Saturday
The day didn't start off the way I would have liked because I decided to take the word of 'fer rather than checking it out on my own. I don't blame him... really. I should have checked becuase I had a suspicion. Instead, I left on the premise that Indiana was 1 hour behind Ohio. They're not. They're only an hour difference during DST which doesn't start for a couple of weeks. So, I left the house on Saturday morning thinking I had about an hour to spare. Unfortunately, that caused me to miss BBCK's first performance.I did arrive just in time for lunch, though. I ate lunch with some of the Cheer-moms and BBCK's mom and grandma.
Then, I got the $0.02 tour of the convention center before we headed to one of the performance halls where I spent most of the time.
Between performances, we had to fight through VERY crowded hallways to get from one hall to the other. They held the dance competition at the opposite end of a rather long hallway. Here is one picture that I took when it struck me that the hallway was less crowded than the other times.
Later in the day, BBCK had to do her dance routine. I didn't miss that. Here are some pictures from the dance. Some are from Saturday and some are from Sunday.
   
BBCK and her friend (whom I can't understand to save my life)
And, I was able to get one picture of BBCK during her cheer routine, and one picture of the awards ceremony where the Jr. team was awarded with a 5th place trophy.
 
I wish I had taken more, but I was too busy screaming and whistling to cheer on the team(s).BBCK had fun. That was the important thing. They didn't do very well in the rankings when it was all said and done, but the kids that did win put in so much work that there is no way that a 'casual' team like the Sparks could ever win. I talked to one girl who's team did really well and she said that their practice schedule included two days a week for 2 and 1/2 hours at a time for just one of the squads she was on. Plus, they have open-gym and tumbling that they're encouraged to go to when they have free time. One of the other parents talked to someone who's team practices 5 days a week, 3 hours a day. There has to come a point where the kids no longer enjoy it. I'm just glad that Sparks isn't militant like that. The hotel... wow. I stayed at a Westin hotel. It wasn't cheap, but I must say, you get what you pay for. The sheets were 300 thread count. The Douvet was about 8 inches thick and stuffed with down. There was a robe in the closet that I never wore. There was a rip-you-off-because-you're-too-lazy-to-go-anywhere bar. The TV was a 32 inch flat screen. The shower had a dual head thingee... it was really nice. Yesterday, the awards cermonies were running behind and the last one that I saw was BBCK's dance award. After that I left. The team stayed for the final awards and they all rode back to T-town on the chartered busses. I got in at about 1am and got a 2 hour nap before BBCK's bus arrived at 4:00. BBCK didn't hit the sack until 4:30 or so. We let her stay home from school today. I'm not real happy about that, but there wasn't much else that could be done. Okay... I'm tired of typing. I'm tired, period. |
sopops Thu Mar 17 01:35:51 PM 
BizB Thu Mar 17 11:22:35 AM 
Betty Boop Thu Mar 17 08:36:11 AM 
