A quiet Thanksgiving evening at Nana & Popo's . . . and Maddie's house too . . .

Okay Henry, it's time to settle down with a good book . . How about "Dream of the Echoes" THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF NOTRE DAME! by Brandon Crouch & Frank Corrigan. It's never too soon to learn about the IRISH, Hank. Here, let Nana read to you . . . .

"Henry's First Thanksgiving" . . . . . . and he gets prunes??????? Mom, Dad, Nana, and Popo have a tasty turkey dinner! Oh, well . . wait 'til next year!

Daddy says . . "Yeah, Hank . . .you won!"
Henry was waiting to get his "running" picture with Mommy, Nana, and Popo . . too!

November 24, 2011: Happy Thanksgiving! Jennifer, Rose Anne and I started Thanksgiving morning by participating in the Flying Feather 4 miler run/walk with 4000 other runners and walkers . . all eager to burn some calories to make room for their Thanksgiving feasts! It was a chilly 39 degree morning for the run through Glacier Ridge Metro Park in Dublin! A bottle of Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages Red, a finishers medal, and food and beverages awaited each runner as they completed the race. Jennifer finished with a better than goal pace of 8:27, and Ted and Rose Anne both finished strong with the last mile being the quickest for both. Even the Turkey had a hard time keeping up with the "spring chickens"

We're ready to go, Nana!

Now I'm too tired! "The Boys!"

Nana came to see us! Rose Anne traveled to Saginaw to stay with the "boys" (Wes, Henry, and Tucker) while Jennifer attended a conference. Notice that Henry is sitting up proudly for his Nana. Tucker has learned quickly which toys are his! They visited Bronner's in Frankenmuth and Henry even took Nana to Mass on Sunday!

"Game Day!" This is the fourth year the Westerville Central Athletic Boosters have sponsored the "Game Day 5K" as a benefit for the Cross Country & Track Teams. Turn out was excellent again, 333 participants, on a sunny, cold (39 degree) November morning, Saturday the 19th. I ran this one without Rosie, as she was with Henry and Wes in Saginaw. Good run for me . . under a 10:00 pace, my best time the past two months. I enjoyed this run, but missed my partner! Game Day for the Buckeyes football team didn't turn out quite as successful . . . however, ND chalked up a victory over BC. Next run . . . "Flying Feather Four Miler" in Dublin, Thanksgiving morning. Jennifer is planning to join us while Wes & Henry cheer on Mommy, Nana, and Popo!

2012 BHS International Chorus Contest Invitation to Portland: Chapter members voiced their opinions; Director, Chad Wulf and the Singing Buckeyes BOD made the following announcement:

I can't thank you enough for your quick thoughts on the Portland invite. It was an honor to be asked to mic test the contest and we should be proud of that.

Your voices have been heard and the music team and board have decided to decline the invitation. We would likely only be able to travel out there with about 25-30 guys and just did not feel that a group of that size would represent our chapter in the best light in front of the international community.

This will give us the opportunity to focus our fundraising, musical program, and membership with an eye on Toronto 2013. With some hard work in all three of those areas, that should be a very real and obtainable goal.

In addition, as things have developed over the last couple of days, we will add to our long-term planning agenda some research on other opportunities outside of competition to travel together and share our music together.

Thanks again for your honest and quick response.

Chad

November 8 - Singing Buckeye Chorus invited to be Mic-testers for the 2012 BHS International Chorus competition in Portland, Oregon. Chad expressed the following: "We received a formal invite to go to Portland to sing as a mic-tester chorus. While we would not be a competitive chorus and would not show up on the scoring summary, we would perform just like all the other choruses and get 2 full songs on stage just like everyone else. We would also get to watch the entire competition unlike when you typically compete."

JAD District Chorus Contest - Lima, Ohio - October15 - Singing Buckeye Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUspUQkKO9I

Final 2012 BHS International Preliminary Chorus standings This note came from our Singing Buckeye Chorus Director, Chad Wulf, October 24

The final three districts finished up this weekend and as expected one more chorus moved in front of us for the wildcard chase.

So.....the final result is...after 17 district contests and 204 competitors....we finished 27th overall and 14th in the wildcard selection. So we will have to wait and see if there are people who pass up the invitations....but as we said last week what a great showing!

Couple other fun facts....

(1) That is our highest score since the 2007 JAD District Contest, the fall after competing in the 2007 Denver International Contest where we finished 24th.

(2) We sang with 51 men. We were tied for the 17th largest chorus with Northbrook, IL who won the international Gold in 2001 with 138 men. Our goal of 60 would have been the 10th largest.

(3) The average size of the choruses that competed was 32 men.

(4) The average size of the choruses in the Top 10 was 73 men....the next 10 choruses...44 men. Size does matter gentlemen. Listen to brother Bob.

(5) The average score for all choruses competing....67.7 (Our score....78.1) SWEET!!

(6) There are 5 districts out of the 17 that we would have won with our score.

Well....I'm not sure all that is worth much....but I love the numbers....and you should understand where our chorus "fits" in the grand scheme of things in the society. The more you look outward to other chapters across the country....the more you realize that it truly is "GREAT TO BE A BUCKEYE!"

"Family Day 5K" at UD and visit with Jack, Carolyn, and Walker!

Great day at University of Dayton with Jack, Carolyn and Walker

"Family weekend at University of Dayton" Carol & Walker invited us to join them to visit Jack during family weekend this past Saturday. Rose Anne and I enjoyed a beautiful day on campus, toured the campus, ran with 626 students, family members and staff in the Frericks Memorial 5k at 10:00 a.m. (Stewart Hill was a toughie), then enjoyed a tailgate with the families of Jack's roommates prior to the UD/San Diego State football game. Jack was excited about having us visit. Rose Anne brought him a "care-package" of snicker-doodle cookies and pumpkin bread. When Aunt Rose Anne asked Jack if she should bring the cookies to the tailgate, Jack exclaimed: "Heck no, I'm keeping those for myself!" Jack, a sophomore, seems very comfortable at Dayton. It was fun to see Carolyn and Walker; we hadn't seen them since May. You can see by the picture of Jack, Rosie, and Ted why Carolyn calls us "the little people".