Some Serious Mid-Winter Fun

So maybe the gymnastics portion of our Arizona trip wasn't quite as successful as we'd hoped, but the rest of the trip was dreamy.  And by dreamy I mean crazy-fun!  

It's hard to stay too disappointed when you've got views like this:

This was the third year in a row that the girls competed in Arizona.  Being able to visit our dear friends, the Biddulph's, is without question the best part about this meet's location.  And since the meet coincided with mid-winter break, we got to stay in the sun for a few extra days.  

We couldn't have better accommodations if we stayed at a 5-star resort.  I mean, really, a game room with Ms. PacMan?  What more could Jon wish for?

And Caleb declared their foosball table the nicest one he'd ever seen.  We had a movie night one night and it looked mighty impressive on their massive movie screen.  

Their whole ginormous house looks like something out of a magazine.  Caleb had his own room with a comfy queen bed and a ceiling fan that he loved to turn on the highest setting.  The girls each had nightly sleepovers in Brinkley's and Kennedy's rooms, which was ridiculously fun for them.

Jon and I stayed in their beautiful casita.  It's across the courtyard from their front door.

It includes a full kitchen, living area and everything you could possibly desire for a comfortable stay.

The backyard is stunningly gorgeous!  Caleb couldn't get enough of their basketball court.

The girls enjoyed every moment they had together.  They took lots of selfies:

One night, Jon and Brian took the big kids to the Gilbert Temple.  They had a great time and Jon was really impressed with the temple's efficiency.

Natalie and Kennedy took great care in preparing a dinner theater for us one night.  They were so thoughtful in their decorations and entertainment preparations.

Their dances were adorable.

One portion of their show encouraged audience participation.  Brian and Jon's moves left me in a fit of laughter with tears streaming down my cheeks.

 Madi and Caleb even got in on the action.  Such a fun, fun night.

One afternoon, we went to ASU to watch a gymnastics practice with some of Alyssa's teammates.

These are my gym-mom besties.  I really love them:

And their daughters, Alyssa's teammates, are her dearest friends.  They had a blast swimming together once their meet was over.

We spent President's Day driving/riding ATVs in the desert.  To say it was fun is a gross understatement.  It was daring, dirty, high-flying adventure.  This sort of activity epitomizes what it's like to spend time with our friends, the Biddulph's.  

We each had to wear massive helmets and goggles:

Look how huge those helmets look on those tiny bodies!

Kennedy and Natalie rode in the back of the ATV driven by Brian and Madi.  Jon and Caleb shared a two-seater.  Caleb loved see how fast he could make his go.

Tracy and I took turns driving the yellow one, with Alyssa and Brinkley as our passengers.

Brian got a little crazy and decided to do some donuts in the sand.  It didn't take long to roll his ATV. Natalie thought that was a total blast!

We took a break after a couple of hours to eat some Subway sandwiches mixed with just a little bit of dirt.  The weather could not have been more perfect.

The girls' hair was so wind-blown that they each wanted their hair braided before we headed back out for more racing through the desert.

Have a peek at this extreme fun:

We each rated this activity a 10 out of 10.  It really was an epic day!

For our last hurrah in Arizona, we visited Top Golf.  It's a three-story, golfing-meets-bowling kind of thing.  Each player takes turn hitting balls and scoring points depending on which target your ball lands in.  

We are all really bad golfers.  Except for Dad, he's quite good.

Natalie favorite thing were the doughnut holes that came with syringes of chocolate and bavarian creme, used to inject the filling into the middle.  Yum!

Can you believe all that fun?  It's always hard to go back to reality.  But back home we did go, though only for a week.  Pasadena and Alyssa's big comeback were awaiting us.

Crash Landings

It was the third meet of the season and Natalie had already scratched floor due to an unwelcome return of her crippling fear of tumbling backwards.  But vault was next and since it's her strongest event, she proceeded with confidence.

Nat has always been a powerful vaulter.  Two gold medals on vault in the first two meets of the season were proof of that fact.  

It's customary for a coach to stand near the vault in warm-ups and give the gymnasts an extra boost--a small toss of their bodies, if you will--as they go over the vault table.  On her first warm-up vault, that extra boost sent Nat flying uncontrollably forward and ended with a face-first dive into the mat, her right hand crumpled beneath her.  She stood up and immediately burst into tears while clutching her hand against her chest. 

Now, when you have an emotional child with anxious tendencies, you don't automatically assume that tears equate to injury.  Did it hurt?  Sure.  Was it shocking?  Yes.  Did I think she was injured? Maybe, but not really.

I tried to be encouraging from the sidelines and after applying a bit of ice, Natalie competed vault. And she did it well--9.15, 5th place.

Then came bars.  She strapped on her grips, covered them in chalk and prepared for warm-ups.  It looked as if she was going to be ok.  But as soon as she tried to grip the bar, she jumped off the apparatus, grabbed her hand in pain and tears.  "Ok, so maybe she really is hurt," I thought.

