ROCKETS AND ROUND-OFFS......(better known as Sate Meet with too much stimulation! :)

We ventured out this weekend for a stay in Huntsville. Tyner Beth had a state gymnastics meet there and we would be staying overnight. So, we made a weekend of it and planned a trip to the Space and Rocket Center for Saturday afternoon. Two of Tyner Beth's team members and their families met us there.

The weather was perfect and all the kids had a great time. They rode all the rides their height would allow. Many of them multiple times. Toured the museum, ate some dippin' dots ice cream, and just had some good ol' fun being a kid.

The kids rode the smaller version of the "space shot" (they were too small to ride the big one) --- but they got their money's worth--I bet they rode this over a dozen times!

• They rode the "G-Force" several times, too. It made me dizzy the first time around, so I declined the next offers to tag along inside for another spin! As described on the space center website = experience three times the force of gravity as you spin like crazy in the G-Force Accelerator!

Rivers, being older and much taller, sought out the big rides.....and he, Temple, and Haven's dad (Tyner Beth's best friend from gym) all strapped in to ride the SPACE SHOT. This ride will rocket 140 feet up in the air in 2.5 seconds. Sounds fun, right? I was able to catch Rivers' face right when they 'shot' upward!! Classic.



Doesn't this look say it all? But wait, there's more. He talked me into going on the ride.......

The exception being, when my turn in line came, I was by myself, with no one to hold on to.......so I grabbed the harness really tight, and Temple was so proud to get this classic shot of me!! I made friends fast with the two girls sitting with me, both veterans of the Space Shot, who as you can see, did not feel the need to scream at the top of their lungs for 2.5 seconds.

Good for them, that's what I say, because if I go back and do it again, you'll see this reaction every time. I don't think they will be sending me into space at anytime in the near future. I might be more of a distraction than anything else.

Saturday night, after eating supper, we walked over from our hotel to watch the higher level optional gymnasts compete. The older girls from Bama Bounders were there and we wanted to offer our support. Tyner Beth, with my help, had made them all chocolate covered pretzel rods that said "stick it at state"......too cute. She really looks up to those older girls and they are so sweet to her, too. Anyway, after watching them (congrats girls, they did great by the way), we retired back to the hotel for slumber.

Then on Sunday around noon, Tyner Beth and her team hit the floor for State competition.

Have you ever had an "off" day? Me, I have them frequently, but that's a whole other post in itself. Well, today, at the competition, Tyner Beth had a completely "off" day.


She would start out well at a rotation, and then by the end have a catastrophe. Here she is on beam.....doing well, smiling beautifully.

And even later in her routine......she did the best handstand on the beam she has ever done in competition....straight up in the air, toes pointed, good form.......

Oh, no.....hold on Tyner Beth......but she wasn't able to save it.....and thus, she fell off the beam. A first for her in competition, but I'm sure it won't be the last.

• And here she is doing so well on her favorite event, bars. She did her routine really well, almost perfect, until the end. The final last millisecond. She is supposed to swing her feet up to the bar and then spring forward for the dismount. Well, her feet went all willy-nilly and never even hit the bar, so she couldn't perform the dismount. The judge had to penalize her not as doing the dismount improperly, but since her feet never touched the bar, it was like she didn't even attempt the dismount, so she received no credit at all for that portion of the routine. A big deduction and thus a low score for my gal. But she stilll looks cute to me!! :)

I think they awarded up to 5th place in some events, and up to 7th in others, and Tyner Beth was never on the podium in any event. So, sadly, no medals were won for her at State Meet. But, that's okay, because she came out with a good attitude, still smiling. And although she had a fall on beam, and a major dismount problem on bars, we were still proud of her accomplishments. It was an honor just to get to go to state.....she had scored high enough at an earlier meet that qualified her for this competition. And as she has told me several times....."mom, these are just 'practice' meets for us. Coach Jennifer just wants us to get used to competing so we will be ready in the fall." :) Something good from the day's scoring was that she did happen to get her highest score yet on floor routine!!

A bright spot in it all was that Nana, Pappy and Aunt Elizabeth came to see her compete! Thanks Y'all!!! That made the day worth it all anyway......but we were sad that they didn't get to see little TB shine as she had in previous competitions.

• Here's my little gymnast all tuckered out in the back seat after we arrived home. She fell asleep shortly after departing Huntsville, and was totally tired. Her face was even scrunched up into the seat belt area and she didn't care.....her body had reached it's limit.

When we finally got her out of the car and everything unloaded, she walked back out to the driveway and sat down, almost in a daze....just waking up. I said,

"I wonder why you were having such an off day today? Everyone has off days, even the girls at the Olympics. But I'm proud of you for keeping a good attitude and there's always next time! Maybe the whole weekend was just too much, the space center, and the big girls competition last night, and having to wait to compete this morning, being nervous about it all......"

She looked up at me with those eyes and said... "Mom, I think it was that G-Force ride....it had my brain all messed up!"

Then she gave a big snaggle tooth smile, and I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Good times.