Valentine's Day Fun

Even with Valentine's Day, the hard work for competition cheer never stopped. This Phantom team was giving everything they had to work on their performance for the two biggest competitions of the season, right around the corner. But they made sure to celebrate Valentine's Day with some pink and red-themed practice gear during their week of practices. Go Phantom!

As for Connor, his Valentine's Day looked different this year as he was celebrating for the very first time with a girlfriend. He and Marie exchanged some gifts and enjoyed a nice dinner together for their Valentine's Day date. Anyone who knows Connor understands that he must really like her a lot to get dressed up like this, ha! They sure make a cute couple!

And even though this isn't Valentine's-related, I couldn't help sharing the last photo taken of our Katy Tigers Sophomore basketball team. I'm not even sure where this photo came from, but this team meant a lot to us (and Connor) this year and we know it was the last time they'll all play together. In the theme of "love" for Valentine's Day, we loved every moment of Connor's time on the court with these guys and will surely miss seeing them all play together in the years to come. 

ACA National Championship - Fort Worth

We had only JUST gotten back from Kaitlynn's cheer competition in Oklahoma City, and it was already time to prepare for the next one on the very next weekend in Fort Worth, the American Cheerleader Association (ACA) National Championship. During the week of practices leading up to a competition, the team parents prepare spirit gifts for the girls to get them excited for the event ahead. It's an exciting way to encourage the athletes, and usually the gifts come with a variety of personalized products. Yet another thing that adds to the expense of this activity, ha! 

On this particular weekend, we had an unexpected winter storm blow through the state of Texas. School was cancelled on the Friday before the competition, and there were a lot of last minute changes to the competition schedule. What was supposed to be a full weekend competition was changed to a 1-day event on Sunday, which turned out to be a huge blessing for Kaitlynn. She had suddenly come down with 104 fever a few days earlier, and we were worried that she wasn't going to be able to compete at all. We later found out she had the flu, but we immediately pumped her full of vitamins and she ended up making a super quick recovery. We were thankful for the delay in the competition, and we set off for our quick trip to Fort Worth amidst the freezing cold weather and snow-covered landscape.

When we reached Fort Worth on Saturday afternoon, we had some free time and made an impromptu visit to Jeb and Alli's house in Haslet. The timing worked out for us to see their brand new litter of puppies - the Millets, as they are affectionally called - and they were just as cute as could be! Kaitlynn wore a facemask to make sure she didn't spread any germs, but she was SO excited to see her cousins and get some puppy love all in the same visit. Precious!

Later in the evening, we made it to our hotel in downtown Fort Worth near the water gardens and in walking distance to some fun spots to eat and shop. It was a very cold weekend but the sunshine was plentiful. The next day, Kaitlynn's team wasn't scheduled to compete until 7:00 pm that night - so late! And even though Kaitlynn was up half the night with a horrible cough, we got up early to head over to the convention center and scope out the arena where they would be competing. We ran into several of her teammates who were supporting fellow teams, and then we were able to explore more of the downtown area for some lunch and snacks while we killed time during the day. It was really fun to have the extra down time together.

 

After a late lunch, we went back to our hotel to begin her "construction" process with hair and makeup. This competition felt so different with our late night performance time, and it really threw off our usual routine. But we made sure to snap some photos once she was ready and then we met up with the rest of the Phantom squad. With delays in the event schedule, Phantom didn't perform until around 9:30-10:00 pm that Sunday night, which was the most insane thing to me! After all, the next day was a school day for these girls, ouch! But hey, we do it all for the love of the sport, right?!

Phantom was one of the very last teams to perform on the late Sunday night competition, but it was all worth it when they earned the title of "ACA National Champion" in their division. They took home these amazing jackets and medals, and despite their exhaustion, they all had huge smiles on their faces. Go Phantom!

With such a late night, we opted to stay one more night in Fort Worth and head home the next morning for Kaitlynn to return to school mid-day. Our drive took us through College Station right before lunchtime, and we decided to stop at one of our favorite lunch spots for sandwiches and pizza. We didn't know it at the time, but this visit would be the first of many mother-daughter Newk's lunches where Kaitlynn would order and easily finish 2 of the adult-sized pizzas. Can someone say, growth spurt?! She sure looked good eating those pizzas in her brand new, hard earned ACA Champions jacket! 

American Spirit Championship in Oklahoma City

I mentioned in an earlier post that Kaitlynn was about to kick off an intense stretch of cheer competitions, and that stretch began with our first 2022 event in Oklahoma City, the American Spirit Championship. Even though it was quite the drive for us from the Houston area, I think the Oklahoma-based competition will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the Tulsa competition a year ago where I had my "a-ha" moment, finally understanding the love and draw to this sport that we find ourselves in. Because of this, Kaitlynn and I were excited to hit the road on a Friday afternoon in late January to see what Oklahoma had in store for us in our second season of competitive cheer.

It was a much easier drive this year, and we had a full night's sleep before getting up the next morning to begin preparations for Day 1 of competition. After enjoying a to-go breakfast from the downstairs restaurant in the comfort of our hotel room - which would soon become our new favorite way to enjoy breakfast at these competitions - we began the "construction" process of hair and makeup to complete Kaitlynn's full look. She wasn't fully comfortable doing it on her own yet, but we soaked in the time together as I helped to get her ready. Afterwards, we took advantage of our hard work and some extra time to perform a mini photo shoot in our room. Love this girl and her performance-ready looks!

We were staying in a hotel downtown that was within walking distance to the conference center. It was a chilly but beautiful morning, and the downtown area was surprisingly clean and beautiful compared to most cities we've visited. We enjoyed our brisk walk and arrived at the convention center ready to explore and see the ASC performance arena. We later learned that this was a relatively new facility, which was evident in the modern and clean facilities - very nice!

Soon enough, it was time to meet up with Kaitlynn's team to begin warmups for their performance. It seems like no warmup is complete without lots of impromptu stunting and photo-taking, ha! The Phantom girls were excited and ready for their big weekend ahead! 

Soon it was time for the girls to compete, and their Day 1 performance fell a little short of what they'd hoped. But they set aside their disappointment in order to support several of their fellow Woodlands Elite athletes on other teams. The outpouring of spirit and support across the cheer community continues to impress us - it truly is a big family environment!

After watching and supporting many of our fellow teams, Kaitlynn and I decided to head back to our hotel room to change and head out for some dinner. When Kaitlynn took down her hair and wiped off her makeup, she looked so grown up that I couldn't resist taking more photos. This girl - growing into a beautiful young lady right before my eyes. Sniff sniff.

The next morning, it was time to get up and do the entire routine all over again for Day 2 of the ASC competition. It was another beautiful winter day, chilly but sunny and beautiful. We really enjoyed the downtown experience, and we decided to arrive early to watch some of the performances in the other divisions and teams. Kaitlynn was getting to know some of her teammates and also enjoying extra time with them as they supported their fellow teams. The atmosphere at these competitions is always electric, and we soaked in the full experience.

At the end of the day and despite a great showing on Day 2, our Phantom team was disappointed in their overall score and performance. It was nothing a little Dippin' Dots couldn't cure, and then we were on our way back home after an exhausting weekend. When the professional photos arrived a few days later, it was fun to relive the experience. Our girl is a natural performer and her joy for this sport shines through in the amazing pictures. We felt so proud of this Phantom team and had so much more in store for their competition season ahead.