Michigan

This past weekend we made a road trip to Michigan. Maddi had a dance competition there. We are going to the "Showstopper" brand of dance competition for nationals, so we have to attend a Showstopper regional. Showstopper regional in our area is in May and 6 of our dancers have graduation that weekend so we can't attend the local regionals. This is why we went to Michigan. We have never been to Michigan before, so it was a fun little trip for us. We went to Battle Creek, home of Kelloggs cereal. It's a 3 1/2 hour drive from our house, so not too far. Everyone did great in the car and we had a fun weekend. We got the kids out of school early so we could avoid traffic and we arrived early enough for a swim before bed. Emalyn was so excited to go swimming!

Maddi and Cade were both so helpful with Emma. I didn't think to bring her floaties or her puddle jumper so she had to be held the whole time. Emma is a lucky girl and we are lucky parents to have Maddi and Cade who are so sweet to little miss. I think Maddi and Cade were competing to see who Emma would go to.

I think Emma chose to go to her sissy!

Cade's eyes are closed, but I love how they are looking so sweet together.

People always say that Emma looks just like Maddi. I'm not so sure, it's hard for me to tell. Maddi looks like Maddi and Emma looks like Emma.

Cade really is good with Emma but sometimes he forgets to make sure that her head is far enough above the water!

Some of the girls at our hotel hanging out in the hot tub.

Emma and Cade in the hot tub! Apparently the pool was pretty cold and Emma preferred the hot tub, which was warm, not hot.

Fun times!

Ready, set,...

...JUMP! Yes, Maddi is holding her nose to jump in! Sadly, I used to do the same thing. It embarrasses Brett and probably Cade too (they are good swimmers and don't understand the water up your nose thing).

More time with Bubba in the hot tub. Poor Cade was the only boy at our hotel. He had a little friend staying at another hotel and he got swim with him one afternoon, but for the most part he was surrounded by girls! At least he had his little sister to keep him company.

Other than the fun times at the hotel pool, the girls spent most of their time at the dance competition dancing and cheering on the other dancers from their team.

I know, kind of a weird picture of some of the teen girls and Maddi before their lyrical dance. Maddi is looking so grown up and mature these days. She is such a pretty girl on the inside and out! This dance tied for first place with another dance from their company.

Some of the little girls waiting for awards. The little girls did well and got 9th and 7th place overall for their small groups. Their large group got 2nd place overall. One of their dancers broke her foot and they had to change their dances last week. Thankfully the changes went well and they still looked together.

Maddi with her friend, Olivia, before Olivia's solo.

Maddi and her adopted sister, Hannah. These girls really love each other.


Saturday night several families went to dinner at Don Pablo's (we were so happy to see they had a Don Pablo's there) and then we went back to the hotel for more pool time. The girls made up a dance in the pool and this was their starting position.

Emalyn has started to want to watch the dance dvd from Nationals in the car all the time. She dances at home and puts on tutus. She even bought a new tutu (made us buy her a tutu) at the competition and wore it with her clothes each day. It scares me that she is going to want to start this dance thing very soon. I love that Maddi enjoys it so much, but I can't afford to have Emalyn dancing at the same time! lol
Cade enjoyed his time hanging out with some of the other brothers playing video games and whatever while we were at the competitions. It was a fun weekend, but we were all worn out by the end.