Miami University Summer Skating School

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Emily waited 365 days for this -- finally, it was time for Miami Figure Skating Camp!  She was up early ready to get her stuff packed up at Grandma's and get to Oxford for check-in.  She was extra excited this year because she knew several girls in her group this year from last year's camp AND this year, Kelsie was going too and was going to be her roommate!  She could not have been any more excited.

This year, the kids were staying in a different dorm - Hamilton Hall.  It was still right across the street  from the ice rink, but this dorm was 1000 times nicer than the one they were in last year.  It looked to have been remodeled recently and was very nice.  This dorm even had A/C!  Emily could not have been happier.

   

Hamilton Hall

She worked very hard this week on her sit spin, her moves and most of all her axel.  She really wanted to land this jump at camp.  She got very close, but didn't quite get there.  BUT, much to my surprise, she added an axel to her program at the exhibition and darn near landed it!  I was so proud of her for really going for it (and knowing she would probably fall in front of all the people watching but doing it anyway).  She was so very close.  I know her day is coming to land this jump...that is if they ever open our rink again (it is now closed completely for an estimated 2-4 more weeks).  Sigh...

Exhibition

2018 Troy Summer Skating Competition

Friday, July 13 - Saturday, July14, 2018

This marks the beginning of Emily's third year in competitive figure skating and wow, she certainly has come a long way in 3 years.  We like this competition because it is close to grandma's house, is easy to get to and the rink is beautiful.  Hobart Arena is the best place she skates all year, next to Miami, of course.

Unfortunately, this was not really Emily's best competition.  She did get a gold medal for her Mr. Popper's Penguins showcase number.

But she really wasn't at her best for jumps, compulsory or even freeskate.  She ended up last in jumps...

...Third in compulsory and fourth in freeskate.  And actually, she got lost in her freeskate at one point and skipped several elements until she figured out where she was again.  I had never seen her do that before.

   

Bronze in compulsory

But again, the timing was tough because the ice was in bad shape and we lost a lot of ice time traveling in the earlier part of the summer too.  She was disappointed she didn't skate better, but I also think she learned a lesson or two about the importance of practicing before a competition.

Juvenile Moves in the Field

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Emily decided she was ready to try to take her USFS Juvenile Moves in the Field test this summer at Troy while we were up there for competition over the weekend.  She hasn't been working on these moves very long, but she was ready to give it a try.  At this phase power is a big deal along with attention to more details like posture, stretching through the free leg and good, clean edges.

Unfortunately, right at the end of the school year our rink started having problems. The dehumidifier went out so all the glass was steamed up and there was fog rising up off the ice.  Sometimes it looked like a spooky Halloween scene. The ice wasn't freezing evenly either which made the ice lumpy and difficult to skate on.  Not ideal for lessons leading into a test session.  But, she was determined to try.

 

She actually skated a beautiful test, despite the odds.  Unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough and she was asked to re-try.  This works out just fine, really, because we will have testing at our home rink in October so hopefully she'll be able to pass then.  She was a little disappointed, but she handled it like a champ and we were very proud of her attitude.

Taylor Swift

Saturday, July 7, 2018

For Christmas, Emily got tickets for her and a friend to go see Taylor Swift in live in concert in Columbus.  I actually bought these tickets for her while on the monorail at Disney World several months earlier.  Emily invited Kelsie to go with her so we picked her up Saturday morning and headed to Easton.  We got a room at the Residence Inn and then went shopping for a bit.  We had Sbarro pasta for dinner with cheesecake to-go for dessert.  Then it was off to the concert!

Unfortunately, we misjudged the traffic quite a bit and it took us over 2 hours to go less than 10 miles.  We ended up being late for the opening acts, but we did have concert t-shirts in hand and were happily sitting in our seats when Taylor Swift too the stage a little after 9:00pm.

I am not a huge Taylor Swift fan, but I will say she puts on a pretty amazing show.  I really enjoyed it, and I think, other than the traffic, even Daddy enjoyed the show.  I think the girls were more interested initially in all of the people all over the stadium than the concert itself.  The Ohio Stadium seats about 110,000 people and even though it wasn't full, the very thought of more people being in that stadium for this concert than in the entire city of Charleston was definitely a lot to take in.  They also loved the glow bracelets that came on and glowed/flashed to the music later in the concert.  It was neat to look out and see everyone's bracelet's glowing throughout the concert.

