Art, notes, and parks…

"Every memorial in its time has a different goal."
-Maya Lin

This was an art filled weekend for the kids.  Ashlyn had various projects from coloring stone cupcakes to making moving picture frames that had Rusty, Nala, and Kitty in it. 

Rusty has been a big point of discussion lately.  Ashlyn still occasionally cries when she goes to sleep at night because she misses him, and this weekend the kids built a memorial of sorts for him in the movie room with notes and pictures.  Isla recently said “I miss Rusty, I want him to come back but he’s not coming back”.  While we weren’t planning on getting another dog, don’t be surprised if you see pictures of a new addition to the family soon.

With the weather cooling off, we thought it would be fun to take the kids to a park with a friend of ours.  They had fun as they always do at the park and it was a good way to burn off some energy before school starts again on Monday.

Meets and Tournaments…

"I'm pretty sure I'm going to win a gold medal."
-James

Meet number four was this weekend.  Ashlyn walked away with 2 blue ribbons (9+) and 2 red ribbons (8+).  She continues to be very consistent in her skills, which is helping her overall scores stay high.  We have three weeks to go until the final meet of the season.

Before going into his first tournament, James went back and forth between being sure he was going to win a gold medal and not winning anything at all.  It all depended on his mood at the time.  Whatever his mood, he still practiced.  And practiced, and practice some more.  He worked hard to get his forms and combinations memorized.  He concentrated on getting his kicks and punches as clean and accurate as possible.  It worked.  Not only did he medal, he won gold (1st place) in both forms and combinations!  He couldn’t have done any better, and he was absolutely thrilled all his worked had paid off.  Congratulations James, you earned it!!

I realize this post has had a lot of Ashlyn and James in it, but all the events right now are with their sports and so we haven’t had as many pictures of Isla.  But believe me, Isla is still getting into everything, learning to ride a bike, and enjoying her gymnastics.  She’s flexible and fearless, which are two traits that should serve her well.

Gymnastics and parks…

"Even if kids don’t love gymnastics, they can learn so many different things.  They can build a lot of character, strength, flexibility, and courage. Hopefully, they can also develop a sense of fearlessness."
-Nastia Liukin

We’re now past the midway point of the gymnastics season.  Ashlyn had meet number three this weekend, and she did well.  She’s working on one particular skill on bars, and once she gets it down she will be doing great at all around.  The amount of effort she’s putting into the sport is impressive, and we’re very proud of how she’s doing.

While we watched Ashlyn at her meet the other two kids enjoyed some time with Grandma at the park.  It’s great that kids don’t seem to feel the heat and humidity, they had a great time running around the park.  I’m not sure it was as fun for Grandma, but we appreciated her watching the kids.  Sitting for three hours at a gymnastics meet without much to do is hard for James and Isla.

Later in the afternoon they wanted some more time outdoors before a storm came in.  Ashlyn got some lessons from Mommy.  James picked leaves and somehow got green all over his feet and legs.  Isla made food in the sandbox.

Meet #2 and a Zombie Librarian…

"I’m tired, I’m not walkable."
-Isla

The second meet of the season was this week and Ashlyn did well.  She looked great on beam and floor, her actual vaults were better than all the practice vaults, and her bar looked good despite it being the one event she’s still working to master a skill on.  There’s still three more meets go this season.

As a treat for the kids we took them to get some frozen yogurt, which is one of their favorite places to go for sweets.  It didn’t take them long to devour the yogurt which gave them plenty of time to play games outside in the nice weather.

While James and Ashlyn are at school, Isla gets to run around with Mommy.  Sometimes this involves stopping at places to work off some energy, or going to the library to draw what Isla happily declared was a “Zombie Librarian”.  Luckily the Librarian (who was not a zombie) had a good sense of humor about it.