National Champions, BABAAYYYYY !!

Whew, I'm getting ahead of myself!  Grab a beverage & settle in - this is gonna be a long one!  I am so proud I could just bust!

OK?  We left right as planned at noon on Friday.  It wouldn't be a road trip without at least one deviation from the route.  I75 in Detroit is stupid that you have to exit 75 in order to stay on 75.  Traffic was backed up there and I totally missed the exit, so we ended up in the middle of downtown.  We passed right by the Renaissance Center, Joe Louis' fist and went under Cobo Hall.  Luckily, the next exit also took us to 75, so we had just taken the scenic route. 

 The rest of the trip was uneventful, even thru the construction zones (aka half of Ohio).  We cruised along nicely until we hit Cincinnati and it crawled.  And then I missed the exit to cross the bridge to Kentucky and we ended up touring the Cinci riverfront area and what I suppose was the ghetto.  I've taken us thru the worst parts of Detroit, so this wasn't bad or scary at all!  And of course my phone was almost dead, so I barely was able to check the map app and get us back where we needed to be.  I am so glad that all Hampton Inns look similar, because once we rounded that bend in Wilder, KY - it stood there like the Holy Grail!

My friend and partner in crime Laura arrived with Mal & Hailee not long after we got there.   Friday night they had to meet at the convention center and got some practice time in.  Then we went out for a team dinner at Olive Garden.

 Saturday was the 1st day of the adventure.  I have to say I wish all dance comps were run as well & smoothly as this one!  For being such a large venue & event - it was so nice!!  They did awards for 5 or 6 divisions at a time throughout the day on Sunday so there wasn't a long boring ceremony at the end.  It was interesting that for each dance, they entered and left at the front of the stage, and there was a VIP section in front of the stage for friends, family & teammates to watch, take pics or video!!  And the coaches were allowed to yell corrections & counts out to the team if they wanted!  I'd never heard of that being allowed before.

OMG, they had cowbells for sale at the table with the t-shirts & stuff!  How could I not get one??  Angel told me later that the other girls loved me & my cowbell!  Every time I saw them, I'd ring it & yell "WooHooo" at them.

So they competed both days.  They should have been done after hiphop on Saturday but no.  As Laura & I were waiting, first I get a text that they're going over the dances (thanks videos!!), then I get a call from Angel telling us to come upstairs fast, Hailee was in a stretcher!  Of course Hailee was the only kid whose mom couldn't make the trip, so she came with Laura and was staying in our room!  As they went over their dances, she twisted her bad knee and couldn't walk.  It took some discussion with Laura, Hailee, Coach Jon & the EMTs about what to do.  Laura ended up taking her back to the hotel so she could rest and then wait to see how she felt Sunday morning.  She seemed perfectly fine when she got up.  She wore her heavy-duty knee brace and took her prescription anti-inflammatories that she'd forgotten the day before.

Waiting to go onstage for lyrical. 

 Angel kind of stands out as the only blonde, 

even in my crappy screen-shot from a video pics!

 Waiting for pom.  It so weird to see them dressed like this!!
I think the bows throw me off. 

 Waiting to go on for hiphop.

 I got some cool pics, but in my opinion, it wasn't the hip-hoppiest dance ever.  

The music started out too jazz-like. 

 Only she could take this moment to strike a pose for the photographer!!
I showed her this and just said "really?" And she told me that she looked up and the photographer was right there with the camera pointed at her, so she had to smile! 

She's on the far left - she's so proud of her upside-down twerking skillz.

 This part scares me every time!  

Her ankle is still touchy. 

 There were only 2 teams doing senior small group lyrical.  The other team is from Port Huron, MI and had beat the Movement Project at the last comp.  

Suddenly it became a rivalry! 

 Awards were the tensest few moments ever!  I can only imagine how those girls felt - since I felt like I was either going to cry or throw up.  The emceee did the drumroll, then commented the score had been really close (it was - they won only by .10 of a point!!) and then paused. AAARGH!  Then he announced the second place winner & it took him saying the first part of the other team's name before it sank in and I started jumping up & down and screaming - as were all the other moms!

This is a crappy pic because I was shaking & screaming, 

but I love it since it so perfectly shows the emotion of the moment!!

 Fancy jackets, gold medals, a banner and a giant team trophy! 

 There were 5 teams in their pom division - and they came out with 3rd place bronze medals and a smaller trophy.  Not too shabby!

All the graduating seniors got special pins, also.  

 Heehee - Laura's selfie in the car after lunch

 Hey!  I finally caught the whole team!  Waiting on awards for hiphop.  They got 12th out of 15 dances.  They were pleasantly surprised with the outcome. And best of all - they beat that Port Huron team in every dance! 

Sunday Laura & I were sitting in the audience, watching other dances when Angel suddenly appeared next to me.  She tried to look all sweet when she asked how much I loved her?  I never know how to answer this question, since I know something happened that I will not be happy about.  Sure enough. She left her bra for hiphop back in the hotel.  Luckily they were getting ready really early so I had plenty of time to go back and get it without freaking out or stressing.

The were done with their awards fairly early, so we were hoping to get back to the hotel somewhat early.  But they wanted to stay til the end to find out who got all the "Bids to Worlds" which are paid entries to the World Finals this year.  So once we were ~finally~ done there at 10pm - we went in search of food.

One of my FB friends had commented on a post that we should hurry & get out of the area because winter weather was coming in.  I was honestly surprised that Randy hadn't said anything, since he always keeps an eye on stuff like that!  We had most of our stuff packed up Sunday night, but when I got up at 7:30, snow had already started.  So we hustled.  Let's just say that I checked my phone on the way home (Angel was driving so it's OK!) and less than an hour after we'd left the hotel, they had issued a level 2 snow emergency.  No one on the roads unless necessary!  Whew!!  We outran it as we came north.  We actually got thru Cinci faster in the snow than we had going thru on Friday.

It's been a long day, even tho we got home around 3. Angel showed me in the car that her ankle was swollen again, so it's a good thing she gets a couple days rest without having to go to school or anything.  I fully expect her to be planted on the couch until she has to go to her couple classes Wednesday night. I'm OK with that, since a champion should get some rest!!