Phillip Phillips Idol Homecoming

So Idol-mania *DID* take over our tiny town yesterday. :-D A BFF of mine from Orlando loooves P2 and has said for a couple months now that if he made it to hometowns, she was coming up...and she DID! It was *such* a good excuse to get to see each other for the first time in almost 7 years!!!

We recreated our TiaraFest 2003:

[Sept 2003 - we were mid 20's & pre-kids! :-D]

much sweeter with our daughters:

Then we headed out to the high school stadium for the concert:

If you want to see better-than-any-I-took, non-cell-phone concert pics, click here! We thought he'd only do 2-4 songs, but he played for ages, including songs he's done on the show - Thriller, Superstitious, Volcano (the best!), etc. The one disappointment: no big announcement from one of the judges re: their song choice for him for the week. Do they not do that anymore?

The weather was GREAT: deceptive cloud cover (yes, we all got sun - oops! :-P It was supposed to rain, but completely held off!) 84°F and sweet breezes. The concert started *TWO HOURS* late - 5 PM instead of 3, which was less than pleasant with a 5, 6, & 7 year old; but the good part was that they got to run, play tag, and do cartwheels all over the football field. :-) I have to say, the whole event - while exciting - was completely exhausting. I felt (& still feel!) more drained & tired than after teaching a day of multiple Zumba classes. Honestly.

We recharged at the most apropos place I could think of: the now-famous :-P El Maya!

Mmmmmm...chips & cheese dip! :-D (P2 went earlier. ;-))