First travel meets

And, here we go . . . .

We originally planned to only have Kaiya travel to one out of state meet for her first level 7 season.  The gym plans 3 of them each season for levels 7 through 10, so we will have plenty of time to travel as she gets older.  We decided to pick the Minnesota meet in early March and to skip the Dallas and Chicago meets.  However, one of the girls on her team injured her foot and a spot was now open in Dallas.  Thanks to buddy passes from Papa Jay and wide open flight loads, Kaiya and I were able to go to Dallas.  It was really a great trip and I'm so glad we were able to go.  

One of the moms had arranged a Hummer limo to pick everyone up at the airport on Thursday night and that sure was a treat.  Turns out it was cheaper to go that route than to get a shuttle to our hotel.  Watching a bunch of giddy girls was pretty cute.

We stayed at an Embassy in downtown Ft. Worth, which was walking distance to the convention center where the meet was held.  When we walked into the arena, I could see Kaiya's eyes get big.  Inside was an arena with 4 separate gyms set up--4 sets of each piece of equipment.  It was nuts, but definitely action packed.  We watched the level 8's compete on Friday morning and then Kaiya's group started in the afternoon.  Kaiya had a good meet and the mistakes she made were all because she was being aggressive--something her coach was actually proud of.  She placed 6th on vault (best vaults of her life) and 14th in the all-around.  

The rest of the trip was spent in the hotel pool with her buddies, visiting the Cupcakery, and going to an NCAA women's gymnastics meet in the same arena.  She is so bonded to her teammates and we also got a lot of good mother/daughter time.  Unfortunately, we had to miss Kinley's basketball game.  She continues to play well and is sad that she only has one more game to go.  She is making baskets in every game and making her Uncle Brandon proud by getting some fouls as well.  Kinley made the cutest sign that was waiting for Kaiya when she got home.  Love seeing my kids support each other.