This week was all about cheer!!!!

He said

Emelia’s last day of school was on Thursday, with Good Friday being a day off. Weird to think – as Danielle has previously shared – that she is already done her first year of university! Exams start the week after when we get home from Nationals. Guaranteed the next few weeks for all of us will be a blur, where before we know it we will be off on our way to Worlds in Florida! It’s all been a whirlwind of making sure that we have everything ready to go. The big things are all out of the way, but the myriad of little things keep stacking up, and with Nationals coming up next weekend, exams starting, and then Danielle & I needing to make sure we have everything sorted out for being away from work for a week as well.

We’re all getting pretty excited about this trip as it has been a dream of Emelia’s since pretty much day one of moving to All-Star Cheer from Competitive Gymnastics six years ago. Considering it is happening in what very likely is her last year at CheerStrike, we’re really trying to soak it all in. But, before we get to shifting our complete focus on Worlds, we have Nationals ahead of that, next weekend. Last year, Emelia’s team Sov taking the National Championship was a shock to us all; we don’t have unrealistic expectations that ValiGirls will do the same in a much tougher Level 6 division. But, like Worlds, the goal is just to soak it all in and enjoy the experience!

This weekend for me, I got to get out for a couple of club rides with LCC. On Good Friday with the day off work, I was able to get out for the first gravel ride of the season—a 7okm route out to the west end of the city that featured a stop at McLachlan’s Maple Syrup and Pancake House for some tasty flapjacks, sausages, and of course, maple syrup! Contrary to the weather last weekend, it was over 20º, sunny, and beautiful out. The only hard thing to contend with was strong winds. But it was an otherwise wonderful day out. Then today, the second ride of this weekend was the first road route for the club of the season. It was a much shorter 40km route that, with the ride to and from the house, ended up being 53km. But, contrary to Friday, the temperatures were much cooler at feels like -5º. But, all-in-all, and gusting winds aside, another great ride!

And on the topic of bikes, I officially have one rented for a couple of the days as soon as we get down to Florida for Worlds. It’s a Cannondale carbon road bike that should feel relatively close to my own. There is the ability for me to ride in the gym at the hotel we are staying at, but it would be crazy to be somewhere so warm without getting in at least one outdoor ride, in a completely different country that close to the equator, right? The bike will be delivered to the hotel the day that we arrive later that evening, and then the next day offers us the most flexibility for me to ride off the travel legs that next morning, early. I added a second day with the hope I can do the same thing, first thing in the morning the next day too.   

I am sure the next few blog posts will fly up by as as we navigate the whirlwind that will be Worlds. She’s excited. We’re excited. It will probably fly by too fast, but be equal parts amazing!

She said

The last couple weeks at work has been really busy so this three day weekend was exactly what I needed. Last week for Emelia was a really busy one, her last week of school is technically next week but all her professors doubled down last week to give the students the extra time to wrap end of year papers and project and start prepping for final exams. Emelia had a really busy week, she and her stunt group have gone in for extra training to prep for nationals and to try and clean up their first stunt to make sure it is clean and hits at Nationals. They have been working so hard with these new level up routine hoping it really pays off next weekend at Nationals.

As John has already mentioned this is very likely going to be Emelia’s last year in All-Star. Since Emelia joined cheer 6 years ago she had two long term goals, one was to make a World’s team which came true this season and second was to get into Western and to cheer at university. A week ago she went out to the co-ed cheer tryouts. She had a great time and loved everything about it but isn’t sure that it is one a good fit for her and second what the chance of her making the team since she isn’t a flyer. They tried her out at that position, and she isn’t afraid of the idea of flying but since she has never once been a flyer she wasn’t really clicking the motions to get herself into a position to show off her skills. After talking to the co-ed coach he told her she reached out to the all girl coach tell him that she would be a good fit. Emelia reached out to the coach and was invited to come to a practice to see how she would fair with the Western cheer team. Emelia was nervous going in but came home so confident and happy. She said everything went really well, she was put back in her thirding position and was doing a bunch of level 6 stunts, and everything was hitting, all the stunts instantly clicked and she and the other athletes from the current cheer team really clicked. The girls were so supportive and said that she was an incredible third. So all in all a great first impression for the coach. In May she will go back for the official tryout for the team and see where it takes her. So the issue is, she can’t do all-star and Western cheer and their tryouts are at the same time meaning she would have to commit to CheerStrike for another season before she would know if she makes the Western cheer team. I have asked her if she made both what does she really want and without a moments hesitation she said Western.

With all of that it made the week fly by. And thankfully the weekend was here, with a three day weekend we were able to slow down a bit and spend time with friends and family. On Friday we all got together at Matthew and Shawn’s place for the Teeter family Easter. This is our first Easter without Helen so it was really important to get as much of the family together as possible. As soon as John and I walked in the door our nieces only really cared when their cousin Emelia was coming. They are both at the age that they are obsessed with their older cousin, especially Abi. As soon as Emelia joined the family after she was done extra training and Abi was instantly glued to Emelia for the rest of the night. The family gathering as always was loud and filled with lots of laughs. Our family might be smaller it is loud and as close as ever. The night flew by and before we knew it it was time to head home for the night. The rest of the weekend has gone by fast, Emelia went to her best friends last night for their Easter and got to catch up with their extended high school friend group. Today has been a bit of a lazier day, quiet, and spending time together. All in all it was a perfect long weekend.