New Orleans Family Cheer Trip

Our family cheer trip to New Orleans was almost two weeks ago! Here's the MASSIVE pic & video recap... We arrived Friday and just enjoyed NOLA:

Gorgeous Jackson Square evening

A woman leading the charge at Washington Artillery Park ;-)

Dragon Master Showcase CROWD PARTICIPATION!!!

Presenting...the Mississippi River :-D

Their 1st official Café Du Monde beignets!

On Saturday, Annelise rocked with her cheer team, Extreme (all her stunts hit, even with new grips!) but another group's elite stunt fell, & they didn't recover, so Extreme didn't win first place. Better to face that adversity now and overcome it, b/c the two February competitions are the big National Championships. Extreme performance stills:

My & JB's parent team, Beast Mode, apparently stole the show Saturday!!! People were stunned we did an ACTUAL routine - not just joking around with something simple. ;-)

Beast Mode on deck!!!

Ready for the video? (I can post video, b/c it's not a Nationals competition routine, unlike the girls. JB is my back spot, & you can't miss my hair! :-D Will = videographer)


My favorite part is Will cheering, "Go Mom! Go Mom & Dad!" at the beginning... #happytears It was just so cool to not only share this process with JB, but also to completely understand exactly what Annelise goes through every practice & competition firsthand.

Performance stills & pro pic proofs:

[Jumps are not my gift. (I know, I know: look up, point toes, arms front not up... :-P)]

[The Will-mortifying dab ("Omigosh, Dad! I can't believe you did that!")]

Precious Beast Mode BFFs

Beast Mode on the floor getting our AWARDS!!!!!!

We won MEDALS!!!!!

3 performance medals for our family...& one super supportive videographer son:

Afterwards: po boys, more Café du Monde beignets, French Quarter fun, and we even hopped in the Women's March! The part we were with was positive, kind, & full of love - I was proud for my kids to see 10-15,000 people free to exercise their voices, championing ALL people, & supporting kindness, positivity, equality, & inclusivity.

MORE Café Du Monde beignet laughter!

We kind of wished we would have waited for dessert at this crêpe stand in the French Market...

Saturday night, we met our cheer fam friends for dinner at Desire Oyster Bar and had adult time out, while the kids stayed in at the Royal Sonesta. LOVED getting to dance a bit!!!

Kids dinner-ready:

Adults dinner-ready:

Kids in for the night:

Adults ready to roll out:

Brunch Sunday morning on Jackson Square at Stanley in the shadow of the cathedral...

Bananas Foster French Toast = divine!

We finished our trip Sunday afternoon watching football (GO FALCONS!!!) on a soft outdoor couch under a gorgeous blue sky on a giant TV with the smell of BBQ wafting around us outside at Manning's before a last few pieces of king cake at our hotel, as we caught our ride home.