Phoenix Weekend

We spent the weekend in Hamilton for the Phoenix dance workshop. Jaime went to band camp and Chris had an important soccer match so he stayed in Auckland with a friend, so there was just Adam, Mark, myself and the two girls. Adam didn't mind being the only boy tagging along because his girlfriend Nicola was also dancing at phoenix and as luck would have it she was in the same intermediate group as Natalie. We left lunch time on Friday and arrived in time for dinner (after many stops for Sophie to stretch her legs). the motel had a fantastic spa and freezing outside pool. I dared Natalie and Adam to go into the spa then jump into the pool and swim a length. Ofcourse they both had no trouble at all doing just that! Here are some photo of the kids relaxing and enjoying the hot water, bliss.

On Saturday we arrived at Phoenix at 8am to register only to find that Natalie had been put into the beginner group by accident. Now she got a scholarship last year in beginners so this year she had decided to challenge herself and move up to Intermediate, even though all of the rest of the Corelli students were staying at beginners. It proved easy to swap her over and even though she was very young to be in intermediate (and she looked tiny against the other teenage girls in her group) she managed very well. By the end of the day - after 6 full hours of very intensive dancing) she was exhausted. we were planning to meet up with Nicola and the LÁcademy de Danse kids at Valentines for dinner but it was booked out so we ended up having a fantastic Indian meal, just the 5 of us and celebrating mothers day a bit earlyNatalie enjoying her L and P at the Indian restaurantSophie tucking into butter chicken and rice (Yummy)
"Happy Mothers Day" me being spoiled by Adam, Natalie and Sophie - and Mark ofcourse
On Sunday the dancing turned serious. In each group around 20 dancers were to be chosen to dance up on stage with the 'stars' (dance celebrities from the States and Aussie). Natalie danced her heart out and to her absolute delight got picked to dance in Lyrical, Musical theatre, Hip-Hop, and Funk. Being a ballet girl she expected to do well in the lyrical and musical theatre genres but when she got picked for 'funk' she was so surprised that she checked her number to make quite sure that it was her that they had called out! We were so proud of her.
The concert was lots of fun and Natalie had a blast dancing on stage. She loves to strut her stuff and because she was so small she got to dance right at the front

Lucky number 180- Natalie thrilled to be chosen to dance with the stars in 4 items

Natalie dancing 'Musical Theatre"on stage

Natalie hanging out with her friends at the concert

On the way home Nicola was allowed to join Adam in our car rather than travel on the L'Academy bus so Adam was delighted. The two of them sat in the back seat of our van and talked for the entire two hours that it took us to get home!
Altogether everyone had a great weekend, even Adam who scored himself some $200 Puma shoes as an early birthday present. Jaime had a fun time at band camp and Chris's team beat Rangitoto 4-3, with Chris scoring 2 of the Westlake goals! Both my big boys had bought mother's day gifts for me even though Mark hadn't been there to remind them and I finally got my Cuttlebug to play with from Mark. i don't know who was more thrilled with the cuttlebug, me or sweet little Natalie who had saved up 2 weeks pocket money to buy me some heart shaped dies to go with it. My kids are the absolute best!