My first (and probably NOT last) cheer nationals

 Last weekend, Lauren and her team spent the weekend in Orlando, Florida after receiving a bid to compete in the UCA Cheer Nationals Competition.  I was fortunate to be able to tag along as well and have some fun in Orlando supporting them.

The girls, as well as their coaches departed around 6 PM on Wednesday night via charter bus.  Lauren was not super excited about riding the bus through the night, but they arrived in Orlando around 10 AM on Thursday.  I arrived on Thursday night, and after waiting in baggage claim for about 40 minutes, I was on the road to Disney Springs in my rental mini van.  I met up with a couple of other moms for a DELICIOUS dinner of gluten free fish & chips at Raglan Road in Disney Springs.  We stopped by to see the girls at their hotel for a brief moment and it was great to see Lauren's smiling face!

Friday, the girls had practice in the morning and evening, but they were able to squeeze in some park time in between.  The moms and I went to Epcot for a bit and enjoyed a very delicious beet salad before meeting the girls in Magic Kingdom.  Because there was a mix up with the meal vouchers, Kelly and I went to Wal-Mart to shop for breakfast for the girls.

Saturday was competition day at ESPN Wide World of Sports, and man was it crazy there!  The line to get in was NUTS, but they were very well organized about directing people for parking.  The girls had arrived pretty early so they could watch Assumption, and it was a sea of hairspray, makeup, short skirts, flags and GIRLS!  Wow, what a place.  We watched the girls compete in the Super Varsity Gameday division; the floor was made to look like a football field, and Lauren looked great and very spirited.  There was one small bobble with a should sit in their routine, but we thought they looked great.  The traditional team was competing pretty soon after the gamday squad finished, so the girls in both squads changed their clothes and they all walked over to the area where they performed.  It was a cool space with the castle in the background.   We all enjoyed watching the co-ed teams compete: the stunts and tosses they can do with teams that include males are pretty amazing.  The traditional team did pretty well, but not as crisp as I have seen in the past.

Next stop was the awards, which took place at the baseball stadium.  They had a group of 20 somethings who were the spirit squad, and it looked like a really fun job for someone right out of college!  The awards were announced in a random order, and they gave the place after they named the school.  The girls all got excited when they announced "Saint....Thomas More."  They were all reasonably disappointed when their name was not announced, but they should be so proud that they were able to experience the biggest stage in high school cheerleading, and how far they have all come!  Since most of the girls had never done cheer before this year, their routine was fantastic.  And it is always easier the second time once you know what to expect.  And the silver lining is that they now got all Sunday to spend at the parks!

We started the day at Animal Kingdom, and the girls met us in line to get our photo with Mickey and Minnie.  They have quite the operation for photos now with a camera set up in the wall to continuously take photos and video.  The girls were able to park hop to all four parks on Sunday, and were too tired to attend the cheerleader party at Hollywood Studios, but they were able to watch the fourth quarter and OT of the SuperBowl.

A family I baby-sat for all through high school lives near Orlando, so I crashed their SuperBowl party on Sunday night! It was sooooo good to see them and meet their kids and get caught up, as I haven't seen them for 13 years.

Monday was an uneventful travel day for us to get home.  We made a stop at the outlet mall en route to the airport.  Lauren's friend and her mom got stuck in Charlotte overnight due to the weather, so I am thankful we were able to get home on time with no issue.

Both Lauren and I had a great time, and I hope we get to go back again next year.  And it looks like Ali may be there as well, as I think her gymnast career will be coming to an end this season and she will be moving onto cheer as well.  I need to learn more about scoring and how cheer works, it is all a learning process.  Lauren was showing us the routines of the teams who won, and what differentiates them the most is the level of difficulty in their stunts, the synchronization and the crispness of movement.

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