Finally some info!!

Yesterday we got info about Nationals!!  FINALLY!  I'm feeling a lot better and a whole lot less stressed now that I saw the itinerary. 

Wednesday is all of the solos, so she won't be competing.  Thursday are the small groups - so she'll have 3 dances.  Friday are the duet/trios and large groups - her other 3.  Saturday is a thing called the "Grand Showcase" and the opening number her jazz group was invited to perform in is at the beginning of that.  

So this sounds like a easy couple days so far.  Nope.  They also offer classes in the mornings sort of like the convention they go to each November.  It's an opportunity for them to dance with other choreographers and learn new techniques, so she'll have some ballet, jazz, tap & contemporary classes.  And of course....rehearsals!  Each evening after competitions and Saturday morning they have at least 2 hours to work on that opening number. 

Randy made our hotel reservations so we check in Tuesday and check out Sunday - perfect!   We'll probably leave somewhat early Tuesday, since it's a 3-ish hour drive and that afternoon will be her best chance to hit to water park at Kalahari.  We have 2 pools at our hotel, but that's not the same.  

I'm looking forward to checking out an awesome old cemetery that's down the road, too.  

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I can't believe I didn't have any wildly patriotic post on the 4th!  OMG.  I need to start planning ahead better!  

Miss Angela went up north Thursday morning with my sister Linda to their place on a lake.  Randy and I cheated and went out for BBQ instead of grilling ourselves.  OMG - the chicken & waffles were incredible!

Friday we went and did radio communications at the parade in Clawson - my corner just happens to be the one that my family has always sat at, heehee!  Randy is always in staging at the beginning, so I get to hear all the stuff going on down there.  We didn't go to the carnival at the park or stay for fireworks or anything.  We visited with some people, hung out at Mom's for a while then went home and took naps! 

Laurie & I took this selfie to send to Angel & Linda to show what they were missing. 

Saturday I went out to Laurie's to go riding with her riding club.  2 ladies trailered their horses over to her house and we rode for about 3 hours around Dryden.  It was really nice.  Captain is the old man of the group (22 years old) so he was expected to be the good example for the 3 younger horses.  The only thing that bothered him were some scary mattresses on the side of the road.  I let him stop and look, assuring him that they may look like a crime scene, but really wouldn't hurt him. 

 This is as close to Heaven as one can get!

One of the other ladies noticed this ring around the sun, so we took pics.  later on I saw a post on the Michigan Weather Watchers FB page that it was "ice crystals within Cirrostratus Clouds being reflected off the sun in the atmosphere". Very awesome!

When we got back, I took Princess for a walk down the road.  She has medical issues and Laurie didn't know if she could handle a long ride.  We had more horses than people anyway, so she stayed home with the dogs.  This gave her a chance to get out and do something different instead of seeing her stall or the same ol' pasture.   She was not impressed by the scarecrow!

Sunday we didn't do a whole lot.  Angel started texting me Thursday saying she was already sore from tubing on the lake.  Friday came the ones about being sunburnt.  Saturday she asked if she really had to go to dance on Monday!  She had a rough weekend!  Once she got home Sunday, she rubbed down with aloe and took some aspirin and we barely saw her for dinner.   Then Monday bright & early she had a doctor's appointment (sounds funny hearing it called a well-child check for a 16 year old!!)  and she got 2 shots to make her hurt even worse.  But while I was at work, she sent me these....

so she was plenty able to make it to dance Monday night!  At least now she's not moaning & groaning when she tries to stand up. 

So that's all the excitement here.  I follow a couple different home-haunter / Halloween-type FB pages and someone wanted everyone to post their FB links for displays / haunted houses, etc.  I now have a bunch of new followers on my Maple Grove Cemetery page - yay!  I think that's a big deal since making a page for my blog wasn't as easy as I expected it to be.  

Have a great night!  I'm expecting the next couple days at work to be insane since I want to have as much done as possible before I leave for 4 days.  Yay me!