Voices - Starquest

American Dance Awards

Julia danced both of her solos beautifully last night at ADA...

Julia's biggest and most loyal fan (other than me of course)...

She won Ultimate Golds for both her solos.  And after a long and rather confusing award ceremony...Julia won 1st runner up to Dancer of the Year!!!

All the NEDA senior soloists...

Winner: Alex Stevens - Diane Kelley

Winner: Sarah Malone - Diane Kelley

1st runner up Julia!!

2nd runner up Karissa Fryar - The Dancer's Studio

3rd runner up - Riley Bermingham NH School of Ballet

4th runner up Sydney Scott - The Gold School

OVERALL AWARDS:

1st place "Unite" Senior Small Group

4th place "Clark Kent" Class over 13

Large Group 13 and over:

1st place "How Great Thou Art"

4th place "Tango"

8th place "Mais Oui"

9th place "Chaplin"

10th place "Rescue Me"

1st place production "Traditions"; also won Diamond Choreography, overall adjudication 13 and over

Starquest

What a l-o-n-g weekend at Starquest...but successful!  My girls did fabulous in all their group dances.

Mai Oui...

Chaplin...(Gianna cracks me up in this picture)...

Savannah and Julia...

Tango...

Someone got a hold of my phone while at dinner...

Their studio received the "Studio of Excellence" award...

And the weekend ended with Julia placing THIRD for her Voices solo!!  And there were over 100 solos!!  She placed first in the open category which was super hard and received a Platinum Plus!!  She also received a Platinum medal for her Dangerous solo.  She is on a roll!!

She is such an amazing artist.  That solo is absolute perfection and fits her like a glove.  Thank you Kerry!!!  I'll have the professional pictures soon...

She notoriously doesn't do well at Starquest.  We do this competition every year and every year she is overlooked.  Not this time.

Sad part was she missed the award ceremony.  We left knowing she was in the top 20 moving on into the 2nd round of solos so we knew she had done well.  (She was actually in first place at the end of the first round (66) solos because the other two girls who placed 1st and 2nd were in the second group of solos.)  The competition went late into the night and she had school work to finish.  Oh well.  Maybe this will teach her not to procrastinate?  Hmmm...I hope so.

Overall Awards

3rd place "How Great Thou Art" for Teen Small Group 

8th place "Unite" for Senior Small Group

Teen Large Group:

1st "Chaplin"

2nd "Tango"

4th "Rescue Me"

2nd place "Mais Oui" Senior Large Group

1st place "Titanic" Teen Line

1st place "Clark Kent" Senior Line

1st place "Traditions" Teen/Senior Mega Line

A dream come true

Yes!!!  My favorite TV show of all time is coming back!!!  90210!!!  All of the original cast has signed on!  I am super excited...especially to see Shannen Doherty take on her role as Brenda again!  This really is a dream come true!!!

But at the same time...I'm also really sad that Luke Perry won't be there...

because honestly...it won't be the same without him.  He was the heart of the whole show.  I loved him and Brenda together.  I know he would have been there too.  I hope they pay great tribute to him.

In my mind, Brenda and Dylan married and are living happily ever after. 

Forgive and Forget

"To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you!"

I can forgive.  It's the forgetting that I have the hardest time with.  I'm a work in progress. 

Junior Prom

I can't believe Nicholas is at his Junior Prom tonight.  First of all...he hates that kind of thing.  Of course he waited until the very last day to buy his ticket.  Second of all...I know he'd much rather be home gaming on his computer, eating chips and drinking soda with his friends.  That's more his speed.  But I'm so glad he went.  It's a rite of passage going to a prom.

My handsome boy...

Nicholas and his good friend Alvaro.  He's an exchange student from Spain.  Nicholas befriended him at the beginning of the year and really took him under his wing.  They've become the best of friends. Nicholas is really going to miss him when he goes back home in June.

He took his friend Mary who is a sophomore...

Kaylah's Sweet 16

Julia went to another Sweet 16 last night...this time for her best friend Kaylah (center)...

One Year WW Anniversary

I joined WW one year ago this month.  I had hoped I'd still be going strong a year later and I am!!  I'm so proud to be a Lifetime Member!! To be honest, I did gain some weight while away in Cancun last week...6 pounds to be exact...which I totally expected.  But I enjoyed every single morsel of food and every single frozen drink that I had...and I don't regret it at all.  I'm back on track again following the WW plan and back to my daily exercise routine.  I'm already just one pound above my goal weight.  Maintaining my goal weight is so important to me so I'm really proud of myself!!

I still can't believe I actually did it...but I did.  : ) 

Before WW...

and me now...

Derek Hough

Last night the girls and I went to see Derek Hough Live! It was my Christmas present from Danny...and it was AMAZING!!! 

Unite

Julia's small group...

Tango

Gianna and Julia's jazz...

Cancun 2019

We had another great April vacation in Cancun, Mexico!  We just love our resort, The Royal Sands.  It feels so much like home to us now.  Nice big comfy suite (two bedrooms, two bathrooms, big living area and full size kitchen), delicious food, tons of fun activities and fabulous service all around.

Here is our week in review.  We arrived on Saturday and of course headed right to the pool.  It was super windy but we still enjoyed the day.  That night we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Limoncello...

Sunday was just more time spent hanging by the pool and the beach all day long...

Then we had a late dinner in the sports bar...the boys watched hockey...

Monday it rained off and on during the afternoon which is always a bummer...but it did clear up late in the day...

We had a really fun dinner at Pancho and Willy's that night...

They had a delicious Mexican buffet with a really fun dinner show...

The girls got up to dance...

and silly balloon hats for all...

Tuesday was a perfect weather day so of course we spent the entire day by the pool and down at the beach...

The kids played volleyball most days...Nicholas also played beach volleyball...

We ended the day with dinner at my favorite restaurant...

Wednesday I apparently didn't take any pictures.  We did have a nice dinner with another family that was also vacationing in Cancun so that was fun.

So moving on to Thursday...which was another picture perfect weather day...

My attempt at a selfie and of course my girls made fun of me...

We had a fun dinner at a little hole in the wall called Surfin Burrito.  It was featured on a TV show called "Diner's, Drive-In's and Dives" so we had to check it out...

That's it...that's the whole restaurant...three tables outside and you order at the little counter.  Yummy food...and we brought two fine young gentlemen with us, brothers Chris and Brian.  Nicholas met them last year and they became great friends.  They really took Nicholas under their wing which was so awesome for him.  He loved hanging with them every day and they played pool most nights...

Their parents couldn't be any nicer too.  We loved hanging with them by the pool as well. 

The bus rides are always a unique experience to say the least..."hang on" is all I can say...

Friday...sadly our last full day...the weather was great up until about 3:00 and then it poured for a bit and then cleared up again...we had our last dinner at Captain's Cove. 

The girls and I did Zumba class Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.  It was a blast!!

More pool volleyball...

Bingo was at 2:00 every day and then dancing right after...so much fun...

The girls had a blast with the dancing of course and kept up with the entertainment guys...they called them "the sisters"...

Ricky...

and Pepe...

The girls had a ball showing off their dancing skills with these guys. The woman on the far left, Vilma, was kind enough to let us use her time share for the week.

The waiters were all top notch too...just super nice people...

Julia trying to ruin my view...

Saturday (our departure day) of course had to be the best weather...zero humidity...not a cloud in the sky...just picture perfect...

Logan Airport personally welcoming me back home...

We hope to go back again next year!  It's our happy place for sure.