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Diving in with both feet

Luke — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 03:07:22 +0000

Last weekend, LR competed in a diving competition. She was a bit worried because last time around, she didn’t do as well as she wanted to… This time was different…

LR brings all her skills from gymnastics and trampolining to diving.

Precision, precision, precision...

And the result is... First place! WOW! Go LR!!!

LR's best friend I. won second place. Great job girls! What a great team!

Trampoline champ!

Luke — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 03:07:19 +0000

Rewind to February… Mom was hiking in New Zealand… Dad was feeding the kids… There were days they went without shoes. Sometimes, they even got hungry… They were dark, dark days.

In amongst the gloom and chaos, LR was forced to compete against hardened athletes in a trampoline competition. Somehow, despite her hair being done by her father, LR managed to rise up, again and again, soaring into the the sky, capturing first place in her competition.

Well done LR!!!!

She was all ready to go, fully charged up with bounce.

After warm-ups, the team heads off the floor towards the trampolines. LR led the charge.

She was one of the first to compete and wasn't nervous at all.

She is very precise and has great form.

Those years of gymnastics have given her a huge advantage.

After her routine, she waits for the judge's scores...

After everyone competed, they tallied up the points and LR won first place in her division!

First place trampoline champ! Well done!

The whole team did really well. Congrats guys!

Zero sum? No way!

Luke — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 03:07:43 +0000

LR is in the kitchen helping Dad get dinner ready. Music is playing and things are relatively calm. All of a sudden, RJ goes zooming past, dancing like a crazy guy.

Dad: LR! What is he doing?

LR: I don’t know… I think it’s… musical statues?

The music stops and RJ freezes.

RJ: Yeah! I’m controlling the music and I’m playing musical statues… Against MYSELF!

The music starts again and RJ resumes whirling.

Dad: What a cool idea! Who’s winning?

RJ: I AM!!!

LR: (with a grin) Yeah? But who’s losing?

The music stops, bringing RJ to a halt.

RJ: (sadly) That’s me. I’m losing…

RJ: (devious grin) … But I think I have discovered a trick!

The music resumes and away he goes.

Gymnastics Champ!

Luke — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:07:19 +0000

On the weekend, LR competed in her first gymnastics competition. Tensions were running high for everyone. After three years of lessons, four hours a week of training, and many, many car trips between the gym and home, we (Mum and Dad) were hoping this would be a positive experience, and not a reason for LR to suddenly take up tap dancing.

It took a while for Mum to get LR's hair exactly right.

After warming up with some stretches, the girls practiced their routines. LR had some trouble on the beam: falling, stumbling and totally mucking up the dismount. Moments later, the teams returned to the sidelines and the competition began.

The first girl, looking tiny against the huge, blue mat that filled the room, made her way out onto the gymnasium floor… One very small, but determined, girl named LR.

She started her routine and everything was going well until she overbalanced her handstand and landed on her back. Unfazed, she picked herself up and continued with the rest of the routine.

The rest of the morning was filled with other events on the uneven parallel bars, the beam and the vault. LR tackled each one, trying hard and putting everything into it.

At the end of the competition, ribbons were awarded for each event. LR looked disheartened as each event was called and the other girls were awarded ribbons. She hadn’t received any… until they started handing out ribbons for her age level.

All her effort paid off! She came away with a second place on the bars, and sixth on both the beam and the vault! Congratulations kiddo!

Hair is done and the team uniform is on. LR is ready to GO!

LR and the team warm up with some stretches.

LR and I. show off their winning ribbons! Congrats girls!

LR shows off her ribbons (and her amazing hair - after the braids came out) at the end of a long day. Well done chickie!

We have a winner!

Luke — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:05:58 +0000

Remember this picture?

... Most of the universe is empty space ...

LR was very excited to receive a package in the mail yesterday from Double Helix magazine. It turns out that her wonderful Solar System picture won her a prize in the competition!

LR and her letter of congratulations.

LR's prize painting is now up on the wall next to her robot picture.

LR won this artist-signed print in the competition.

LR has been working on this one intermittently for a few weeks now.

Well done kiddo!