So, I met Kristen, Brynlee, and their teacher, Larisa Somers at the school early on Thursday morning to travel to Denver. The girls rode with Ms. Somers while I carried cargo. Ms. Somers was on the directors board for the event and needed to be at the Convention Center in Denver early on Thursday morning, which meant that we were there early as well. We dropped off some of the supplies for registration and then tried to find parking (we may have gone around blocks a couple of times before finding the right street, but at least I was following Ms. Somers and not the lost one).
Since we had so much time, Kristen, Brynlee and I headed out for the morning to check out the 16th Street Mall and to get lunch at Subway.
By the time the event finally got started at 2 pm, the girls had already spent most of the day just hanging out. The Convention Center was packed with kids. I listened in with their clinician as the first workshop started and was immediately impressed by his skill and by the kids' musical talent.
For most of the afternoon, I worked on my garden plan outside in the lobby area where they had comfier seating. I wasn't able to sit for too long on those hard chairs.
The first workshop session last 2 1/2 hours and the girls were tired, thirsty, and hungry. We gathered overnight bags from the cars and headed over to the Hilton Garden Inn to check in. Kristen and Brynlee were in room 1210 and Ms. Somers was next door in 1208.
We had dinner together at Modern Market (Ms. Somers had food allergies so we had to pick a place that she could find food as well). On the way back to the hotel, they all picked out some breakfast foods for the morning since their hotel did not include a free breakfast.
I dropped the girls and Ms. Somers off at the Convention Center for their evening workshop and then drove home. I was grateful that I didn't have to wait until 10 pm before being able to leave.