Schaumburg Cheer Weekend, Day One

We made it to Schaumburg Friday night for our weekend long cheer competition. We kicked the weekend off with dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Yummy Yummy! Ella's team had to compete both Saturday and Sunday mornings, with check-in being at 6:00 am (which should be illegal, in my opinion). We got a super deal at a hotel that is minutes from the convention center, so most of our team got to spend the weekend together. The hotel also offered a spectacular complimentary breakfast buffet and complementary happy hour every evening. Double bonus! I brought both boys, as well as my "adopted" other son (my oldest's best friend), and they packed the Xbox so they could play while we were competing. The kids all enjoyed the indoor pool, and the boys used the fitness center often.

Since we had to get up at 5:00 am to get ready for competition, it was a long day. On the other hand, we were done competing by 8:00 am, and had the entire day to spend doing what we wanted. We shopped the vendors for a bit, and Ella got a new cheer bow.

We made it back to the hotel to enjoy the ridiculous hot breakfast buffet. After a long splash in the pool, we opted to spend the afternoon at Woodfield Mall, where we bought a bit of candy in the candy shop, and ate at Rainforest Cafe.

Megan braided my hair while the kids swam.

We had fun in the photo booth at Rainforest Cafe.

The girls did well on their first round. They had some deductions, but no major problems with the routine. The hardest part is that the gym insisted on placing them in the junior division, when they should be in the youth division. We just can't compete against 14 year old girls, when we have 6-11 year olds. It just won't happen. But they're doing the best they can, and that's all that matters. Overall, awesome weekend so far. One more round left to go tomorrow!