Being stuck in traffic was so frustrating when we were making such good time. But that was nothing compared to the frustration of searching for the illusive building for all registrants at a hotel & resort property. Krista still had to register on site to get her badge so when we finally arrived at the Town & Country Hotel, we were directed to park in an area for all State Games of America athletes. Then it was time to hunt down the Garden Ballroom where the registration was supposed to be at. Naturally, it wasn't there. We took a tour of the entire property (or so it seemed) in search of the area for registration. It was so frustrating!!! Hello, people! A few more signs and arrows pointing us to the right area would have been very helpful!!!
Thankfully, we finally found the right place after circling the property with poor Jacob limping because of his injured ankle. This was probably the worst weekend for him to have an injured ankle since there was so much walking involved. Ugh and a big OUCH! Then we left the place to go check in at our hotel at the Doubletree. As I checked in, I asked the front desk person if there were any corner rooms available (it never hurts to ask!) but he told me they were all family suites. Of course I had to ask him if there were any available, but there weren't (the hotel was booked solid because of all the weekend events) so we got our room assignment and headed to the elevator to go up to room 222.
We walked in the room, set our bags down and Jacob just sat down on the bed to get off his ankle when the phone rang. I couldn't imagine who would be calling us already since we had just arrived so I debated whether or not to answer it. I'm so glad I did! It was the front desk guy and he told me that a family suite opened up and he wanted to know if we wanted it. Is the sky blue?!? Do birds fly?!? I had to contain my exuberance and calmly asked how much extra we would be charged to change rooms and he said the magic words: "We won't charge you extra so if you want it, come down to get your key." WooHoo!!!
Poor Jacob! He had to get back up and we all went downstairs to get our new room assignment: 825. When I opened the door to the family suite (I heard the Hallelujah Chorus being sung by the angels!!!), we were delighted to find a roomier area (with a strange unidentifiable odor) -- a bedroom and then a door that opened to another room with bunkbeds, a TV for kids, a desk and a little table and chairs (totally Michael sized!). I was super excited about getting a family suite because originally I tried to book a room at the Embassy Suites (a simple hotel room is too small when you have 2 children) but unfortunately, they only had king suites left and I wanted a 2 queens suite.
It was the perfect way to start our weekend! That night, we went to the opening ceremonies at the Qualcomm Stadium (home of the San Diego Chargers) and got to see all the athletes parade in. It was impressive! Then we got to see the Navy Seal Skydiving team and they were spectacular in their precision landing. Sadly for Krista, we left shortly afterward to get back to the hotel to avoid the delay in exiting the stadium with hundreds of other vehicles and to get some rest before Krista competed on Saturday.
We had a wake-up call at 6am (yawn!) and then left the hotel at 7:30 to get to the rink. Krista competed at 9ish so she remained with her coach while we went to the bleachers to find a seat. After 2 skaters, Michael had to go to the bathroom. Of course, did! This is how he told me...
Michael: Mommy, do you know why I'm sitting like this? He had his legs crossed and was kind of hunched over.
Me: Ummmm...is it because you're cold?!? Any rink at 8 am is ALWAYS extra freezing cold!
Michael: Nope. It's because I have to go to the bathroom...so bad! Whaaaaaaat?!? Again?!?
So, off to the bathroom we went. While washing his hands, I suddenly heard music....Krista's music and grabbed him and ran out of the bathroom just as Krista was holding her final pose for the end of the program. AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!! I was so annoyed with Michael and the bad timing of his bladder! Of course, I know he couldn't help it, but still!!!
Thankfully, Jacob hurt his ankle and didn't have to take Michael to the bathroom so he got to see Krista skate so beautifully in her technical program for the first time. I see her in practice so I knew how nicely the program came together in the past four weeks! She really made an impressive comeback with her skating because in the beginning of the summer, she was clearly not ready to compete. She didn't make it in the top three (the competition was fierce!), but she held her own as best as she could with a pulled muscle in her back and less preparation time than the average!
Later that evening, our friends, the Chou's came up from Chula Vista to see the competition. It was so nice to see them since we hadn't seen them for ages! Krista skated to her artistic program and before we knew it, it was over! She didn't feel she did as well as she could have because she rushed her program, but I was so proud of her anyway :o) She really worked hard and we encouraged her to skate for God without getting distracted by her competitors. Competitive skating is one of those things where you just have to love competing and do it with the right heart attitude and motivation while not take the judging seriously. It's such a subjective sport when it comes to competitions so the key is to compete against yourself and your last scores, have fun and most of all, skate for the glory of God.
I Corinthians 10:31 says it best from the ESV (English Standard Version,) "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
P.S. I posted Krista's technical and artistic program on my facebook account:
Technical Program: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150742785520088
Artistic Program: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150742790550088
