NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

As we were leaving, this sign was at an intersection on NC State's campus. The sign amused us because at the bottom it has advice regarding railroad crossings but there was not a train or railroad anywhere around!

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

The first and second place teams qualified to the NCAA Women's Gymnastics National Championships.

1st Place: University of Georgia (red and black) 2nd Place: Pennsylvania State University (blue)

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

Courtney McCool competing on the balance beam for the University of Georgia. She scored a perfect 10.0! Courtney was also a 2004 Olympian with the other Courtney.

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

Courtney Kupets competing on the balance beam for the University of Georgia.

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

Courtney Kupets warming up on the uneven bars for the University of Georgia.

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

Courtney Kupets competing on the floor exercise for the University of Georgia. She was a 2004 Olympian.

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

A University of North Carolina gymnast competing on the balance beam.

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

University of Georgia team huddle between event rotations.

NCAA Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional

On Saturday, April 4th, Kendall and I attended the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Women's Gymnastics Southeast Regional Competition at NC State University in Raleigh. The competition was to qualify two teams to the NCAA Women's Gymnastics National Championships. Gymnastics is my favorite sport so this was an awesome opportunity I enjoyed to the fullest!

We took a lot of photos, well, Kendall took most of them as I was mostly watching the four ring circus. We quickly learned that gymnastics is not an easy sport to photograph as I imagine most sports are probably not as well due to the speed of things happening. I think I am only including photos I took but it is possible some were by Kendall.

There were six teams in the battle to qualify for Nationals as well as a handful of individuals from schools that did not qualify a team to Regionals. The teams represented were: University of Georgia, Pennsylvania State University, University of Nebraska, West Virginia University, University of North Carolina, and North Carolina State University. My favorite moment was getting to see UGA (the defending National Champion) compete with two past Olympians (2004) and each score a perfect 10.0!!

Wilton Cake Decorating Course 2: Postponed

Alas, only 3 people signed up for the course and the requirement is 4 in order to teach the class. Technically, there were 4 but one was a store employee and they are not allowed to count them toward the class roster. So, the class has been pushed forward a month to June when, hopefully, enough people will be signed up. Therefore, there will not be any cake photos this month unless I decide to practice which I suppose would be a good idea!

A SMART car, a Maserati, a Canon, and a Fire Truck

I have had several missed photo ops in the last couple of weeks. Since I do not have any photos to show, words will have to do. Three of the four opportunities that come to mind, I was driving so really I suppose it would not have been safe to be taking photos anyway! Kendall and I carpool to work, so, I pick him up on the way home each afternoon. In the short distance between our work places, I seem to have a unique siting fairly often. I have seen a blue and white SMART car, a red Maserati (a cousin to the Ferrari), and an SUV. Well, the SUV was not the interesting part but what it was pulling...a trailer! Ok, that's not the interesting part either but what was on the trailer. Imagine driving down the road and someone passing you by when it registers that the thing right beside you on the road is a canon! Now a canon is not an unusual site to see but when it's not at a historic battlefield or at a museum but a mere few feet from you at eye level speeding along, it is a bit surprising! The fourth opportunity is also vehicle related. This morning at work the fire alarm went off! We evacuated but not before grabbing purses, cell phones, and umbrellas. Why is it always raining when there is a fire, fire drill, or fire alarm? Some of us wanted to go get breakfast but alas we stood around under the tree for quite a while wondering if the fire department would ever come. Eventually two fire trucks showed up and at first drove past our building before eventually coming in the back way! It was a bit scary how long it took them to get there and also I was surprised at the number of people that went back inside before we got the all clear. This is not what we learned in school! While we were standing around outside I thought about taking a photo of the fire truck but decided against it as I didn't want people to think I was weird. After walking around and in and out of the building several times we were given the all clear to reenter the building. I thought the all clear would involve a firefighter saying "it's safe for you to all go back in now" but no instead he said "get back to work" then laughed! Apparently, a smoke detector malfunctioned setting the entire system off resulting in us needing to stand outside for nearly an hour this morning. There are a couple office suites around ours that are being renovated and we were blaming the workers for setting it off on accident but guess our hypothesis was incorrect.

Carolina Hurricanes Sandcastle - Side 2

Carolina Hurricanes Sandcastle - Side 1

While at Crabtree Valley Mall getting lunch one day, I saw this sand sculpture dedicated to the local Carolina Hurricanes professional hockey team and the Stanley Cup.