Thomas Goes to Chicago!

This whole past week we have been getting ready for Thomas's trip to Chicago with the Flint Institute of Music Philharmonia. Thursday night he had his final rehearsal from 6:30 until 8:30, and then he and his percussion teacher, Alyssa, spent 30 minutes packing up all the percussion instruments that had to be taken. (I had no idea it was such a palaver to pack up drums--cases within cases, all packed with sticks, pads, cymbols, drums, towels and bits of rug. All very mysterious, time consuming and heavy.) Finally, we left for home--to pack up his clothes (3 sets of casual clothes, two performance outfits and another set of finery for the Chicago Symphony performance), a slap-dash alteration on his performance slacks, then a quick bath for Thomas and right to bed...to wake up but a few minutes later at 5 a.m. (!) to dress, eat, load up the car and drive to the FIM...to wait for the bus that hadn't arrived. We pulled up in the parking lot exactly on time (a fairly rare occurance for us and downright astonishing at that hour of the morning) and found several dozen cars in the parking lot, all with their occupants huddled inside. It turned out that the bus driver was under the impression that she was to show up at 6:15, not 5:15 am. Calls were made and the driver promised to arrive asap. So we waited, and waited, and waited and (because it was only 15 degrees out) we got colder and colder and colder. At one point (and this was with us in the car with the heat running full blast) Thomas and I were shivering so hard we couldn't talk. Finally the bus showed up and everyone cheered! And then set to the task of loading up two basses, eight cellos, all the percussion instruments, three dozen other instruments and everyone's suitcases and backpacks. Here is Thomas, excited (and a bit anxious) to go. (He was sleepy, but not asleep. I just caught him off guard because I didn't know what I was doing with my new camera.)
Here is everyone waiting while the instruments were loaded on. I can't believe all these kids got up at this unglodly hour.
Here is Thomas getting on the bus. He said he was very anxious about going--until he saw the inside of the bus. Each seat was huge, upholstered, and had a wide variety of hookups for any number of electronic gizmos. (They were told to bring dvds for the busride because each could watch a movie in their seats?!?) He picked a seat and within minutes all the boys had settled in right around him and were animatedly sharing DS data.
And there they go.
I've been thinking about him constantly since he left. I have a copy of their itinerary and keep checking it to see what he is doing. Right now he is sitting in the audience of a Chicago Symphony performance of Beethoven. (But will it sound as good as their Egmont which they performed earlier today in the Field Museum of Natual History? I doubt it.) They leave for home tomorrow at 1 pm and should be back at the FIM by 7:30 pm. I am guessing he'll be tired.