We're back so why am I not in bed fast asleep??

I'm still coming down off the adrenaline-centrifical-if-I-stop-I-may-never-get-back-up path residual from this weekend's events.

Well not so bad this time, but I'm pretty convinced that the way these things are judged, if my kid walked on water, the judges would complain she can't swim.

We had a really good time as far as these things go...

We arrived at a pretty decent time Friday, even though it took longer to get on the road than originally planned - especially after picking up a prescription for my husband, dropping off the dog for boarding, getting gas, breakfast, etc.

We finally got launched around 11:30am for about a three and a half hour drive. Hubby was at the wheel and Firstborn and Gizmo were in pretty complimentary moods, so our start wasn't too stressful. It's funny how just getting on the road to someplace, anyplace, and stopping by the convenience store for a treat is super exciting for the kids (kinda like hotel pools at night, I dunno, but you can't beat it hardly in the list of things kids really want to do...) Fortunately, our drive in was pretty uneventful otherwise.

Well, when we reached the hotel, they said we had to go to a special station before we could check in, since we were with the pageant... (??) And a lady trying very hard to be pleasant handed us a very nasty waiver and a baggy explaining that if there was the suh-lightest damage to the room we would be charged insane amounts of money for the problems ($40 a sheet $100 for other offenses.) Now, I can respect if they had trouble last year...but why would the director go back if the pageant caused that much damage. I hate being guilty by association, but I've never met anyone at a pageant that wrecked a room worse than rock stars, but apparantly this is what occurred before, and we were going to be treated like the criminals we must be LOL. The hotel staff was extremely rude to us - even when I asked directions to a local Chick-fil-A the maintenance lady acted like I had asked her to take poison (did I mention we were in a heavy TOURIST town?) The girl at the front desk couldn't find my overnight package even though she looked straight at it like, five times in a row. These folks had been warned that the "pageant people" were here... it was like walking into a crowded bar and you're the worst gunslinger in the west. I don't know what was worse, the treatment by the hotel staff, or the fact that they had reason to believe we should be treated that badly. I don't know all the facts directly except what I experienced first hand, so I reckon I have to give them the benefit of the doubt.

So once we got checked in and our stuff to the room, I had to get Gizmo to her modeling lesson - it went well and halfway through my husband came running in with the christmas wear, which had been fed ex'd the night before and the hotel staff couldn't find it so he went and raised a ruckus to get it... didn't do any good because our coach decided we should go with the backup plan because she didn't care for what we had custom made. SIGH.

Next up, DINNER!! Well,not quite. We had to find a local Springmaid outlet and buy some cheap sheets just in case ANY tanner might get on the hotel sheets. (which really wasn't an issue, I just wish the director had told all of us before the pageant so we'd know to bring our own... and normally we don't have too much of a problem with tanner, but not we had the penalties to worry about, and frankly this hotel seemed to be looking for ANY excuse to charge us!!) After we picked up new sheets, pillowcases and couple of extra towels ($20 not bad...) we all went to Fridays on the main drag, and it was okay, except they didn't tell me before hand that all the liquor drinks advertised had to be made with wine, so when my drink came out a completely different color than the ad the waiter sort of mumbled something about "maybe we should have told you" and that the bar staff did "what they could"... I just sent it back and ordered a beer. I wasn't mad or anything, it was just kind of a dumb move on his part.

Back to the room, take Gizmo to tanning. The lady who did her tan was super sweet and Gizmo did wonderful. I don't know how she made any money on it, she didn't charge us much and gave Giz a small stocking loaded with toys and candy. Golden in my book if you ask me :o)

Next up, registration. Throw gobs of money at curt director (I'm guessing she was pretty tired since it was around 9pm and registration started at 2pm) in hopes that your kid will beat the odds. And NO, no sympathy expected here. I'm too old to use the "I didn't know excuse." We entered pretty much everything except the door overalls, which was just more than I could bring myself to spend after the initial fees. Registration ran pretty smoothly for a national, I will admit though.

I ended up staying up late, because after a wardrobe check with the coach I ended up having to whip stitch the skirt into the dress, and everything else had to be ironed, laid out with necessary accessories and supplies in preparation for the next day. So I didn't get to bed until about 1 a.m. Everyone else was out by 11, 12, and 12:30 respectively.

7:30 a.m.

Upsy Daisy!! Shower. Get dressed. Wake up Hubby and Firstborn. Get them rolling and into the shower etc. Run down for a pre-breakfast pick up. Send Hubby to BK for egg biscuits and juice (Gizmo HAS to have protein in the morning or she crashes bad in the afternoon and it is NOT pretty - she turns into a GREMLIN...)

10:20 Take Gizmo to hair and makeup. H/M lady has bad news. Gizmo's fall is having trouble staying put. Now I rolled that thing a week earlier, it should have been MOLDED into place. Not the hairdo we wanted, but it was pretty still. Giz was perfect for h/m but I think H/M lady wanted to shoot me with a tranquilizer dart.

10:50 back to room for snacks and rest time

11:40 back to H/M lady to have hair done.

12:45 - still not done with hair, it was not going well. Run back to room to get dress and all accessories while H/M lady is struggling to create a winner.
(All things considered, I thought Giz looked pretty awesome (should have for what I PAID LOLOL but granted, you do not always get what you pay for))

1:15 Dressed and ready to go, we go to the ballroom.

...to be continued, and I promise not to make ya'll wait this time.