DI Global Finals--May 23

Friday night after our jaunt to Gatlinburg, the kids swam in the hotel pool.  It was freezing.  But they didn't seem to mind.  We were patiently waiting for our other guests to arrive...

 Erin and Brad drove over from Nashville to spend some time with us at Globals!  They are pretty awesome.  Anna's cheering section just kept growing.

 Saturday morning while the team was on campus for their Instant Challenge, we drove to campus to pick up Erin and Brad's credentials.  Tennessee residents got in free!  Even better.  The kids played at the Expo for a bit since we were down there.

 Then we HAD to drive across the street to visit the 2-story Publix.  It had an escalator just for your shopping cart since the parking garage was below the store.  This was a highlight of the week.  Seriously.  They don't have these contraptions in our neck of the woods.

 One of the kids' favorite parts about DI competitions--Globals in particular--is the pin trading.  After their Instant Challenge, the kids stayed on campus and traded pins.  Mrs. Mackey said the group would not leave until Anna had her last pin from the China collection.  What an amazing experience to meet and trade pins with people from all over the globe.

Ms. Milkie and Mrs. Mackey were such a great team!

Faith's mom organized a photo scavenger hunt in the hotel for Saturday afternoon.  The kids had a ball, and they even included siblings when they put the teams together! 

Saturday night was the Global Finals closing ceremonies.  Metzler didn't place in the top 10, but we are so proud of these kids and how far they made it.  What an incredible experience.

The DInamite Reborn had a really big cheering section.  Probably half of the section were Anna's relatives.  She's one blessed girl.

Thomas had a hotel admirer from Doha, Qatar named Tomim.  This little guy followed Thomas everywhere, and he could talk to a fence post, this kid.  He had such an infectious personality.  He and Thomas exchanged Facetime information, and have already talked a couple times.  Tomim hasn't gotten the time difference yet, or that their weekends aren't the same as ours.  Thomas has school on Friday morning, kid...