20th Anniversary!

It is our 20th anniversary. That is a big one. That means that I am months away from being married longer than I have been single. Jeremy has been in my life for over half my life and that just blows my mind. Our main big and wild anniversary trip is going to coincide with Jeremy going to Nice later this year, but we couldn't let the day pass without a smaller celebration. We decided to take a quick 24 hour trip up to Estes Park. We stayed in a little cabin and just enjoyed being somewhere with no responsibilities. We ate our brownie sundae in bed, watched a fire burn, and literally did nothing but relax. The next day Jeremy spoiled me with breakfast in bed, which is an absolute delight, before we got started on our day. I don't think we climbed out of bed until 10:30 because we simply didn't have to. That is a luxury I never take advantage of.  We had originally planned on riding our bikes up and through Rocky Mountain National Park. We didn't plan on a ten degree wind chill and 40 mph winds. Well, we didn't want to freeze or be blown from our bikes so we decided to do a couple of winter hikes instead. We found the trial up to Emerald Lake and decided it was perfect. It was a beautiful day even with the cold and wind. 

By the time we made it up to Dream Lake the wind was absolutely howling! There were a few gusts that nearly threw us off our feet. We were laughing so hard and Jeremy would toss snowballs across the frozen lake just to watch how far the wind would carry them.  

Once we made it up to Emerald Lake I didn't want to leave. Something about the craggy peaks behind us were just inspiring to me. It was absolutely gorgeous. 

The frozen lake was so cool with all of the suspended bubbles.

We started back down the mountain and we weren't ready to leave. We decided to take another trail to Alberta Falls. I don't know if I was getting tired or hungry, but it wasn't quite as magical as a hike. To add insult to injury, there were no falls once we arrived. It was a dry creek bed. 

Jeremy tried to add a little water to the scene, which helped a little. 

I think my favorite part of that excursion was the beautiful jay that kept hoping along near us. 

As we were hiking I couldn't help but think how grateful I am for this man who said, "Sure, let's spend our anniversary hiking through a frozen mountain landscape!" He is so full of adventure, energy, and playfulness. I really got lucky with this guy. Happy Anniversary hun!

F1 Grand Prix

When we checked into our hotel and looked our window, McKenzie immediately started squealing. I went over to see what was making her so excited, and then I saw the F1 complex right across the street. So while her teammates went to see the Wizard of Oz the morning after the meet, McKenzie and I put on helmets and went to race karts on part of the Vegas F1 circuit. Our races were set up Grand Prix style. We had a practice lap where we learned how to use our EPS boosts and figure out the track. Then we had a practice lap which set us up for our grid position for the Grand Prix race. Lining up on the grid was ridiculously exciting. McKenzie was literally giggling the entire time we were on the campus. When the lights went off and we took off down the track it was chaos as the drivers started fighting for position. We had to weave around collisions and drivers who went off course. I couldn't believe the adrenaline pulsing through my body. We definitely weren't the fastest racers out there, but for only drive for two months McKenzie did a great job holding her own. I just didn't want to take last! 

We took 6th and 7th which I felt was pretty respectable.

This girl likes this podium position a lot. Now I need to find a way for her to get into karting...

We really didn't want to leave after our races were done, and we still had a few minutes to kill before heading to the airport, so we went upstairs and did the F1 sims. I have never played the F1 video game before or done a real simulator so this was intense. My car was all over the place! It was so hard to stay on the track. We got to drive the Las Vegas circuit and Kenzie thought it was so cool to see where the drivers drive down the strip, because she had spent the last two days trying to figure it out. I think each of us only had two valid laps where we didn't crash into a wall or go off course! 

She decided pretty early that she wanted an F1 jacket as her Vegas souvenir this trip. We kept our eyes open for it as we explored, but we finally hit gold at the gift shop. She was totally fan-girling out there by the teams bays. It was sooo much fun spending a day with her doing something she loves!

Lucky Starz

Travel meets are fun. Not only because we get to party for days, but because the judges always seem a little more relaxed outside of Colorado. The Lucky Starz meet was held at Planet Hollywood, right next to Chris Angel and the Chippendales. Quite the combo! This was the first meet all season where McKenzie was able to compete all four events. She just didn't have the time to work up the endurance and strength needed before the competitions began. She was hoping to get a state qualifying score, so we were watching very carefully. I think I was more stressed about this meet than normal because it's starting to feel real that these are her final meets. I wasn't ready for these kinds of emotions for another two years when she graduates.

Pre Meet photos

I caught them praying and just had to capture the moment. These sweet, sweet teammates. McKenzie couldn't have asked for a better group of girls.

