Britian's Got Talent and We are Tired

Skip and I picked up Maddie at school on Friday and headed to Birmingham to see the very first performance of the Britian's Got Talent Live tour. It was really good. Very much a family night out for a lot of people. The first half they had most of the finalists come out and do what they had done on the show, and that was fun. But the second half, they mixed it up and had different acts perform together. They really pulled out some surprises and made some really good match-ups. We laughed a lot. The whole thing was really well done. Susan Boyle (who was rumored to have bowed out of the whole thing) was there and did a superb job, but the other folks were much more entertaining. Great dancers. Great kid singers. All of them were really excited to be there and kind of in awe that they have this opportunity. That made it even more fun to watch.

Maddie's favorite was dancer Aidan Davis. He is amazing and even better in person.

And the big winners this year are the dance troupe Diversity.

But our family favorite is the father/son team of Stavros Flatly.

I had my cultural assumptions kicked to the curb after watching the audience. Generally when I see Islamic women who cover their hair, I think about what an oppressive and sexist culture they must live in. But last night there were several groups of young women at the show together (all wearing headscarves). They were laughing and taking pictures and screaming with all the rest of the people. The kicker was the woman who topped her hijab with a pink, fur trimmed cowboy hat. So I learned that religious Muslim women are not without a sense of whimsy!

And as all our nights out and vacations in the UK seem to end--we hit construction and traffic on the way home. What should have been less than a two-hour drive home turned in to three-and-a-half. It was 1:30 in the morning before we pulled on to our street. Fortunately, Maddie slept in the car. I, however, not only drove home, but got up this morning and got back in the car to take Maddie to a friends birthday party that was almost an hour away. Ugggg.

This evening, we went and had dinner at the Park Club and Skip got to watch a local team play cricket and Maddie played on the playground. It's been a beautiful day, although, I've been a little too tired to fully appreciate it. Just finished making two pecan pies to take to church tomorrow for a potluck. Two pastors from India will be guests at church, and the pastor's wife will be preaching as part of the lay pastor program she is doing. Tony (the pastor) asked if, for the sake of their marriage, I could be the one to offer feed back afterward. :)