Nighthawks at Summit

Fresh off from Senior Awards Night, I boarded a plane to rush to Orlando to join Kaitlynn and the Nighthawks for their end of season performance at the Summit competition at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports. Earlier in the week, our Nighthawks had put on an amazing performance at their Summit Showcase, and they were ready to hit the stage for the season's ultimate competition at Walt Disney World!

Side note: as we were now officially days away from Connor's high school graduation, I may or may not have been overly emotional during the Summit Showcase while the coaches announced and presented the graduating seniors. I have no idea why it hit me THEN, but I spent the last moments of Kaitlynn's showcase in tears at the thought of these seniors (and my own senior!) graduating and leaving cheer for good!

This was our second year at the Summit, and Kaitlynn and I were so excited for our weekend together. I had barely arrived in Orlando and it was time to pick up my girl (staying with a friend) and head to the ESPN campus at Disney World. The Nighthawks were set to perform against dozens of other teams, and the nerves and excitement were high! 

When it was time to take the stage, the Nighthawks put on a show! Their weird and kooky alien theme came to light on the stage, and while they didn't perform their best routine, they still hit a zero deduction routine and looked great against their competition. Later in the day - MUCH later - we found out that the Nighthawks had advanced to finals and would compete again the following day! Woohoo, let's go Nighthawks!!

After their Day 1 performance, Kaitlynn and I headed to the CityWalk area outside Universal Studios for some fun and food during our down time. We were looking forward to spending more time at Universal in the coming days!

Back at ESPN, the Nighthawks hit the stage for their Day 2 performance in the Finals round, and they hit another zero deduction routine! They had improved over their Day 1 routine, but in the end, they fell short of their expectations and landed in 8th place. Considering their competition from across the globe, 8th in the world was an amazing outcome! Kaitlynn was happy that they had moved up in the order from Day 1 and earned their Finals banner and pins. It had been a great season for the Nighthawks, and it was now officially over.