This isn't REALLY Philly and Alicia's Last Dance Competition Trip Report About This Page:

[lauren-roxy]

Poor Alicia placed so well for not feeling well. Glad she was able to get a well-needed nap!

[tinker_me_happy]

Oh wait... just because I haven't finished writing the TR and since you have side tracked me EJ.... it is kind of funny because she has only hurt herself dancing twice!!! The rest of the times she has gotten hurt: walking, jumping off stairs, walking, playing basketball at school, walking, going through a doorway (caught toe on door jamb), walking, have you noticed a pattern here?!

[emtpej]

Originally Posted by tinker_me_happy

Oh wait... just because I haven't finished writing the TR and since you have side tracked me EJ.... it is kind of funny because she has only hurt herself dancing twice!!! The rest of the times she has gotten hurt: walking, jumping off stairs, walking, playing basketball at school, walking, going through a doorway (caught toe on door jamb), walking, have you noticed a pattern here?!

If you were talking about me, I would say that I should stop trying to chew gum at the same time as I was walking! Hee hee! But I am still working on getting coordinated. Maybe someday I'll succeed at that... That's why I love Goofy so much...

[chezp]

Originally Posted by emtpej

She sounds like most serious dancers I have met...

I agree with you.

[tinker_me_happy]

ok back to business cuz I got a long work stretch ahead of me...
The tears had finally stopped flowing. I think the nap (and all that cold medicine!) had done wonders! She had 5 group dances to go. The studio she dances with is small but very close knit group of girls, so at her level, all but two of her dances fell into the “small group” category. They would be finishing up Junior, Teen and Seniors on Friday night and continuing with the Minis on Sunday morning. Saturday was a free day. Actually the competition company was hosting a trip into NYC to see a show on Broadway but due to the huge cost of competition and all of the college supplies I had to buy and college bill due August 1st I opted not to add that to the bill. And I’m GLAD we didn’t go!! It POURED in NYC! And that would have only made her worse! But I’m getting ahead of myself!

Normally they like to run things in order, but we asked the back stage manager if they could do their pointe dance first. He said “any thing to keep Alicia from hurling on my stage would be fine by me!” She felt if she could get through that she would be fine! She was slightly wobbly in her end pose (she is the only one up on pointe then too!), but other wise it went off with out a hitch. The ballet dance was next and it was the BEST I have EVER seen them do it! They usually score pretty well with ballet, and it looked like they might do well with this one again!

They danced to an instrumental "My Heart Will Go On" from the movie "Titanic"

Their modern dance is one none of the girls like though I thought it looked the best I’ve ever seen them do that one too. Their emotion was wonderful…of course that could have been just because the emotion they are supposed to show during that dance was what was coming to them naturally at that point in the evening!

This was taken in the practice studio

They also had a tap routine and a jazz routine. Their tap was done to the Beatles “In My Life” and every tap sound was strong and crisp! You could tell the girls were giving it their all to give Alicia her “last Hurrah!” on stage that night.


It was very late in the evening at this point in time. At 10 pm the girls were exhausted. Some had been up since 6 am and none had slept well the night before. They only had one more dance to get through. They were dancing their Jazz style to “Footloose”. A bit cliché in the dance world, but sometimes they just want to have fun! Their costumes were so colorful one of the girls made a comment that they looked like a pack of skittles. So just before they went on stage all of the moms and dance teachers yelled really loud “GO SKITTLES!” After the dance a mom from another studio stopped us to say what a great job the girls had done. She commented, “I heard you yell go skittles, and didn’t get it for the song footloose until I saw their costumes! That was very cute!”
We couldn’t get the girls out of there and back to the hotel fast enough. Awards wouldn’t be held until after the Minis on Sunday morning, but all we cared about was sleep!

[RobDVC]

Way to go SKITTLES!

[lauren-roxy]

What a busy day of dancing!!

[tinker_me_happy]

The next morning Haley and Pauline left very early for the NYC trip while Lynn Maggie Alicia and I slept in! AHHHHH! Well I slept in until about 8:30, then I couldn’t stay in bed any longer. After a quick shower so I wouldn’t wake up sleeping beauty, I met up with Lynn and Maggie and we headed off to the breakfast buffet! It was lovely again, but sadly no strawberries for the waffles. When we had had our fill, I made up a dish of things I was hoping the sick one would eat. I wasn’t sure what if anything would appeal to her as all she ate the day before besides the bite of banana was a peanut butter sandwich and a bunch of water. Well let me tell you that girl packed away some food when we got back to the room! She ate a bagel with cream cheese and jam, a bowl of cereal, a yogurt and some fruit, plus some of the snack items that were in the room. Yup, I guess she feels a little better!

