Destination Imagination State Tournament Part 1

Kendra has been a member of her school's Destination Imagination team.  They competed in their regional tournament and won first place which secured their participation in the state tournament.  (You can read more about the regional tourney and what DI is here.)  So on April 12th, we took off from school early and headed south west to a 'burb of Houston called Katy, Texas.

The road trip was uneventful most of the way--sunny skies, loud tunes, a big ole Diet Coke, and views of Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes along the highway (quite stunning, actually!).  Uneventful, that is, until we were within minutes of our hotel.  We had not one, not two, but THREE navigation devices in our car and yet not one of them could successfully guide us to our destination.  NOT fun in Houston's metro traffic!  I stopped and called the hotel to be guided in--finally!!!

There are six members on Kendra's DI team--three girls and three guys.  As fate (and overbooked hotels) would have it, we couldn't all make reservations for the same place, but it ended up that the girls were all in one place and the guys in another.  Their teacher and team manager, Nicole Silva, luckily ended up with the girls.  :-)

The first night was a "mixer" in which the team came, their managers registered them, and the event of the night was pin trading.  Each region has their own pin and the kids come with a bunch of their regional pins to trade for other pins.  Kendra bought 10 pins to trade.

The regional pin--it lights up!

The pin trading crowd and Kendra

Her pin trades on her regional medal

Saturday morning was the big event.  They had their main challenge at 11:00 a.m. (they did the same skit they did at regionals, with some tweaks).    It was a little nerve wracking as the boys (who had ALL the props) left their hotel late and squeaked in just in the nick of time.  The performance room was a theater room, I guess, and the walls were completed covered in black curtain.  It made for TERRIBLE pictures, but I did get a few before they got in. 

Excited to go in!

The team In Disguise!

Not sure what's up with this here...  ha!

Our friends, the Rodgers', who moved away from here this past summer were also at the tournament because their son's team was also competing.  We were so happy to see them, but unfortunately due to hectic competition schedules we only saw each other very briefly.  They did come to see Kendra's main challenge performance.

Missie and me!

Randy, Reagan, and Kendra right before her performance

We also had another unexpected supporter!   Kendra's science teacher, Karel Stewart, made the five hour drive down to Katy and spent her own money on a hotel stay to come support the kids!  Can you say OUTSTANDING TEACHER????  The kids were so excited she came, and I know it meant a ton to them because it meant a ton to me as a mom!!!  Karel is one of a kind, to be sure.  Love her!

The kids with Karel!

Lunch at Jason's Deli between challenges.  This is Kendra's good friend, Cami.

After lunch we did a little shopping at Charming Charlie's, an accessories type store here.  The kids were crazy trying on women's dresses, jewelry and shoes.  I ended up with new pair of sunglasses as mine were scratched to bits!  For some reason Blogger is going wacko and won't let me do anything past this picture, so I guess this post becomes two!