Starpower weekend

We had another long dance competition weekend...

Friday night were the teen solos...Julia did wonderful as usual. I'm always so proud of her and just amazed at what a fabulous performer she is.

Saturday was all about this girl (posing in her Bollywood costume)...

I'm still getting used to seeing her white toothy smile. I think she looks so grown up and very beautiful!

She really enjoyed herself this weekend and said she wished the competition lasted longer...um...not me...I'm exhausted!!

Gianna's tap team...

They received the highest tap score for all the 11 and under routines!  And their jazz won 1st place with the highest technique score. All her routines placed in the top and were fantastic.

The best award of all was when Gianna received an invitation to the Power Pak convention!  It's a dance intensive summer camp where kids are hand selected to receive invitations to go. Pretty cool!!  Julia got an invite two years ago too.

Then after a very long day of group competition, Julia competed her trio Saturday evening. They were gorgeous and placed 7th overall!  Yay!  It was a super hard competition with lots and lots of talent so I was very proud of our girls!

Sunday was all of Julia's group dances and the production for both girls.  Julia with her tap friends...

Julia's "Via Della Rosa"...they were just stunning and won first place!!

I love how they bond before dancing...

So it was a very successful and fun weekend for my girls. Next up...Starquest in two weeks. I better rest up!! : ) 

Elastics

Gianna may be getting a break from those annoying elastics...but not Julia...

Teeth - before and after

Gianna just got her braces off temporarily. She needs to lose the rest of her baby teeth and then she'll get them back on for a while longer...but yay for getting a break from poking wires and annoying elastics!!!

and she looks soooooo pretty!!!

This is the first time she's had two adult front teeth without braces so it has really changed the way she looks. I'm loving her pearly white toothy smile!!!

Cancun

We had another fabulous vacation in Cancun...

This year we had an ocean front room and the view was amazing!! This is on our balcony looking off to the left...

straight out over the water...

and off to the right...

I could just sit and stare at the ocean all day...the color of the water is just phenomenal.

We had our first dinner at Captain's Cove. It's one of my favorite restaurants in Cancun. The food is great and the view over the lagoon is just gorgeous...

Julia had the cutest outfits all week. I wish I had her wardrobe...

The view from our bedroom...wow...

The girls painted more ceramics this year...

Gianna painted these cute elephants...one is for her and the other for her friend...

Julia painted this pretty pot...she used lots of yellow because she knows it's my favorite color...

and Gianna painted this beautiful owl just for me...I love the yellow eyes...

The second night we went to another of our favorite restaurants called Limoncello's. And look who joined us for dinner!! Yikes!!!

My handsome boy...

My pretty girl...

I love this picture of Gianna...

Water aerobics at 10:00...bingo at 2:00...dancing at 2:30...happy hour at 3:00...

We had a fun dinner one night at Carlos and Charlies...

Sad to say it rained for two of the days...and I'm talking buckets of rain...but we made the best of it...

Gorgeous pictures of Julia...

My babies...

We took one really fun day trip to Xel-Ha about 1.5 hours south of Cancun...lots of snorkeling and floating down the river...

There were places to climb up and jump off cliffs into the water...

But this "floating bridge" was a complete and total nightmare for me...so scary...really hard to walk on and keep your balance. I thought I was going to take a header right off the side...and my kids thought it was hilarious...ya right...

Gorgeous sunset looking over the lagoon from our hotel...

and this was another view from our balcony...

We were so sad to leave. 

Some fun videos from our trip. Julia was in a limbo contest...

She was contestant #2...

Nicholas and Julia playing in the waves...

One of the entertainment guys dancing to our new favorite song "Shaky Shaky"...

Loved watching these guys dance every day...they make it look so easy...