nationals...day 2

We went to bed a little after 2:00am, and my alarm went off at 7:00.

I felt terrible waking Mary up to get her ready for her practice.  She was a great sport though, and she was pretty excited to see the Convention Center and the set up where she would be competing. 

We got some breakfast, she got her practice leotard on (which is so cute, I didn't get a picture, but I will soon), and we got her hair up.  They have to have their hair up off their neck when they compete, and apparently, at the warm up session as well, for Nationals.

I wasn't able to go in to the building for the practice, so Mary's coach stopped by our room (they were in the same hotel, just a few rooms down), grabbed Mary, and they were on their way.

It was pretty crazy for me to watch Mary walk down the hall with her coach.  I am used to being the one to take Mary around for her meets, and to give her the little pep talks and extra hugs when she is nervous.  I felt pretty helpless, but I also realized how important it is that I have a great relationship with her coach, which thankfully, I do.  I had to completely entrust her with Mary, during her most nervous and emotional times, as far as competing goes.  That is a big deal for a parent to trust someone with.  It was really hard for me, but Mary seemed to do great, and was comfortable. 

While Mary was gone, I found a work out room, and tried to get in a decent work-out on some seriously ghetto equipment.

When Mary came back, her eyes were huge, and she was grinning.  She just kept saying how cool the place was, and how neat it felt, and how BIG everything looked and felt.  She was so excited.  It was really cute.

We got changed, and then headed out with her coaches and the other athletes competing, to do some sight seeing.

We spent almost all day touring downtown Dallas.  It was so flipping hot we were all just pouring sweat the whole time, but it was so awesome there, that it was worth it.

I totally fell in love with Dallas.  It is such a cool, clean, pretty, big city.  Everything was just so big...seriously!  Not only big, but just so cool.  Every building had it's own unique architecture and there were trees and rivers and just amazing things everywhere you looked.

We started walking toward a Hard Rock Café, and we were all starving, so Mary and I got all excited to eat there.  Instead, we turned right, and our group walked right in to Hooters!!!   Mary and just stared at eachother, and then at the restaurant, and then at eachother again.  I didn't know what to do!!!

I still don't know if I made the right choice, but I told Mary to just talk to her friends, eat food, and watch the TV's.  I told her NOT to look too long at the servers, or at what they were (or were not) wearing.  I also gave her a quick 2 minute talk about modesty and respecting her body and others.

So, there we were, eating lunch at Hooters, in downtown Dallas, Texas. 

I admit, the food was really, really good, and we were with great people.  There was also diving on TV, which is kind of like a sister sport to power tumbling, so we were all completely into it.  It really was fine, aside from what our server was wearing, but she only came by when she had to, and it was all good.

Good grief.

After our interesting, but tasty lunch, and drinking about a gallon of water, we headed back out to the oven.

We did a tour of the "6th Floor Building."  It is the building where the shooter was when he shot and killed JFK.  The tour was totally fascinating!  They had pictures, audio recordings, and lots of neat details about JFK, his presidency, and his assassination.

The tour was in that red building.  The shooter shot from the top right window.

The view from the window.  JFK's car was right where that taxi is, when he was shot.

Mary was completely fascinated with the whole thing, and she learned a lot.

After the tour, we walked all over downtown, and seriously sweated to death.  Luckily, we found a little water feature, and the kids went nuts over it.



The kids lying down on the water pipes, waiting to get soaked.

We searched all over for an ice cream shop, and when we finally found one, it was closed.  Mary was pretty sad. Can you blame her...look at all of those treats!!!

Everything is big in Texas

 We finally did find an ice cream shop that was similar to Cold Stone, and it was heavenly!!!

After ice cream, it was back to the hotel for swimming and pizza.

We called it a night around 9:30 after Mary's coach insisted that Mary get straight to bed.  We read scriptures, said our prayers, and watched Disney Teen shows and ate Oreos and Milanos in our big comfy bed until we fell asleep.

It was a great day in Texas!