Geography and Shoes

This morning we awoke bright and early to head to Tuscon for Stephen to compete in the State Geography Bee. We had to be checked in at 8 am. Glade, my mom, Stephen and I headed out about 6am. Traffic was horrible and we got there a little late but that was OK because they tell you to get here so you can sit and wait, which is what we did. They invited the top 100 students in grades 4 - 8 from the state. That in and of itself is quite impressive. They had 5 rooms with 20 students each. Stephen was the first up in his room. There was a series of 8 questions they had to answer. It was quite nerve racking. The first 5 questions were some type of multiple choice so it was a little easier. Stephen got all of his right as did the majority of other kids. Then the last three questions they had to come up with the answer themselves. I can't believe anyone on earth knew the answers to those. Stephen missed his first one. He was soooo close! Out of the 8 questions, he got 7 right. Pretty dang good! After the first round, they tally the points and search out the top 10 for the final round. Only one kid in our group got all 8 right. There were 7 kids that got 7 right including Stephen. Usually, the few that got them all right are automatically in the top 10 and then they have a tie breaker with all the 7's to see who the rest will be. We were so excited that he made it to the tie breaker round. So we thought. For the first time in the Bee's history, exactly 10 kids got all 8 questions right. No tie breaker. We were very sad. I say sad, but what I mean is SO impressed and proud of our son! He was amazing and knew things I could never imagine. It sure makes your heart swell to see one of your own succeed in such a way.

We all went to lunch at Red Robin (Stephen's first time). He loved it. It happened to be in the mall, so OBVIOUSLY I had to make a quick round to continue my hunt for some really cute shoes. I actually found 3 options. Hooray for Tuscon! I finally made up my mind after and hour of dragging my poor husband and son around the mall. Wellllll, they didn't have my size. Go figure. I came home empty handed. For fun, I took a picture of one of the pairs. They were perfect! If you didn't count the price. Any guesses??

$130!!!!!

I guess some woman named Deborah Evans personally glued each gem which were some kind of special, expensive gems. Whatever. As far as I know, Deborah Evans is the 5 yr old girl in China who works too many hours! Now my ambition is to bling my own flip flops to look just like them but with Wal Mart gems! I'll show her.

Had a wonderful day with the ones I love! Thanks Whitley for taking care of my babies and to my mom "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"!!

Stephen was supposed to go to a birthday party when we got back, but he lost the invitation. We turned the house upside down looking for it. We called anyone we thought might possibly know someone who would know someone who could get us the information. After and hour of tears and frustration, we decided to just call down the phone book. It worked! Only took about 6 calls. I was so happy for him. He doesn't go to a whole lot of things like this and he had had kind of a rough day anyway. When we got in the car to go, he was saying how amazing it was that it worked out. I said "if you just think outside the box and go the extra mile, you can accomplish a lot". He said "and pray." I love that kid.

Here are some pictures of the day.

Stephen and the scoreboard

Red Robin!!

Stephen in his new Geography Bee Shirt - Man he's cute!