Days with the Dorans

So this is going to be a long post but that's because it was a long week! We were off to Nationals in CT with our dance peeps and wouldn't you know it... we had a missed turn (when I was driving of course) which had me driving in the Bronx. It was extremely stressful. I found this stock picture of where we were except it was crazy traffic- horns honking and pedestrians everywhere (including one in a wheelchair that came up to me asking if I had a dollar... as I was driving). I was sweating!! It was exhausting but we made it! When we got there we unpacked and walked a bit to stretch our legs. Though it was a long drive, this Nationals was much shorter than the last one we were at (five days instead of ten)- and there were no classes so I thought we'd have more free time. We did! Like Nashville- we were in a big hotel. This time we were at Foxwoods which has Casinos, outlets, restaurants and more. It didn't have an indoor river with a boat but it was equally a...

 I am now going to attempt to write about our trip to Nashville for the Dance Masters of America National Competition. I say attempt because in the 10 days we were there, a lot happened. We stayed at the Gaylord resort which was HUGE (9 acres)! It had beautiful gardens (including a river with a boat... INSIDE), shops, restaraunts and more! There were dancers from all over the U.S. and we also saw people from Canada and San Juan. We roomed (and drove) with Amber (Al's dance buddy) and her mom, Julia. The first night we were there they had a welcome party with the theme, "A little bit country, a little bit rock-n-roll." While Al is not a fan of country music, "country" was an easier look than the rock-n-roll.  Each day the girls (and boy) had classes for four hours, competitions in the afternoon and then in the evening the title holders from each state competed. We had 3 dancers from our studio represent our state and they all made the top ten (our ...