Floor was so much fun to watch! She just performs.

On beam she was looking so solid, then her foot slipped and she fell on her back, hitting the beam before hitting the floor. I gasped, but she stood up, laughed, and told the judges, "We're ok!" before hoping back up. Her teammates were laughing. She laughed the rest of her routine. And it was the craziest, funniest fall. The judges ultimately gave her a judges' choice award at the end of the night because her fall and reaction were so good.

After the meet there was a handstand contest. Some of those girls stayed up a ridiculous amount of time.

McKenzie earned a crown for her performance and it was the best bling she received all night.

Awards were done a little differently. They had all the girls gather in a back room where they received their medals, then they marched up on the stage. It meant that it was a total surprise for all the parents and coaches. When McKenzie was standing up there for her bar routine, which was a rough level 7 routine, we both started laughing out loud. She even earned a 2nd place medal for her spectacular beam routine. She finished with a 32.35 AA score, which means she gets to go to state! Two more weeks of practice and that's it. (This is weird).

Love all the hard work and success this girl has had. She is just incredible.

After the meet (which ended at 10:30), the girls went out to a team dinner. I can't believe the restaurant still sat them when they arrived 15 minutes prior to closing. But since it was girls only, the parents were all left to our own devices and we spent it loitering right outside, looking at our watches, watching those hands creep closer and closer to midnight. Luckily it is a funny group of parents so we spent that hour or so just laughing. All of us were very aware however, that the morning was going to come way too early and we really wanted our beds. But Vegas is not a town that goes to bed at a reasonable hour so we didn't even look out of place loitering like crazy people!

 

Viva Las Vegas

McKenzie and I just returned from the most fabulous mom/daughter/friend weekend in Vegas. It was her last away meet with the team, so we made sure to make the most of it. We spent most of our time exploring the strip. Watching these cute girls experience the strip for the first time was comical. They couldn't believe everything they were seeing, and I think it was an education of...the importance of good choices! There were nearly 15 girls on the team down there with their families. Instead of trying to do everything together, our groups were very fluid and we just all kind of did our thing. It meant we would randomly run into each other throughout the day and it was fun comparing notes about what we had seen.

New York, New York

M&M store. The lemon ones were actually delicious!

More New York

Some show girls approached us and we decided to embarrass our girls, who didn't want to stand too close to the overflowing bosoms. So we happily posed for a picture with both of them. the payment part of the story turned a little comical, but I think it was worth watching the girls squirm!

Hershey's store

Our main goal for the day was to make it down to the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. We didn't take the time to stop and explore each hotel we passed, but we did stop long enough for a few selfies.

I think the two mile walk was definitely worth it. Waiting in line for this photo wasn't, so we paid a guy to bump us to the front. Look at these amazing girls!

Back at the hotel we tried hanging out by the pool. The wind was cool enough that no one jumped in, and we needed to find more protected spots to really enjoy it, but it was still nice down time after our morning exploring. These ladies are my favorite team moms of all time. I can honestly say that I have never connected with any other sport parents the way I've connected with them. When McKenzie announced that she was done with gymnastics I was really sad for a lot of reasons, but one of the main ones is that I won't get to see these ladies anymore. Lindsey, Cassie, and Kellie have been so amazing through all these years of meets and travel. Thanks so much for your friendship ladies, I'll miss you.

After lunch we needed a sweet treat, so we took the girls to Paris. When Aubs and Kenz walked into the hotel they simply stopped to stare at the ceiling. I think it was one of their favorite stops of the day.

That night the team went to see Mystere. We had no idea what the actual storyline was, but the performances were incredible! The girls literally ooohed and ahhhed at the acrobatics. They know exactly what kind of strength it requires to do what those performers were doing. When we weren't in complete awe at the acrobats, we were laughing at the comedy bits interspersed throughout the night. Popcorn was flying, a giant baby man kept losing his ball into the crowd and Aubrie had to retrieve it, a gentleman from the crowd became the adopted father of the baby man, and another guy had his wife stolen away for a romantic dinner. It was such an fabulous performance.

Walking back to the hotel the girls got to see the strip at night. While Las Vegas isn't necessarily my thing, I still enjoyed the outrageous spectacle of it all.

The Venetian

Out to dinner. I love trying to capture these girls laughing together.

The next day we didn't want the girls walked quite so much. (We clocked nearly 26,000 steps the day before).  So we only visited Meow Wolf and The Venetian. I think these girls think their next travel meet should be to Italy.

Maybe we didn't have to walk all the way down to the original sign, but this way we managed to get all the girls in the same photo. No more exploring now. It's time to prep for the meet!