2008 Jr. Olympics in Kansas City, MO

We were on the road with gymnastics again this past week for T&T Jr. Olympic Nationals in Kansas City, MO.  After Tulsa, Sacramento and Bakersfield, KC was a pleasant surprise.  The week started out with the final Olympic trials for men's trampoline on Monday and Tuesday, where 2 of the boys from our team took 2nd (actually, a controversial tie for 1st, which was broken in the other guy's favor) and 3rd.  We arrived on Wednesday, and our luggage followed slowly behind on Thursday - grrrr.  Be wary when the pilot mysteriously says he's solved the plane's weight issues.  Thursday was spent touring the Union Station area, greeting arriving families and trying to organize a small party of 30 for dinner reservations.  We ended up at Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue, which was a surprise with it's linen napkins, but delicious none the less.  The girls spent the rest of the evening buzzing from floor to floor signing door posters and crashing the big kids' dance party.  Friday, July 4th, was open training, the craziness of Grand March In (1,600 competitors, 37 states and 191 gyms!), Liv's Jump Start exhibition and, of course, fire works.  In addition to the gazillions of little shows we saw all along the river, we were front and center for the '08 Riverfest show, which was spectacular.  Another free day on Saturday was spent watching friends compete in the am, a couple hours in the Plaza area, and a family dinner at Arthur Bryant's BBQ, where we finally, after a few reprimands, managed to follow all ordering protocol and get our 3 giant platters of meat and french fries.

At the end of that hectic and tiring week, we come to Olivia's competition day, Sunday, July 6, 2008, where she competed in her first Junior Olympic National Championships in all three events - trampoline, double mini and tumbling.  She had a 9am flight time on trampoline, her weakest event of all 3, where she called on some internal reserves to pull out the tramp routine of her lifetime.  She was in 1st place for her entire flight, until the last girl knocked her to 2nd by .2 of a point.  She was knocked to 3rd by the next flight, but we'll just call it a tie for 2nd, broken in some arbitrary way in the other girl's favor.  Anyways, our girl ended up with a second place ribbon in her flight and a 3rd place bronze medal for her age group of 40 girls (from across the nation!) with a 24.6.  Next up, double mini, which is usually a good event for our girl, but that day it was a great one.  She came in 1st place in her flight and won the gold in her age group of 33 girls with a 58.5 - almost a full point lead.  You'd think at that point we could sit back and relax, because Olivia is not only the reigning CA state champ in tumbling, but also already holds a national title from Jump Start, but no.  From where I was sitting, which was the judges table, she had 2 beautiful passes - beautiful enough for a 1st in flight, but only good enough for the bronze in her age group of 48(!) girls with a 54.5.  Considering each event only gave medals for the top three athletes in each age group, and she was competing in a field of 33-48 athletes, and she walked away with medals in all three, our girl had a great day.  Another small dinner for 30+ at Ted's and then the girls had their own official dance party with DJ, flashing lights, the works.  They were the first revelers on the dance floor when the doors opened at 8pm, and we literally had to pry them off when it ended at 11pm.  No shrinking wallflowers here.  She went to sleep that night with a smile on her face - she's a National Champion, she made a ton of friends and she had the time of her life.  We are so proud of our Livie Lu!

We have placed links to the professional pictures, but they will only be available for 45 days, so if you want to order any make sure to do so by then.