Back at It!

Well Riley FINALLY got clearance to participate in all activities just in time for gymnastics to start Friday afternoon.  I decided to sign Riley up for Friday afternoons because she starts t-ball in a couple of weeks Saturday mornings so that would interfere with her gymnastics class, they happen to have a 3:45 class Fridays and since I work at home I figured that would be a good one for us to attend.  I really wanted her to start back up on gymnastics because I really do think it helps strengthen her tendons and muscles.  It just so happens that they also have a class for Jacob's age at that same time so I signed him up as well for the parent participation class.  The kids had a ton of fun, Jacob wasn't so sure about the trampolines but loved the foam pit and Riley did great and did the whole class with her AFO on (which Dr H wanted).  The only thing she couldn't do was the high balance beam so she just did the low one and then jumped into the foam pit which she was not upset about one bit!

The balls very well could have been the highlight of his gymnastics experience

After gymnastics Riley wanted some ice cream so we went over to Hacienda and got some Coldstone, Jacob owned his ice cream cone.  Afterwards, Riley wanted to go to Old Navy to pick out "some cute clothes for school" so I took her over there and let her pick out some stuff. 

It was an awesome afternoon with the kids.  I had had a pretty crappy day at work so it was just what I needed to boost my spirits and make me realize that in the realm of life, these two are what's important and work is just a job.

Floor Routine

We were watching gymnastics on TV the other night and Riley loved the floor routines, I can totally see her doing some floor routines.  Good thing we start gymnastics again this week!

Watch Out Gabby Douglas

Because Riley is back in gymnastics and is loving her new big girl class!  She was totally into her first class back after a 6 month hiatus and did great, it was like she never left!  Fingers crossed it continues to go well!

Olympic Fever

I love the Olympics.  They've been advertising for months at Riley's gymnastics place for the gymnastics trials down in San Jose.  I looked into getting tickets but they were super pricey and I wasn't sure how into it Riley would be, especially since the only prices that I would even consider paying would be up in the nose bleed section.  But then I got an email at work that we had some tickets that had been opened up for private use.  Score!  I jumped on it.  Kellogg's is an official sponsor of the Olympics and we have a gymnast as one of our athletes, Jordyn Wieber, so I was totally excited to jump on these and take Riley.  I called Marc up to tell him I was going to get tickets for Riley and I and he wanted to go to so I was able to score 3 tickets for us and we made it a family of four outing.  I picked the kids up just after lunch, took Riley to the Dr so her peditrician could chekc her out after her illness (we need to recheck her liver in a month but the Dr wasn't concerned) then we ran home quickly and headed down to Marc's office to pick him up and introduce Jacob to his co-workers.  Then we headed to HP Pavillon in San Jose to spend some time in the Hospitality Suite before headed to our seats.  Our seats were awesome!  We were in row 10, row 8 was the first row, and were right by the beam but had a great view of the vault and could see floor routines, the only thing that was far away was the uneven bars but we could either watch it from a distance or watch it on the videotron.  Not a biggie!  It was an awesome experience!  We didn't get home until close to 10 which meant for 2 hot messes we call children in the car but it was totally worth it, it really was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Riley was totally in it, she was clapping along with the crowd and was in awe of the flips that the girls were doing.  As was I, I can barely touch my toes so to see the girls move through the air the way they do is crazy to me!  Oh and I was watching the DVR of last nights events and I saw Riley and I on TV today!  So here are some pictures that I got!  I'm super excited to watch these girls in London now!

Enjoying the VIP Hospitality Suite

Our view, floor routine in the middle, vault at the bottom of the picture, uneven bars in the top left

Prime view of the beam

Road to London

The gymnasts!

Warming up for the beam rotation

Mary Lou Retton and Kari Strugg, Shawn Johnson was there also

Pantsomist enjoying a bottle

Riley nd the beam

Loving watching all of the cool moves the gymnasts have!

She Did It!

When it comes to being daring, Riley's a bit of a big talker but lately we've convinced her to be braver.  At the end of January she actually got brave enough to go on the rope swing at gymnastics but she was too afraid to drop into the foam pit.  2 weeks ago she wouldn't even touch the swing and last week she said she wanted to go on and drop but they didn't let the kids go in the pit because they were set up for a competition.  But today at gymnastics she was super brave and she did the entire kit and caboodle, twice!  So proud of my big girl!  Riley is doing fantastic in her non-parent participation class better than she did with us there by her side!  Poor girl is still too short for a lot of the stuff but she manages to figure out how to participate on her own, even if it means standing on her tip-toes and stretching to grab onto the bar.  So proud of her persistence! 

Conquering Her Fear

As I've blogged before, Riley is now in a non-parent assist gymnastics class, which is so nice for us!  We can just chill and watch her.  She's doing awesome in the class but being in a big girl class means doing big girl stuff, like the rope swing over the foam pit.  Last week she was too afraid to do it, but this week my girl put on her big girl {owl} panties and gave the swing a try!  She doesn't seem too traumatized.



So proud of my big girl!!!

Gymnastics!

I have Riley in gymnastics again after a brief hiatus this spring for soccer.  Well as bad as Riley is at soccer (not that she doesn't have the skills, she just shows absolutely no interest and doesn't listen or follow directions), she is that good at gymnastics.  I kid you not, it's like two different kids between the two sports.  I'm trying to figure out what it is about soccer that makes her so, well, 2!  But at "nastics" she's amazing, she listens to Coach Lindsay all of the time (ok, almost all of the time), follows directions, completes 98% of the activities (we kind of lose her on the floor but all of the kids kind of go hog wild on the floor) and she's actually really good at gymnastics!  Marc went with us this weekend so I was able to bring my SLR and actually capture some of her mad skills in action.  Last session, Riley couldn't jump, she's now a jumping fool who jumps off of everything with almost no fear at all.  She does the bear crawl on the bars, and she freely tries to do flips on the parallel bars.  We very well might have ourselves a little gymnast on our hands.  And I love what all of the stretching and bouncing does for her feet.  Unfortunately while she was running during the floor activity I saw her left foot turning in while she ran but we go to Dr H next month so we'll deal with that then (she's still in her brace at night) and right now I am going to relish in all of the awesome improvements Riley has made, both from a fundamentals/skills standpoint and from a listening/maturity standpoint.  I really am so proud of the way she follows directions and listens to her coach.  So here are some captures of her vastly improved gymnastics skills.  2024 Olympics anyone!?! ;)

Finally the confidence to do the beam without holding someones finger!

Learning to vault!

Check out the air on this jump!

Naturally, every rocking jump deserves a "TaDa!"

Finally jumping over the cones, she used to just pick them up and move them or just run over them

Bear crawl on the bars!  She climbs up by herself and bear crawls right across!

Swinging on the rope!

Daddy sneaking a kiss!

Actually participating in the floor activity

Getting ready to jump into the foam pit.  The foam pit is definitely everybody's favorite (it's actually pretty fun!)

Mid jump!  Check out that hair!  A few weeks ago, Riley would only jump in if she was holding your fingers!  Now she can't get enough of it! 

Daddy giving Riley a lift out of the pit, it's hard work getting out!

And of course it all ends with a stamp on each foot and each hand.  Riley talks about the stamps all week!

Practice Makes Perfect

Riley decided tonight to practice her gymnastics to show Daddy how good she is getting, because after all practice makes perfect!

Nastics!

We enrolled Riley in gymnastics again, we even got Dr H's blessing this time.  Oops, forgot to run it by him last time but all is good, he's ok with her doing it.  Anyway, Riley loves "nastics,"  she chants "nastics" the whole way there and is super eager to get on the balance beam.  She's gotten really good at it too and just needs to confidence to let go of my finger and I think she will be able to walk it by herself.  Marc came with us to the first class so he got Riley in action!

Gymnast

We might just have ourselves a little gymnast on our hands. We enrolled RiRi in gymnastics through our city (it was a smoking deal) and today was her first class. There were a little over 20 kids in her class and at first she was really shy, during warm-ups she clung to me and wouldn't let me put her down. Not very RiRi like but we've been noticing her get more shy and reserved in certain situations, which I guess is part of her age. But once we got to the trampoline walk way she was full speed ahead! She loved the trampoline walkway, learning how to do somersaults, and jumping into the foam pit! I was even impressed by how well she did on the balance beams, though instead of stepping over the cones on the beam she decided it would be more fun to kick them off of the beam and watch me pick them up and put them back. I on the other hand, learned that parent involvement truly means parent involvement and will be dressing accordingly (workout clothes) for all future classes.

Clinging to me during warm-ups.

Mid-somersault:

In the foam pit with Dadda, yes, we were allowed in too and it was FUN!

A quick video of Riley on the trampoline runway: