My very first blog!

Chillin in Minny Mouse's House at Disney World

Hi everyone - this is Arielle aka Arie.  This is my first time blogging, and to be honest, I am excited about it! I have even decided to start my own blog, although, I am still trying to figure this whole thing out lol.

I actually don’t know where to begin, so I will just start with this... I am so extremely proud of my little sister!  I have always believed in her talent.  Not to toot my own horn (lol) but I saw how good my sister could be when she was like two years old.  My mom put me in gymnastics when I was about three, and I absolutely loved it!  I used to try to get my sister, Joy to do gymnastics too. However, she was not interested at all, but Brie was. I remember when I taught her how to do a cartwheel.  I only showed her a couple of times then she started doing them with perfectly straight legs. 

I called my mom and told her to look at what Brie could do.  She was very impressed. But even though I kept telling her to put Brie in gymnastics, she wouldn’t because she was afraid that she would get hurt like me.  See, I broke my wrist in two places while doing backhand springs.  I still tried to persuade her because Brie liked learning, and she was really good.

We moved to Dallas, Texas, and I had almost talked my mom into putting us in a gym there.  I remember her looking up gyms in the phonebook.   We didn’t know a thing about WOGA then, and it was not that far from our house.

But, it wasn’t until we moved back to Virginia Beach a few years later that I was actually able to talk her letting us do a trial class at my old gym.  She took all four of us to do the trial class.  Joy hated it, and John was only interested in the tumbling.  My mom put John in a boys class, but he told my mom he really didn’t want to do gymnastics.  He was more interested in his other sports.  Even though it would have been a lot easier on my mom to have us all in one place, she always allowed us to do what we had a passion for.

That’s one of the things I love most about my mom!  I definitely know it hasn't been easy for her as a working single parent to take care of all of us by herself, but she always supported us in what we did.

I am just so glad that she finally listened to me.  Well, I decided I wanted to do competition cheerleading instead, but my mom let my sister continue in gymnastics because she saw how much Brie loved it.

Going to all of the competitions over the years has been a lot of fun for my family.

Universal Studios

2008 Level 10 Nationals in Orlando was one of my favorites!  My mom took us to Disney World and Universal Studios while we were in Flordia.

Now sometimes it's just too expensive for all of us to fly.  So, we might have to drive a long way (like 23 hours to go to the 2011 Visa Championships in St.Paul,MN), but it was always totally worth it.  Although I hate being in a car that long, I love being able to be there to support my lil’ sister when she competes!  I pray that she fulfills her dream of making it to the Olympics next year!  I will do everything I can to be there when she does!