Dance Recital, soccer game changes and the last day of high school
Kind of a strange weekend... it's not every Friday that is your child's last day of school. It's not every dance recital that's not held in the normal recital spot but instead is half an hour away from the town where all the dancers live. It's not every weekend when a soccer game that's two hours away from your home that was originally scheduled for 10:00 am gets moved to 8:00 am and you need to get a hotel room at the last minute so you aren't getting up at 5:00 am on Sunday morning to drive to the game.
Friday (May 17) was Jacob's last day of high school! He only went for one period because he had one exam. He was home a little after 10:00 am. We called the college he'll be attending this fall and got some rooming information and then we went out to lunch to celebrate. We went to Cheesecake Factory but didn't end up getting any cheesecake. (Which is somewhat analogous to going to a movie theater and not ordering popcorn.) Oh well, we still celebrated. We did a little bit of shopping after we ate and then headed home.
Abby's dance recital was on Saturday. She actually performed in two recitals. All of the dancers performed all of their routines at two recitals on the same day. They had a recital at 2:00 pm and then another recital at 7:00 pm. Exact same dances, performed in the same order. The reason they performed twice is because they were performing in a smaller performing arts center and there wouldn't be enough seats for the spectators. What has never been clearly articulated to me is why they performed where they did, Alter High School, as opposed to the normal place where they perform, our town's high school, which is huge and has an auditorium that could accommodate enough people such that only one recital would have been necessary. Also, Alter HS is almost a half an hour drive from our house as opposed to our high school that's about a five minute drive from our house. If it isn't obvious, I was not a fan of the recital being at Alter. Besides the excess driving, Abby being gone from the house for nine and a half hours, Abby having to perform her six routines two times, I missed Alyssa's soccer game on Saturday because of it. If Abby had one evening recital like she normally does, it would have been no problem for me to go to Alyssa's 12:00 pm game. But, I had to get Abby to Alter during that time. Abby couldn't really get a ride with someone because she needed so much stuff brought to the recital venue. She asked me if I'd take her and I didn't want to tell her I couldn't/ wouldn't.
Alyssa's Sunday soccer game in Indianapolis was originally scheduled to be played at 10:00 am (maybe even 10:45- I forget exactly when but I know it wasn't super early). Then about three days before the game, we saw that it had been moved up to 8:45 am and the girls needed to be at the field by 8:00 am. Donnie decided to get a hotel room in Indy and drive up Saturday so that he and Alyssa wouldn't have to get up so early to go to the game.
The one thing nice about Abby's dance recital being at Alter HS was that Alter is close to a Trader Joe's. After I dropped Abby off at Alter for the first show, I went to Trader Joe's. Found all sorts of good things including these cute succulents that I bought to be used as part of a thank you gift to some of Abby's dance friends. One of her friends took Abby to dance every week for us this past dance season- she volunteered to do it. It was a huge blessing to us. Two other girls, sisters, from her studio picked Abby up and took her home to just about every musical practice. These girls, too, volunteered to do it. It helped us out tremendously.
I got this bouquet of flowers for Abby for after the show- the flowers at TJ's were cheaper and much prettier (in my opinion) than those at Kroger.
I went to the second showing of the dance recital
Musical theater-
Their musical theater song is called, "Wild Party" and for the most part, it's a fun, upbeat song. However, the lyrics at one point mention that someone was having a "wild, wild, party" and that the person singing the song was not invited- ergo, Abby's face below. The lyrics had just mentioned that the person singing hadn't been invited.
Hip hop- no smiles ever 😄
Contemporary trio with Hanna and Ally
Abby's character solo
I liked this one even though she isn't centered- it's in the middle of her back tuck. I thought most of the pictures that I took turned out ok despite the challenging lighting and of course no flash
As soon as Abby's last routine ended, I switched lenses and put on my smaller lens so that I could get more of the stage for the finale. However, I forgot that the girls were doing a tribute dance to Ally, who's a senior in high school. Abby and Hanna choreographed a song that all of the girls in the studio danced to, but for a portion of the song, it was just Abby and Hanna on stage. Abby and Hanna have danced with Ally the longest of any girls at the studio and the three girls performed in two trios this dance season. Anyway, I wish I'd had my larger lens on for these next few pictures.
At the end of the song, they had Ally come on stage and lots of hugs and tears ensued.
As soon as the tribute dance ended, the girls all got on their dance recital shirts for the finale
And, they incorporated a tribute to Ally in that, too.
After the show- Abby with Kelsei
Grandpa hands Abby some flowers
With Donetta
Abby and Isabella
….and McKayla
All three plus Ella
Abby and me
After the recital, we headed to our car in the parking lot. I was having a dickens of a time locating my keys (I have a spot in my purse that I put them in about 90% of the time. However, when my arms are full, I sometimes just place the keys somewhere in my purse and then a lot of digging around in my purse ensues when I need to get my keys) so that we could go. While we were standing near my car (me frantically searching for my keys), a couple approached Abby. They introduced themselves as the grandparents of one of the dancers at Abby's studio. They told her they've watched her over the years at recitals and have always been impressed with her dancing and stage presence. They told Abby that they hoped she pursued dance after high school because she's so talented. They chatted with her for a while and then we parted ways (I finally found my keys!!). Abby's smile was a little bit brighter in the car than it would have been had the couple not stopped to talk to us. I appreciated the couple taking the time to approach Abby and compliment her. Naturally, we tell Abby that she's done a good job after she's danced. In addition, she's received numerous accolades/ awards at dance competitions over the years which indicate that we are not alone in thinking that she's good. However, there's nothing quite like people who go out of their way to compliment her and tell her that they enjoy watching her dance to make her feel like she is a genuine entertainer. While she doesn't plan to pursue dance as a profession, she envisions a career as an entertainer.
