Gymnastics

Man, I wanted to have some amazing pictures to share about the girls' gymnastics lessons. The problem? My camera sucks and the whole point of gymnastics is movement. So, 9 out of 10 images are blurred beyond recognition. Even with mom attending the last lesson and taking care of Connor to give me the chance to snag a few pictures ended up with few worth sharing. However, share I shall, because that's what I do here!

The girls enjoyed the class and were both a little sad when they realized today is Wednesday and they will not be going to gymnastics. "Hercules" is a poor substitute (though I did treat them to the summer movie deals at the local theater to go see "The Lego Movie" instead). Each day of gymnastics they practiced 2 different events. For four of the six classes, they did floor and beam, and the other two were spent on vault and bars. I think it was meant to be split evenly, but the week off for the 4th of July threw them off, I think.

Cadence, the one time they were allowed on the elevated beam. She terrified the coach by slipping out of his hands and jumping off the end, spurring every following student to attempt the same.

Megan's turn. These pictures are from a few weeks ago. The coach left the following week for a new job.

Floor exercises: Megan is doing a forward roll and Cadence is examining the cartwheel mat in the background.

Cadence attempts the cartwheel, but is so focused on placing her hands and feet in the correct spot, she forgets the ever important need for momentum to pull the move off.

Megan's turn to try the cartwheel.

A little coaching for Megan on the third floor exercise. Don't ask me to recall the name of it. They never did it correctly, anyway.

Practicing the Relevé walk on the practice beam.

So, it was a worthwhile 6 weeks. I'm already eyeballing the parks and recreation program for the rest of the year, but not signing the kids up for anything yet. Next year Cadence is eligible to take a martial arts class and a drawing class. I'm thinking the drawing class is going to be her summer project next year. Megan might be enrolled in gymnastics all over again. We'll see. :-)

For now, we continue to plod along toward Cadence's first day of school. I have a shopping list still that I need to tackle, but it has to wait another week or two. She has her uniform shirts and her backpack and lunchbox, plus all the school supplies on her list (through a convenient supply service the school works with to get a major discount for parents). Mostly, we need new shoes, socks and pants for Cadence, plus a few other odds and ends. We meet her teacher in just over 3 weeks! I still get a little teary-eyed over the thought, but I'm reaching the point of being excited to see her reach this new milestone, experience something new, make new friends... She's so excited and she's so ready.