Her voice was still a bit hoarse, but the fever was gone. The greasy gopher guts weren’t as bad, and the cough was under control with the help of her inhaler. “Take the da-quil anyway!” I insisted!
Chelsea was alone for the day (she was staying with the dance teachers as her mom couldn’t come, and they went to NYC.) so she came and hung out with us. We decided to head into Philly but didn’t want to over do it. I am usually pretty adventurous, but was pretty exhausted between the lack of sleep, long day at competition, and general worry about Alicia’s health (she doesn’t get sick often, but when she does, she gets it BAD!). So we opted for the Philadelphia Zoo and then we’d decide from there how everyone felt. We packed up some waters, snacks, inhaler, da-quil, sunscreen, cameras and hit the road!

The trip into the city from the hotel was pretty easy. Hop onto highway entrance as you exit hotel driveway, exit highway, zoo on left. EASY. Okay now find a place to park. NOT SO EASY! We did drive around a bit before finally finding a parking lot with an opening, but we snuck in with one car behind us to spare before they put up the lot full sign! Parking was $12 (pay on your way out ladies), which Lynn offered to pay since I drove (I won’t complain). We were in the Zebra Lot, about a block around the corner from the entrance.


When we got to the front Chelsea was dismayed at the cost to get in, so Lynn and I offered to split the cost of her admission and let her pay for parking. The girls checked out the gift shop so Chels could get some sun glasses, we slathered on the lotion and headed in. It was well after noon at this point, but after the big breakfast no one was even thinking about food.

Alicia and Chelsea
First on the stop was a monkey cage. I wasn’t sure how an eighteen, seventeen and sixteen year old were going to fare when our first stop we seemed to be crowded out by strollers and whiney toddlers, but they seemed pretty excited about the different species of monkeys.

Lynn and Maggie
Next was an indoor exhibit on endangered small animals. Since it was again 90+ degrees and 1000000% humidity I welcomed the cool air inside. I really don’t mind the heat, but I was worried about Alicia’s cough and asthma. About half way through the building Chelsea notices a face painting sign. “I want to get my face painted” she squeals like a six year old girl and runs off to the booth to pay. She is quickly followed by Alicia and Maggie. Why not, shrug Lynn and I! It’s cool in here! Little did we know there was a line with a 40 minute plus wait!! The girls bought their tickets and jumped into line. It looked short enough, but when you are in line with 3-6 year olds, and their siblings are running back and forth it’s hard to keep track of how many children are actually ahead of you!

Before getting their faces painted

But we did monkey around a bit while waiting!
About 45 minutes into our wait, the face painter was working on the first of two sisters that were directly in front of us. There was a little three year old boy behind us with his dad who was being extremely patient and very well behaved. He got into line just after the girls did! I could see his mom pushing a stroller back and forth trying to calm down his cranky over heated over tired baby sister. It was when the face painter started the girls in front of us that I heard the mom whisper to the dad, “we’ll just have to see if we can get our money back and come another time”. The dad bent down to the little boy and told him quietly they would have to leave but they would come back another time. He was so good! He didn’t have a tantrum or yell or fuss, all he did was say, “but dad, I’ve waited very patiently just like you told me to.” It broke my heart! So I whispered to the girls and asked if they minded if he went ahead of them – of course they didn’t mind! I turned around and talked to the dad for a minute and then bent down and asked the little boy if he had seen any animals today. He became very shy and shook his head yes. Then I asked him if he would like to go ahead of the big girls so he could get his face painted and get his little sister home. He was so happy! It was so worth the wait just to see the joy on that little boys face knowing he could stay and get his face done!

Chelsea getting started

Alicia midway
And then there are MY animals. Chelsea decided to take note of the parking she was paying for and become a zebra. Alicia went for the leopard look and dear sweet Maggie was a Koala. Those were some sweet looking animals!

It's hard to see in this picture, but the painter put a lot of detail in and even gave the girls a lot of glitter!

They are definately LOVIN it and Hamming it up!

Coming up...More Zoo time, and Oh yeah, is any body hungry?

[lauren-roxy]

What a great way to relax after the previous day!! Glad that Alicia is feeling better!! Their face painting is really cool!!!

[Colexis Mom]

Glad everyone is having a great time at the zoo! Love the face painting

[chezp]

Wow, that was a lot of dancing in one day! What a great way to unwind with a visit to the zoo - and the face painting looks great.

[CRCrazy]

Glad that Alicia survived the competition with the little bit she ate staying where it belonged! Can't wait to hear the results for the group dances.

BTW - Alicia looks totally fierce in her face paint - she looks completely recovered!

[RobDVC]

We're members of the Philadelphia Zoo and go frequently for a few hours in the early morning. Glad to see everyone's having a great time at America's First Zoo.

