We're back from our short weekend away. We played hookey on Friday and spent most of the day at a wonderful indoor water park in Lake Geneva, WI. Water slides, lazy river, hot tub, pool basketball, you name it. Tons of fun. We packed our snacks and the cost for admission was $90, we ate out at Culvers for just under $30 and that was after redeeming coupons for some free kids meals. We opted for an inroom movie for $13.99, too. A lot of fun.

My girls had a dance competition on Saturday at the resort we stayed at - it is very easy to wake up and get ready and open the door and head to the stage - rather than wake up early at home, get everyone fed and into the car, drive at least two hours, then hurry to figure out your stage and get dressed in your costume and wig. Anyhow, my younger daughter took 8th out of 19 and placed with a trophy. My older daughter didn't place in any of the regular dances but took a 2nd in the reel special and a 5th in the treble reel special (both are fundraisers and are a nice way to give back). Not a bad show of performance - On the way back it was Wendy's for a total of $21 (had a coupon and saved a whopping $1). I had packed breakfast and snacks again from home to save money.

We then headed back to IL and had to get the girls ready to perform at our parish/school's St. Pat's Dinner Dance. It was fun, the girls dance with a group of four older girls as they've worked together for over five years, so it was fun and low-pressure. Forgot to add that younger daughter got new hard shoes for $152.90 (there is now a frequent buyer program - your 11th pair of shoes are free - and I think I will make a few bucks selling off the whole stash of old shoes I have for $50 to a mother of a younger dancers at our academic school. )

The only frustration came when we ran into my "friend" in the school vestibule. The kids danced earlier than usual and we were leaving at 8:00 PM. "Friend" made two snide comments to my 13 year old:

1) "Oh, did you know the basketball team LOST by one point today? Did you know that our team was really weak on rebounds and St. *'s team really dominated? We could of used your rebound skills." Really? Do you need to try to put it all onto my kid? She's a good, scrappy little rebounder (9 in the last game she played with the team), but it's not like she's the only one to play defensively well. I've come to see her snarkiness while smiling as what it is, rather predatory.

2) "Did you manage to work it out - the difficulty dancing in your new dress? I'm sure you didn't want a repeat of the Oireachtas." OK, this is a low blow, my daughter didn't fare very well at the last Mid America Championships because her new dress was quite stiff and heavy, having moved from a two piece into a one-piece that weighs six pounds due to the weight of the Swarovsky crystals. I just used to chalk her demeanor off as being a "tell it like it is" person.

My girl didn't really miss a beat and said, "I pulled a score in the top 50%, so I think I'm doing ok."

Thank goodness for loyal little brothers who will pipe in, "And she got a big trophy."

So back to the grind of life in the fast lane, though it's slowing down with the absence of basketball practices.

Off to catch up on blogs.