Compétition de patinage d'Alice

Voici la 1ère compétition d'Alice en catégorie Star 5, où chaque participante doit présenter au moins 1 saut double (ex: double Salchow dans son cas). Elle a terminé 6e sur 11 dans son groupe 13 ans et plus.

LILY AND ALICE'S ACTIVITIES

Amongst all of Lily and Alice's activities, the single one that involves the most time and energy and resources (financial and otherwise), is of course SCHOOL.  And Rachel and I are very happy to report that this central endeavour is going very well, with both our daughters averaging above 90% in their results.  They never miss a day of school or a class and they do their homework diligently on their own, without much parental supervision at all !  (yeah)

They were both nominated for best achievements in various categories at the Collège Mont-St-Louis' annual "Gala Nelligan" -- Alice for volleyball and Lily for school results and for theatre -- with Lily winning the trophy in the Theatre (RNTP) category.

Lily's favourite extra-curricular activity continues to be ballet.  Here are the official pictures of the two pieces she danced in at the year-end show of the Outremont Dance Academy:

Lily also continues to practice her piano on a daily basis.  Here she is at her group's last recital in the chapel of St-Jean-Baptiste church last March:

Yesterday, Rachel and I went running at the MEC event in Ste-Adèle where Lily's running club were all participating.  Lily ran a mountainous 10K in 1h16 and Rachel and I ran half of that (5K) in about 36 and 35 minutes.  The morning was just beautiful !

Alice's passion is skating, which she practices 2-3 times a week, depending on the season.  Here we see her on her last podium and goofing around before her last show with her best skating buddies, Paloma, Diana and Andrea:

Alice has rekindled her interest in soccer after recently viewing two soccer-related movies -- Pelé and She's the Man -- so her dad waisted no time and registered her in the U13F-AA team of the Rosemont Soccer Association, who very conveniently hold all their practices and half of their matches at the nearby Marquette pitch, a mere 5 minutes away from home on a bicycle !  (yeah)

She also had a lot of fun with her school's volleyball team last fall and winter... so next year we'll have to see if we can fit indoor soccer in addition to volleyball AND skating... hum, that might be a little too much if we want to keep homework and study a priority ;)

​The captain on her bum during the warm-up period before a volleyball game at Mont-St-Louis's brand new sports facility.

Lastly, let's not forget the lovely guitar classes led by Maxime every other weekend, for the delight and elevation of both Alice's and her mom's musical inclinations:

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Such are the inspiring endeavours that become possible when children's talents are combined with the generosity of grandparents... and a modicum of parental organization 

The end of the tour

During the end of the tour I had a series of cell phone and connection problems that prevented me from posting on the blog. Now home and with a computer at my disposal I am posting now, all at once a smattering of pictures from my last week in the UK.

Cardiff Cathedral

The very Victorian interior

The Nordic Cash in the heart of Cardiff cathedral

 Bute park. The park was designed by Capability Brown. Were these trees planted by him too?

"Home" in Cardiff

 

Wells Cathedral with Walford and Sue Gillison 

The Cheddar gorge with Nicola

Nicola and Angus

Angus and Baritone

Fiona and Mathieu and Nicola's new creation... a chess board and set for the terrace!

Nicola and Toni's

Alice's skating competition

Alice won a gold medal yesterday at the Gaetan-Boucher skating competition in St. Hubert, finishing first out of ten in her Star 4 category.  You'll recognize her same solo from last year (her club recommends keeping the same solo for two consecutive years), but with the notable addition of a couple of axels, which she's only recently been nailing systematically in her training sessions.

Credit: many thanks to Gabriela for driving Alice out there and for shooting this video for her absent parents :-)

chapter art center - Cardiff

This is our work space in Cardiff, the chapter art centre which is an old school which was converted 40 years ago to what is now a marvelous mix of theater, movie house, art gallery, dance school, community center along with a very popular restaurant and bar. The place seems to be busy all the time. This was our ´home' in cardiff.

 

 
 
 

Pasta fun

Never short of creative energy and ideas, Lily decided to make pasta an hour before supper on Sunday.  Troops were quickly assembled, "Tipo 00" flour was found in the back of the freezer and Janet and Colin's old pasta machine was put to work on a batch of fettucini... miam !

Lily and her friend Anaëlle got quickly assisted by Alice

farewell Nottingham

After 10 days here, Nottingham begins to feel like home.  I am already nostalgic about leaving!

Here are some of my 'regular' spots:

Out for a run.
 

The river Trent on my running route. And along the path...

Our working home at dance 4.
 

Our ´home' at Ange's.
  
 

And our favorite coffee shop 'blends'.
 
 

Farewell.