Thank you to my parents and friends for coming to cheer my cheer gym on at Showcase, it really meant a lot to see you in the crowd! Love you all.

He said

This week the focus for Emelia was the CheerStrike‘s annual Showcase which in effect closes out their season. Last year, it was the last event, aside from the banquet, but this year it came before Canadian Nationals which goes this weekend in Niagara Falls. But the Showcase is the time where the 400+ athletes of CheerStrike get to show off what they work so hard on all year for their parents, families, and friends. It went this Saturday at the Western Fair Agriplex and Emelia was delighted that her best friends the twins wanted to come watch and as well her friend Cheyenne was there too. Cheer has always been Emelia’a thing that she’s done on her own and made friends there, but she is over the moon when her friends was to see her and the team perform! And we were happy to see her have this outlet to show off to her friends the things that takes up much of her life through the year!

With Saturday off to see Emelia’s Cheer Showcase, and some very nice weather to boot, when we were done at the showcase, Danielle & I got Emelia home, and then we got out on our bikes for a 35km ride out to Byron and back. Aside form the high winds and wind gusts, it was a really great ride. Today while I worked the open the weather was even better and the sun is setting much later, it meant Danielle & I could get out for another ride after I was done my work day. The winds were much lower so it meant I could even skip wearing the full length winter bibs for the regular summer short bibs! That and the sun right to 8:00pm was absolutely glorious. We got in another 25km tonight going our normal, everyday route on the TVP.

This weekend, Friday precisely, we’re headed off to Niagara Falls for the Cheer Canadian Nationals. We’re hopeful that Emma – Emelia’s teammate from the last couple of years that had to retire because of a back injury – is able to come along again with us for the trip. We miss her like crazy being on the team, but having her come out for the Comps that she can gives Emelia a lot back of what she loved about it—someone who loves Cheer as much as she does. Plus, she helps calm a lot of Emelia’s nerves as a seasoned veteran of the process. It’s hard to say where the team will end up as this has been a bit of a very different and challenging season. But, the biggest thing we hope for Emelia is that she has fun this weekend and makes the most of it!

Lastly something we haven’t talked a lot about this winter, what with all that was going on with my brother Greg—we had other things to focus on … But, all of a sudden, here we are in April – 7 days in to be precise –  and we’re less than a month from putting the trailer back up at Auburn. Normally we’re counting down for months in advance but this one just creeped on us and suddenly we’re 23 days away! So, in 3 short weeks, we’re going to be getting the trailer out of storage and bringing it back to our site to start the camping season!! And with all this nice weather on the forecast this week, this seems a whole lot more real! Can’t wait till we’re back to campfires and bike rides on the G2G Rail Trail!

She said

This weekend was a great one for Emelia. After almost a year of hard work Emelia and her team got to show their friends and family their routines. Emelia’s team has been through a lot this year, there has been many bumps along the way but they have never given up. They have all taken all the challenges head on and stuck strong as a team. The coaches added a lot of difficulty and their hard work is coming together. On Saturday, John and I along with Emelia’s friends Anna, Grace and Cheyenne were able to see her and her team shine. There were a couple minor hiccups but otherwise they looked great! We were so proud of her and the girls loved seeing her. I did love watching the entire day with the girls—Anna and Grace know nothing about cheer but they asked a million questions because they wanted to know what everything meant and wanted to understand the sport Emelia loves so much. It really was sweet!

After we got home and Emelia got settled John and I went out for a long ride to Byron and back. The weather was gorgeous and after all the stress of the last few months personally and more recently with work for me I really needed this mental break from reality. We were able to go to Byron and back and get a long ride in. I needed it more than I knew. When we got home Emelia was rested and starting to get ready to go over to her friend Bree’s house for the night. Emelia, Bree and Belle had a night in and by the sounds of it had the best time. John and I got a quiet night home and just chilled, we needed it for sure.

Today with John at work and Emelia at her friends I had an early start, got some errands done before grabbing Emelia at Bree’s place. She was off to cheer for an extended practice. The girls after training did some fun team bonding crafting making signs and pins to get ready for Nationals next weekend. I cannot believe we are already almost done this season. For the first part of the season we were in a living hell of watching Greg loose his battle with cancer and the long path to recover from that loss. It seems that this season has flown by and before we knew it we were ready to go to Nationals. It really snuck up on us.

This week for Emelia and us will be all about prepping for Nationals. Well in the middle of that she has a very full week ahead. On Tuesday she is participating in SW Student Leadership Conference at Huron University College. She was and a few of her friends were selected by their Leadership teacher from last semester to participate in this conference. She is pretty excited about the whole thing, nervous but excited. Add in cheer practices, rugby training and school she has a very packed week. I guess the one good thing about being this busy is that she won’t have time to get stressed about Nationals.

So we hope this is a great week for her and that the girls can bring all their hard work together to hit zero on the floor next weekend in Niagara Falls!