Near Vegas

Yes, I'm back to blogging! In fact, there's another post just below this one that is all pageant related. This one is about some of the scenery around Vegas. We arrived really late Saturday night (for us -- in Vegas it was only around 10 p.m.) I didn't have my camera out to take a photo of the strip in the dark, but it was really cool (except that it was NOT cool, being in the 90s when we arrived...)

Anyway, we got up on Sunday and I had my one day of touring. Here is the photographic evidence of the fact that I actually DID leave the hotel to see some of the sights!!

I have to start with this one. This is Lizzie and Rob and some crazy guy getting his picture taken at Lake Meade. If that guy had swayed even a little back he'd have fallen and it was a sheer drop to the rocks below. Luckily I did not have to perform any sort of rescue because it was kind of hot and I didn't want to have to go running down to the water:

This is a train tunnel cut into the side of the mountain overlooking Lake Meade.

 Hoover Dam bridge. I assure you this picture doesn't do it justice. You kind of drive around a curve and there it is way above you. You can walk across it if you're brave. I am not that kind of brave:

 Hoover Dam. It's a lot cooler (although not temperature wise) than I thought it would be:

 Tourists at Hoover Dam:

We spent a few minutes in Arizona while driving around the dam:

 I think this was in Red Rock Canyon. And I think it's some sort of southwestern tree/bush. I know it's Lizzie:

The next few photos are the scenic views at Red Rock Canyon. If you click on the picture you'll get a larger view. It's a really pretty place, although not the kind of pretty I'd want to look at every day -- I like a lot more green:

 It was always windy in Nevada. In this picture the girls are wearing these water things that really did keep you cool until the water evaporated out of them. Which unfortunately was about 15 minutes.

 Back to the pretty pictures:

Hannah relaxing in the hotel room between competitions:

 More relaxation. Rob went to look at some cars so the girls decided to make up some magic. David Copperfield has nothing to worry about:

 It was pretty funny though:

 This is the view from our hotel window including some rare Vegas clouds:

Here we are leaving Arizona and getting back into Nevada. Hannah was SO DONE with the touring by this time! Okay, the rest of the summer will be coming in subsequent blogs. Don't forget to check below:

Back to Blogging - VEGAS!

Well hello there! I have been reminded by my loyal readers (two of you!!) that I've been a total slacker in my blogging, so I'm going to try and do better. Unfortunately, facebook has been my place to put pictures and stories lately, but this is supposed to be the "permanent" record. So, first let's start with where we left off -- and that would be VEGAS!
Expect lots of photos, but the short story is that we went, had a good time and Hannah came home with no crowns, but lots of great memories. This is the pageant part of Vegas ... next post will be the other stuff:

This is Micah (a PA-state emcee) playing Little Sally Walker with the PA delegation just prior to the Prince Gilbert Party. Cindy girls are OBSESSED with the game, but as you can see, Hannah is horrified at Micah's dance:

 This is Leigh, the PA Cinderella Woman playing with Payton, a Cindy tot at the Prince Gilbert party. One of the best things about the program is that the big girls are always happy to play with and entertain the little girls:

This is the PA Royalty at the Prince Gilbert Party. Top row is Leigh, Daniela (teen), Hannah and front row is Madison (mini-miss) and Adriana (tot.) Oh, and in case you were wondering Prince Gilbert is a frog who, after being kissed by a Cindy girl turns into ... a bigger frog. 

 The king of the castle and his two girls. I think this was before the farewell banquet.

 More Prince Gilbert fun. Hannah took about a million selfies with the other girls. This is Payton (but a different Payton from the one who is chasing Leigh, above.

This is Hannah with Francesca, the 2014 International Miss at Orientation. As you can see in most of these pictures, each delegation wears matching outfits for the different parties. It's a lot cuter than it sounds:

This is Hannah with Charli, the international teen:

 We partied with the delegations from North Carolina and Florida just prior to the disco party. Hannah made a TON of friends so I had to give her her own facebook page to keep up with them:

 Hannah and Daniela at the farewell banquet with Sabrina, another PA emcee (and former Cinderella Woman from Arizona):

Hannah and Alivia at the farewell banquet. Alivia was 2nd runner up for PA state overall title, but won in the beauty category. She also won an international photogenic award:

These are the three PA Misses (Anastasia is the third - she won talent at states this year and got a special award at internationals for her contortionist act, too) In this picture they are getting reading for casual wear modeling:

THis is Hannah at the Cindy Fair luncheon (did I mention there are a LOT of parties?) where she won these cool shades:

 Hannah and a bunch of Miss contestants prior to their beauty wear modeling. I have no idea who they are, but I bet Hannah does!

Hannah and the state tot, Adriana. Adriana didn't win anything at Internationals either, but her baby sister Annalisa is the International Infant!

This is Hannah just prior to talent. She's posing with Taya, a Mini Miss contestant from Utah who we met at the Welcome banquet:

 Hannah and the PA girls ready for talent, posing with one of the Keeno girls:

 Hannah with the outgoing International Tot, Macie, at the Welcome Banquet:

 Hannah with Leigh and Leigh's sister Cassidy. Cassie is the PA 1st runner up mini miss and talent winner and also the PA State Miss America Coed. We love the Quinn girls and are really happy that they don't live that far from us!

In case you didn't believe me about Sally Walker, here are a group of strangers playing it before casual wear ... :) THat's it for now. I'll most more about the non-pageant aspect of the vacation later:

Dancing and Singing in Pictures

Here are some pictures from the pageant and the dance demo. If they look familiar some have been on facebook, but I like to give my loyal blog reader(s) a little something extra!

This is right after the dance demo when Lizzie got her flowers for a job well done -- and she did really well, so they were deserved. Hannah wanted to wear her crown and sash to the demo, but we compromised on the blingy shirt. I had no control over Bob's hat:

 Lizzie's modern dance outfit. She did not care for modern dance at all, but will probably take it again next year. She's kind of an old-fashioned girl.

 This was the dance from one of her three ballet classes. It had a tango theme and was really cool. She liked this dance a lot!

This is a little in reverse, but I took this picture just before she left for the demo. Her hair is pretty much down to her waist these days (depending on humidity which curls it up!) so I am always very proud of myself when I get it all into a bun!

And now onto pageant photos, which are in NO particular order because it was taking too long to move them around. In this picture Hannah is receiving her crown case. Truth be told Lizzie was holding it for Hannah and dropped it and it cracked, so now I'm on the lookout for a new crown case, although the superglue repaired it nicely and you can't really even see the crack. Hannah was so tired when it happened (and it was so clearly an accident) that she didn't even complain:

 Newly crowned new royalty on stage with the previous year's royalty.

 It was the year of the Latina at Cinderella. Hannah's here with the teen winner (who is Mexican) and then the tot winner (who is not Latina but absolutely adorable!)

 Hannah and Daniela again, this time posing with the Mini Miss winner Madison. Madison can DANCE ... she was amazing. I heard Daniela was, too (she's a ballerina and trained with the ABT) but I was almost always dealing with Hannah when the teens were performing:

 One of my favorite pageant photos (and I took it in almost no light!) of Hannah's first official wave.

Lizzie thought for about 30 seconds that she might like to do the pageant next year (since Hannah won't be competing) and she certainly could -- but then I reminded her that she'd have to talk to people (her least favorite thing) AND wear dresses (her second least favorite thing) so that dream died pretty early:

The top three girls in the Miss category giving each other a hug for luck before the grand finals. One of my favorite things about this pageant is that sportsmanship is really stressed and the girls really do root for each other!

Susan was 1st runner up in the Woman category and she and Hannah got to be good friends throughout the weekend. Here they are at the disco dance:

 The girls all introduce themselves during casual wear. This is Hannah on the big screen:

They had fireworks during the disco party (it was the resort not the Cinderella people, but we did have a great viewing place outside the party!) Rob and Lizzie watching:

 Hannah at the disco party with Adriana (who became the Tot). Everyone who knows Hannah knows she loves little kids, so a bunch of them always seek her out at the Cindy stuff.

 Time for an ice cream break, after the casual wear competition. (Hannah couldn't eat hers until we got back to the room and she changed out of her outfit!)

The Miss contestants (there were 13 this year) in their casual wear.

Rob and Liz at the disco party:

 Hannah's friend Alexa is one of the few people from our side of the state. They live in West Chester and we'll probably get the girls together for a playdate over the summer sometime. They met at last year's pageant:

One of Hannah's official portraits (looking a little tired, I think - it was an exhausting three days!):

 My favorite photo, taken by the Cinderella photographer, seconds after Caitlin crowned Hannah (Sabrina Auge is the adult -- a former Cindy winner herself). I love how joyful she is and Caitlin's bittersweet smile. And so begins our year...