A work in progress

This is one of Hannah's songs that she'll be doing for pageants this year. It's from Thoroughly Modern Millie (which is why she's wearing a 20s style dress). It's a work in progress and the bird we're babysitting adds his own commentary throughout, but I thought I'd post so you can see some of the process. Oh and the heels she's wearing aren't the ones she'll be wearing for the performance but she needs to practice in heels and this is the pair we found first!

Enjoy!!

Wacky Weekend

I'm not gonna lie, our weekends are BUSY and sometimes CRAZY, but you know, with two teenagers in the house I guess it's to be expected.
However, it's weekends like these that I wonder about my sanity in adopting twin girls when I was 44. Now it's 14 years later and I am no longer 44 (I'll let you do the math...it's too sad for me!) and I spend a LOT of time running around (or more realistically DRIVING around.)
So this was our weekend. Not typical, but not totally outside the realm of typicality either.

It started on Friday evening when Hannah had to be at the 7th and 8th grade dance at the same time that Lizzie had to be at the dress rehearsal for her dance company's spring show. Luckily Liz had to be at rehearsal at 5 and the dance didn't start until 7. Unluckily Hannah needed help with her hair at the same time I was dropping Liz off. The pick up was a little more dicey since both had to be picked up at 9, but by that time Rob was home from work and both girls got home safely and in a somewhat timely manner.

The goods news is that I had THIS to get me too and fro. This is my new (to me) car! It's a 2015 Honda Pilot in dark cherry. I got it with about 35,000 miles on it and while I usually don't like a car that is smarter than me I'll make an exception with this one. My last car was a 2005 Pilot and this car has stuff like bluetooth and mp3 connections and an automatic hatch opener (and closer). It's got one of those back up cameras, too, but at the moment I find it too confusing to use.

So driving around this weekend wasn't so bad!

On to Saturday. On Saturday Rob took Hannah down to the shore to clean up Grandma's house some so Liz slept in and I want to work and did a few readings and then went to the store because Liz discovered that she needed clips for her costume and snacks for the evenings performance.

Then it was off to Performance One of Pyotr and Peter.
Here's Liz in her tutu for her extraordinary performance of Bluebird from "Sleeping Beauty" (that's the Pyotr Tchaikovsky part):

She was in several of the dances and was just so so good (yes, I am biased, but it IS TRUE!!) WHile Lizzie danced I sold tickets for the basket raffle (and I won a raffle!) By the time we got home (after our traditional post performance stop at McDonalds!) Rob and Hannah were back from the shore where they went to the Lobster House for lunch where they ate all the clam chowder and shrimp they felt like without Liz and I turning up our noses at it!

The next morning we were up and at 'em again as Hannah had her photo shoot for her pageant headshots, which kind of turned into a regular modeling shoot as the photographer had some time and Hannah wanted to go for it. I don't have the photos yet, but they looked pretty good on the screen - probably because Jim is a real photographer and Mary Grace is a real hair and makeup person. Here's a shot of them working:

And then it was back to the theater so that Liz could do it all over again and I could sell more basket raffles (I didn't win this time, but Uncle Dude did!) In between we got the house ready for guests since Liz had an audience for this performance (her first solo with her Rep Company.)

So here are the photos of the afternoon of dance and family:

Here's the gang, including Rob, Aunt Tina, Aunt Terry, Uncle Dude, Aunt Linda and Hannah. Uncle Dude is holding the basket he won!

Perhaps the only photo that will ever exist where Lizzie is taller than Hannah:

The Rasmussen contingent:

The Garrity contingent:

Lizzie with some dance friends Ashley and Mckenna:

Our little family:

Liz and her friend Aimee who has choreographed some dances for Liz and is a graduating senior from the Company and will really be missed!

