Virginia Beach Nationals!

... Continued... (I'm only two months behind in the blogging world, SIGH). After Tyson's Nationals in Myrtle Beach, we loaded up our vehicles.  Darren and the dogs returned to Roanoke. The kids and I went to Virginia Beach for Lilah's Nationals.  Lilah is SOOOOO not used to use being a divided family that departing from her daddy was so hard. She cried herself into a nap.

To see the actual video clips of the photos with "play" symbols, scroll to the bottom and view the youtube videos.  

The navigation took us to Virginia Beach the scenic route.  LOADS of corn fields and country life.  It was amazing, but I was a little nervous I might lose cell service or get a flat tire. When I say the scenic route, I mean LITERALLY nothing around.  

We arrived safely in Virginia Beach though. Thank you JESUS!  

I thoroughly enjoyed the sites of the BIG Navy ships and all of the helicopters.  It was almost dangerous being a driver because all I wanted to do was look and take it all in.

My favorite part was going through the tunnel.  I hear there are a TON of car accidents inside of this tunnel. Sounds pretty scary. It kinda reminded me of Princess Diana's death.

Eventually, we made it to our hotel, the Westin.  It was surrounded shops and my favorite restaurant, Cheesecake Factory.  

 Right outside of our hotel window were all of these sites.

This hotel was also DIRECTLY across the street from the Convention Center where Lilah and her dance team would be competing.  

The first night we ate at Cheesecake Factory, and walked to Target.  I was exhausted.  So we settled in around 11 pm. It felt weird NOT to have Darren with us, but I am pretty independent so I handled things really well.

The next morning, Lilah and I allowed the boys to sleep in while she checked into the convention center.

 Lilah was so excited to get this much anticipated show on the road.

Above: My girlfriend Lori was always right there helping me finish the final details of Lilah's makeup. I was just too nervous to keep my hands still.  

Lilah was most excited to spend almost an entire week with her bestie, Ella. They kept each other great company and really care for one another.  I am so grateful that they found each other.  Good friends are hard to come by. 

Backstage shenanigans.  I was in the audience waiting for her to perform.

 Lilah's first dance, in Virginia Beach, was danced to the song SUPERSONIC, by J.J. Fad.

We all know that song far too well.  It is such a PERFECT song selection for a hip hop dance.

 And words CANNOT express just how much I ADORE watching her break it down!

The facial expressions are so adorable and I just love to see her spunk with every single move she makes.  

 You can see the JOY beaming right off of her face in these photos.  

 Look at her.  I feel like she's saying, "Whatchoo looking at!" or "You wanna fight?" or "You talking to me?"

The dance couldn't have been more flawless.  

And in the END, guess who came home with 6 star (almost perfect to PERFECT score), FIRST PLACE, NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE?!  You guessed it! My girl and her TEAM.  You can watch her dance below, in the youtube video attached.  

Keep in mind, the video below is NOT the dance at Nationals.  It was the dance, performed at the yearly RECITAL in Roanoke in MAY.  This dance was perfected before July arrived.  

Hence the reason they won FIRST place.  

Stay tuned for more posts on the rest of our week and the other dance she performed in.