The King Kiddo's: St. Louis Dance Nationals

On Wednesday the 11th we headed out to St. Louis. We arrived about 7:30 or so to a beautiful, huge hotel in St. Charles MO, just outside St. Louis. The hotel was an Embassy Suites that was connected to the convention center where the competition was being held and was where our whole dance team was staying. We were on the same floor with most of the group so it worked out super!
Thursday morning we headed out with the Griffith family who has 2 daughters, one Grace's age and the other a couple years younger that both dance. We went into St Louis to the Gateway Arch and went up inside. It was quite the ride up with all 8 of us piling in the tiny car! Afterwards we walked a little ways to a older part of town and had a good lunch at a brewery that was recommended by one of the park rangers. Following up on our trip to the Arch we decided a Budweiser tour was our next stop. It was a really great tour. The grounds were simply amazing almost Disney-like. Beautiful flowers and buildings. even the inside of the brewery was so ornate and over done with crown molding a chandeliers. The stables were gorgeous and those horses are surely treated very well! Following up the tour we each got to sample two beers out of anything Budweiser makes. The kids of course enjoyed complimentary sodas and seemed to enjoy the trip for the most part. That evening we headed back to the hotel for some swim and adult libations. Our hotel had a managers reception every night of the week for 2 hours where you got as many free drinks as you could drink, along with snacks and soda. It was a nice time to catch up with everyone from the busy day.

All in One!

Friday July 13th: Dancing Day - Awards
Grace's duet was in the morning and it was nice to get ready in a relaxed setting in our hotel room rather than in a crazy crowded dressing room! Her and Caitlyn did a fantastic job with lots of energy and a clean routine! I was so proud of Grace! We cheered her on with big heads ;) They ended up earning a Top First trophy and Grace was excited cause she got to take it home. FYI: the trophy placements are as follows: Diamond Elite Top First, Elite Top First and Top First. Every group gets a trophy for how they placed and then they also give out awards for top ten in each age group category plus some extra judges awards, etc.
Grace had her other two dances later that afternoon. We spent most of the day just wandering back and forth between the hotel and the competition. There were two stages of competitions going on and we did have some of our other dancers performing that day as well. I have to say there was a crazy amount of talent at that show. I believe there was at least 20-30 teams competing. We were the only team from WI. There were a lot of teams from MO of course as well as IL, TX, AR, OH, just to name a few. There were a few teams there that do acrobatic routines and were incredible! Grace's team dances did really well but it was a tough competition. Her age group was quite large. They received Elite Top First trophies for Jazz and Hop Hop. Our youngest team walked away with a 3rd place overall for age group in the novice category and a trophy that was as big as they were! Grace's age group also had a modern routine that she was not in but they received 7th place overall. Our team all age production, Fosse Flare dance received a 4th place out of 5. It was a fun competition. Talent on Parade who put it on always makes it fun. It is a crazy set up with all they put into it. They were streaming live feed of the competition which I didn't find out till after Grace danced :( They also have master classes throughout the day you can do for free, charity dance downs on stage and spirit theme days. It is quite the production to say the least!

Jazz-Jump Jive

Hip Hop

Celebrity Showdown Day - We all went as LMFAO!

Saturday - Awards - Fun Day

Can you find Grace??

First Position in the House Tonight!

Saturday morning we headed out to St Louis again. We wanted to take in the City Museum. Everyone was raving about it and now I see why. I don't even have words to describe it. It is a children's museum even though they don't promote it as such. It is also an architectural museum. I was amazed at the detail that went into building this place. It was huge with twisted metal and this and that all over it was so hard to take it all in! There was an outdoor area that you could climb up twisting and turning tunnels and poles of steal. There was an airplane and fire truck perched high above. Dozens of slides to slide down. Then there is the rooftop that is $5 extra that we didn't do that has a Ferris wheel, school bus and more mazes. There is something there for everyone. They even have neat little food stands tucked in every corner of every floor and serve alcohol and beer! I guess only our pictures can give you an idea of what it was but even those won't best describe. I even added in a few from their Facebook page. It is something you have to see for yourself! Truly amazing!