HOCO!

 Homecoming, or HOCO, has been long-awaited in our house. Victoria got to go her freshman year, but that was it. You know, COVID.... A lot has changed since then. 

First, Kai is in the color guard, so she got to perform at the HOCO game. It's the same performance as before, so I won't post it, but she looked great, as usual. It was fun to support Salem HS at the game, even though we lost, but that wasn't a surprise.

I snapped this still photo, but you can hardly see her. She's holding the flag in the middle.

The next day was the HOCO dance. With our high school's unique 3-schools-on-one-campus situation, there are 3 HCOC games and dances, one each weekend. While the marching band/color guard perform at each game, they still have a competition to go to each Saturday.  That prevents them from being able to go to the Canton HCOC dance if that were someone's assigned school, or the Plymouth HOCO dance, if that were the assigned school.  What they do, is allow all the marching band to go to the Salem HOCO dance, which happens to be our assigned school.

 The color guard "Mom" planned a dinner at her house before the dance, so Kai got to take pictures with lots of friends there and eat dinner with them before being shuttled to the dance in a big van. So fun! She ended up at a restaurant with other friends after the dance, so that's where I picked her up when the night was over. She commented to me on how she has so many friends now in high school. From the Arts Academy, color guard/marching band, orchestra, and her oldies from middle school. She really feels the love from all her groups!

Kai's second from the end on the left.

Isa and Kai

The big color guard group and some dates. Kai is on the stairs behind the railing. You can just see her head!

Victoria surprised me last week by asking her old, but good friend Max to the dance at the football game. She had written on a poster, "I would be "bursting" with joy if you would to HOCO with me!" And she gave him some Startbursts. She showed it to him in front of her group of friends. I was so excited she had asked a date to the dance! Before he came to pick her up last night, she went with her girlfriends to take pictures in Downtown Plymouth, because that's the place to do that and she loves taking pics with her girlfriends! I know she and Max hung out with them at the dance, along with their various other friends. Taking the pics of her and Max beforehand was super fun! His mom, Melissa, is my good friend, and we loved snapping pics of them at the neighborhood park they used to play at when they were little.

Victoria is third from the right. 

Have you noticed the shoes? HOCO was outside on the football field and they didn't want the heels to ruin the turf, so no heels were allowed. Also, at the previous HOCOs the last two weeks, the kid's feet got very muddy. I don't know how they lucked out last night and weren't covered in mud because it's still very wet outside!

At Leann Park!

I think I had as much fun anticipating that night as my girls did, maybe more! It was a busy, but memorable weekend!

Getting ready!

I was so excited to take this pic of them, ready for homecoming!