Cheer Nationals Vol. 1

Uh, how exactly is it August already? Who approved that?

NOT ME.

July was a blur from beginning to end. We started it with Disney, but then drove straight from the dance thing to Cheer Nationals Vol. 1.

I say "Vol. 1" because Mila had her very own Cheer Nationals in a totally different state a week later. Because of course she did.

Vol. 1 was Alexis doing that thing she's done every summer for a while, other than the Real Bad COVID Year, but this time it was in Myrtle Beach. Nationals move every year and we've had Las Vegas, Chicago, Orlando, Knoxville, and now Myrtle Beach. BY FAR Myrtle Beach was my least favorite destination. BY FAR. It was super convenient that it was on the way back from the dance thing, but overall I am not a fan.

If I'm going to South Carolina, let it be Charleston. Period.

ANYWAY, Alexis cheered, we played on the beach, and basically it was a very full weekend. By the time it was done, I was very ready to sleep in my own bed. Mila wasn't, though. I had fixed her whole sleep thing and had her happily sleeping in her own bed for weeks on end, but then we went to Charleston followed by Orlando followed by Myrtle Beach followed by Grand Rapids and that's it. She's done. She's never sleeping again. It's a shame because my current stance is "we're never leaving town again" so it would be a good time for her to be in her own happy place.

Meanwhile, the stage is Alexis' happy place. But if you see her, don't mention Cheer Nationals. They placed third, which is nothing to be ashamed of, but she personally made mistakes and OMG THE DRAMA. I will be hearing about it until the end of time. It's enough to make me want to sleep through August.

Is that a choice? Can I do that?

I think I can.

There Was That Disney Thing

It's been approximately 47 pandemic years, which I think is something like 389 regular years, since this happened.

And, oh, it was good.

The back story is that Alexis had one dance - yes, ONE dance - that she had to compete with at The Dance Awards in Orlando this year. Apparently The Dance Awards is a big deal, at least according to the people who know way more about this stuff than I do. The dance took fourth place, for what it's worth, but the part that I super noticed is that it cost me $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. First, it was a special audition type thing with a guest choreographer and blah, blah, blah. Then I had to pay for the costume and then they competed it at lots of otherwise optional dance competitions and then we drove to mother truckin' Orlando so they could compete with it one last time. Yay for fourth? You know, one place out of the money-winning placements?

Alexis has heard all of this, by the way. She feels no guilt. She perhaps feels a tiny bit of gratitude that I let her do it. She definitely feels pride that she was part of something that did so well. As she should be.

ANYWAY. Since we had to be in Orlando for one little dance, I figured I would turn it into Mila's first Disney trip.

That was a most excellent idea.

The Tiny Human is the exact right age for all of Mickey's magic. She was enthralled by every little thing and in every big way and basically I wish I could bottle up her joy. I really wish I had blogged daily so I could have captured each little thing, but then I would have had to have a computer with me and that didn't seem like the best idea. That in and of itself is a long story.

So.

I didn't blog daily.

I very barely took any photos.

But I did ride all of the rides and walk all of the steps and I only yelled like 14 times, so win? Win.

A few things I don't want to forget:

- Mila has an obnoxious amount of love for 3D immersive rides like the Avatar ride at Animal Kingdom. I happen to hate such things (because motion sickness), but she's so damn cute that I can't not go with her.

- I will never ever ever again make any sort of dinner reservations for those children. We ate outdoors for every meal because pandemic, except that I did make reservations at Disney Studios for a super late dinner. All the girls did was complain that they could be riding the Aerosmith roller coaster and Tower of Terror again. They didn't even eat their food because they were too busy crying me a river.

- Both girls love Tower of Terror as much as I do. That's basically the best thing ever.

- Alexis made us ride It's a Small World way more times that is reasonable because she loves it. It's weird.

- There are two types of people - people who prefer Magic Kingdom and people who prefer Epcot. I somehow grew two people who are on the wrong side of that. It was probably the Guardians of the Galaxy ride that led them astray. (It's REALLY good, but COME ON. Magic Kingdom 4ever.)

- Disney Studios is barely recognizable from just a few years ago. I almost felt guilty taking up space amongst the Star Wars stuff because it's so incredible and I care not-at-all about Star Wars.

- No matter how much changes, Disney Springs still feels like home.

- We were lucky(?) enough to ride the Star Wars Smugglers Run ride with a guy who was muuuuuuuuuch more serious about the whole thing than we were. He basically screamy yelled instructions to everyone aboard the ship the entire time and was super mad when we sucked at it. It would have ruined the whole thing except it was so freakin' funny that he was ENTIRELY invested in "winning." Go ahead, buddy, invest in Mila caring about something like that. She will just as soon as she decides which side of her Mickey ears she likes best.

- I'm going to argue with Mila for approximately a decade about whether or not this chick is a princess.

- I used to think that the people who are at the parks from opening to closing were nuts, but then I had Mila. Now I get it. She'll sleep eventually, but definitely not while there is a park open.

Auditions for this year's specialty number are in a few weeks. Do I want Alexis to make the cut again this year? I DON'T KNOW. It's $$$$, but it's also so much happy. A return trip to Disney with both girls sounds like a most excellent idea.

Sometimes I Get a Few Good Ones, Too