USA! USA! USA!

When I was 13 years old, my sister surprised me with tickets to see the USA gold medal champion gymnastics team during their victory tour. It was one of those experiences I’ve never forgotten. I can’t really remember the routines or the music, but I can’t forget how it felt to be there with my big sister and how special I felt. And at 13, I was going through the WORST of my awkward years (which lasted, um, about a decade), so feeling special was pretty rare.

When we found out the 2012 gold medalists were going to be coming through Kansas City on their post-Olympics nationwide tour, my sister and I knew we had to be there! We immediately made plans to go and take our little girls.

We ended up taking one of Lulu’s best friends, who is also a gymnastics nut, since my cute niece ended up having a scheduling conflict (sad face!), but we still had an amazing time. It was so fun taking two six-year-old girls to see their heroes. They laughed and screamed and had a total ball. And I must say, the show was stepped up about 12 notches from the one I saw in 1996. There were acrobats and trampolinists and lots of gold medal winning gymnasts hanging from the ceiling. It was like a Cirque Du Soliel show!

Reliving childhood joy with my girl? Check!

(All photos obviously with the iPhone since they wouldn’t allow fancy pants cameras in the arena.)