The Platt House: HP Championships

Last week was the High Performance Championships (in Des Moines this year!), and Laurel and I spent the entire week in Des Moines. I will admit that I didn't do as much work as usual during HP, because I was also caring for a baby and because I was staying in a separate hotel than the team. But I still managed to do a lot and make it to almost every match--I skipped watching volleyball one of the nights to watch the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics.

Last Sunday and Monday I worked team check-in. Laurel was a big hit with the coaches checking in, and had a world tour--she was held by coaches from Chile, Puerto Rico, New Zealand, and Canada! Sunday night after working check-in I helped feed tacos to the Iowa teams. Monday evening the Iowa Region hosted a picnic for all the international teams and the teams from Hawaii. I was a little concerned that being out in the 106 degrees setting up for a picnic would be tough on Laurel. However, I ended up working check-in until 7pm, so Laurel and I were not outside for the set-up and were only outside for about 2 hours in the evening when it was slightly cooler (as in, all the way down to the 90's. Did I mention that we were in the middle of a heat wave?)

Monday night when I checked into the hotel I was getting Laurel ready for bed, and she was so cute that I just had to take a few pictures!

Notice how her face is focused, but her legs and arms are blurry? That's because when she is laying down she kicks and kicks and kicks...

You're silly, Mom!

I used the camera a lot, and actually had some time to play with it and try out a couple of the special features. This picture is using the "toy camera" feature.

Melanie had wanted to come out for the weekend, so on Friday both Scott and Melanie came to Des Moines to join me at the tournament and spend the night in the hotel with us. It was nice to see them, and also nice to have someone else around to help with Laurel.

So happy to see you!

I think Melanie and Laurel might look a bit alike.

I had Scott take a picture of me with the "Olympic players." Sorry about the funny face--I was sucking on a peppermint and it got stuck in my cheek. While he was taking the picture, Scott said, "why are you holding his hand?" Don't worry, dear, it's just a cardboard cut-out.

I had a onesie made for Laurel with the Iowa HP logo on it...team mascot!

Laurel spent quite a bit of time in the sling, and enjoyed facing out and smiling at everyone. It also made it possible for me to walk around and take pictures while holding her.

I took this picture at 8pm on Saturday night, after being at the gym 7 days in a row late with the baby. And she's still smiling!

The Iowa Region had 7 teams in the tournament in different divisions. We came home with 3 gold medals and 1 silver medal--pretty impressive! Our other 3 teams also did well, but were in very tough divisions and lost at the "wrong" time or were in a 3-way tie for 2nd place and ended up 4th based on points, etc. We are very proud of our Iowa teams!

My main job during the actual tournament part was to take pictures and post them on facebook. I enjoyed having our nice new camera and figuring out how to take good volleyball pictures. Every day I would take tons of pictures, and then in the hotel at night after Laurel fell asleep I would go through them, delete 80% of them, and post the good ones. Here are a few of my favorites: