Gymnastics

 Zoe has been showing such a big interest in gymnastics. 

 She is definitely talented. 

 She has been in the invitational advanced level for this past session.

 I've seen huge improvements and she practices all day and all night long!

She has told me that if she had to choose between all of the activities she is currently in, she'd choose gymnastics as the only one. 

She is talented. She is only 6 years old and can already do back-hand-springs. She did, what I thought were some back flips the other night. I told the teacher about it and she said that she doesn't usually get parents that tell her that so early. Zoe needs to practice in a higher level to work on those new skills. 

She went to an invite-only try-out and made it to the next level. We are deciding what to do. It will be much more expensive and will take three times more of our time each week. It seems to be her thing though, so this is a big decision.

Teddy Bear Toss!

 Our local hockey team holds a yearly Teddy Bear Toss before Christmas. Stuffed animals in excellent condition or new stuffed animals are tossed on the ice when the home team scores the first goal of the game. These toys are given to kids who need them more then we do. My kids went through their toys and found some perfectly good stuffed animals. We also purchased one teddy bear at the game. The proceeds went to a local charity. 

It was kind of emotional to see an almost full house of fans throw stuffed animals of all sizes onto the ice all at the same time. It was amazing!

The camera came in handy after the teddy bear toss. Zoe asked me to use the camera to take pictures of the rest of the game. They both love to use my camera and sometimes they get creative.

Hockey= Busy

Both of my kids are in Hockey. It means we are really busy. Many times we are running from one game to the other or we are split up in two different towns.

Both of our kids can skate well and play hockey well.

 Along with hockey games, there are practices, fund raisers, social activities, parades, volunteering, and much more. 

We have all made some great friends through our hockey teams over the years. It is inevitable because we spend so much time with them and plan our social lives outside of hockey around the hockey schedule, which doesn't leave us with many choices. LOL!

Hockey All Year!

After living in Alberta and experiencing the best hockey experience there, that we have ever, and may ever experience, we do hockey all year long.  It's normal there to do that. Most of the players we met there played at least street hockey in the summer. Many of them skate all year round and skating in Edmonton was free. 

This summer Austyn has been playing hockey or doing camps all summer except maybe two weeks or so. He did 3-on-3, two camps, and a practice that his friends did and one of the parents put on. It was great! He played Lacrosse as well and raced. 

The experiences he had with hockey this summer were great. The above picture is him playing around on the ice with NHL player, Dustin Jeffery. 

His skill level this summer has gone up. We see such a difference in his abilities. AND... he loves it!!! I swear this kid would live on the ice, if you let him. Well... maybe... LOL!!

 Austyn posing for a picture with Dustin Jeffery.

We only sign him up for what he wants to sign up for and nothing more. This camp we will likely do again next year. It's a bit pricy, but it was well worth it. These teachers travel around to different cities to teach kids how to stick handle.

If you have a child who loves hockey, but could use practice with stick handling, this is the camp to take! Check out when it comes to a city near you. It's well worth it!

Now try-outs have started... YA!! ALREADY!! I hope that all of the fun he had this summer paid off for him. Small town hockey politics suck. Kids who people don't know well really need to stand out. I hope he makes one of the travel teams and isn't stuck on house league again. I'm excited to travel and I know he'll get more experience from it.

His Best!

 We've been taking the junior race car out as much as we can to figure out how to slow it down and to get Austyn to practice. Staging was the hardest part since the car wasn't set up correctly. 

 We like to go when the track isn't too busy so that the price is low and we can get more runs in. Zoe loves to hang out on the stands since they are so big and she can run all over them.

 While waiting to leave our pit I got a picture of Zoe and I in the mirror of the Golf Cart.

 We didn't know this time about what needed to be changed in our car. Hopefully staging will get easier now that we know what to change in the motor.

 Here's his best yet!! His reaction time was 0.00 seconds and his time for 1/8 mile was 12.96 seconds. His speed was 49.98 miles per hour. Notice the car fatigues just after he takes off from the start. That is a part of what I'm talking about when I say we were still having some technical difficulties. We'll get it sorted out.

 Zoe meets friends everywhere we go. These guys are watching the transport trucks race. The weekend we went to this track it was a weekend that a bunch of truck drivers met to race.

 Any vehicle could race. It's not always about speed. It's also knowing what your vehicle will do.

Any vehicle that is racing that uses diesel produce a great deal of smoke.