Liz and Miss Diane who choreographed and worked with Liz on the Bluebird solo:

As you probably know, no celebration is complete without FOOD. We dined on sandwiches and chips and guac and root beer and Fresca and had that delicious strawberry shortcake sitting in front of Liz for dessert. Then everyone went home and we all took naps. :)

Way Back Wednesday Take 2

I loved this feature and so now that I am trying to get my blog up and running again (too much drama on facebook!) I thought I'd start with this.. So here is a way back photo:

This is three generations of Garrity men "communicating." Clearly my dad is offering instructions on how to get the rowboat to move and my brother is ignoring him and doing what he wants. My nephew Tommy is clearly saying "HELP ME!"

We started going to the Poconos together as a family in about 2005, when the girls were three (almost 4) and last year was our last year. Some years were freezing cold, some rained, some had perfect weather, but we always had fun.

We are actually heading back up there for a pageant in August, so the tradition continues - just in a different way!

Mickey and MAC Nationals

So, while you were all enjoying your turkey and stuffing, Rob the girls and I were in Orlando visiting Mickey, my dad and all the Miss American Coed Queens (not necessarily in order of preference!). Hannah is the current Keystone State Miss with the MAC system, so she qualified to go to Florida to the National Pageant. The short story is that she came home with the Spirit of America Award (an uber participation award) and the general participation award. The slightly longer story is that she was ROBBED of placing in the talent optionals, but if I have learned anything from our years doing pageants it's that you never know what the judges are looking for. I am in agreement, though, with the woman who yelled to Hannah across the lobby of the hotel: "YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN TOP FIVE!!" In fact, it made Hannah feel better whenever anyone said this to her -- and it happened quite a few times.

Luckily, she had a great time even with that debacle. Here she is in her modeling outfit. She had never modeled on stage before, so she did pretty well with only a tiny bit of coaching. She was going for a Bohemian Chic look.

And then there was talent. Hannah was thrilled that Aunt Anonymous and Aunt Tina and Grandpa came to cheer her on and she wowed on the stage (well, except for the judges!) She sang Over the Rainbow and her costume was a sort of grown up Dorothy. I don't have pictures or videos because no cameras were allowed in the ballroom, so you'll just have to take my word for it. She was AWESOME!!!!

Another contestant (who sang Johnny One Note) shops at the same places we do ... luckily the girls thought it was funny that they had the same dress/different color!

Here was Hannah's fan club (well, Lizzie is a forced member!) It was really nice for me to finally have them see Hannah sing on stage -- it's a lot different than those Poconos Garrity family talent shows!

 The optionals are done before the main pageant, which scores the girls in poise in evening wear and interview. There were more than 70 girls in Hannah's category. Here are some of them. Hannah's in the second row on the left.

 Patty Hawkins is the national director of MAC and her mom started the pageant system in 1983. Here's a picture of Hannah with both of them. They had a cookie and gift exchange party (yes, Hannah got more than 70 gifts -- yikes!) This system has several parties and offers several dining together opportunities, but none of it is mandatory, so you can pick and choose what you'd like to attend.

Hannah with a friend she made, Cheyanne. One of the best parts of doing pageants in the era of social media is that you can meet and keep in touch with girls from all over the United States.

This is Hannah with the two other Miss delegates from Pennsylvania: Jenna and Jalynn.

We can't forget Uncle Anonymous. He had to stay at Grandpa's house with the dogs, but we saw him on Thanksgiving day when we invited ourselves for cake and ice cream!

This is Hannah's interview outfit. She usually does well in interview but I won't know how it went this time until we get the scores in February.

When the dust settled Hannah looked great on stage and we were very proud of her poise, but moreso her ability to make friends and have fun and NOT get too upset when she didn't make the top 15. Lizzie had a good time at this pageant, too, because it is very family oriented (moreso than Cinderella) and the girls really wanted to include her in the things they did. On Saturday night the two of them just went off with a couple of other queens and I didn't see them for three hours!

 Hannah in her evening gown. This was AFTER the competition so her hair looks pretty bad, but I'd be lying if I said it looked much better BEFORE she took the stage. I'm getting better at hair, but the Florida humidity was NOT my friend. (And neither was the fact that one morning I woke up an hour LATE and had to do her hair in about 10 minutes because I'd written the time for the competition down incorrectly ...)

