There’s not much horserace talk to discuss since impeachment is hitting the live and in person stage. And I’m waking up with a hangover from a disappointing loss by the Kentucky Wildcats Men’s Basketball team (which is 3 days after a disappointing loss by the Kentucky Wildcats Football team). So I figured now would be a good time to tell a couple of stories from last weekend’s adventures in the life of a ten year old 5th grade girl.
Last Friday, I was the chaperone for MadBee’s field trip to the local high school production of Crazy For You. It was about what you’d expect from a high school musical, with some good performances and some not so good. But it was cute and it did a good job of keeping the attention of the kiddos.
I rode on the bus with the kids, which was an experience. The class divide between boys and girls was quite evident. Boys all the way to the back and then girls clustered together. No boys sat with girls, except yours truly, who got to share a small orange bus seat with MadBee. Not sure I count as a boy in this context though. A highlight of the ride from Blue Grass Elementary to Bearden High School (a 10 minute drive at most) was the fact that the boys in the back decided that the bus ride was a good opportunity to break out into song. This song in fact:
After that song petered out, the girls tried to start some Christmas carols. Jingle Bell Rock didn’t really get going, but when they tried Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, many joined in.
It was a half day with 5th graders, but we had a good time. For once, MadBee actually wanted to sit next to me, so I’m taking this one as a win.
On Sunday, Diamonds All-Stars had their Showcase, where all of the cheer teams put on their competition performances. Since practices are generally closed to the parents, this is the first time that many could see their kids do their stuff as a team. It was a long day for the kids and the parents. MadDoc was at the Showcase location for at least 7 hours and that doesn’t count the time it took her at home to get the resident cheerleader dressed with her full makeup on.
I don’t have a photo from Sunday, but here’s one from the Spring that shows the full get up:
The girls (and some boys) did themselves proud and had fun in the process. I suspect we’re going to have some teams that win some big competitions this year. Shout out to Bombshells – they were the most impressive team on the day. No falls in stunts or tumbling and a good championship-worthy routine. I can’t provide any video because the cheer gym bosses have strictly forbidden it. Evidently there is espionage in the cheer world and they need to do social media blackouts to keep their routines from being stolen. Who knew?
As for MadBee, she’s affiliated and practicing with one full year team and a half year team. She doesn’t get to compete with the full year team because her dad doesn’t support cheer activities and she is with him for more than half of the scheduled competitions. There’s a longer post in there, but that’s for another time. On Showcase day, though, MadBee did get to perform with her half year team – Sparkle. She did well and got to do some tumbling in the performance for the first time since she started cheering. We’re proud that she’s sticking with this despite the pushback she gets from her dad.
Next big cheer event for the Mad Dog clan is Gatlinburg in December. I’ll try to come back with a report from that even.