I made Level 3 for Gymnastics next season! I am so happy!!
He said
Finally this week we had an answer as to where Emelia was placed for gymnastics for the next season. Where last week we anticipated knowing where she would be by her Monday evening practice, that day came and passed with a lot of the girls still waiting to know and overwhelmed by the anxiety. Tuesday came and passed too. By mid day Wednesday we were starting to get a little more frustrated than anxious. But, thankfully later in the day, the email finally came. We were happy to hear that Emelia had moved forward to Level 3 to the Provincial Prep Team! What was even more impressive is that only 2 girls from her group had made it to this team where the rest were going to continue on in Level 2. One other girl moved on to the Level 3 Provincial Team so overall we were delighted and super proud of where her next year will take her.
It is going to mean a big jump in training hours for Emelia going from 4 hours per week to 10½ hours! It also means we’re going to have to plan our schedules differently to ensure she can get to practice three days a week. But, as I sit here typing this in the side yard while working dinner on the BBQ, Emelia is practicing away with her gymnastics mats in the side yard. She’s made deep, lasting friendships on her team – one of which she spent the afternoon playing with. And, she has coaches (past & present) that think the world of her – one of which who took her for a celebratory ice cream cone this afternoon. The confidence, friendships and drive to succeed she has gained from this is worth every cent of money we have spent and every extra adjustment we need to make to our lives.
As for the repair that needed to happen to the table in Wolfie for the camping trip this weekend, I am happy to report our friends Leanne and Chris tag-teamed to get that quickly welded and back to us. We even lucked out that Leanne had reason to be on our side of the city so she picked it up and even to my surprise dropped it off all fixed. I am off tomorrow so I will get it mounted back on the table and check over anything to ensure there isn’t anything else we missed. But, otherwise aside from packing and making through the week, we are all ready to go for another outing at The Pinery this weekend. and the best part is this trip will be with friends.
Looking at my schedule a couple weeks ago, we realized that I had the Thursday to Sunday off which meant we could add to our original plans of just camping from Friday to Sunday. Like last time the plan was I would get set up Friday night and come back and pick up the girls. But with the extra day, we tacked on another night at the site. So, I will go up Thursday morning first thing, get set up and then enjoy an evening of solace in the woods and come back Friday evening to pick up the girls like originally planned. Emelia is close to the end of school and won’t want to miss the days with her friends before summer break, and I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t want another day of camping and campfires. I am sure I’ll miss the girls, but come Friday, we’ll all be together. Plus, the day to myself will give me time to dig into my pal Grant Lawrence‘s new book, “Dirty Windshields” which I am happy to finally start.
So, what started as tense and frustrating no-news-yet week, certainly turned around in a big way and made us super proud of our girl. And, our girl super happy to boot! And with the weekend out of the way, it means we’re looking straight ahead to a weekend of camping again which is certainly fine by all of us… most notably, me!
She said
Finally on the positive side of recovery we settled in for another week. The week dragged and flew by all in the same breath. The daycare kids lately have been really settling into a positive groove and add in the beautiful outdoor weather and the daycare days have been flying by. But at the same time time dragged on and on because we were turning into these crazy email stalkers.
Every morning and every day after school the first thing out of Emelia’s mouth was ‘has the email come?’. The answer was more times than we could count ‘no’. But, finally after what seemed like a lifetime of waiting we finally had an answer. Emelia had advanced to the next level and what made Emelia even more happy is that two of her close friends were moving to the team as well. We found out after that only Emelia and one of her friends on her age team had advanced but with her friend in the older age group also moving up it meant that Emelia was moving up with Carissa and moving up to the same team as McKenzie. She is over the moon excited. Now at the same time she is sad because two of her close friends she has trained with for the last two years aren’t moving to the same team. The team that she has been part of for the last two years have become so close and its going to be hard to see them separated to different teams next season. Thankfully these are friendships that are strong and we have made close friends for years to come.
Emelia has been also lucky to have some amazing and caring coaches that not only care about how she develops as a gymnast but also how she develops as a person. We have been so lucky, Emelia has developed a close friendship with one of her former coaches that she really looks up to. Today Cait came over and took Emelia out for the afternoon to spend a few hours with her and take her out for a celebration ice cream to congratulate her for all her hard work and advancing to the next level. It meant the world to not only Emelia but us to see how much care her coaches take in her life.
The friendships have also been a huge part of Emelia’s development as a gymnast and as a person, this gym is so amazing that way, the girls and their coaches only build each other and do not tear each other down. Yes they are competing against each other but every athlete and every parent cheers so loud when you see one of the girls work and work and finally complete a skill that they have been so determined to do. The friendships will be lasting, we spent the afternoon at one of her teammates homes and the girls played and played all afternoon. It was amazing.
That was the week that was, the heat the really kicked in today will continue for the rest of the week. Summer has arrived and so has camping season, this week will be all about prepping for our weekend camping and spending time with family and friends.