She scratched bars.  This was a late night meet and I was wishing we could just go home.  But Natalie put on her brave face and was actually able to compete beam.  She scored a 9.0 and placed 6th.  

It's always fun to share the podium with her gymnastics bestie.

While we were waiting to reunite with Natalie after the competition, the owner of our gym approached me and told me that Natalie's hand was indeed swollen and he suggested an x-ray.  Ok, ok, so she wasn't just being dramatic, she really was hurt.

Look at those little sausage fingers:

Jon took Natalie to see the doctor the next morning (we didn't get home from her meet until 11:00 at night!) while I was at work.  They sent me this picture:

As you can see, the pediatrician put a much-too-large splint on Nat's hand and told us we were looking at a 5-6 week recovery.  It was suggested, though, that we she an orthopedic to have them take a look.  We were planning to leave for a competition in Arizona in two short days and we were thankfully able to get into the ortho later that afternoon.  It was there that we got the good news that her hand would heal in two short weeks and that bulky splint could be replaced by this custom-made, nifty, waterproof option:

Still, Nat's Arizona meet looked like this:

This is what scratching an event looks like:

Wanna know what she did attempt in Arizona?  A one-armed beam routine.  It didn't end up going so well, but we were proud of her for trying.

Early the next morning, Alyssa started her competition on bars with a spectacular crash of her own:


I admit, I thought we might be looking at more broken bones.  But thankfully Alyssa popped up from the floor immediately.  I could see she was startled and shaken, but uninjured.  She bravely finished that bar routine and did the rest quite well, but it's hard to recover score-wise from a fall like that. She later had a fall on floor as well, making for an extremely disappointing meet.  She held herself together beautifully throughout the competition, but not placing on any events for the first time in an eight-year gymnastics career, was exceptionally disheartening.

Following the awards ceremony, she allowed herself approximately three minutes of agony-of-defeat kind of tears and then put it all behind her.  I praised her for her attitude, told her that the way she handles herself makes me far more proud of her than any medal that she could possibly earn.  Then I told her that how she battles back from this adversity is where her true character will be displayed.

And oh boy did she come back...

Selfies in Sacramento

Travel meets are about more than just gymnastics.  We get to see new places and make memories while having so much stinkin' fun!  This gymnastics season started in Sacramento, California.

We had a day to kill before competitions began, so we decided to visit Old Sacramento.  With its cobblestone streets, river boat, horse-drawn carriages, school house and endless historic buildings turned delightful shops, we knew we'd have no problem spending the day there.

I did a terrible job as photographer, only having my cell phone to use for pictures--and I don't think my phone takes good pictures at all!--so I borrowed these photos of Old Sacramento from the internet:

The girls had a blast shopping around and being silly.

But it was in the very first shop we entered that we found the item that would define the memories of this trip: the selfie stick.  If you're looking for the perfect gift for a teenage girl, let me recommend this little gadget.  Hours and hours of endless fun, I tell you.

Here they are trying it out for the first time:

And then...well, the selfies on a stick happened over and over again, all weekend long.

Alyssa was even willing to part with $10 of her own money to buy her selfie stick.  If you know her and her tight-fisted ways, then you know this was a purchase she must have really wanted.  She got her money's worth, that's for sure!

After being in that first shop for quite some time, we made our way to an enormous candy store.  I noticed that we'd lost Jon along the way.  When he met up with us later I asked where he'd been.

"Well, I set a new record for Pac Man," he replied.

He'd found an old time arcade with all the video games of our youth.  He went back later to set a new high score for Pole Position, too.

The girls put the selfie stick down long enough to swing on the swings at the historic schoolhouse.

That evening I did meet hair, lots and lots of meet hair--my own two plus three others.  While I was braiding, putting in curlers and coating the hotel lobby with a thick layer of hairspray, the girls were playing with teammates and taking more selfies.

Saturday was competition day.  Natalie and Alyssa competed on different floors but in sessions that started at the exact same time.  That made it stressful and tricky for their spectator-parents, but we managed just fine. 

Both girls have some kinks to work out as the season goes on, but both did respectably.  Alyssa placed fourth on beam with a fall on her new series and fifth on floor.  Natalie earned a gold medal for her first place vault!  (All of their routines can be viewed on my YouTube channel.)

These little teammates are just the cutest:

We attended a very nice sacrament meeting Sunday morning and then visited the Sacramento temple before flying home.

 We had to try the selfie stick at the temple:

Caleb held down the fort all on his own for a couple of days and then Grandma and Grandpa came to help him cheer on the Seahawks and take him to church.  We definitely miss him when he's not with us.  I'm not so sure the sentiment is mutual.

Sacramento was sure a fun way to kick of this meet season.

And I see many more selfies in our future...