Charley's 8th Grade Night for Cheer

Charley's 8th Grade Night Announcement:

Charley Robinson is escorted tonight by her parents Craig and Jessica Robinson.  Charley has cheered all three years at GMS and has loved being one of the captains this year.  Spirit Night at the fair and UCA cheer camp are two of Charley's favorite experiences with the team.  When she's not cheering, Charley loves theatre and traveling.

From Charley: I want to thank Coach Melissa for her ability to bring out the best in the team, my mom Coach Jess for all the hours she put into making our 8th grade year so special, my dad and sister Carter for putting up with all the cheer conversations at home, my teammates who I love like sisters, and finally, our team mascot and my number one fan and little sister, Camryn.

Citrus Bowl

The downside to Charley being selected to perform the halftime show of the Citrus Bowl was the timing of the game.  We typically crash by Christmas night, but we needed to be on top of our game for the trip.  On the morning after Christmas, Charley ended up at the walk-in clinic with strep, and after 24 hours of medicine, we picked up Harper and Desiree and hit the road.  We had a rough start between sickness, exhaustion and a very long drive that included a costly mistake between my bumper and a boat motor, but we were able to catch up on sleep once we got to Orlando.  When the girls weren't rehearsing, we had so much fun riding roller coasters at Universal.  Velocicoaster, Hagrid's Motorbike, and the Hulk were our favorites.  

Another highlight of our trip was realizing that we were less than ten minutes away from The Melting Pot.  We hadn't been since Charley's 10th birthday in Knoxville, and it was even better than we had remembered!  They said they hear more about the Nashville restaurant than any other location, because people miss it so much!

The Citrus Bowl game was on New Years Eve, and the entire game experience was unbelievable!  The weather was gorgeous and of course the energy in the stadium was insane with 500 cheerleaders.  The girls impressed the coaches at the first rehearsal and had great spots on the field.  A cameraman stopped in front of Charley during the last part of the dance, and I was so afraid she would be distracted and mess up, but she didn't.  

After the game, we changed clothes, met up with Britney, Briley and Charla and rang in the new year at Universal.  I had read that just before midnight we should pick up our left foot so we could start the new year on the right foot.  Seconds before midnight, I looked down and noticed Charley was standing on her left foot (bless her heart), but she quickly hopped on to the other foot and we both followed the advice.  While everyone around us was celebrating the new year, we made a mad dash to ride the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket roller coaster one last time.  I never imagined riding a roller coaster after midnight, but it was the perfect ending to our trip and beginning of 2025.