It takes place in the huge Embassy hotel and conference center there and there are a whole lot of congregations that participate. Last year, Rugrat and I stayed home while Hubby took Chick and Dude. Hubby got to be a judge for speech I think while the kids participated in their events. Several of the other parents really encouraged us to come as well this year because they felt like we would really enjoy it.
And we did. It was a lot of fun -- even during the wait time as they did their events. And Hubby was even more pumped because the Razorback baseball team had a game Friday night that he fit into our schedule for him to attend.
This is from the top floor of the Embassy looking down into the atrium.
And of course they had a neat little waterfall in the center on the bottom.
We spent a lot of time there because it had little 'streams that went off to other places.
It was one of two of Rugrat's favorite things at the hotel. She found it fascinating to watch the water flowing.
The other favorite is there behind that particular 'stream' -- the glass elevators. At first, she found it fun just to watch them going up and down (which happened A LOT; the hotel was completely full with everyone there and we had ended up staying at another one in town along with most of our group). She found the going up and down quite funny and it entertained her for a long time just by itself.
Then I told her we were going to ride to the top. She pulled back the whole way walking over there but one thing I've learned is to ignore her fear and just act like normal on things like that. So she pulled back on my arm as I casually walked over to it with a small smile on my face. When she decided we were definitely getting on, she started trying to get me to hold her. But I took the same tactic. If she's ever going to get over the fear of every little unknown, we've determined that we can't give in to it or even recognize it. So I kept telling her no; she was too big for me to carry or she could walk.
We got in and moved to the back where the glass was. She had a death grip with one hand on each of my hips the whole time but she loved it! And the higher we got, the more fascinated she was.
From then on, I didn't really have to ask if she wanted to go take a ride on the elevator. She asked so often that I started to wish I hadn't taken her on it to begin with.
She still assumed the same position, a death grip on each of my hips, but after a while she loosened up some. I think she may have even taken a hand off of me on our final ride to the top so I could take the first pictures up at the post.
So it was slightly easier to entertain her than I had thought it might be during the events.
A last minute study session before Dude's Bible quiz
Baba and Rugrat next to the water and elevators
Both the coach and the rest of his team had been claiming that Dude was their strongest member so it was no surprise that they did fairly well on Bible quiz.
After the Bible bowl event, Chick came out feeling pretty good too. Their judge (though it was an individual event, they still had their team of four) told one of the team members that he thought their team had gotten the best score in the room and that Chick was among the top scorer he had seen. She definitely led them to a victory because they all got Gold for their team and she got Gold on her individual score.
In fact, she ended up with gold in all her events except one. She was pretty happy about that since this was her last year.
I actually wouldn't be surprised if Dude decides to give Bible bowl a go next year. He might like an individual event better.
After lunch on Saturday, we headed home to enjoy some relaxation before Easter Sunday and a busy week ahead.
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