Viva...Grand Island?

This weekend we packed up the family and did a road trip to Grand Island, Nebraska for a Gymnastics Competition. As you can see from the picture above, it was not the usual sing-a-long in the car, where families play the alphabet game and continually say, "are we there yet?" Mayah, Ava and I fell a sleep the second we got in the car and didn't wake up until our exit in Grand Island. That left Clint with enough time to flip through all 170+ XM channels and recite the dictionary. We got to the dump of a hotel we booked because it was the only one with an indoor pool and close proximity to the Gym. We had a good time hanging out in the pool and hot tub, but there was a team of 12 year old basketball players staying on our hall. They were running the halls, making noise until all hours of the night, when I finally opened our door and hollered a warning down the hall. The kids seemed to settle down after some time, although the parent social hour continued until long after we finally fell asleep. We got up early and headed to Mayah's competition. There were girls from all over the state at around the same level. Mayah competed on the Beam, the Bars, the Vault, and the Floor Routine. She has improved a lot since her first competition a month or so ago. She must have gotten a taste of what competitions are like, and knew she wanted to win...because she's been practicing parts of her routines all over the house, every day. At her level, they do not actually give a numbered score for the girls, or place them (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc). Instead they give them ribbons that signify their proficiency. Blue is the highest level, followed by red, then a few other colors. Last time, Mayah got a blue on the vault, and reds on everything else. This time, she got all blues! They also did a head stand competition, and Mayah placed 4th. We are so proud of Mayah. She came focused, ready to compete, and she was the most graceful, best prepared, naturally gifted, all around little gymnast in that place! I think she has a bright future ahead of her in gymnastics. She better work hard, cause Ava is going to be trying to compete with her before we know it. She is already dying to get out on that floor, as she points and says, "nastics." When Mayah is practicing at home, if she falls down, Ava says, "do over, do over."