a new season...

yesterday, we packed the car and ventured out in the freezing cold amongst the snow covered ground heading toward athens. school ended up being cancelled due to the weather. so, that helped in getting ready to leave. we were on our way to a reception for the gymdogs. the girls couldn't contain themselves because they were so excited to be staying in a hotel not to mention meeting the gymdogs, themselves. the drive up was extremely beautiful with no problems encountered on the roadways. yeah!

the reception last night was held at the athens country club and it was very nice. we met the team, got autographs and lela and lacey even had their pictures made with the girls. it was so fun watching our girls interact with the gymdogs. they got very quiet and shy as they were standing in front of their "role-models." it is so funny because lela and lacey love watching the meets on tv while they pretend to be "hillary" or "courtney." it cracks me up...

the meet will be against stanford. georgia is ranked #1 while stanford is ranked #7. despite the rankings, you can expect a close competition. it's funny, but the coach said something which i never thought about in regards to gymnastics. it is the originator of the extreme sport (x-games). it never even occurred to me with all the flipping and flying through the air that what these gymnasts do is definitely considered extreme and dangerous. instead of using a snowboard or skateboard they are using their own bodies to fight against gravity. talk about wow!

but i think the one thing that really surprises and shocks me is that lela wants and really likes doing it? for her to do a cartwheel off the beam doesn't bother her at all. it scares me to death especially when i think about what she is doing, but to her its fun and she loves it! and to think that it hasn't even been a year and here she is walking and flipping off the beam. where in the world did she get this courage? definitely not from me!

lela and lacey with 1994 silver olympian and gymdog senior - courtney mccool (courtney is one of their favorites!)

senior gymdog - marcia newby (her fiance is from newnan).

sophomore gymdog - kat ding. her story about how she made the team is very inspiring.

newbie and freshman gymdog - noel couch.

another of the girls' favorite, senior gymdog hillary mauro

night and day

no two sisters could be anymore different than lela and lacey. last night they were playing around in the yard doing, gasp, gymnastics. lela this week has started working on a handstand and lacey well...anything that requires to go flipping through the air is what she is gonna do. i decided to grab my camera and play around as well. you never know what you'll shoot and catch on the spur of the moment.

i love this picture of lacey because is so quiet feeling. her sitting in the grass watching lela. i love the fact that she is holding a piece of grass in her hands. its so sweet.

as i said before, you never what you'll get when you shoot on spur of the moment. could this be an olympic gymnasts in training? or even a future gymdog? (if you look closely, you'll notice she has her tongue stuck out in concentration. from what i've been told her daddy did this as well, especially when he was dribbling the ball down the court in basketball.)

gymdogs...in the making

this is what i pretty much deal with on a daily basis. lela doing cartwheels. she has now progressed to doing one handed cartwheels at the moment. not to be out done lacey has now gotten in on the fun. i feel as if i'm living in a gym. watch out gymdogs, here comes the daniell sisters.