District Spelling Bee

We got up bright and early today so we could take Joseph to the district spelling bee. That place was crazy crowded. There were about 250 kids participating. Joseph and I went in and found his table and I waited with him until it was time for the parents to leave.
Here's Joseph getting some instructions from Mrs. MacDonald.

Joseph, Mylz., Vy, and Beth.

I took Joseph out for a quick bathroom break and grabbed Rick's phone so I could take pictures. Rick came up to the door and gave Joseph a big hug and wished him good luck. All of the sponsors inside just watched and said, "Awwww! That is the sweetest Hallmark moment! We should have gotten a picture of that!" It was pretty funny.
Joseph and Mylz doing some last minute studying together.

Getting ready for the written test.

Think he's ready.

Rumor has it (from his sponsor as well as a few others there we didn't know but told us when they found out how he was 7 years old) that Joseph was the youngest person competing today.
We left him and then came back a few hours later to see how he did on the written test. Everyone said the hardest words were "Gesundheit" and "baccalaureate" which Joseph didn't think he got right. I've failed him! I thought he knew how to spell Gesundheit, but I guess not. He does now!  The top 25 from the written test go on to the oral round. Joseph didn't make it to that. There were about 4-5 Elementary aged kids who went on to the oral round, the rest were in Middle School. The kid who came in 1st place on the written test has gotten 1st place for the last 3 years. That is impressive!
Joseph had lots of fun at the bee and it was a great experience for him. We don't know how he placed but he got somewhere between 26th and 250th. His 2nd grade teacher told us that Mrs. MacDonald told him that he did "incredible" but we don't know what that means quantitatively. We do however, think he is pretty incredible and we are glad he was able to participate!
Way to go, Joseph!