Bouncing Here, There, and Everywhere

I was visiting on the phone yesterday with my niece. Although, I use the term "visiting" very loosely because since she has hit this magical age of 13, she rarely has the ability to speak in anything other than 1-word phrases. Yesterday, though, she was unusually chatty.

As we talked about her new routines for the season, I was reminded of a very particular way that she used to bounce here, there, and everywhere. As a family, we refer to it as Naked Gymnastics, and I'll be honest, I really wanted to make that my post title, but I decided it might inadvertently seem wildly inappropriate.

So, when Brit was much younger (I told her I was going to tell this story, and she asked me to stress the MUCH YOUNGER part) and it was time to get ready for bed, my parents would send her to her room to take a bath. Now, before I continue, I need to tell you a few, key points...

Key Point #1 - Since the time she started gymnastics, she has cartwheeled, flip-flopped, and generally pranced everywhere she goes.

Key Point #2 - My parents have various gymnastics apparati (is that the plural for apparatus? in the house which encourages said flip-flopping.

Key Point #3 - Her bedroom used to be the garage, and my dad converted it. So, the floor sounds like a loud upstairs floor.

Back to the story...she had been sent to her room to take a bath, and all of a sudden, we hear bump, bump, thwack, thud. And then it happens again and again and again. So my mother goes to check on her and see what is going on.

Mother opens Brit's bedroom door to see Brit cartwheeling, flip-flopping, and prancing around her room nekked (my family is from East Texas, so that is the proper way to talk about the state of being unclothed). It seems that while she was waiting for the bathtub to fill up, she got sidetracked by pull of doing a few more gymnastic-like moves, and thus was born Naked Gymnastics.

Anyway, here is my niece now in this past season's gym pictures. (I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures. They were scanned in. Also, sorry to those of you have seen these pictures numerous times.)