Soooooo, that was the pageant. But part of the prize package was a day at Disneyworld, so off we went as a family. We lost Rob once we got there .... but the girls and I had a great time. We did eventually find Rob (we did have a meeting place and he was there, but so were about 4 million other people so we missed him whenever we went to look for him. (In between all the fun we were having.)  I really enjoyed the shows ... here's one at Cinderella's castle:

 They shot fireworks/confetti from cannons!

 The girls and I didn't get onto too many rides (way too crowded -- the line for Space Mountain was more than 2 hours for the entire day!) but there was no way we were going to miss "It's A Small WOrld," Grandma Jo's favorite ride. We were all thinking of her and talking about her and were a trio of blubbering idiots by the time the ride came to a stop -- I am sure that people thought some sort of mutiny must have occurred on our little boat!

We also liked the parade. This is Lizzie sitting in a prime spot to watch, watching the Minnie ears I bought her. Hannah walked around a little more during the parade, but Liz and I stayed put and had a great show. We had found Rob by this time, but he already hated Disney by this point so he pretty much spent HIS time figuring out how the parade could have been presented more efficiently. And frowning!

Here's another parade shot (the final float!) Oh, if you haven't noticed yet, I didn't use my "good" camera at the park, so had to be happy (or not) with cell phone shots.

Rob and the girls also spent time at Disney Springs which was right across the street from our hotel and I am happy to say that Rob DID enjoy his time there. So YAY for Disney Springs! I don't have photos of that but I heard there was a boat trip and a volcano that erupted and free music. There were also sundaes from Ghirardelli chocolates that were not free but delicious (they did bring me back a taste.)

I honestly had a great time at this pageant. I got to spent time with both Hannah and Lizzie, the weather was gorgeous (a little cold during the evening at Disney) and Hannah is old enough that I had to get her places but then I could leave her and go relax by the pool. ALSO I only had to worry about messing up her hair, since makeup is not allowed.

Will we go back? I don't know! But if we do we will do Disney MUCH differently (leave Dad home! Ha ha!) and I think it would be more fun (although the girls and I did have a great time ... just didn't get on many rides!)

We are taking a break from pageants (maybe, I think, we'll see) so it might be a while before we get back to Disney. Although Vegas may be in our future in 2017!

Another Summer, Another Pageant

I'd have to say that the highlight of Hannah's summer was almost certainly the Miss American Coed Pageant, where she won the state talent title and also was named Miss Keystone State (one of three overall titles awarded).
Hannah and I got to spend the weekend in Harrisburg, while Rob and Lizzie did fun things (I hope!) at home. The pageant was live-streamed on the internet so I know a lot of you got to see it, but here are some pictures from the weekend.
Oh, and Hannah's win qualified her to compete in the National MAC Pageant, Thanksgiving week at DisneyWorld. I think we are ALL excited about that.

This pageant system separates talent, photogenic and modeling and a couple other categories into optionals. To win an overall crown you are judged on your personal introduction, you eveningwear choice and modeling and you interview outfit and content. This pageant system also sends out their scores, so you know how well you did and where you need some work.

Hannah won talent, so we know she's good with that. Here she is singing "On My Own." We are doing something different for the National Competition because even though she won, the judges thought the song was "too old" for her division, which is 10-12 year olds. I completely do NOT agree, but since we're in it to win it, we've made a change:

Here she is accepting her talent award and check. YAY!!!:

In between the optional and the required competitions there was a pajama party with a frozen them. It was FUN. The girls all got to make their own sashes and give themselves a title. Hannah was Miss Hamster Lover. They also played a game where they were in teams and the girls had to dress one of their members up and then they had to model. Here's Hannah with her sash:

There was lots of dancing. Our friend Cassidy (last year's Miss Pennsylvania Sweetheart) is right behind Hannah.

 And then they finished it off with a giant "Let it Go" sing along.

The next morning we were up bright and early for interview. I love Hannah's interview suit and although she was a little nervous about interview she did well (she actually won interview for her age group). The judges noted that her skirt was a little big (that's how specific they get!) so I took it in for Nationals. It's even prettier in person and green is a good color on Hannah (really any jeweltone works!) This picture is her with Miss Patty who is the National Director of this pageant system.