   

 It was very late when we finally got home, but the girls confirmed that it was worth it.  The next morning, Emily was very excited to wear her new (and very first) concert t-shirt.  #tweenyears
I just hope she doesn't want to go to another concert for a while...

Fourth of July!

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

As I sit here at the end of July wondering where the first half of the summer went, I am so glad I have this blog to look back and remind me that we actually didn't miss the entire summer.  This summer has been exceptionally busy with work and camps and family stuff that it seems like we just got out of school.  It was really nice to be able to celebrate July 4 at home with our friends.

We started the day with Abby and Josie coming over to play for the afternoon while Molly and I worked on our scrapbook projects.  Then later that evening we did a big cookout complete with burgers, hot dogs, sour cream potatoes, watermelon and corn on the cob!  Then for dessert we had festive brownies and chocolate dipped rice krispie treats.

After dinner it was time for the Fourth of July festivities!  While it was still light out, we started with water guns and a water balloon fight! They sell these great sets of water balloons where you hook up one nozzle to the hose and it fills 100 balloon.  When they get full, they pop off and tie themselves off.  I swear, where were these when I was a kid and it took like 10 minutes to fill one balloon and then while you were tying it off, it would pop.  2018 is an awesome time to be a kid.

   

   

After they tired of the water they hit the playground and trampoline for a bit.  Good old fashioned summer fun.

Then before it got dark we got out the fireworks that have the parachute men that come out...

   

   

...and the boxes of poppers.

   

Then when the sun went down, it was time for sparklers and fireworks!  This was the first year Emily wasn't afraid of the sparklers.  Finally!

   

   

We didn't set the fireworks off ourselves because they are technically not allowed in our neighborhood anymore per the HOA  bylaws, but we did watch our neighbor's show (he didn't care about the rule apparently).

   

Happy Birthday America!  Such a great day at home with friends.

Hoverboard Fun

Saturday, June 30, 2018

Emily got several Amazon gift cards for Christmas and her birthday this year, but after multiple Christmas and birthday celebrations there wasn't really much she she still wanted so she saved them for a while.  Earlier in the spring she bought a mini trampoline with one of the cards and still had one left.

Earlier this summer she was out playing with some neighborhood kids who had hoverboards.  She was instantly hooked.  They don't really "hover" exactly, but they roll on 2 wheels and are self balancing which is kind of cool.  She has really enjoyed having it this summer and is getting pretty darn good at it!  She has also learned the value of saving your money for a time when there is something you really want.

Downtown Charleston Family Date Night

Saturday, June 30, 2018

We had been talking recently about how we haven't been downtown in quite a while.  As luck would have it, we had an open Saturday night so we headed downtown to a few of our favorite spots.  First stop - Pies & Pints.  We love their pizza and we finally learned that we could order half and half so Dan got his favorite, I got my favorite and Emily got her favorite cheese pizza too in a kids meal.  Unfortunately, the wait was 45 minutes and our only choice was to sit outside...which normally would even have been the preferred choice, but tonight it was 90+ degrees.  Our table was a little shady, but it was definitely hot.  Luckily, the pizza came out quickly and it wasn't too bad...of course you woldn't know that from the look on Emily's face.

In an effort to cool off, we headed across the street to Ellen's for a scoop of ice cream in the air conditioning.  Ahhhh. 

Then we capped off our downtown adventure with a trip by Capital Market to get some fresh corn on the cob for our 4th of July party later in the week.  Summer fun in Charleston.  It's terrific.

    

Clay Center Robotics Camp

Friday, June 29, 2018

This week Emily went to VEX Robotics camp at the Clay Center.  She went to the beginner course last summer, but then missed the advanced camp because of figure skating camp.  So this summer we got her registered for 2 weeks of the advanced camps and this week she completed the first week. She was the only girl in the group!  All week they spend building their robots and then coding them and testing them and getting them to complete certain tasks.

Then on Friday afternoon, at the end of camp, the kids got to show off their robots and then compete them against each other.

   

   

When it came time for the competition, Emily's robot did great!  She was actually the only one who was able to get her robot to stack one of the yellow cylinders on top of the orange ones.  The yellow were worth double points!  She had a blast AND I couldn't have been more proud of her holding her own with all those boys.  Girl Power!!!  She is already excited about the second week coming up later in July.