[tinker_me_happy]

It's a nice zoo! We didn't make it into the Primate exhibit, but you'll have to wait for my next update to find out why! I always like to see when they do out reach programs. The building with the little endangered animals near the front was great! They had a lot of info on the different projects the zoo supports. (And we had lots of time to check it out!) Makes it worth the price of admission!!

[tinker_me_happy]

When we left the nice cool air-conditioned building we braved the elements and of course took some time for more photo ops!



As we headed further into the zoo, the girls got a few looks, but for the most part no one seemed to pay much attention to three teenaged girls fully face painted. When we came to the reptile house Chelsea and Alicia wanted to go in. Since I am not a big fan of snakes (ok… actually I can’t stand snakes!) and even though I like lizards, the smell of the reptile house kept me Lynn and Maggie waiting outside. While we waited we saw some hippos, and this guy (who became camera shy just as I got into position and snapped!)


The tortoises were outside the reptile house and no one was looking on, so I was watching this older gentleman all by myself and what do you suppose he did?



Yup… challenges me to a stare down contest!!


We stare at each other like this for a good SOLID three minutes uninterrupted, then a bunch of carriages and little toddler arrive so I know it is time to move on. I would like to say I won since he did flinch first, but I think had the little ones not come in screaming, and the audacity of what happened next he would have held out. The Adults were saying “look honey big turtles” - GIANT CRINGE on my part, I can only imagine how Mr. Tortoise felt! Yes, I know, from a zoological point it doesn’t really matter, but if not, then why call them tortoise in the first place?
The girls finally came out of the reptile house and as we strolled a little further we passed a food stand. It was now about 2pm and we realized we were hungry. We were lucky enough to find a table so the girls saved some seats while we grabbed some food. It was not bad for zoo food. Pretty fresh, and decently priced! Alicia didn’t eat much , we shared a wrap and split a salad three ways between her Chelsea and myself. Chelsea had something else to eat as well but I don’t remember what. Lynn and Maggie had meal deals. I pretty much just wanted water, but ate a little. We did have some visitors during lunch which FREAKED Lynn out! The people next to us kept feeding the birds and ducks and this lovely fellow kept yelling at us!


Though he was in a pen with prairie dogs (?) I think.

The heat was still pretty daunting as we moved along. The girls faces were starting to melt a little, but true dancers that they are, they dabbed gently and preserved the best they could! The next part of the zoo was nicely shaded and cooler, but now uphill. There were some animals here, but I don’t remember what they were and I didn’t take any pictures. Next were some wild dogs of some sorts that were pretty cute. Then my leopards arch enemies…The Cheetahs! At this point I could see Alicia was getting a bit tired. Maybe it was the trek up the hill, but I guessed it was the day catching up with her. And the dark clouds were starting to roll in! We made our way down the other side of the hill and glanced at the back side of the polar bears. Not giving a showing from there, but we did make a pit stop. Then I felt it… plop………….plop.
The flamingos were quite beautiful and sharing an area with some ….. plop..plop..plop… ducks…plop..plop plop plop plop ! OK TAKE COVER! Luckily we were able to take cover under a tree while a quick moving storm dropped buckets of rain down. We only got minimally wet and we were able to watch a flamingo settle an egg on a mud nest just as the rainstorm was starting.

When the rain stopped we decided to move towards the front. It did look like it might start again any time. I wanted to see the giraffes, but sadly they weren’t out. We did see the back end of the zebras, but they were not being very friendly. Maybe because of the weather. When we had circled around, the girls wanted to see the giant cats. I looked at Alicia who was looking really pooped out, but she really wanted to do it. I could see the primate area and wanted to do that to, but we did the cats. In the back of my mind I was thinking if she felt up to it maybe we’d do the primate area too, but I knew we were just about done. The giant cats were incredible! While in the exhibit Alicia tried to cough and it was so weak, she could barely get anything out. I knew it was time to go! We were heading out when the girls asked if we could stop for ice cream. I don’t care if they are teenagers, they are typical KIDS! OK! We stopped for ice cream on the way out!



And a good thing too, as the sky opened up and we had another down pour while we were sitting under the awning enjoying a rest. When the rain stopped we headed back to the car. As usual, I did not print out reverse directions! And THANKFULLY I grew up driving into Boston a lot as a teenager and young adult because Philly is a lot like Boston! Well needless to say, the onramp to the highway was a left out of the parking lot and you could only turn right!! We did manage to get back to the hotel, AND see a few sights along the way….AH Serendipity! Well I got to see lots of roads and traffic and the girls got to see some of Philly! The way Alicia was feeling, we were done for the day! Back at the hotel, we had take out for supper, washed off the face paint and planted ourselves for a relaxing evening in front of the television. Great Plans for rest and relaxation! But how did they turn out? And what about the rest of the crew?