Tennesee, Finally!!

Oh my goodness!! I don't think that I have ever worked so hard to get a post up before!! I was finally able to start it by importing pictures from Picasa to Blogger and then add pictures three at a time for a while and then I would get the error message again so I would try and upload a few single pictures then sometimes 3 at a time and some times 2!! Crazy!!

Well, we've been home for a week now and I think that I might finally be starting to catch up and be rested ~ ya right!! Destination Imagination's Global Finals were a success again for another year. I think that Emily really enjoyed her time and was certainly grateful for the opportunity to see what her sister had been talking about for the past 3 years.

It's been busy at work ~ we received over 230 resumés for a 6 hour afternoon position so it's been plenty of wading through resumés and interviewing. Hopefully I will have my top 5 candidates ready for my Dr. to pick from by the time he gets back on Tuesday!!

Gord is still loving his job and is now on graveyards. I'm not sure about him but I think that I find this shift the most challenging because it's hard as a family to be quiet in the middle of the day while he's sleeping. Even the most simple of tasks seem to make LOTS of noise!

Anyways, on to Tennessee pictures!

Here's Emily and her good friend Kelsey on the first morning that they were there doing some pin talking! The cute little pin bag that Emily is wearing was made by one of her teamate's Grandma! They worked out really well and the girls really liked them.

Pin trading is a big part of Globals. Each State/Team/Country makes up a pin or a series of pins for trading. Every year there are certain pins or a series of pins that are very saught out and the kids will trade up to try and get those pins. It gives the kids some goals and a perfect opportunity to interact with other kids from different parts of the world that they may not have interacted with otherwise.Here you can see the Washington State pins that Emily had for trading on the inside of her bag.
Here are all of her teamate's sporting their new pin bags!
Of course, you have to have the team art picture too!
I rarely have a picture of me with either of the girls so I was happy to get one of me and Emily.
We were having a hard time keeping the girls dry with the fountain around!! They were having a great time though!! We did return later in the week with bathing suits on so that they could get a full dousing!!
This is the view from the girls' dorms by the elevator. They have this huge field set up with lots of sports activities to keep the kids busy!
This is the same view but of the building that they ate alot of their meals at. In the foreground that you cannot see is where the pool is. The girls spent plenty of time at the pool enjoying themselves. It was nice that they didn't have far to walk.
Here's Emily checking out the diving boards!
We had Opening Cermonies on the first full day that we were there. Washington's contingency was quite a bit smaller this year but the pink arrow points to Emily!
The scoreboard did a nice job of welcoming us!
Their Central Challenge was at 8:30 on the Thursday morning. They were either the 3 or 4th team to compete! Here's Emily and her teamate Elizabeth bringing in the Sound Design equipment. Mrs. Roebuck is bringing up the rear!
Emily and Elizabeth geting settled in.
Here they are at the end of their performance. They did a fantastic job and I was really proud of them!
The World's Fair was held in Knoxville, TN in 1982. This was conisidently only 4 years before Vancouver hosted the Fair. The structure below was built for the World's Fair in Knoxville. I prefer to call it the Disco Ball.
This was the very first year that we actually made it up the Ball. I didn't even realize that you could go up in it! There were some pretty views up there!
Next, we made our way over to the Convention Center. Here is where pin trading central takes place! Emily's about to make a great trade!
Emily and Callie were checking out the competition! Emily got a very bad sunburn on her first day there so she had to carry her bag around her waist the whole time!
My darling daughter by the water!
We found a friend!! Quack, Quack!
I asked Emily to try and make the same face as the statue!!
Callie and Emily waiting for mom.
Emily loved the big water "slide" that they had set up for the kids to go through.
Water baby!
Next they had to check in for their instant challenge.
These poor guys spent hours upon hours in the hot sun dancing and singing to the music to entertain the teams waiting to go in for their Instant Challenge.
Here's the team at the TADA wall after their Challenge. They didn't fair quite as well in their Instant Challenge as as their Central Challenge.

Mrs. Roebuck has struck up a great friendship with this gentleman that she met on her first trip here. He arrested her and Mrs. Crane in front of all of the kids the first year they were here but they've been great friends eve since and she looks forward to seeing him every year!

The mom's were feeling like some dessert at 11:00 pm on the way back to our hotel so we checked out the local Sonic! I had never been and was disappointed that the waitress did not deliver our food on rollerskates!

Finally, we made it to Closing Ceremonies. Again, the big arrow points out Emily. We found out that they placed 15th out of about 56 teams. She was very pleased with their standing and had a very good time. Although, I think that we were both ready to head home the next day!