duel in the desert

cheer comp-extravaganza continued the following weekend, this time taking us to palm springs.  it was a welcome change to be more local this time, just an hour and a half-ish away from home.  we took our time leaving the house though, which ended up landing us in some traffic on the drive out.  by the time we got into the area we were all ready for dinner, and a quick yelp search took us to bubba's bones and brews for some delicious, gigantic gourmet burgers.

our home for the night was the doubletree hotel, and check-in was quick and easy with the famous chocolate chip cookies handed to us at the front desk.

we got settled in for the night and woke up bright and early the next morning to what looked like a beautiful, warm day in the desert.

i helped the bean get ready, and then we packed everything up and got outta there so that the hub could drop us off at the convention center to meet up with the team while he went off in search of some breakfast for us.

as usual, i had my cheer mom gear on along with my lucky shoes.

it was still pretty early when we arrived and the lawn area was wide open and waiting for the cheer teams to arrive.

the bean found some of her teammates, and with the coaches occupied with getting one of the other teams warmed up and checked in for their performance they started doing some warmups on their own.

we were really excited to see her former cheer coach - from her school cheer team way back when, who's become a great friend of mine.  she had come to support another friend's daughter, and when she found out that we were going to be there as well she adjusted her schedule so that she could watch our team perform.

they did a great job with their routine, as always.  it didn't go off without a hiccup or two though, and then all we could do was wait for the awards ceremony to begin.  

her team ended up taking second place this time.  

the old lady and the fiance were in the desert that weekend visiting his dad, who they'd brought with them to watch the bean's performance.  and so once everything was all done, we headed into town to have lunch together, which was a good time.  

on our way back to the car we came across the cutest little art studio.

and then we started the long drive back home so that we could get back in time to pick up the dogs from their doggy hotel.

the bean was pretty relieved to have that tripleheader of competitions behind her, and she passed out in her room as soon as we got home.  ah, the life of a competitive cheerleader.