Kendra's Paper Creations: Thanksgiving Fun in NYC!

OH MY GOODNESS! What a week we had in New York City! The Concord Community High School Marching Minutemen had the honor of marching in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. There were a total of 365 band students, staff, directors, and family members that loaded into 8 charter buses, making the trip from Northern Indiana to New York City for 5 days of crazy busy fun!

I wanted to start out with one of my favorite photos of the trip ~ my daughter (and drum major), Megan. I'm so proud of this gorgeous girl!

The buses pulled out of the high school on Monday evening and we traveled through the night. We arrived at our hotel early on Tuesday morning with just enough time to freshen up and have some breakfast. We headed out to NYC for a morning of guided sightseeing from our buses... we stopped in Central Park for a short visit and the kids from each bus climbed on the Alice In Wonderland statue for group pictures.

Next up ... Lunch in Midtown ~

so we walked over to Juniors for CHEESECAKE!

We all loved it!

Time Square

Rockefeller Center

In the afternoon, The Top of the Rock
It was rainy and foggy, but the views were still awesome!

Day #2: We awoke early (like usual) and headed to downtown to shop and lunch in the Macy's area.

and now it's time for the Christmas Spectacular
at Radio City Music Hall

On Thanksgiving Day, our kids woke up at 1:15am to start a very busy day. They needed to be at their NBC rehearsal in front of Macy's at 3:20am.

FINALLY TIME FOR THE PARADE!!!

and I got to walk too (I'm pushing the student in the wheelchair)

Megan is on the right side of the Indiana banner.

After the parade, we went on a Thanksgiving Dinner Cruise along the Hudson River.

It was a gorgeous day!

We were so fortunate that all 4 of us could go on this trip. My son, Matt, is an 8th grader and will start Marching Band next summer. Unfortunately, schools can only apply to march in the Macy's Parade every 5-7 years, so he won't get to participate as a band member. So we thought it would be a great experience for him to be able to go on the trip!