I was happy to have this week off of school, after a long stressful week before I really needed the time off.
He said
Well, with the Ontario Championships and Family Day Weekend out of the way, this week was a much more quiet and uneventful one. We finally had a sustained break from all the snow and winter and were actually able to see some grass in patches this week. It was so much nicer to have the warmer temperatures and the sun still casting light well after five in the evening. And, in a couple weeks the clocks will spring forward for Daylight Savings Time which will mean even more daylight in the evenings! It can’t come soon enough.
This week was Emelia’s Reading Week for this semester which meant she has no classes and with the exams all done the week before she actually had a week to relax and unwind from the school grind. She made good use of the time hanging out with her friends when she could and working on whatever latest Lego acquisition she’s gotten. The most recent was a Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle that she put together over two marathon sessions over Tuesday and Wednesday totalling nine hours of her work. We’ve lost count of how many kits she has but they are they have been a huge thing for her to enjoy collecting, building and displaying when she is done.
Other than that this week flew by in the blink of an eye. They only had one Cheer practice this week—what with all the other Level 4 (and lower) teams off at Niagara Falls competing in Battle at the Border this weekend. We were used to going to this one but the Worlds teams don’t compete at so we (and our bank account) were happy that we had this comp weekend off from going to overpriced and over touristy Niagara Falls. CheerStrike had a really good showing with seven of their teams qualifying for Canadian Finals. Valiant continued their work this week at practice getting ready for the next one which is OCF Provincial Championships, March 6-8th in Brampton.
Other than that this week, the planing and focus has shifted to starting to make sure that we have everything ready for Cheerleading Worlds in April. And more specifically also the fundraising that we are doing to help offset the costs. Danielle & I have sorted the time off work—we have planned to be down late Tuesday and return the Tuesday after. We have our accommodations booked and the good news is it both worlds teams are staying there. Last weekend Danielle booked the flights so everything is feeling very real and very close! I am sure if she hasn’t already, Emelia will soon be counting down the days!
She said
After we few weeks of pure chaos this last week for us was much more low key. Ontario’s really took a lot out of all of us. Added into all of the stress was how stressed Emelia was leading into the competition. With Ontario’s done and Emelia past her midterms she was able to really enjoy the downtime this past week. After a very disappointing finish at Ontario’s, Emelia’s coaches were in full swing to upgrade the routine and put in the hard work needed to come into their next competition in much better shape. The girls were all anxious to get back to training, however this past weekend the level 1-4 teams were away at Battle at the Border and Border Showdown. These competitions, specifically Showdown is a competition that determines invitation to Canadian Finals, an invite only competition featuring the best of the best of teams from level 1 through 4. With Emelia’s team being level 6 there their team was not at this competition. It gave us a weekend off, but that also meant a day off training when Emelia’s team could really use it.
With not a lot of training for Emelia and her exams behind her this past week Emelia was able to take some much needed time off. She spent much of her week with her friends, she was out with different friends most nights this week. She had a great week and was able to really decompress. It is hard to imagine that we are almost in March and at the end of April Emelia will be done her first year of university. The next two months are going to fly by, through all this time she has a heavy course load, lots of papers, projects, final exams add in lots of cheer competition and preparing to go off to World’s. This year and cheer season has flow by. We are trying to take it all in as there is a very likely chance this is Emelia’s last in All-Star cheer!