AAU Junior Olympic Games, Houston, Texas-Day 4

Wednesday was another early morning for us. It was the day for individual competition! We also were checking out on Wednesday which added a little more stress to our day. The competition this year was even bigger and we had seen how long the days were going in the days prior to Wednesday. I was a little worried that Cohen might not even get finished with all of her events! The girls got to start with another parade of athletes by state, only this day Cohen & Sadie represented the state of Georgia!! The day moved smoothly for the most part and I thought we would be great on time. I did see pretty quickly that Cohen would finish competing but would probably have to miss awards. We needed to be gone by 5 to get to the airport for our flight. Cohen did great in all of her events and with her individual open solo and strut events they would end up choosing a top 5 and then those 5 would compete again in the finals. This is where it got interesting because at about 4:30 solo and strut finalists were announced and Cohen had become a finalist in strut. We were so excited for her but that really was going to push us on time. It was extremely stressful deciding what to do. I had to talk to the competition director, we switched order with our own teammate so that Cohen could perform first. Since the finalists were listed in order of placement we saw Cohen had been 4th. If she didn't compete in the finals she would end up 5th place. I really wanted her to have her chance at competing so we got her ready to go. The director worked with us and agreed to let Cohen go first as soon as they started finals. In order to keep our timing I had to leave her waiting on the floor while I went and got our Uber to the airport. It was so stressful because one minute they were about to start then they would be waiting. I had Jennifer on the phone and finally just told her to send Cohen down to the car that we would have to scratch due to time and as Cohen was leaving they literally called her to the floor to perform. I had the best Uber driver who was patient enough to wait. Cohen went from performing on the floor to running down to jump in the car and speeding off to the airport. I was googling how close we could cut it getting to the airport and still being able to check our bags. Luckily we made it in time! Cohen was in full costume checking in at the airport but we found a family restroom and got her changed just in time to board our plane. I have never been so worn out! Our plane flew out at 7:05 and we landed in Atlanta after 10:00 pm. Once we landed and could use our phones we got so many text messages at once because remember Cohen had to leave and miss awards. We had to count on everyone else to fill us in and if Cohen placed get her medals for her. We so excited when we landed and were told Cohen had placed second (silver) in her strut! The one she performed right before running to the car. And not only that but she ended up being 2nd (silver) in the all around title! We were so excited! I know she had been adamant to get back for the first day of school but I know she was sad that she had missed awards after doing so well! Naturally who would have known and we were still so happy even finding out on the airport tram in Atlanta! What a trip! And now summer vacation was officially over and it was a school night!!