Well this was a cultural experience to say the least! By winning her school spelling bee back in December, Abbey was able to participate in the Memphis-Shelby County Spelling Bee along with over 150 other kids ranging in age from 2nd to 8th grade. The 2nd grader was the youngest participant ever and was such a cutie. He was 6 years old! There were a handful of 3rd and 4th graders but mostly 5th-8th. We had to be there at 8 in the morning to get signed in and so Abbey could get her seat on the stage along with all the other kids. They had this huge screen with all of the kids pictures flashing up before it started, and then once the Bee got going, they would keep the picture up when each speller came to the stage. Before I knew they would do that, it took me at least 20 minutes to figure out what order the pictures were flashing up in (alphabetically by school, NOT last name) and then another 10 minutes to manage to take the picture of Abbey's picture before it flashed off....
We were packed in the auditorium like sardines and the chairs were not exactly comfortable but even Naomi hung in there (thanks to Abbeys' DS and lots of coloring supplies that Annie brought). Abbey was number 22 out of 156 and made it through the third round along with about 45 other kids. We were very proud of her to have made it to the top third especially with some of the crazy words those kids were having to spell!
I was a little afraid that our super-competitive daughter would be disappointed not to have gone further, but considering that the rounds she made it through took almost 3 hours (no, I"m not kidding!), she was ready to get off that stage! The word she missed was innocuous which now we all know how to spell. I honestly thought it was one she studied and that she missed it on purpose just to get off the stage, but she promises that is not true :)
Great job AJ!
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