One last unique part of the weekend- on Sunday morning, Jacob, Abby and I went to church (Alyssa and Donnie were in Indianapolis for Alyssa's soccer game). The service was very atypical. The pastor's talk centered around the recent completion of a fairly major expansion of the church. The service was a dedication to the new space. Before the service began, the kids and I toured the new space and helped ourselves to Bill's Donut donut holes. There were probably ten tables chock full of the donut holes. We each had had two or five or six of them. When we were in the car going home, Jacob remarked that the pastor didn't actually preach a sermon. It was definitely a different church service. It fit in with our weekend of unique experiences 😉.
Friday (May 17) was Jacob's last day of high school! He only went for one period because he had one exam. He was home a little after 10:00 am. We called the college he'll be attending this fall and got some rooming information and then we went out to lunch to celebrate. We went to Cheesecake Factory but didn't end up getting any cheesecake. (Which is somewhat analogous to going to a movie theater and not ordering popcorn.) Oh well, we still celebrated. We did a little bit of shopping after we ate and then headed home.
Abby's dance recital was on Saturday. She actually performed in two recitals. All of the dancers performed all of their routines at two recitals on the same day. They had a recital at 2:00 pm and then another recital at 7:00 pm. Exact same dances, performed in the same order. The reason they performed twice is because they were performing in a smaller performing arts center and there wouldn't be enough seats for the spectators. What has never been clearly articulated to me is why they performed where they did, Alter High School, as opposed to the normal place where they perform, our town's high school, which is huge and has an auditorium that could accommodate enough people such that only one recital would have been necessary. Also, Alter HS is almost a half an hour drive from our house as opposed to our high school that's about a five minute drive from our house. If it isn't obvious, I was not a fan of the recital being at Alter. Besides the excess driving, Abby being gone from the house for nine and a half hours, Abby having to perform her six routines two times, I missed Alyssa's soccer game on Saturday because of it. If Abby had one evening recital like she normally does, it would have been no problem for me to go to Alyssa's 12:00 pm game. But, I had to get Abby to Alter during that time. Abby couldn't really get a ride with someone because she needed so much stuff brought to the recital venue. She asked me if I'd take her and I didn't want to tell her I couldn't/ wouldn't.
Alyssa's Sunday soccer game in Indianapolis was originally scheduled to be played at 10:00 am (maybe even 10:45- I forget exactly when but I know it wasn't super early). Then about three days before the game, we saw that it had been moved up to 8:45 am and the girls needed to be at the field by 8:00 am. Donnie decided to get a hotel room in Indy and drive up Saturday so that he and Alyssa wouldn't have to get up so early to go to the game.
The one thing nice about Abby's dance recital being at Alter HS was that Alter is close to a Trader Joe's. After I dropped Abby off at Alter for the first show, I went to Trader Joe's. Found all sorts of good things including these cute succulents that I bought to be used as part of a thank you gift to some of Abby's dance friends. One of her friends took Abby to dance every week for us this past dance season- she volunteered to do it. It was a huge blessing to us. Two other girls, sisters, from her studio picked Abby up and took her home to just about every musical practice. These girls, too, volunteered to do it. It helped us out tremendously.
I got this bouquet of flowers for Abby for after the show- the flowers at TJ's were cheaper and much prettier (in my opinion) than those at Kroger.
I went to the second showing of the dance recital
Their musical theater song is called, "Wild Party" and for the most part, it's a fun, upbeat song. However, the lyrics at one point mention that someone was having a "wild, wild, party" and that the person singing the song was not invited- ergo, Abby's face below. The lyrics had just mentioned that the person singing hadn't been invited.
At the end of the song, they had Ally come on stage and lots of hugs and tears ensued.
And, they incorporated a tribute to Ally in that, too.
After the show- Abby with Kelsei
Grandpa hands Abby some flowers
With Donetta
Abby and Isabella
….and McKayla
All three plus Ella
Abby and Grandma
Abby and me
After the recital, we headed to our car in the parking lot. I was having a dickens of a time locating my keys (I have a spot in my purse that I put them in about 90% of the time. However, when my arms are full, I sometimes just place the keys somewhere in my purse and then a lot of digging around in my purse ensues when I need to get my keys) so that we could go. While we were standing near my car (me frantically searching for my keys), a couple approached Abby. They introduced themselves as the grandparents of one of the dancers at Abby's studio. They told her they've watched her over the years at recitals and have always been impressed with her dancing and stage presence. They told Abby that they hoped she pursued dance after high school because she's so talented. They chatted with her for a while and then we parted ways (I finally found my keys!!). Abby's smile was a little bit brighter in the car than it would have been had the couple not stopped to talk to us. I appreciated the couple taking the time to approach Abby and compliment her. Naturally, we tell Abby that she's done a good job after she's danced. In addition, she's received numerous accolades/ awards at dance competitions over the years which indicate that we are not alone in thinking that she's good. However, there's nothing quite like people who go out of their way to compliment her and tell her that they enjoy watching her dance to make her feel like she is a genuine entertainer. While she doesn't plan to pursue dance as a profession, she envisions a career as an entertainer.
One last unique part of the weekend- on Sunday morning, Jacob, Abby and I went to church (Alyssa and Donnie were in Indianapolis for Alyssa's soccer game). The service was very atypical. The pastor's talk centered around the recent completion of a fairly major expansion of the church. The service was a dedication to the new space. Before the service began, the kids and I toured the new space and helped ourselves to Bill's Donut donut holes. There were probably ten tables chock full of the donut holes. We each had had two or five or six of them. When we were in the car going home, Jacob remarked that the pastor didn't actually preach a sermon. It was definitely a different church service. It fit in with our weekend of unique experiences 😉.
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