This past weekend we traveled in Detroit, MI for Emma's first competition of the season. We left Friday evening to only see gas had jumped almost 20 cents but we got into our hotel fine. We had dinner and I took the kids to the indoor pool and whirlpool. They had a great time swimming with friends!
We got up early on Saturday and had breakfast with the dance studio. Emma did not have to be at the high school in Commerce, MI until 1:00pm, however we decided to leave the hotel at 11 am so we could eat lunch early and make sure Emma was warmed up and ready to dance.
Well about 10 minutes into the drive, we came upon traffic circles, no big deal, right??? No, Erik was driving and pulling onto the outside lane in the traffic circle. A lady came onto the traffic circle traveling in the inside lane and continued to come into our lane as to get off the exit. What?? She hit the rear driver door, where Emma was sitting. Luckily no one was hurt due to we were not going very fast. We pulled out of the circle into the library close by. The other driver was from MI and called the police. Long story short, no one got a ticket but we were at fault. Apparently in Commerce, MI, both lanes in the traffic circle can get off at each exit and we did not yield for all traffic before entering onto the traffic circle. I have never heard of this before since this would cause a ton of bottle-necking waiting to get on these circle. I guess we are used to the traffic circles in Dublin, OH and in South Carolina. Anyway it is about $3,000 in damage to my car which will be getting fixed next week with only paying my deductible and rental car. The other driver just had front bumper damage.
The very positive side is that we made it to the high school by Noon and had lunch in plenty of time. Thank goodness we were not late since the competition ran an hour early and one of the dancers in Emma's first dance missed the dance completely. This is why I told Erik I wanted to travel up on Friday night so we were in MI in case of bad weather or traffic.
Emma performed 3 dances with her groups (ballet, jazz and hip hop). All three received gold awards and each girl received a pin to place on their company jacket. They did not place in top 5. We did have some of the teen groups place in top 5 on Saturday and Sunday there were more dances that won as well.
Being this is only my second competition with Emma, I am disappointed because I know how hard these girls and boys practice these dances (since August) and I know they were frustrated. However I can see why they may not place. Our studio is more Christian based which means no stomachs showing or skimpy outfits or questionable music. Each year the studio has a theme for their recitals and this year is a circus theme. So we had some circus type music. They do have current music but our studio is very proud of their technical ability and this competition were a lot of hip-hop...not much ballet or even tap. The owners are tappers so they are known for tapping. So with that being said, you never know what the judges are looking for but I know our dancers did a wonderful job and I am so proud of Emma!
In March, we will be traveling to Louisville, KY for another competition and she will have 4 dances to perform. Hopefully my car will be fixed by then!
Here is a collage of my sweet Emma and some of her friends!
