ITS DANCE COMPETITION SEASON!
This month we had showcase at the Studio, Spotlight in Fresno as our first competition, and the Showstopper in Anaheim the weekend after. It was intense, fun, and hard because we were also pretty sick this month!
The Dance Company used to attend the Showstopper competition all the time, but they haven't gone for like 5 years, ever since we have been traveling with the team. So, this was our first time attending. It's held at the Disneyland Hotel, so most people also try to spend time at Disneyland since they offer discount tickets to attendees. I wrestled with this decision because...well...money. But the girls were willing to pay for their own tickets for the day, AND it was a "value" day, plus raining...which meant very non-busy. So we went up to the competition a day early, and spent about 11 hours at Disneyland AND California Adventure. That may not sound like very long, but since it was so dead, we were able to go on 16 rides. Which is really good!
Jo, Lex, and I were all sick, congested and coughing. It made for a rough weekend, but we made the best of it. Thursday was Disneyland, Friday was shopping for food and getting to our DLand hotel room, and then Peyton had competition Friday night. The rest of the weekend, our dances were pretty consistent and spread out where we were always getting ready for the next thing. It was the BIGGEST competition I've ever seen. Four large ballrooms with stages in each, with competition dances from Friday night at 4:00 to Sunday night at 11:00 pm. Literally only stopping from midnight to 8:00 am.
We did really well considering how huge the competition was!
We even won Crystals (highest award) for two of our teen dances!
It was a fun weekend with my girls, despite not feeling well. Sunday night we were so excited to come home, but the grapevine mountain pass had snow and was closed. We had to stay an extra night, and Peyton came down with a fever that night and was totally miserable. Then, the next day, it took us 7 hours to get home, instead of 3.5 hours due to a re-routing from the snow/closure. We were SO ready to get home!
Dana, Jen, Berta, Jill, & Me
Peyton LOVED these hoodies...and we never ended up going back to get them. She was sad!
Got famous cupcakes from Sprinkles bakery, but they were NOT GOOD?! Peyton's cupcakes are way better!
Waited in a long line at this famous ice cream place. Pretty good! But I still like Baskin Robbins better.
The girls were fascinated at the LEGO store!
Jordyn wanted to try to re-create this photo from disneyland when she was 3, so sweet!
These mouse ear filters on instagram are so cool!
The weekend previous to Showstopper, we had Spotlight in Fresno.
I love this flashback!
Peyton's 6th grade teacher (who was also Lexi's) came and watched them dance for four house with his little son. He is such a good teacher!!
OH my, so many rhinestones this year! I placed over 3,000 rhinestones one-by-one. Luckily Jill and Jen both came over and helped me for a couple hours!
When Gigi and Rusty play, Gigi makes the funniest faces!
My student Luis, wanted to shop and learn to make a fruit salad. Such a sweet boy.
I have the WORST habit of waiting way too long to do my laundry (we all do our own laundry) and once I do, there are like 20 plus pair of pants stacked up. I wish clothing was disposable!
Showcase is when the whole team gathers and shows each other their dances. We have 24 dances this year. Grandparents and parents also come to watch. The girls love it.
I was trying to help mend some strained friendships with the 12 year olds at dance, so I created a little note and had the girls in the "You've got Mail" dance assemble and deliver them. It was a fun morning!
I can't stand that she likes to sit by the window, because the path to the window requires walking on the counter! Yuck!
