I believe there were 60 countries represented at the competition. All the countries loved our girls. There are pictures of our girls all over the world!

Some guy from Puerto Rico came up and asked Sara "Are you Sara McDaniel?" She replied with a yes! He then proceeded to tell her that she was the best cheerleader in the United States and was his hero. I am sure the world hero made her uncomfortable, but she felt honored!

My girls would not cooperate for a picture. Thanks though Katie!

We did not do Disney World for several reasons, but we had a fantastic time!

Here we are eating at my personal favorite restaurant Ohana. It is in the Polynesian Resort. You can see the fire pit behind the family where all the meat is cooked on long skewers. It is one of those places where you can eat as much as you want--and I did! Steak, Pork, Turkey, Shrimp, Coconut Bread Pudding...Yummmmmy!

Since it is a Disney Restaurant, of course, there was entertainment! At Ohana they have coconut broom races and hula lessons. The girls had a great time!

Also at the Polynesian is the monorail (aka..the castle ride) Who actually needs to pay to enter Disney when you can have so much fun for free? We rode the monorail twice and the girls were able to see Cinderella's castle which is all they cared about. I couldn't get a good picture, but you can see it in the background!

I can't remember why SB stuck out her tongue, but she was NOT being disrespectful! It is sad when the best picture you can get of your kids is when one has her tongue out and the other has her mouth covered!

Also for free...and a lot of fun... racing Bo Bo up and down the ramp!

Posing for a quick pic at the Wilderness Lodge

The girls were amazed at these big green grassy buffalo

We also ate at the Rainforest Cafe. Another must do, in my opinion!

Even though we didn't do Disney, the girls still managed to get a hat! Katie wanted a princess hat and Sara Beth (surprisingly) wanted a cap like her Daddy!



And this is the one Leigh picked out!


Just kidding--we didn't buy this one! But it made for a great pic! You can tell she really wanted it!

My Sister, the World Champion

Mom, Dad, Elizabeth, Katie, my two girls, and I loaded up and drove to Orlando this past week for the World Cheerleading Championships.

Time out to brag on my sister... My sister Sara is a very talented cheerleader. She went to the University of Kentucky on a full cheerleading scholarship and has won pretty much every title there is to win. A few months ago, the United States put together a National Cheerleading Squad and they called her to come try out. She, of course!!:), made the squad. Now, this squad was started because in 3 years cheerleading will be in the Olympics.

Anyway, this past weekend were the World Championships. It was a real privilege for us to go and watch her cheer. Also, it was very cool to hear everyone cheer in their native languages!

The girls had the best time waving their American flags and cheering "Go Aunt Sa, Go USA!!)

All smiles after a great performance!

Even Leigh, who is normally a little leary of Sara, gave her a congratulating hug!

Go AuntSa!

The lady's hands in front of me perfectly frame Sara!

When Leigh wasn't waving the flag, or moving from person to person she...

was emptying my bag! Sara Beth very patiently picked it up over and over again! Here is AuntSa getting her gold medal!

We are so very proud of you Aunt Sa! We are proud of the accomplishments that you have reached, but we are more proud of the person you are! We love you!

Sleeping Beauty

Even though we didn't see the Princess Sleeping Beauty we did find this one!

Leigh was tucked snuggly in the bathroom where she had a great time playing with Kleenex. Now, I was smart enough to close to toilet lid so she wouldn't throw her paci in it amd to move the towels. However, I completely missed the fact there was a Kleenex box under the sink. oops!

Orlando

We had a great time in Orlando this weekend. We stayed at the Caribbe Royale and it was so nice! The pools were great! Sara Beth and Katie were SO excited to get in the pool.

The 75 foot slide

"The tunnel"

My May and Bo Bo with their grandgirls!

This is the best picture I have of the entire kids area, but you can tell in the background there is a park and the ground is made of rubber tires so the kids could play barefoot and in their swimsuits-best kids area I've seen.

Posing for a quick one before jumping in!

A few more from Easter

Easter

Christ Our Lord is Risen Today, Hallelujah! I believe this is my all-time favorite hymn and I love singing it! One of the reasons why I love Easter so much--even though it plays in my car year round!

We spent Easter lunch at my parents house. It is always so much fun. For as many years as I can remember, both sides of my parents family have come for Easter. It has been fun for everyone to get to know and care for each other over the years.

Here are My May and Bo Bo with their four grandchildren!

After lunch we had a great Easter egg hunt. SB can find some eggs!

Sara Beth and Katie feeding Aunt Sa and Mr. Nick some picy soup! (spicy) He was a sport to play along!

Zeb and I had discussed when the Easter bunny should come several times. We really didn't want to do it on Sunday morning. Santa doesn't bother me, but the Easter bunny really does. It worked out great this year, because the girls (including SB) didn't know that he would even come. So we didn't do it until late on Easter night. I would love to know ideas of what y'all do with the bunny on Easter. I am sure I will think about it all year!

Ready, Set, Hunt...

Going down to town for the game (or something like that)

Sara Beth was so excited about going down to town for the game which really means that she was excited about going downtown for the race! Zeb ran his first 5K Saturday afternoon. It was the Run from the Sun which benefited the Melanoma Foundation. Zeb had two reasons for running: a group of doctors from UMC (The Dyspneic Docs) ran and my Dad and Elizabeth have had melanoma (both have huge scars for proof!)

Family pic before the race...

Since I know you are curious as I was...Dyspneic means "hard to breathe" in doctor words. The back of the shirts say "running hard and breathing harder".

Sara Beth and Katie warming up with Bo Bo!

And the race begins. Zeb is in the blue and gray shirt and Jimmy Stewart is in the red and gray.

I kid you not...for a solid hour Sara Beth yelled and pumped her arm for the runners..."GO GO GO!" "Good Job" and so on...

Here is Zeb finishing...23 minutes and 43 seconds! I'm impressed! He runs daily, but not for speed. According to the Clarion Ledger there were 900 runners and he finished 91st!

My sister, Sara, ran. I can't remember her time. I think it was right under 26 minutes, but anyway, she was the 3rd girl to finish!
And Dad... He missed 3rd in his age group by 20 seconds. He finished shortly behind Sara.

And Clark, my brother-in-law, finished shortly after Dad! (sorry I didn't get your face--you were too fast!)
Daddy offered SB a different view to cheer from--you can tell from her face just how much fun she had!

Mom and Elizabeth walked while pushing Katie and Bryson--you can see a great pic of them on the front of the Metro section of the paper.

There are many more pics of our family on the Clarion Ledger website!

I am so proud of everyone for finishing!