Dancing in Baton Rouge!

We're in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the weekend for KC's dance competition. Thankfully the hotel has Internet access! It also has an exercise center, and my knees are reminding me why I don't run very often. Ouch.

The girls have classes all morning and early afternoon until 2:30. The competition itself starts around 4:30 and won't end until 9:00 or so. We can take pictures without flash but no video cameras are allowed. Hopefully I can get a few pictures this afternoon before they dance.

Brady, Abby, Bill, and I are hanging out in the hotel room this morning. I'm wondering if Nickelodeon airs anything besides Spongebob. Ever.

Update: KC was so exhausted at lunchtime she ate quickly then took a nap.

Afternoon classes from 1-3pm, then the competition started at 4:30.

The girls danced to Boogie Oogie Oogie and did a great job.



The competition doesn't allow video cameras, so I used my regular camera to take a quicktime video. Unfortunately it doesn't have a zoom so it's pretty far away looking. KC is in the front center, with the long red ponytail. She's in front of the left hand side of the M on the backdrop for most of the dance:

The girls finished with a second place rating, which is really good!! They worked hard and I'm so proud of KC (and all the girls)!

Tomorrow is another full day of classes and then the final few awards. Hopefully we will be on the road headed home by 3pm!

Update: We managed to leave for home around 3:30 pm. KC hurt her foot on Saturday, but didn't even realize until after the competition was over (adrenaline is an amazing thing). She limped on Sunday, but insisted in attending every single class. Their group missed a first place rating by only a few points, so they really did do a great job!

Happy 2009!

Wow, it's January 15th already - halfway into the first month of 2009! Happy New Year!

We had a really nice Christmas break. After we cleaned up from Christmas, we decided to spend a couple of days at the Bandit, Bill's parents' vacation house in New Braunfels. We spent New Year's Eve playing board games and eating way too much popcorn. On New Year's Day itself, we decided to play 9 holes of golf.

This was Abby and KC's first time to actually play on a course and help drive a golf cart. I expected Abby to be bored and complaining within 15 minutes, but she hit it straight and really enjoyed herself! I let her drive the cart a few times. She only made one wrong turn, over a small hill but I got us going in the right direction (not before she screamed "We're going to die." Can't wait until she's old enough to drive - not).

Bill took the kids fishing too. They didn't catch anything, though. Too cold for the fish, I guess (or they were all recuperating from their New Year's Eve party).

We've been back at school since January 5th, and the big kids had finals this week. It was KC's first time to take finals, and so far she thinks she's done well. Brady has been studying hard, so hopefully his all went well, too. He has his hardest 2 tomorrow (Algebra and ELA) so I'll have my fingers crossed (hard to type that way, but I'll make that sacrifice). Today, Brady officially got his braces on. He has an appliance in the back that makes it impossible for him to close his back teeth, so he's chewing on the front ones. He was great and didn't complain at all (the technician and the orthodontist both came out to tell us how great he was). He won't let me take a picture yet, though. Hopefully soon.

Next weekend (on the 24th) KC has a dance competition in Baton Rouge. Her group is dancing to a disco number - it's really cute. It's about a 5 hour drive from here, so it'll be a hectic weekend. Brady has a tryout for a new baseball team that's forming in our area this Sunday, so hopefully he'll do well with that.

That's all the excitement in our world! Hope all our friends and family are well and warm. Take care, and all the best in 2009!