TraylorLife: NCA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPS!!!!

Lightning...

did it again....

another perfect season.

On Saturday Amy and I head out to Dallas around 11:00 in the morning. She wants to get checked into the hotel and her uniform/makeup on before TOP GUN goes on.

by the time we get to the convention center she has about 30 minutes before TG goes on so we head over to A hall and find seats. and that is about the last I see of her on Saturday except for the 2 minutes and 30 seconds she was on the mat.

diddy amy chelsey and ashley at prelims showing lightning spirit :)

After they went on and had a team meeting, found out that we were in first place with the stingrays and Laredo close behind us.

Some of lightning decided that it would be a great idea to go to dicks for dinner. on a Saturday night. needing a table for 20. a freezing Saturday night... and the girls were still in uniform. one of the girls calls... the guy says 45 minutes. sounds good.... too good to be true even. we drive the two blocks over.... and find out it was. would be two hours for a table... and our barely dressed girls need to ... wait outside ... no wonder it is called dicks ;)

ok hooters is next door... we tromp on over. uh... nope... two hours.

so we decide to head back to the room and order a pizza... it is almost 10 now.

Janie was so sweet... she volunteered to drive Amy and I back to the hotel so that we would not have to wait for a shuttle. The drive that should have been less than 10 minutes wound up being quite the little adventure.

Somehow we had the wrong hotel in the navigation system.

Shelby Amy and Caroline were in the back seat giving directions.

We were driving on this road that looked a little odd and then right before it ended and went into traditional tracks, we discovered that we were not on a road... we were on TRAIN TRACKS! the gps could not really decide which way to take us... so we went in circles a couple times. on the second time around this little loop we made we saw a train flying by where we had been on the first loop.

We wound up in the hood. (REALLY) then we finally have 'reached our destination' and let me tell you... I am aware that sometimes things look a little different after dark... but this was NOT the hotel we checked into that morning. =]

The entire time Janie and I are laughing so hard we can hardly pay attention to drive. There were a couple red lights run and one way streets traveled the wrong way. We even wound up on the famous Harry Hines...

At one point a homeless man approached the car and the girls freaked.

During this adventure Caroline started crying, Shelby got upset with us because we kept laughing, Amy the little piggy sat in the backseat eating her way through every ones snack bags.

Finally we figure out that Shelby was giving us directions to the wrong hotel... we punch in the correct address... turn around... drive past the convention center and were back at the hotel in under 10 minutes. it was about 12:30 at this point.

Peggy and the girls come into our room to hear about our adventure, we order a pizza and are asleep by uhhh 4? good grief!

Sunday we are up by 9:30 (yes if you are keeping track that is only 5 1/2 hours of sleep) meet the girls josh and Johnathan for breakfast.

go back to the room.

Amy gets ready.

get on the 12:00 shuttle to the convention center.

Josh H and Ashton are there waiting for us.

find out that in the prelim interview Laredo All-Stars were asked what their goal for this year was. the reply... "to beat Champion Cheer Lightning" wow... what a compliment...

we find seats and then....

watch sparklers (amberly)

RUN to the arena....

watch diamonds (heather)

watch top gun

watch fierce katz (CA)

watch spirit

RUN to B hall

watch burn (desi)

watch jr awards. Burn won their division!!! YAY

watch a billion other teams.

spend WAY TOO MUCH money on a small garden salad ($8.00)

FINALLY it is time for Amy's division! But they are near the end of it. So we start watching their competition. Being in first means we go last. When they get to Laredo... we start paying attention. They did not look as good as they had the day before but still solid. Then came the Stingrays. They definitely did not look as good as they had on Saturday. A lot of the parents were worried about lighting because the girls were competing so late.... 9:00.

there was no reason to stress....

When they finally hit the floor, they hit everything and deliver an amazing LIGHTNING worthy routine. You could tell when they left the mat that those girls knew they had nailed it!

They were the last awards ceremony. One of the first awards handed out was the superior sportsmanship award.... and LIGHTNING GOT IT!!! :)

It came down to three on the mat. The 3 we knew would be there. Laredo was again in third and that left two. "and your 2009 senior level 3 NATIONAL CHAMPION.... (come on guy knock it off) ..... from...... SOU....." the girls went nuts. He said from Souhlake Texas... Champion Cheer Lightning!!!! I'm sure of it... but we did not hear him. and that is okay because the confetti raining down on the girls said it all.

Amy even cried which surprised me. But I understood why when she explained it. They have a bunch of seniors on lighting this year... and this was their last competition all together.

then we had to go to get jackets and take pictures... that kinda took forever! :)

While the girls were getting jackets.... they find out that not only were they the division champs... but they also got the Herkie High Point award which made them GRAND National Champions!!!!