And the chapter closes

Well, we're not moving on to the World Finals in Maryland. Which is probably a good thing, sanity-wise; but I have to admit, it's disappointing after having gotten so far. The team ultimately came in 9th out of 15 - which is not as good as I would have liked, but it still means they're in the top ten in the state! And they really did the best they could do, which is all I can ask for. Scooby was disappointed, but he seems okay about it today. And we had a beautiful day in Altoona - sunshine, puffy clouds, cool breezes...the kids got to spend almost 3 hours playing outside on a big football field. There was a duck-duck-goose game for awhile with almost 100 kids in it! According to my calculations, there were about 1,500 kids from third grade through high school that participated in the state finals. We actually didn't get to see many of the other groups perform, since the kids really wanted to run around outside. Maybe next year. Good grief! Did I just say that??? So the Odyssey is concluded for 2008 - all that's left to do is decide which props to trash and which to salvage for reusable materials. It's been quite an adventure. Now back to real life...