LET'S-GO-ALI!

Stephie, Mikayla, Ellie, Nati, Leona, and I spent a big chunk of the day today at the State Fairgrounds. We were there to watch my niece, Ali, perform in an All-Star Cheerleading competition. There were A LOT of performers - in fact, just in the division that Ali was competing in, there were 65 sets of performances. Ali's group was #38 out of those 65, so, we got to wait a while. (It didn't help that the event was poorly organized and already 45 minutes behind pace once we arrived). But, it was very special to see so many focused, enthusiastic kids - demonstrating such extraordinary talent.

This is a close-up of Ali - taken right before they went out to the mat - I was so delighted that she saw us as we never were able to locate her mom, Mary Beth, or sister, Andie. At least Ali knew we showed up!

This is where the girls spent about a third of the time we were there. They enjoyed getting high fives from the cheerleaders as they went by. Incidentally, the reason we had Nati and Ellie is that the Schilling kids are ours for the second half of this weekend - Michael and Michele are enjoying a much-needed overnight get-away.....

Ali's team - the group huddle....

Ali is in the forefront in the back row.....

Without a major zoom lens, I wasn't able to really grab some awesome shots - but I thought this one, catching the girl mid-air, was pretty cool.
I'll have to add a post-script once I find out how Ali's team ended up placing - as we had to leave immediately following her performance so that we could go get Traig and Baxter and take all of the kids home. No matter what the awards say, we know Ali is a star!