Category: Uncategorized

Eight years ago…   Wow that sounds like a long time.  An article in the local paper with a picture of Jenya when she was 4 years old, at a lego science event at the museum.

Jenya drew a great cartoon and put it up on her blog.

 

This weekend all three girls skated at the Mt. Lebanon competition, and also Ana's chorus had a concert.  So we spent Saturday morning at the rink, and the moment Jenya finished her compulsory we jumped in the car and zipped off to listen to Ana's concert. 

Ana skated Pre-Preliminary A (no axel) which is sort of a half step up from where she was, and she did very nice job.  She actually had originally been entered as No Test, but her time conflicted with her concert, and so Crystal was able to get her moved to PrePre A.  She placed 2nd out of 4.

 

De skated Basic 6 again – somewhere in the last few weeks she's really starting to look graceful on the ice.  I guess she's finally getting comfortable enough on the ice to translate all that gymnastics grace and elegance into her skating.  She has a lovely very high spiral, but unfortunately she bobbled it a bit in her program — overall very nice, tho.

 

And Jenya skated PrePre B (with axel) again.  She had a lovely compulsory, but unfortunately fell on her axels in her free skate, so she was rather frustrated. 

Then we had the big end of year concert for the Children's Festial Chorus.  It was very nice — music from Les Miserables, and from several other musicals and operas.  The kids sounded great, and Ana had a wonderful time and really enjoyed herself.  She sang so much that when she came home she said her diaphram was sore!

 

 

Fun with protractors, plus lots of fractions and advanced arithmetic.  And chew marks from bunny nibbling on the book spine!

Dealia's last rhythmic gymnastics competition this season was in Columbus, again — the Spring Fling, at the Columbus convention center.  It was a very large, international competition, easily the biggest we've attended ever.  There were competitors from Puerto Rico, the Ukraine, Japan, and many other countries, as well as from all over the US. 

De very much enjoyed herself.  She placed 5th on Floor, 6th on Ball, and 7th All Around.  Here is her floor routine:

 

Ana had her first concert today with the Children's Festival Chorus.  It was a small concert, at the Providence Point Retirement Community.  Sort of a warm up for the younger and newer kids, I beleive.  But it was very nice – the music sounded great, and Ana had a wonderful time.  

Here is a portion of one of their songs, from the on-site rehearsal they had right before the performance.

 

Jenya got her “Axel” today — her new pet bunny, which she named Axel.  We’ve spent the last few weeks researching, reading, and preparing to get her bunny.  Building a cage, getting supplies, and general preparation.  And today we went down to the local humane society, and she spent time with several different bunnies, until she found just the right one.  This one came right up to her and climbed in her lap, so I think the bunny picked the girl.

Here is Axel, the bunny:

 

The figure skating club runs a learn-to-skate program at an outdoor rink at Schenley park, and the girls have been volunteer assistant coaching most saturdays.  It's really cool, and a great opportunity for the kids to learn how to teach. 

Today was the end of term ice show, and they all got to perform.  Ana and Ben skated their pairs routine for the first time, and Jenya did her competition program, plus they all did Theater on Ice. It was *very* cold, and rather windy, but they were troopers and skated well despite the skimpy costumes and frigid conditions.

Here's Ana & Ben's pairs skate:

 

Gymnastics meet again, this time artistic.  De competed Level 4, and had a very nice time.  She got 7th on beam, 7th on floor, and 9th all around.  Here is her floor routine:

 

Lunn's parents joined us for the weekend at Keystone State Games, and got to watch the girls skate.  This is the third year we've done that competition — ISI the first year, USFS the last two.  It's a really nice one, tho they have the *coldest* ice rinks I think I've been at.  Which is kind of annoying because it means no one really hangs out in the bleachers — you go in, watch your kids skate, and run back out to warm up. 

Ana had very nice skates – she got 2nd (out of 9) in her PrePreliminary Compulsory, and 3rd (out of 11) in her No Test Free Skate.  Here is her Free Skate:

 

Jenya competed her axel for the first time — a really big deal!  She got 3rd (out of 8) on her PrePreliminary Compulsory, and 6th (out of 9) on her PrePreliminary Free Skate.  Here is her free skate: