CSI 2008 - The Freeskate Video is up now

This is Rachel's Compulsary Moves skate from the Recent competition we went to in Colorado Springs. She placed 3rd in her group, it was a tough group. She did well, and we are proud of her. There is no music for Compulsary Moves, so no the sound is not malfunctioning.

This is Rachel's Freeskate. She placed last :-( She had really been struggling with her Lutz jump before competition (this is the last jump she does before the fall), and actually nailed it at the competition. The problem was that after she nailed the Lutz, she was so excited that she lost her concentration and relaxed and fell while just skating backwards. No explanation, just lost concentration. It was a beautiful skate other than that. All the other girls had flawless programs. I think she would have placed well if she had not fallen. There's always next time.

Wow

Rachel is officially a "tested level skater". She passed her pre-preliminary freeskate test 1 1/2 weeks ago. It was a week of suffering followed by 2 minutes of holding our breathe followed by 5 minutes of pure torture. We spent a whole week going backwards and trying to remember how to do 1/2 revolution jumps because that was what was required for the test, Rachel suffered through it. Mom and Dad held their breath for the entire 2 minutes the test took to actually skate, and Rachel was tortured (all of us were) until the judges announced that she passed.

It's really hard for me to think of Rachel as being one of the girls that we watched with pure awe in our minds just 2 short years ago. When Rachel first started skating, we thought the pre-preliminary skaters were just the best thing we had ever seen, and that Rachel would NEVER be that good. It's so hard for me to have moms walk up to me and ask for me to teach them the ropes of being a figure skating mom because I still think of myself as the newbie in the group. Guess it's time to grow up a bit and share the lessons taught to me along the way. I just still can't picture myself as the woman that taught me everything I needed to get started just a short 2 years ago....

If you want me to post the video of the test let me know. It's pretty boring, no sound and only about 1 to 2 minutes long with lots of Rachel just standing on the ice waiting for judges to make their comments.

The long awaited promised video

While the computer is playing nice, I will get this video up as well. Once again it is just Rachel fooling around on the ice. She is sorta doing her routine, but her heart isn't really in it as you can see. She skates MUCH better in competition. This was done in late May or early June, and the routine has actually changed quite alot already (after much intensive training this summer). She now has a camel spin and a Lutz jump and a few other higher level moves in it, that are not in this video. I promise to get a competition video up as soon as I get the dumb computer to cough it up.

Lauren took this video with Rachel's camera, so don't expect much in the way of quality. It's just for fun. Enjoy

and now we about to answer THEE QUESTION

CAN ONE GIRL SKATE COMPETITIVELY AND DANCE IN THE NUTCRACKER????

We will find the answer to this question in the next few months. We leave in 2 days for the 2 girls to skate at the Colorado Springs Invitational competition. This is the last competition before the Regional Competitions. Fortunately, neither girl is competing in the Regional Qualifying competition this year. Rachel is still struggling with her Lutz jump, but landed it cleanly at the Exhibition this weekend.

Meanwhile, both girls auditioned for a place in the local professional ballet company's production of Nutcracker this year. Although they take many local girls (and boys) for the production, it is not a sure thing by any means. This is a professional dance company. Both girls managed to be cast...Lauren will be a "generic" mouse, while Rachel will be a battle mouse and also will be doing an understudy position for the polichenelles. I spent most of yesterday either trying to get all the jewels on the ice skating dresses before we pack them or standing in line at the casting call with the girls or trying to get a grip on the rehearsal requirements for the girls for the Nutcracker.

God has been smiling on me with this one. None of the rehearsals start until the week after the competition is over. The final performance for the Nutcracker is the week before the annual Christmas Ice Show at our home rink. And, just to prove that God smiled down on us, there is no Sunday rehearsal the Sunday Rachel is taking her Pre-Preliminary Freeskate Test.

OH, Yah, Rachel is taking her Preliminary Freeskate Test at a rink about 1 hour away this month. Everyone that has seen her skate is sure she will pass it. It's a major step for us in her skating.

Can 1 mom keep up with 2 girls through 1 ice skating competion, 8 performances of the Nutcracker, 1 ice solo (by Rachel) at the Ice Show and 2 group performances at the ice show, while being the costume mom for the ice show, filling 4 mandatory slots of volunteer time with the Ballet company and trying to still accomplish 3 months of full time homeschool with 2 very active girls? Stay tuned for the answer...just don't expect too many blogs between now and January while I recover from mental and physical exhaustion.

Our New Family Member...

Her name is Lauren and she is 11. Rachel and Lauren both skate under Coach Claudia, which is how we met. Lauren's mom has a fairly serious cancer in her neck/jawline. Rachel had been helping Coach Claudia pick music and put a routine together for Lauren to skate in our home ice competition in July. The girls became fast friends during the month of June. Lauren started coming over alot, and I got to know her story a bit. She had fallen through the cracks in Public School and dad was about to start a new job driving long haul trucks so he could earn more money to compensate for mom not working while undergoing Chemo and Radiation. One night I was at Lauren's house letting her mom cry on my shoulder, and realized that I could solve many of her problems at one time with a very simple gesture.... I (We) are now Lauren's temporary guardians. We inherit her every weekday morning about 8 am. During the day, I get both girls to their skating lessons and practices, homeschool both girls (in an attempt to get Lauren back to her correct grade level in her studies). Lauren is progressing nicely and has already made up much lost ground after doing "summer school" with me most of the summer. And get both girls to dance lessons. Lauren takes ballet one day a week with Rachel. Then she goes home in the late evenings (sometimes just before bed time). I also make sure she gets to church youth group and such. She spends many weekends with us as well, as the girls cannot stand to be apart for more than 8 hours at a time. They refer to each other as "sis" and she has made a nice addition to our family, even if just until her mom is well.

Please pray for Lauren's mom, Linda. That she will have a speedy recovery from her Chemo and Radiation and that she will experience a full remission of her cancer.

And yes, there is finally a new post

No, I haven't forgotten about the blog.

Rachel passed her Pre-Preliminary Moves Figure Skating Test in May. She did very well and we are very proud of her. She also competed in Santa Fe, NM at a competition there in May and did not place well. Her jumps were not up to par. We reset and competed again at our home ice in July. She placed first in her compulsaries competition, and then fell during her freeskate. She had been flirting with "death" on her loop/loop combination jump and finally fell. I won't say I was surprised. She got up and finished her routine. I was very proud of her, it was the first time she had fallen in competition, ever.

We spent most of the rest of the summer trying to get caught up with the homeschool math. We also added a new member to our family. But that will be on the next blog.

Our First Gold Medals

Rachel competed at the Pueblo (Colorado) Figure Skating Competition this last weekend. She's been doing well in the competitions this year and has been steadily improving. She got a new routine for this competition that is much harder than anything she's done in the past. We were all a little nervous going into it because she never really "gelled" with the program and was still not really comfortable with it the week before competition. She just wanted to finally get a first place finish since we are about to finish up our first full year of competition. She did manage to get a first a place finish on her compulsary routine (placed 1st with 4 out of 5 judges) and we were overjoyed. I told her to just relax and skate her freeskate for fun, that she had her gold medal now. Nothing doing, she wanted another Gold. She did it, the 1st place decision was unanimous with all 5 judges putting her in 1st place. I think her friends back home heard her squeal with delight. Needless to say we had to tie a rope around her feet to keep her from floating off into space after that.

And yes, for those of you who know the inside joke about Rachel doing jumps on the ice, she is officially jumping in competition, and should actually have an axel jump in the next couple of months (just the hardest jump there is). We have a standing perscription for David for Valium that we slip in his coffee before each ice time. Seems to be working, David hasn't dressed her in the Michelin Tire suit just yet.....

Pictures and Video to follow....We have them, but the computer isn't playing nice these days, and doesn't seem to want to share....

It's a start

Many have asked for a page of some kind to keep us with all of us...Here it is. For the time being it will be bare, as time to do much with it is non existent. In time, I will post updates on how all of us are and even pictures and (if I can figure out how) videos of the not so little one's latest adventures.