Swim Season has Begun!

Eric emptied the pool, scrubbed it clean, and put in a cool multi colored light this past week.  He was sweet enough to heat it up for the girls this weekend to begin the swimming season.  It was still a little cold for the girls, but that didn't stop them from having a good time.

 

Chloe was hanging out by the hot water.

Playing with the new squirt gun.

 Eric getting into the fun:

Let's see how long the swim season is this year!

State Gymnastics Meet in Reno

We left for Reno Saturday morning with Mackenzie and her mom.  The 7.5 hour drive went by fairly quickly which was a surprise.  We got in pretty late to the Grand Sierra Hotel Casino so all we did was eat before going to bed.

We had a slow Sunday morning since the girls didn't have to compete until 12:30.  Here they are Sunday morning having fun with games.

Looking cute with curlers.

Each of the participants received a bag with a State Meet water bottle, coupons to laser tag and bowling at the casino, and even a snack.  The girls loved their goodie bag!

Loving the goodie bag

Before the competition begins, each team comes out and is introduced.  Here are the Xcel girls (who decided to compete at state) from Go For It USA.

Girls from Xcel Bronze, Silver, and Gold

Umm, our girls look tiny tiny!

Etta's first event was bars.  I didn't think she did great since her ankles came apart and her knees were bent on the dismount, but it was her highest bars score to do, 9.05.

 

Next was beam, it's the worst video I took since we are far away plus her coach is right in front of Etta during the beginning of the routine.  The one goal I gave Etta for the meet was not to fall from the beam, which she was successful with.  However, the routine just looked sloppy.  She got an 8.65

We had great seats for the floor routine.  She looked super cute, but ended really early.  She scored an 8.95.

The girls get a couple of practice vaults before competing in front of the judge.  She was doing great until one vault her hand either slipped or missed the mat and would have fallen on her head if her coach hadn't caught her.  Scary.  She ended up having a really good vault but still scored low 8.8.  I heard the judge that hates Go For It was one of the judges, so I suppose that would be one reason for the low score.

Andrea and I had great seats for the awards.  Unfortunately I think there was a mistake because the girl that won most events and took first All Award was listed as a Junior but was in the Child group when the awards were handed up. Oh well.

BFF got 1st on bars & Etta got 2nd.

Etta got 3rd on Beam

2nd on floor

3rd on vault

Etta ended up getting 3rd All Around and got 5 medals.  She was pretty happy but would have liked to have won one event.  I'm happy with how she performed, but not happy with the scores.  But, I'm a mom and not a judge.

Having fun taking pictures after the awards ceremony.

That evening we took the girls to play a game of bowling.  Etta had a blast!

Eric's Promotion Party

After several delays, we finally had Eric's promotion party.  Pretty much just friends showed up and we enjoyed good food, friends, and a little entertainment.  Not sure how many people knew, but Eric wanted sumo suits at our wedding reception.  Obviously for those of you who attended, we didn't have sumo suits.  So, when it was time to plan this party I suggested he look into renting sumo suits.  He was like a kid in the candy store, all smiles.  It's funny though, the grown ups weren't the only ones that had fun playing with the suits.

 

A little small for it, but dang they loved playing in it.

Steve and Matt taking a turn.

 Next, Eric and Mojo.

 It was so funny watching this!

 Mojo went down two times.

 Oops, Mojo took Eric down the last round!

 

One of my favorite things I made at the party was a somoa cocktail inspired by the girl scout cookie.  Yummy!  Click the link if you are interested in making one yourself.  Just a friendly note, it is dessert in a cup.

Just another shout out to Eric, congrats on making Lieutenant Colonel!

Vegas Valley Preliminary Pageant

Chloe hasn't done a pageant in over a year and she has asked several times to do another one.  Again I told her I'd only pay for her entry fee if she's practice at home.  I was amazed that she did!  So, she was scheduled to do a pageant Friday evening at Sam's Town Casino while Etta was at gymnastics lessons but Etta has sprained her ankle again.  Etta came along to cheer Chloe on as well as help around the pageant as reigning royalty, which Etta loves!

It's great that Chloe can wear all of Etta's hand me downs from last year.  Here she is getting ready for her closed door interview with the judges.  Her favorite lemur stuffed animal came to keep her company.

 

The tot group just before interviews.

 Cheering on Chloe from the audience.

After interview, modeling in casual wear and party dress, as well as on stage interview (which didn't go so great, might have had something to do with the fact that it was about 8:30 and an hour after her normal bedtime) the girls did the disco Cindy.  I have so much fun watching them dance!

While waiting for the awards, the girls showed some sisterly love.  I have proof that they love each other!

First are optional awards (separate from the overall awards) and Chloe won for prettiest party dress.  Yeah, this is the one Etta wore to state so I knew it was a good one for Chloe to wear.

Then came the tot group and I was surprised she won one of the four awards, Tot Photogenic.  I did turn in an awesome head shot of her so that must have done it!  She was so happy to win a crown, sash, trophy, and stuffed frog!

 Happy Chloe!

Here are all the girls for a group photo.  Etta will do one more score card only pageant next month as practice for State.  Etta wishes State were sooner but it gives her time to become more and more comfortable on stage.  If anyone is wondering if Chloe is going to state, the answer is 'no'.  Etta and Chloe would be against each other and Chloe has a hard enough time spending several hours at a pageant.   Five days would be way too long for her.

Contortion & Dare to Dream Meet

Saturday was a busy day.  Etta had contortion class followed by a gymnastics meet at their own gym.  Here are a few video's of Etta at contortion class.  I just need to start video taping every time Zula puts her hands on Etta.  I missed one that was CRAZY.  She was basically into a tight circle laying down.  You could hear all the parents going "Uhhhh" because of the unusual position she was  molded into.

 

This was the first gymnastics meet Eric came to so it was exciting for Etta.  Since our gym Go For It was hosting they had plenty of room for a play gym off to the side for younger siblings to play in during the meet.  So, we pretty much didn't see Chloe unless she was thirsty or hungry.  It was awesome!

Etta during warm up.

Etta blowing kisses while warming up with Coach Ashley.

Etta started with vault and got a personal best, a 9.2 which was 4th place out of nine girls.

Next was bars but it was too far away for me to get a video of it. However Eric got a picture with the zoom lens.  She got a personal best on bars as well, an 8.95 (7th place).  She didn't have the best landing on her dismount and I'm thinking it needs to be changed for state in two weeks.

The third event was beam which is Etta's most difficult event since she is so loose (probably due to her flexibility.  I always tell her. "don't fall" just to keep her score from being terribly low.  She didn't fall but you'll notice on her handstand her hands were way too close to her feet and she didn't get her feet all the way up or together.  She ended up with an 8.65 (7th place).

 Her last event was floor which I thought was her best event.  I thought she was going to have a solid high score but was surprised to see an 8.9.  She ended up getting 7th place as well.

Etta was actually grouped with the older girls in the Xcel bronze which was really hard.  There was one other girl a few months younger than Etta (but she practices 16 hours a week (not the 6 hours bronze class) at our gym but is allowed to compete bronze...can you see my frustration?) but everyone else was a good head to a foot taller.  Competing has not been good for Etta's confidence in gymnastics.  I continue to tell her how proud I am regardless of where she places, but she doesn't understand her scores in relationship to where she stands on the podium.  It's slightly heart breaking.

Here she is getting her ribbon for vault.

I love this picture. It's like a first grade problem.  'Circle the one that doesn't belong in the group'.

Etta won 7th place All Around out of a group of 9.  I'm proud of how well she performed yesterday!