And now on to the main event! Hannah modeled really well, and got great scores for her smile. I got pretty awful scores for the dress (not to mention that the top came unhooked when she was onstage .. luckily she caught it before there was a wardrobe malfunction!!) so we have something new and stunning for Nationals! Here she is modeling. The dress was pretty but it really did not fit her well as it was a little short.

 We ran into some Cinderella friends, too. Daniela (in the yellow) and Adriana both won their titles, too, so we'll see them in Florida. YIPPEE!!

And the winner of the Miss Keystone PreTeen title is: HANNAH RASMUSSEN!!

Here she is with her crown, sash and flowers. Next stop FLORIDA!

 Oh, actually our next stop was Aunt Terry's house for a party. It was on our way home and even though I was exhausted, it was fun to see Hannah get to show off her new crown and sash!

Since I don't want to leave Lizzie out of this post, here's a picture of her photo bombing the picture of Hannah's MAC stuff. NOW, on to Florida!

Pokyournose!

August is the month of the yearly gathering of the Garrity clan up in Split Rock. This was our 10th year in the Poconos and our eighth at the Split Rock condos. It really feels like "home away from home" since we know where everything is and where to eat (or not eat!) but we always try to do something new each year. This year that meant horseback riding for the girls. Both Rob and T.A. has to leave for a while to do work or pick up the groceries I left behind or whatever so we did make some other changes this year, too.

The one thing we didn't change was the FUN. We always laugh a lot in the Poconos and while there is a lake and a lagoon and karaoke and movies and bowling and an arcade and several pools... we really spend most of the week sitting outside the condos just talking to each other (and laughing). So here are the photos:

Fun at the Lagoon:

 They have turtle races (which go a lot faster than you'd think) and for the first year ever, I think all the kids won something (or were given a parents' winnings) So everyone was happy and got to spend money in the gift shop:

 A rare sighting of Uncle T.A. smiling:

 Lizzie learning to drive.  (Yes she's only 12. Yes she's probably better than me.)

Our annual photo at the Dam. I wouldn't be surprised if Hannah is taller than Rob in next year's photo:

 Dinner at the Boulder View over looking Big Boulder lake. Hannah had the shrimp and  both girls had a Shirley Temple which for them means a cup of maraschino cherries with just a splash of ginger ale.

 And so here we are at the farm for the riding. This is a huge shoutout to Aunt Tina who bravely sat where none of us wanted to sit -- atop the horse. Here she looks pretty happy.

The farm also had goats and chickens and other things with wings. And bunnies, too. Here's Lizzie feeding a goat. (Which she can do at our neighbors, but it's more fun on vacation!)

 And here they are ready to ride, left to right, Aunt Tina, Hannah, Lizzie and Brenna:

 Lizzie desperately wants to take riding lessons, so she was thrilled with this part of the vacation:

Here's Hannah with her horse:

 Lizzie on the trail, thanks to my long lens. I was sitting under a tree watching the chickens at this point:

We always go to the Sunset Grill for a big family dinner. And while our family was a little smaller this year, all the important people were here (ha, ha!) So here are the younger cousins:

And here is my beautiful family (thanks to Ann for snapping the photo!)

We also spent time at the Waterpark. The other cousins didn't join us this year, so Hannah and Lizzie had to run around with each other or else make new friends. Here's Hannah's new friend:

Lizzie through the water mushroom:

 The girls on one of the water slides. I am so happy they no longer need me to go down the slide with them. Or really do anything except for sign into the free wifi and go in the wave pool every once in a while.

 Oh, and here's my favorite photo. It's Grandpa and the younger cousins and Grandpa's actually smiling (because we were all going home the next day???)

 Lizzie trying to be incognito as she sucks down her 4,000th Shirley Temple of the week:

This is why they call it Sunset Grill ... lovely scene for photos!

Rob and Tommy often coordinate their wardrobes for family gatherings:

 We finished off the week with Hannah singing "Jar of Hearts" at the karaoke night. She was awesome and so was the ice cream we bought to celebrate her success!