We are in the last two weeks of the my best year in cheer. I am so excited for finals and nationals but sad this season has gone by so fast.

He said

With the Finals bid out of the way, the focus this week for Cheer turned to get ready for the Canadian All-Star Nationals. Both Sovereignty and Valour will be going so that will mean there will be a steady diet of practices focused on fine-tuning their routines to be ready for Finals. CheerStrike has a total of six teams with Finals bids which I feel like might be a first for the gym. Regardless, it is a huge accomplishment for all of the athletes going and we’re so happy that Emelia has to opportunity to experience this as it has been on her wish list from basically her first season in Cheer.

With March Break over it was back to the routine of school for Emelia this week. And with that the start of the Rugby season. Tryouts started on Thursday and Friday this week and Emelia was really happy with the turnout and that she felt comfortable as the vet on the team going into her last year of high school and third year of playing. She says the team looks like a good mixture of returning players, and some new faces too. She’s happy that most of her friends from last year have all returned. She doesn’t love the 7:00am practices like they had on Friday morning, but soon enough the season will be here and the practice schedule a little more kind on time of day (usually after school).

With the weather finally delivering Spring-like temperatures, I have been able to do a lot more biking outside. This week however I ran into a bit of a mishap. Not even ten minutes into my ride on Wednesday, when I was about to get onto the Thames Valley Parkway. I ran over what looked to be just a pike of leaves only to find that under them was a sizeable limb from a tree that spun under my rear wheel causing the bike to head straight for a sign post and a tree trunk. After a couple of panicked stirring corrections I managed to dodge both, going in between them, but in the process must have caught my shoulder on the tree trunk and got sent ass-over-handlebars onto the ground in a thicket of shrubs.

Thankfully nothing on me was broken aside from a stiff shoulder and road-rash on my knee (and unfortunately a tear in my cycling bibs). But handlebars must have taken the brunt of my body weight in the fall as they were pointed about 15º off kilter. After I got myself sorted and made extra sure everything was okay, I finished my ride counting my blessings as it could have been worse–so much worse. The next two rides because of weather and time of day were back inside, however today I was able to get back out and everything went as it usually does which was great.

She said

For me my week was more of the same, nothing really exciting for me personally. Work hasn’t been terribly busy for me but last week was a long one only because Western had their Spring Open House and I work those every year. It meant a 6 day stretch for work and left me pretty tired by the time I got home on Saturday.

This week was all about Emelia getting back into the swing of school after a week off, she was able to see her friends who went away for the break and get back into the groove of school. It feels like her last year of high school is going so fast and there is something on the horizon all the time. This year is a lot about lasts for Emelia. This past week was about starting her last year playing rugby for Lucas. Emelia has really loved rugby and this year more than ever. First is that she is a senior and is so comfortable in her role there plus the big bonus is so many of her closest friends are playing again this year. It will be one last season of the girls who have been playing most if not all of high school to get on the field again and we cannot wait to see her out there again this year.

With Emelia’s cheer season wrapping up she there is a real push to be ready to be competitive for Nationals. For Emelia’s main team Sovereignty there has been more of a focus on execution. They have a top difficulty routine with all elite stunts so their coach is really focusing on those fine details. Execution, timing, transition and sharp motions. They feel confident if they can have a clean routine and execute at the same level of their difficulty they have a very solid chance of taking first for their division. For Emelia’s other team it is a bit of a different approach. Emelia’s coach on that team loves to challenge the girls by making all new stunts, formations and even a brand new pyramid to take them into nationals with a show stopping routine. Now I will say as a parent and some of the athletes are nervous that with such a short turn around they will not nail this routine but the coaches are confident they have the skills and experience to pull this new routine off. Time will tell I guess.

So with Emelia burning it at both ends she is going constantly. This is a someone that does not do well sitting still, so any night she doesn’t have something on the go all the time she is bored. So her boredom turns into needing to focus on a project. For Emelia it is the renovation we need to do to transform the basement. For Emelia none of this is happening fast enough. And honestly I can see where she is coming from but with two parents who have typically opposite schedules, different days off and with me balancing work, home and Emelia’s schedule it does not leave a lot of energy to focus on the basement. We did promise her that once Nationals was done we would shift our focus to the basement, I know for Emelia none of this is happening fast enough.