Author: Ruth

Jenya and her Lego Robotics team had their annual Western PA lego league competition today.  This year the research topic involved food safety, and they did their project on listeria. 

They had spent the previous few months working hard, and it showed.  They had very good results — 9th place overall out of something like 100 teams, and they got 2nd place in the software competition!  This means they got one of the really nifty trophies — made from legos, natch. 

Here's a pic of the team — Jenya's the one in the skirt.

The first away skating competition of the season was at Rising Stars near Cleveland, Ohio. There was a good group of Pittsburgh skaters there, and it was a very nice competition.

Jenya skated four events, and got first (out of 5) on her No Test Compulsory, third (out of 6) on her No Test Free Skate, first (out of 2) on Pre-Preliminary jumps, and third (out of 7) on Pre-Preliminary Spins.  Here is her free skate:

 

Ana did only two events, because it was her first time skating No Test.  She also got first (out of 8) on her Limited Beginner Compulsory, and third (out of 6) on her No Test Free Skate.  Here is her free skate:

 

Ana and her friend Ben have recently been learning how to pairs skate.  They only started taking pairs lessons this past summer, and have made quite a lot of progress.  They just learned a neat lift, called the stag lift, here they are showing it off:

 

And here's a nice one of their coach teaching Ana the lutz lift — I think her favorite part of lessons is having her coach pick her up and spin her around!

 

 

The girls have been on a roll with math recently — in quick sucession, first Ana finished Singapore Math 3B, then Jenya finished Singapore Math 6A, and now De has finished Singapore Math 3A.

We had a nice dinner out to celebrate all the growing academic prowess. 

This weekend was the first skating competition of the season, and the girls had a wonderful time.  It was at our home rink, so much easier, with no travelling.  All 3 girls skated, and did quite well.

Ana competed in 4 events, and got 3 firsts, so she was extra happy.  She skated Special Beginner Free Skate (1st out of 4), Beginner Compulsory (1st out of 7), Beginner Spins (1st out of 8), and Beginner Jumps (4th out of 6).  Here is her free skate (and note the great new dress, Lunn gemmed it for her):

 

Jenya also skated in 4 events — Beginner (No Test) Free Skate (2nd out of 5), Pre-Preliminary Compulsory (3rd out of 7), Pre-Preliminary Spins (4th out of 7), and Pre-Preliminary Jumps (4th out of 4).  Here's her free skate:

 

 

And Dealia skated Basic Skills 3.  She tied for 3rd, out of 4.  Here is her free skate:

  

We've all been enjoying gardening this year, and we now have a pretty good assortment of vegetables.  Since this is our first year gardening in Pittsburgh, we tried a little of everything.

The peas were delicious but we didn't have nearly enough of them.  Vine beans were wonderful and steady producers.  Bush beans, tho, not so good — lots of space for one crop of beans and then nothing. 

Corn was great, and the sunflowers were super-tough and resiliant — they were eaten down to nubs by deer while we were in DC, and to my great surprise they grew back and proceeded to make many nice flowers with big seed heads.

The cucumber vines were also victims of the deer, but we did get several nice cucumbers.

Jenya took her re-test of her Pre-Juvenile Moves in the Field today, and had a clean pass — all 3 judges passed her.  Very nice.  And note the new pink competition dress, Lunn just got done gemming it up. 

 

Ana finished her current math book, Singapore 3A.  Multiplication, long division, math with money, some geometry.

Her favorite page:

De left today to spend a week at the International Gymnastics Camp.  She’s really looking forward to it.  An entire week of 6+ hours a day of gymnastics, plus all kinds of other things like canoeing, rock climbing, swimming, and other activities.  I dropped her off (after a 6 hour drive — it’s in the Pocanoes, on the other side of the state, ugh), and got a few pictures.

Jenya completed her current math book, Singapore 5B. Decimals, percents, averages, and some geometry.  Her favorite was tessellations.