Mini Me turns into Mini DCC

She's only 5 years old and already her dreams are coming true! A couple years ago Lorelle began watching Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team with me. She LOVED it! She knew the girls by name and would try to copy the dances and everytime we drive through Dallas she wants to stop and see them. Well on March 28th, she became one...well for a day anyway! My sister (wonderful woman that she is) informed me of a DCC Clinic and performance with the San Antonio Rampage (minor league hockey). After looking into it I decided to go ahead and sign Lorelle up and invited Logan to join us. I was bummed that both Lorelle's friend AVery and her cousin Mckayla were too young because I think all would've enjoyed it. So the Friday night before the kids and I headed down to San Antonio to spend the night. We had to be at the clinic at 8:15 and there was NO WAY I was going to get up early enough to make that 1 hour drive in the AM. I figured everyone would enjoy it more if we played friday night (the kids in the room with toys, the adults with the Settlers/Seafarers of Catan) and then only had a 15 minute drive in the morning. The girls were soooo adorable and so excited. Unfortunately my sister was not able to join us due to other commitments. But she told me to take ALOT of pictures. Not wanting to disappoint, when Casey pulled the pictures off my camera after the clinic there were like 160. And that was AFTER I'd deleted the really bad/fuzzy ones. For the performance in the evening at the game, my parents and Tyler joined us. (There I only took like 80 pictures!)

The cheerleaders were so good with the kids. Many times I caught Logan and Lorelle just gazing adoringly up at them.

During the registration while they were getting all the kids in their groups, Lorelle's group played Duck, Duck, Goose. Poor Miss Lorelle fell. Well, I shouldn't really say "poor" because then she got to sit in the middle cuddled up with a cheerleader! Meanwhile, Logan was schmoozing with another cheerleader.

The girls were so cute learning their dance. Lorelle pretty much got every move, but she didn't make 'em in time to the beat. (It was a litle fast for their age) But they sure were trying! The hard part was as a parent, I had to sit behind glass windows so alot of the pictures are a bit fuzzy.

After the clinic the parents were able to come out and take pictures. The girls got t-shirts for the performance and the cheerleaders signed the back of 'em. So I got a bunch of individual pictures. They were also provided with an 8x10 glossy with autographs of the Performance Group. The girls were so cute at the actual performance. First, look in the picture above. All the other children are facing the parents. Notice Lorelle and Logan - they're not facing us. It took a second to set 'em straight.

There were 2 cheerleaders posted, one on each corner. Leave it to our girls to look at the one furthest away for directions! I video taped the performance with my digital camera and even got a little wave during the performance. Again, since it was a hockey game and we wer in the stands, we were sitting behind plexiglass so the pictures aren't perfectly clear. But we were sitting in the first row. The poor girls were so exhausted by the start of the hockey game. Both laid their heads down during the first period, I know for sure that Lorelle even took a little nap. I on the other hand did not.

You might be surprised to know this, but I LOVE being at live hockey games!!! Don't care for 'em on tv, but love 'em live! There so much excitement. Tyler got real into it also. I think he liked all the movement and sounds. And to top it off, The Rampage won!!!! Before the start, I didn't know how long we would stay with the little kids...well, us adults made 'em suck it up when they were ready to leave! We were having too much fun. We were 5 rows away from the ice and right next to the Rampage penalty box - perfect seats. And to get to our seats, you had to go through the "Spurs and Saddles Club" area...which is FANCY for a stadium! Mom and I were joking that this experience has ruined any other games that we might go to where we are in the carpeted area with private bathrooms! haha All in all we had a FABULOUS time! And Lorelle tells me everyday (and most people she sees) that when she grows up she is going to be a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader!