An Awesome Skating Weekend!

Good morning stampin' friends!

You may have noticed that I've been absent from here since last Tuesday. Not intentionally, because I have about 10 new projects to share with you, but we were in Hershey, PA since last Wednesday night for a skating competition. Since I've been home, it's been non-stop for me and I'm finally finding time to sit long enough to post again! I'm posting about the competition first, but I have creative post for you today too so just hang tight!

So, this wasn't just any skating competition, but the Eastern Sectional Synchronized Skating Championships. In short, a big deal for my daughter Emma's team.
They were one of 33 teams competing and the first day was the qualifier. If they placed in the top 4 of their group, they moved on to the final on Saturday morning.
Is it ok to admit that I never expected them to qualify and I fully expected to have a fun family Saturday doing some antiquing and outlet shopping before we headed home?? I know, bad momma.

Needless to say, we were all blown away when they placed 4th in their group and made the FINAL round!
Emma has been skating since she was 4, team skating since she was 7 and this is the first team FINAL that she's ever made - she was over the moon!

Here's a photo of her team with their head coach during warm-up before the final on Saturday morning. Emma is the brunette on the far left.

I love taking photos in the locker room. You get all kinds of expressions from the girls. Here they are getting their skates on and thinking about what's ahead. Emma is on the left.

That photo looks pretty serious, but in reality, the locker room that morning was pretty loose. Everyone was happy and excited and really got up for our "Who are We?" "National Blades!" chant.

I'd love to be able to tell you that they medaled, but they didn't. They had the unlucky draw of skating first in the group of 12, which in skating terms means that your performance sets the median score for all the teams after and in general, they tend to be judged a little tighter.
However, they finished 9th and out of all those teams at that level in the whole division, that's pretty fantastic for a team that wasn't expected to go anywhere this year.
In short, we're pretty proud of our girls. They had a fantastic skate, gave it their all and that's all we can ask.

Here's the video of their skate in the Final. Emma is the lead skater taking the ice and she is the brunette who skates out for the music cue at the start of their program.


Thanks to all of you who sent your love and support to the girls. All your messages of encouragement were passed on and they love knowing they have followers all over the US!
Go National Blades!
~~Robin