Florida College Trip

We took a quick trip to Florida with Nicholas and Gianna to look at two colleges. First up was Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers...

We loved it! Just a gorgeous campus! All the classroom buildings are located together right in the heart of the campus all within walking distance of each other. I just loved everything about this college.  

These are the freshman dorms...are you kidding me???  They have a pool!!  

And the upper classroom dorms are on a lake!!  I mean...come on...

Who wouldn't want to go there??  Nicholas wasn't thrilled with the idea of going to college in Florida at first...but after seeing this campus he went right back to his computer and finished his application process.  Unfortunately though he found out he won't be able to go there because they are not SAT optional. They are one of the very few colleges left that require SAT's.  But it may still be an option for Gianna.  

Then the next day we went here...

Very impressive!  It's amazing how different these two colleges are from each other.

Beach volleyball courts right on campus as well as a pool of course...

Nicholas was super excited about U Tampa!!  The only problem is their housing situation.  It's not guaranteed so we'll have to wait and see if he gets a place to live. He's already accepted and received a nice merit scholarship. He has two more colleges he's checking out over the next few weeks before he makes his final decision on May 1st.  

We enjoyed our VRBO community pool each day. This was my view from my chair...ahhhhh...the weather was gorgeous while we were there...

One night we went to a Tampa Lightening game...and what a game it was! They won in overtime...

My kind of porch...

We went to Top Golf...and I was terrible at it but still had fun...

I missed Julia so much on this trip as she couldn't come with us because of school : (  but she joined us via Facetime to watch us play...

This boy did really well at the babysitters while we were gone. If he knew how to behave with his brothers he could stay home...but that's not the case...

Fingers are crossed that Nicholas gets housing at U Tampa!!  

Beauties

 Lucia & Gianna...two Italian beauties...

Moulin Rouge

Starpower Foxwoods

We had a lot of fun at Starpower yesterday.  Here's what I loved...all Gianna's dances were on one day during very reasonable hours of 1:00 - 6:30 p.m., the stage was really big so all our dances looked better and she danced great and was happy with herself.  Here's what I didn't love...the ballroom was way too small with not enough seating, the venue was so ridiculously crowded, the dressing rooms were on the 10th floor so you had to grab an elevator, and they were tiny rooms that couldn't fit all the kids and moms. There were rack 'n rolls literally everywhere you looked.  It all worked out though once we got the lay of the land. Nothing was back to back so that was good.  

And I took three pictures.  Yes three.  Oh well.  Sometimes it's just way too difficult to take pictures at competitions.

All Gianna's dances won 5 star elite and here were the placements...

Wonderland 3rd place grand line (our junior acro The Birds placed 1st)

Moulin Rouge 1st place (teen large group) - out of 26 teen large groups

The Village 3rd place (senior large group) - out of 24 senior large groups

Would Anyone Care 6th place (senior large group)

Beetlejuice 8th place (senior large group) 

Happy 17th

Happy 17th birthday to our Gianna Mae...

and today...HAPPY 17th!!! 

Hall of Fame

Really fun first dance competition of the season this past weekend at Hall of Fame in Ridgefield, CT!  Gianna's lyric "The Village" won first place in the senior category...

and her tap "Beetlejuice" placed second in the senior category...  

And that was all I got for pictures. I'll try to do better this weekend at our next competition. 

Her lyric "Would Anyone Care" placed 7th in the senior category, "Moulin Rouge" placed 1st in the teen category and the studio's production "Wonderland" placed 1st.

It was very strange not having Julia with us after 11 years of competing, but I loved spending one on one time with Gianna.  Having just one now is a breeze!! 

Roommates

 

Front tooth

When I was a little girl, about 8 or 9 years old, I chipped my front tooth.  My brother and I were outside playing on a snow day. We were sliding down the small hill on the side of our house on our new toboggan our grandfather had given us for Christmas.  I was standing on the seat when my brother pushed it from behind.  I fell right into the medal handle bar face first. Oh it hurt! I ran into the house and my mom saw that part of my front tooth was gone.  The nerve was exposed so it was very uncomfortable.  So ever since then I've been very aware of how my tooth looked.  First I had a cap that would fall off all the time.  Then I would get bonding that would yellow and need to be replaced often.  It was always the wrong shape and length. No one ever seemed to do a good job to make it look right.  Until now.  I love my dentist!  I knew she would help me and she did!  After straightening my teeth with braces for two years it was the last thing I wanted to do to fix my smile.  

This is a big deal for me even if no one else notices!!  I'm so happy!! : ) 

Say it anyway

 

Prom dress shopping

It's Gianna's turn now for prom dress shopping. Her junior prom is coming up in May.  Julia, Gianna and I went to the most popular prom dress boutique around that literally has thousands of gowns...

Of course she looked gorgeous in all of them...

On the walls all over the store we saw this girl...

She's Julia's best friend and college dance teammate who is also a model...

And here she is again with Gianna...

This is the dress she picked! Beautiful!! 

Four more acceptances

Nicholas received three more acceptances!  The Boy has options!