We had our last home meet and the last meet of this year's season before the state championships. Ryleigh had a terrific meet, walking away as all-around champion for her level/age group and 2 first places (on vault and bars) and 2 fifth places (on beam and floor). She was so very proud of herself for her best bars this year and sticking two landings on vault. And, of course, Mom and Dad (and even RJ) were super proud.
Please enjoy Ryleigh at Skookum Showdown 2023.
We traveled to Coeur d'Alene for Ryleigh's big out of state meet for this season. The weather was our friend on the way there, and we may good time across the State of Washington. Our first priority upon arrival was eating dinner at Chili's. Chips and salsa made everyone happy campers.
Ryleigh's group was first to compete Saturday morning, so we were there nice and early. While Ry was warming up, she started having severe pain in her right foot/ankle. She powered through on floor, but I could tell by the look on her face that she was in pain. So, she decided not to vault at the competition so she could rest and ice. Ryleigh then mustered the strength to compete bars and beam. She finally broke that elusive 9.0 ceiling on bars that she has been wanting so bad. Woohoo!
While her All Around score is low with that missing event, Ryleigh still did great! It was a fun meet for her and her teammates.
What was not fun was the weather. Given that Ryleigh was hurting and wasn't up to the afternoon activities we had planned, we heeded the weather warnings and decided to leave Idaho early. So, after Ryleigh competed, we had lunch, grabbed more Chili's chips and salsa for the road, packed up the hotel room, and headed out. Thankfully, we beat the snow. The next day, chains were required on Snoqualmie Pass. (Though we had our chains with us, we really weren't that excited to put them on.) We were so glad we made the decision we did. We all slept in and had a leisurely Sunday.
As for Ryleigh's foot, her coaches think she has Sever's Disease (not really a disease, but a growth issue lots of kids in gymnastics and other sports experience). So, I ordered ankle/heel supports designed for kid athletes with Sever's. Her coaches taped her with Sever's in mind for one practice, and that seemed to really help, so I'm hopeful that the supports will help once they arrive.
Anyway, here's Ryleigh at GWGF 2023. https://youtu.be/xsC8fXE3WHs
The Fire and Ice Challenge was a small, but nice, little meet at the end of January. Beam gave Ryleigh some difficulties again, but hopefully her next two meets will get those jitters worked completely out. Ryleigh is still striving for a score higher than a 9.0 on bars. It will come, I'm sure!
Home meets continue to be good things for Ryleigh. She was able to shake off the falling off the beam juju and had a successful Freedom Invitational. She's still trying to get above a 9 on the bars--she's been so close every meet!
With it being a home meet, I worked a few sessions as a beam timer. I was able to chat with a judge, who had asked about Ryleigh. She was so glad to hear Ryleigh was competing Level 5 and did not skip to 6, even though Level 5 is, using her word, "brutal" when it comes to judging. I shared that with Ryleigh and she felt validated about moving to Level 5. She knows the hard work and submitting herself to extra hard judging criteria will pay off.
Enjoy Ryleigh at the Freedom Invitational 2023.
The 2022 Holiday Season was a busy one, particularly for the CO of the Shipyard--he gets invited to a lot of stuff. And, of course, we wanted to celebrate with his work people with get-togethers. So, we divided and conquered.
We decided to host the military officers for a pre-Thanksgiving potluck. We made the turkey, ham, gravy, and mashed potatoes. Everyone else brought their favorite side dishes or desserts. We had 40+ people come, share in some camaraderie, and ate ourselves silly.
Jip and I attended a holiday gathering cohosted by a couple of the regional admirals the first weekend in December. That same weekend, Jip and the kids went out on a boat to be one of several groups, including Santa, to greet kids with special needs. The boat they went out on rivaled Grandma Downey with the number of snowmen aboard.
The next weekend, we were one of five houses on the base to host a progressive dinner for the base residents. The kids hung out upstairs, for the most part, for the 45 minutes or so that we were here. The food was delicious, and thankfully for me, there were not many leftovers.
And the weekend after that, we packed up and began our trek to Colorado for holidays with the family. It was a pleasant enough drive there, except for the Apple Maps misdirection onto an icy dirt road that was nearly the scene of a certain Highlander meeting its end. But, Jip's superior driving skills and a little bit of luck kept us from falling off a cliff, crashing into the side of a hill, or even bending our rack on the back.
On the way there, we did detour for a little while to the Hagerman Fossil Beds. We talked to a park ranger there who then directed us to where we we could still see the tracks from the wagons on the Oregon Trail. We drove a few extra miles to see those tracks. Jip and I thought that was pretty awesome. The kids had no concept how amazing it was and they certainly didn't get all of our references to the DOS-based Oregon Trail game we played in elementary school on the Apple IIc or Apple IIe. Oh, well.
I wouldn't say the drive back to Washington was uneventful, as that is when the hybrid battery announced with all of the car's warning lights that it was starting to fail. But, we made it back with minimal weather interruptions. The kids had a few days of recovery before going back to school, then we jumped back into our routine.
We had one last holiday celebration, and that was with the shipyard's civilian leadership. They joined us at our home the second full weekend in January to welcome in the new year. We made a variety of soups and then everyone brought sides and desserts. It was a very pleasant afternoon where there was very little discussion of the office and a lot of discussion about the Seahawks, who were playing during the soiree. The Seahawks lost, but I think people still had a great time! Leftover desserts got to be sent to the watch office so those military officers that have to spend the night at the shipyard would have snacks. And, thankfully, there were very few other leftovers.
Now it is time to hunker down and finish out this command tour, this school year, this gymnastics season, and everything else strong. Until next time, cheers!
