"THIS is American Idol" (Say it like Ryan Seacrest)

I have been hounding my niece to audition for American Idol for a couple of years now.  When they announced that they were bringing a bus to smaller town venues and that our town would be one of them, I once again started hounding her, even offering up dinner at Dos Machos!  She took me up on the offer and came to town yesterday with her mom, brother, and friend, Brady.  Her brother, Jared, also decided to audition, but since he's under 18 needed my sister to come with him.  Win-win for me!

Today we headed to the Zoo for the audition.  We arrived at 9:00--the time the paperwork said to arrive--and were at the end of a long line.  But as we stood there lots of other people arrived after us.  We were outside the zoo in this line for a couple of hours.  It was HOT out there!  

The princess came to cheer on her cousins!

Waiting...

We had moved up in line, 

but sometimes you have to get your cousin to hold your place in line 

because it's hot, and you need a break!

Eventually we had a bag check--no guns, drugs or alcohol allowed-- 

and we moved inside the zoo.

The next line was under this big (blurry) tent, which was much cooler.  

They were here for over an hour.

All kinds of "animals" checked out the action.

Finally, they were moved to the final line.  

Now they knew they would sing soon.

No family allowed in this line.

That's Becky w/the umbrella and Jared to her right.

It was sort of ridiculous that they had to stand out in the sun

 because there was a lot of room under the tent!

Check it out!

The American Idol bus.

Dude in white coat was auditioning too and had auditioned 

before so had great advice and stories to tell.  

People in line were very nice to each other.  

Finally it was their turn.  There was another tent set up on the other side of the bus also doing auditions. They went in groups of 4 but each sang alone.  The guy on the far left is the producer.  The lady in light blue is filming them.  Everyone sang great.  The bar was raised really high.  No one in our group made it through, but we think the kids' cheer coach might have.  The producer told them afterward they they all had very good voices but not good enough for the level they were looking for here.

As promised, lunch afterward at Dos Machos!