And finally the moment we've all been waiting for

...the girls finally take the field!
and do their routine...
and have a lot of fun as well!
No, I never did know where Macy was - are you kidding! - but was proud to know that she was down there with the rest of them, dancing and smiling.
Last year the dance clinic was held in October and the tank top color and pom pom color was pink for breast cancer awareness. This year it was in September and held in honor of heart health awareness so the color theme was red. Perfect! St. James colors are red and black! The girls will perform this next weekend for homecoming and will be waving red pom poms!

The Cheerleaders

The Vikings Cheerleaders aren't as popular or well-known as the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders but they are just as beautiful and nice. This is the second trip to the Dome for the St. James Danceline and both trips have been a lot of fun for the girls. Working with the Vikings Cheerleaders on their dance routine for the game was exciting and exhausting. The cheerleaders are super nice to work with and fun to dance with.
Be sure to click on the picture to get a better close up of the OFFICIAL Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders!
This is a picture of the UNOFFICIAL Vikings Cheerleader. The dreaded fan in the stand. I say dreaded because they serve beer at the Dome. Sometimes too much of it. This guy was a few rows below us and a few seats to the left of us. But he was loud enough to be heard by the whole section. Throughout the game. Throughout several beers. .
He was quite angry at a group of gentlemen wearing Vikings jerseys that wouldn't stand up and cheer. He kept yelling at them. Loudly.
Gotta love the fans!! I sure hope he didn't have to drive home.

The fans

We actually know these two...
and this one too. Can you guess who they are??

Brave souls who had their faces painted!
The crew I was responsible for.
And more familiar faces behind me...
This is the Viking's Skol line. Does anyone know what skol means?? It's in the Viking's cheer song - which I didn't know until they displayed the words on the jumbotron. These guys were fun to listen to and watch. Kind of like Su Fu Du only in purple and gold.

A picture of the group by the MVC banner.
Just the St. James girls with a few Vikings Cheerleaders.
An important meeting with Coach Nicole at the hotel before turning in for bed on Saturday night. Coach is giving them the what time, what to bring, and HOW EARLY DO WE HAVE TO GET UP TOMORROW???? speech.
We drive from the hotel to the Mall of America, park there for free and purchase a ticket for three dollars each for a round trip from there to the Metrodome. Quite a deal for no hassle parking and being dropped off at the door of the dome. I don't drive downtown Minneapolis! It's about a thirty minute train ride but well worth the no-hassle arrival! I sort of felt like I was riding with a couple of uni-bombers. What's with the hat, the hood and the glasses??
Yup, Nikki has been with the girls since Thursday afterschool and

she looks like she could use a break!

Practicing with the Vikings Cheerleaders

The St. James Danceline team left after school on Thursday, September 19 and headed up to the twin cities to practice with the Vikings Cheerleaders at Winter Park. There were about 100 girls from other dance teams in Minnesota and it was fun to watch them practice and feel all the energy. The Vikings Cheerleaders are all really nice and fun to learn from.
Macy's in the grey t-shirt. Because they did this in September this year, the theme was "heart health awareness" and so the color was red. Last year, they did this in October and the color was pink for breast cancer awareness.

The cheerleaders will donate money to the American Heart Association from this camp.
The girls and some chaperones stayed at an Embassy Suites hotel in the Mall of America area and were joined on Friday night and Saturday by other family and friends. Us included. I drove up Saturday morning with another mom, Emily, Daniel and Zach.

Pictures from the kids

Macy took these pictures....
How does she find these grasshoppers and why do they sit so still for her? Amazing...
Daniel took this one. I included it in this post because I thought it was a good picture of the kittens we love so much.

Mankato West Tennis Invitational

Saturday, September 6th, the team traveled to Mankato to participate in an invitational. Here is a picture of the team line-up as introductions are made. They played well and won first place.

Princess Katie and her fruit snacks.
The girls pose with the trophy from the tournament.

Football season has started

and that means pep band has too! Macy plays in the front row of the bleachers along with the other bulky drums and this is the best picture I could get of them. The kept raising their drums and hiding from me. They should know they can't hide forever!

Tennis!

Tennis season starts for the girls in August, a week before school offically starts. I love tennis season. One match you'll be wearing shorts and getting sun burnt and the next match you'll be shivering and wishing you'd brought a sweatshirt and blanket!
The team shares a cheer before the matches start. You can just see the top of Macy's head..

Macy and her doubles partner.

Off to Armstrong School!

Daniel heads off to Armstrong Middle School this year as a fourth grader. His time at Northside is done, and so is mine. No more Northside conferences, concerts, or field trips. I will miss the staff at the elementary school but it's time for him to move across town.
Here he is with his teacher, Mr. Winter, who is well seasoned and teaching in his 40+ year! I know that Daniel will have a good year with him and our early-entrance conference went well. We found his room, we walked past the lunch room, the aid showed him where the bathroom was and pointed out the best water fountain on each floor. We put his new school supplies away in his desk and found his locker. We are ready for Thursday, September 4th, the first day!

An unintentional catch

Since the kittens have been allowed to roam outside, John has been setting the live trap at night to catch any stray cats or toms that may try to harm our precious kittens. Daniel happened to set the trap the night before school started for Macy and as I went to let the kittens out of the barn for the day, I realized the trap had been sprung. Then I noticed the black tail with a white stripe down it. Uh oh. I quietly backed away from the barn and informed John that he had quite the catch. Then I got in the van and left for work. Quickly. Lucky John! It was funny to see how the skunk was sleeping so deeply that he never heard me walk up to it, walk away from it, or even drive close enough to get a picture of it. I stayed in the van when I took the picture and had it in drive with my foot poised over the gas pedal in case he woke up and decided he wasn't happy. I don't know what happened to the skunk and I'm not going to ask, but the yard smelled like fresh skunk for a day - if the wind was in the right direction.

Back to school!

Macy ready for the first day of 10th grade. A sophomore!

And Zach stops to give her a ride.

Godahl Parade

The annual Godahl Days Parade is held on Labor Day and seems to signal the end of all summer activities as school starts the next day for grades 7-12. The parade is quite short so if you had to choose a parade to march in, this would be the one! There's fun and games for kids all morning and most of the afternoon, coronation of Miss Godahl after the parade and excellent food to be eaten. Your typical small town celebration!

Here is a local politician who enlisted the help of my daughter and her friend to wear t-shirts and hand out stickers.

Here's the high school marching band and Macy is in there playing drums. This is her first parade and since school hasn't started yet they really don't have much time to practice before the big day. They sounded and looked good!
An antique tractor and a little boy hoping for candy. A must have for every parade!
My friend, Donna, campaigning for Paul Torkelson.