danceline of the marching band in the early 90's and she came for alumni band. Also, his younger sister, Kassie, is currently in the band. So we had 4 Larsens participating! Sometime we want to get all the Larsen siblings (they were all in the band at one point) and Kevin's dad to go to alumni band. That would be a fun family affair! After the game, the band dept. had reserved the private room at the Dark Horse, so everyone went there. It was a lot of fun, but man, were we tired after the day! So, we slept in on Sunday and took it easy all day. We watched the Broncos win, and then watched a movie. It was a nice, relaxing day.

I kind of started my internship last week as well. I'm working with a close family friend at Ranch View Middle School. I was only there two mornings last week, but absolutely loved it. I can't wait to get more experience and time working with the kids. I'll go back one morning this week, but I will start regular hours the last week of October. Looking forward to it!