Ruth – Page 5 – Lestina Family

NonQual Regionals in Atlanta

Ana competed at non-qualifying regionals in Alpharetta, GA, very close to where we used to live. She had very good skates, all her jumps were clean and she looked very good. She got 2nd in her preliminary compulsory (out of 9), and 11th in her free skate.

We also spent some time visiting some of our old Atlanta haunts, including the house where we used to live:

And the playground near our old house – we were last there when Jenya was 3 and the twins were one.

Teaching English in China

Jenya is volunteering as an English teacher at a school for young kids in Tianjin, China. She’s the only American there — all the other teachers are Chinese, and of course all the students are Chinese. She’s having a great time, and learning bits and pieces of Chinese as well. The school is only 3 blocks from our hotel, so the walk is not bad even given the 95 to 100+ degree heat.

Miso Soup

INGREDIENTS

3 cups vegetable stock
2 tbsp miso
handful of rice vermicelli
handful enoki mushrooms (or shiitake)
1 tsp dried wakame, flaked
1 green onion, sliced
a handful bean sprouts
sprinkle sesame seeds
few drops sesame oil

INSTRUCTIONS

Bring vegetable stock to a boil
Add rice vermicelli to boiling water and cook until tender.
Turn down to low heat and mix in miso and wakame flakes.
Add mushrooms. Let stand for a minute or two just to heat through.
Add green onion, bean sprouts, sesame seeds and a few drops of sesame oil.

Dealia Gets Bobbed

De’s last synchro show was yesterday at Shamrock, so today she got her hair cut off! She donated her hair to Locks of Love, and is very happy with her new bob cut.

Jenya Gets Braces

Jenya got her braces put on today. A very long procedure – 3+ hours – but she was a trooper. They let her pick the colors on the braces, so of course she picked rainbow. So here’s the girl with the rainbow braces, with her favorite rainbow pony, also wearing braces! (And yes, that’s my old tie-die dress from Stanford that she is wearing.)

Mentor Diamond Synchro

De's last synchro competition, the Mentor Diamond Classic. Her team got 4th.

Schenley Show

Today was the end of term show at Schenley Learn to Skate. The girls all had worked with their students to choreograph routines, and they enjoyed watching them perform! Jenya also did her Pinkie Pie "Smile" show number, and their Theater on Ice troupe performed as well. Lots of fun – and for once the weather was pretty good, not freezing cold, not so warm that the ice was melted.

Jenya's Smile Program:

Team Citius

A wonderful potluck dinner for Team Citius last night – that's the bike racing team the kids are on. Fred published a slide show retrospective of the last year. Jenya and Ana are shown several times, so they enjoyed watching it. All 3 girls are planning to be on the team this year.

RMU Christmas Show

Wonderful day at the RMU Christmas show. The girls were in several numbers, as usual, so lots of quick costume changes, also as usual. Here's Crystal's Candyland number – Ben and Ana had their pairs solo during it, plus Jenya was a peppermint girl in the group number, and Dealia was a red M&M in the other group number. Very nice!

Eastern Sectionals

Ana & Ben competed Juvenile Pairs at Eastern Sectionals in Ashburn, VA. They got a personal-best IJS score and placed 6th (of 7). This was their very first time at sectionals, and they did a terrific job – it was a great skate, they looked really nice. A LOT of hard work went into this, and it was a wonderful experience all around.

Here's their program: