American Spectacular Cheer Competition in Houston

Kaitlynn's cheer team, the Bombers, participated in their penultimate competition at the end of March in downtown Houston. We were happy for the convenience of the local venue and even more excited about the fact that all of us would be able to attend the event in person. Slowly but surely, things felt like they were returning to normal and we were finally understanding more about the appeal of the cheer competition world to all of these athletes and their families. While Kaitlynn was never thrilled about the hair and makeup requirements, she LOVED the experience and was always so excited to compete.

One of the first things I learned in the face-to-face competitions is that there is a lot of sitting around and waiting in cheer. Waiting for your teammates to show up, waiting for the team's call-time for warm-ups, waiting for the judges to take their breaks, waiting for the time to take the stage... all that waiting for a 3-minute performance. The ironic thing is that I was never a fan of summer swim leagues for kids because of all the waiting involved between heats, and yet here we are in cheer with WAY more waiting than we ever experienced with the older boys' swim meets. Ha! 

While waiting for warm-ups to begin, you can often find the cheer girls doing a lot of stretching. They have nervous energy to burn and are often goofing around as well, but stretching is always important to help them get warmed up. Kaitlynn and her teammates cracked me up - and made me cringe! - with their stretching routine before the competition.

Jeff and Connor were able to join us for the Bombers' performance, and we had quite a bit more waiting around until the Bombers took the stage. I always enjoy watching the other teams' performances but this particular venue was restricting the crowd due to Covid protocols. 

When it was time for the Bombers to perform, we all cheered loud and proud. Jeff was excited to see the girls for the first time in a while, and Connor was watching for the very first time. By this point in the season, I was getting used to the routine and what to expect during the performance, but I still never could get a good read on what constituted a GREAT showing versus a mediocre one. I would usually ask the other parents afterwards for their opinions, because they seemed to know what types of details to look for and whether the girls "hit" their routine or not. For the Bombers' Day 1 performance, they did well but not their best. We were proud of them regardless!

These cheer competitions are usually a 2-day event with 1 performance on each day. So the next morning, we showed up again at the George R Brown Convention Center to do the competition performance all over again. Kaitlynn was ready for another big day and hoping for improvement from the prior day.

My favorite part of every competition has been the professional photos of the team from their performances. Kaitlynn always has the best expressions and her showmanship really shines through. The photos from this event were no exception, so fun!

The girls did GREAT on their Day 2 performance, but as it turned out, there weren't any other competing teams in their division. That meant only 1 thing - the Bombers were Youth Level 1 National Champions! They each took home the medal and the coveted cheer jacket, and their smiles were never bigger. Now on to the next and final competition of the season!

Visits from Grandparents

In March, we were pleasantly surprised with some springtime visits from some of our favorites - Grandaddy, Grandpa Jerry, and Grandma Cheryl! 

First up was Grandaddy, who suddenly realized that his calendar was over-full from his retirement commitments of house projects and golf games, ha! He wanted to make sure to catch a couple of Connor's high school baseball games, so he made a quick decision to come on down one weekend when Connor had a tournament. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to see Connor play but he did manage to see Connor's skills as the first base coach during a few of his games. It was beautiful weather for baseball and the Katy Tigers easily won all of their tournament games. Grandaddy was also able to watch Kaitlynn do her thing at tumbling, and he was definitely impressed by her progress in the few years since he'd last seen her tumble. Before he left town, Grandaddy also managed to fit in some backyard golf swings to make sure his recent back injury wasn't going to hold him back from his upcoming tournament. 

The very next day after Grandaddy left town, Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Cheryl rolled into Katy in their fancy RV. Just a few days earlier, Cheryl had embarked on her next chapter of retirement, and they were taking a cross-country RV road trip to celebrate her big milestone. We were lucky to be their first stop on a multi-month trip, and no one was happier to greet the grandparents than Kaitlynn. Of course, her excitement might have also had a little something to do with their traveling companions, Moose and Tango. Ha!

It was so wonderful to have Jerry and Cheryl here to visit for the week, although I was sad to miss a big portion of their visit due to my travel schedule for work. Luckily, they were able to see the kids participate in their activities, including a few Katy Tiger baseball games. They were even able to visit with Kevin and see where he lives and works across town. We are so thankful for the amazing grandparents in our life and the ability to see them on occasions like these!

More Neighborhood Fun

With the beautiful spring weather finally upon us, Kaitlynn and her neighborhood friends were taking full advantage of the outdoors. With bike rides, trampolines, swimming pools, trips to nearby parks and stores, and visits from food trucks, there is never a shortage of fun in the 'hood. We are so thankful for our awesome neighbors and the amazing friendships with the kids on our street.

Katy Tiger Baseball

Connor's first season of high school baseball began in February while I was still traveling for work. I tried to arrange my work schedule to see as many games as I could, but I still managed to miss quite a few. Nothing made me happier than to be back home on the weekends to see my boy take the field. 

For the first few weeks of the season, Connor played left field and had an occasional stint as relief pitcher. He wasn't having the greatest luck behind the plate with his at-bats, but he did manage to get on base a lot on walks or an occasional error. In his after-school practices, he was learning so much about base-running and his progress was evident on the field with many stolen bases. It was fun to watch our #16 in action!

Once the season was in full swing, Jeff and I were enjoying the camaraderie with all the parents in the bleachers. We were gradually getting to know the families and their players on the team. We noticed right away that there were a lot of boys not getting much play time, and most of the parents were telling us that their players weren't playing in their usual positions. We were all learning the ins and outs of playing for the school - SO different than what we were used to in the select leagues. We could tell that the competition was tough, and we soaked in every opportunity to see our #16 on the field.

One of the things I enjoyed the most was to see the team camaraderie develop throughout the season. I also loved to see how the players and coaches opened each game with a team prayer. Such a special tradition!

A few weeks into the season, Connor began to see less playing time on the field. It started with an occasional game riding the bench, but towards the middle of the season he was no longer seeing much action at all. It was super disappointing for him at times, but we continued encouraging him to keep working off the field and be ready for any opportunity that came his way. Thank goodness for our personal trainer and coach (Jeff), because even with my heavy travel for work, he was always there to help Connor work on his skills from the cages to the practice field. Those two put in more hours of work during the baseball season than Connor likely has gotten from any of his regular team practices. Before games, after school, and all weekend long, they kept grinding and working hard in hopes of any shot to show Connor's coaches what he could do. Only time would tell if he would get additional opportunities on the field.