The Good Kind of Busy

We had quite a weekend!

Obnoxious Parental Bragging Alert

Saturday started out with my local writers meeting, which was in a new venue that worked out very well. We had a great meeting, and it was especially wonderful to see everyone since our February meeting got snowed out. We had, like, 71% attendance, which is amazing.

I didn't get to talk to everyone, though, as I had to leave as soon as the meeting was over. Number Two was in a Math Meet! She missed it last year because when it was announced she'd committed to a soccer tournament already. But this year they were ready. To enter, anyway. LOL The program thanked all the parents who spent hours practicing with their kids. Number Two didn't practice, and she says none of her team did. Whoops!

They ended up going first of the 8 rounds (16 teams to start). She hated that! It was so nerve-wracking for her, and therefore for us. But WOW. They had white boards, but were doing all the problems in their heads, and buzzing in and answering immediately. The setup was 12 speed-round questions, where any of the 8 kids (4 per team) could buzz in and then had 3 seconds to answer. If they got it right, one point. Wrong, the other team had a try. After 12 questions, they did a Jeopardy!-type question, where they wagered up to their total points from the speed round, and answered the question as a team.

They won the first round 11-4! Then I had to go out to work the concession stand, and I kept running back and forth to check the bracket status, I was so afraid I was going to miss her next round! LOL They won the second round just as easily, 7-0. I was so proud of all of them. Two boys, two girls (only 5 of the 16 teams were co-ed, and most of those were only one girl), kids who work together in classes all the time and get along great, and who really supported each other. Best of all, they all answered questions. Most teams had one kid who answered, like, 10 or 11, and one who squeaked one in. I lliked how balanced hers was.

So then they went to the semi-finals, and of course it was going to be tougher. The questions were more complex, the competition stiffer. Two of our team members made a mistake and hit the buzzer too early (including Number Two once!) so that they didn't have all the info to answer accurately. And one of the boys kept getting flustered and giving the wrong format of answer (well, not "kept," it was only twice, and in two separate rounds). Anyway, bottom line, the end score of the speed round was 10-10. Of course, they both wagered 10, and both teams got the final question right, so they wagered again, and ended up tied 20-20. So they did a final speed round question, and Number Two buzzed in and got it! Woo hoo!

Unfortunately, they were outmatched in the final round, and lost by one point. That team had one kid who was just a whiz, and at least twice, they deliberately buzzed in early and lucked out with the question. The parents behind us really ticked off Number One. One father said the answers pretty loudly, though I guess they didn't carry to the stage. We heard remarks about our school, too. Slightly too much competition among the parents. The kids were all great, though, and we were extremely proud!

After that we went to dinner with the in-laws, and I had a great visit with my sister, whom I haven't seen in way too long. We brought them back here to play Band Hero, and Nana rocked the guitar, with Aunt Cindy bringing down the house with her singing! SO much fun.

That night was finished up with The Music Man, the high school production. Number One was on paint crew, and as a freshman was assigned a special task: because she did the wood panels on the train car so well, she was assigned all the wood on all the sets, for consistency. She did a REALLY good job. The show was top-notch, but the best part was leaning over to ask her, "what part of this set did you do?" :)

Yesterday was supposed to be more of a work day, but we shopped for new dishes, and had a lunch date, which was nice. Then we split up for Alice in Wonderland, as Number Two wanted 3D and Number One didn't. The movie was okay, though I dozed off about 3/4 of the way through. I did that at the musical, too. I think I should probably try to go to bed earlier this week. I need to recover from the weekend!