Gymnastics Everywhere

 Everywhere she goes she does gymnastics. She practices at home, outside, when we are visiting friends, at arenas, and just about anywhere else that she can think of practicing.

She has taken 3 short sessions of gymnastics in the past. The last session she was bumped up 4 levels and is in a much higher level then her brother. Although some of her moves she was taught, much of it is self taught or I've guided her on how to, since I know a few moves from when I was younger. I can't believe how fast she picks things up. She'll see someone on TV do something and right away she tries and is sometimes successful right away. It's amazing. We all think that this is her thing! She is a gymnast! 

Too bad she missed the Canadian Female Gymnastics Team at the Olympics. She would have loved to watch it!

Here is a sample of what she can do. She can do much more but she is trying to perfect going into and out of the bridge. She can do round-offs and cartwheels into splits.

Second Time!

 We went to a different track to test 'n tune. The first race track that we went to only has test 'n tune on Friday nights and they are very strict about junior dragsters and what speed they need to be. So, we went to another track. It's less busy and they are more easy going. This allowed us to make a few passes down the track to see what this motor would do and if we could even slow it down without making that little motor chug too much.

 Finding a routine is something that usually happens at the races. This is all new to us. A large modified race car and a junior dragster are two different things all together. We are finding that the junior is much less work. With the mustang we need time to charge it, take the hood off to cool it down, fill the tank with gas, and check the tire pressure in between races. It needs an oil change only once and a while. 

With the Junior Dragster we find that if we want to go up and race right away, we can just fill the tank quick and run back up. The oil should be changed every 4 runs. This may sound like a big waste to someone who has never seen how much oil is in one of these little machines. It's not very much oil at all. We use a little plastic sandwich container to let the oil drain into and it doesn't even fill up!

The methanol used to run the junior is much cheaper and we are considering changing the mustang to it, to save money and to help the engine run cooler. We may be able to buy it in a barrel as well, which brings the cost down even more.

There are so many things for a rookie, eight year old to learn. Here is Daddy trying to show him where the dragster should be. Have you ever heard the phrase "Get into the groove!"? Well, this is a racing term that explains where the car should be when it's getting staged. "The grove" refers to the tire marks that are warn into the track surface. They are the dark marks where the tires spun a bit leaving remnants of rubber on the asphalt. These two dark strips on the track are where the tires of a full sized race car should line up. This is more important as you get into even faster cars. If the extremely fast cars (a pro-mod etc...) are not lined up "in the groove" they could crash because their tires won't grab well at the start.

Here Daddy is trying to get him into the grove. Since a Junior is so much smaller, he only needs to be in one grove and the inside grove is good because it's farthest from the wall. We are still working on this with Austyn. Also, one thing that has been overlooked a few times is attaching Austyn's arms into the race car. There are straps that go around his wrists, so that if he does crash, his arms stay inside the car and prevent injury. We will get there. Eventually nobody will even need to think. We'll be so use to a routine.

Another thing that Austyn is working on, is staging the car with the light properly. He is suppose to inch up until the two staging lights are on and stop to wait for the rest of the lights before he goes. It's a bit tricky because the car wants to move forward to quickly. He was able to do it on his own at least once. This video is an example of what happens when he goes too far forward. If this happened in an actual race it would be a "red light" and he would lose the race. A "red light" is when the driver goes before he is allowed to go.

On this second try, going to a race track, we learned that this motor is way too fast. For the age 8-9 bracket he isn't allowed to go faster than 12.90 seconds in an 1/8th of a mile. He went in the 9 seconds when the car sounded good. When we were able to get it to go slower, it sounded like it would break something. A new motor is needed. Also, we learned that the slicks on the back were too worn down. Something punctured one of the tires and they couldn't be fixed because they were too thin. So, we ordered a new motor right away and got new slicks. Not to mention... do we really want to risk trying to fix a tire and have it not hold when racing. That could be dangerous.

We all seem to be enjoying ourselves and we are all learning so much. Hopefully we will get some races in soon.

His First Pass EVER!

We went to the track for a test 'n tune. We were a bit late arriving and still needed to eat. We kept moving and got everything we needed out of the car trailer. Here Daddy is placing pillows under his butt to boost him up high enough to see. 

This is his very first drive. He drove it around the pits to get use to it. As he drove, the more nervous he became.

After a quick bite to eat we went up to show him the track. We wanted his first pass to happen before it was too dark to see well. Here he is getting his first overview on what to expect and what to do.

The track was shut down for an injury in the staging lanes so we drove him down the track to show him where each marker that was important to him. First, where he races too and then starts to slow down. Then where he gets off of the track and what he does next.

When we got back to the car there was a crowd around it. Everyone was checking it out. This weekend was a weekend for old cars and there are not junior dragsters, so I guess it made his car more interesting.

Here is Daddy getting him ready.

Here is him giving me a nervous smile while he waits.

It's time! He is getting his final pep talk.

It was a bit of a challenge to watch Zoe and take video at the same time, but I did it! I wish I could have got closer and kept it on for his burnout.

Here he is all excited and wanting to go again. Unfortunately he went too fast. We kind of expected that after talking to some of the people who recognized the car.. The car is set up for a faster speed. So, we can't send him down the track again without some adjustments. At least he made his first pass. It was all worth it!

New Toy!

We purchased a junior dragster for Austyn! He is old enough to race and we always told him that we'd let him when he was old enough. We found this one online, saw it at the track one weekend, and went the next week to see it and bring it home. 

He was so excited! These are pictures of Austyn's first time in it and us moving it from our car trailer to the house for the first time. His sister is wearing the fire resistant shoes.

There is so much to learn when racing. Most of you probably have never been to see drag racing, or if you have you likely didn't totally get it. My husband started racing when he was 17 years old. I've been around for that whole time (I stared dating him when he was 16... believe it or not). We have learned so much in that time and still continue to learn. Junior dragsters are new to us. 

Here he is showing me the inside details. Already he has learned so much about how it works and the parts. He will soon learn about the track, christmas tree, safety, the mechanics of adjusting things to make the car do what we need it to, maintenance, racing rules/regulations, and finally the math/science involved in predicting an accurate time. I said science in that last one because weather conditions and mechanics change the outcome of a race.

It should be fun!!

Racing Again!

 We've started racing again. The first time we went was for a Test'n Tune, so that we could make sure the car runs okay, but it got rained out. 

 The next chance was on Canada Day weekend. It was our first time back for an actual race. 

 There was a bird that was loud and the song was so pretty, but we couldn't see the bird up close. It didn't seem to mind that there was racing going on. It just sat there and sang a beautiful song. 

 Because they don't have anymore seasonal pit spots we needed to find a way to make it work without a trailer. It wasn't as easy and due to the heat, we didn't feel like doing much in between races.

 It was wonderful to be back and see old friends and familiar cars. We missed this while we were away in Edmonton.

While waiting to watch Daddy, they searched for fossils. It's funny because a couple of years ago when we would come to the track they played in the dirt while they waited. I guess they still like to do this.

Here are just a couple of fossils they found. The ground there is very sandy and these fossils were fragile. You can see how they can easily become fragments of sand.

Homeschool Track and Field

 Where we have lived before, the opportunity never arose for us to join in on track and field. This is one of those things that kids in school get to do every year, but homeschoolers don't always get that chance.

 We have done track and field in a park with house hold items. That was fun, but finally we had the chance to do REAL track and field. The kids got to join a track and field event with our local homeschoolers. They were able to set it up at a local highschool.

This was the schedule:
General warm up followed by...
1) Long Jump
2) 100 metre Sprint
3) Ball Throw
4) 200 metre Sprint
5) Triple Jump
6) Lazer Arm (measures the speed of your throw)
7) Open 1500 metre Run (optional)

 Due to the heat, our official track and field day was moved to the next week. This worked out because it meant that there were more practices. 

 We made it to every practice and it showed. Both of my kids appeared confident and strong for each activity. 

 We were so impressed with how they did and so proud of them both.

 Even with all of those kids and so many activities, the kids had so many chances to be with their new friends.

 I was so impressed with their focus and how hard they tried.

 Both of them even ran the 1500 metre run, even though it was optional. Above is a picture of Zoe getting sprayed while running past.

 Austyn tried so hard. It was amazing to see and it was such an interesting experience for him. He is an excellent runner, but to run for such a long run was a huge challenge and something he has never done before.We were so proud of him for finishing. 

 By the end of the race Zoe was holding  hands with her friend and they ran over the finish line together. I think they were the last kids, but they were also the youngest. They looked so happy for themselves. 

 This is Zoe getting her gold medal. You can see Daddy with a huge smile in the background clapping. He was so happy to be able to be there to see it all happen. She got the most points accumulated for all of the activities for her age group. 

Austyn got a bronze trophy. He was third place for total points in his age level.

We are so proud of them both! What a great experience for them. We can't wait until next year!