Competition Schedule - Labor Day

A quick note on the competition schedule for Gabby:

Saturday, 9:30am Rink B - Compulsory Group C
Saturday, 4:00pm Rink B - Spings Group B

Sunday, 11:25am Rink B - Freestyle

One Week down -- how many to go???

Today marks a week of school for Gabby, and about 2-weeks for Joel. Joel is in his final senior year at Lamar High. The same school that Sally and I went to...pretty much everyone in our family now that I think about it. That is one of the charms of living in a small town.

Gabby is going to the same school my mother went to...back in the 1930-40's. Can you imagine? The school is still going strong. The trees around the school are absolutely gorgeous and there are rumours of hauntings etc. The same thing one always hears about old buildings.

Earlier this evening, Gabby and I were working on her homework. She doesn't seem to be getting as much THIS year as she was last year. It could also be the first week of school and they are taking it a little easy on the kids. Fourth grade.

Skating? Gabby continues to improve her jumps and her spins. This week she let me know that she has added the "Ina Bauer" connecting movement. If you want to know what it looks like, check this excellent link: http://www.sk8stuff2.com/f_recog/recog_g_bauer.htm. I always thought that the "Spread Eagle" and the "Bauer" were the same but apparently the feet are separated by a 12-24 inch spread. It is really gorgeous and I cannot wait to see it in competition.

Gabby is taking Jumps and Spins with Val and Elena on Saturday mornings. She seems to be improving (or at least having a lot of fun) with the class. They work the kids pretty hard but they are all smiles - until Powerbuilder starts. Dorothy has also been working with Gabby this week. They are settling into her weekly routine so it's all good. Just the time on a Saturday morning really early at 6:45am so that Gabby can eat and leave the house by 7:20 to hit the ice at 7:45am. Boom, boom, boom... life of a skater is always scheduled.

Joel, Gabby, Sally and I have been having a lot of fun together lately. We usually have fun anyway but its extra special when we do it as a family. Last weekend, we went to celebrate Joey Bloom's birthday. What did we do? We went bowling! Oh yeah! Fun, fun, fun. Sarah won the jackpot during a game of cashed in a lot of tickets. After playing all the games we drove over to eat Mexican food at Ruthie's. Oh my gosh! Joey and I had GOLD margaritas and were feeling pretty good. We ate and ate and had great fajitas. After stuffing ourselves...we went over to Cheesecake Factory and took in some great cheesecake and coffee. Of course, the waiters all sang to Joey a Happy Birthday song. It was a great way to wrapup the weekend.

What a Summer!

Hi Everyone!

Here it is... the evening before Gabby starts back to school. Even as I type she is excitidly going through her school supplies and getting everything organized. My job is to make her name tag for her backpack...sorrry, "sling back". I'm actually loading up Publisher and have carefully measured how much space I have to make a super fancy label printed in 64 colors. Heh,heh. There is nothing that a guy can't over engineer.

This past weekend we all went to Splash Town here in Houston. The park was really nice and we all got there early. Gabby, Sarah, and Ciara -- best of friends -- all piled up in the Bloom's expedition and we set out. We got a LATE start because SOMEBODY forgot to bring a ticket so we had to go back. It all worked out because on the way back, at that EXACT moment, the Applebaums were getting on the freeway. Wow!

Favorite rides for the kids? Easy - the Tornado! Wooohoo! Gabby, Sarah, Rene and I got in the square donut and slid down into oblivion happly screaming our heads off! What a rush of FUN! Okay, maybe not for Rene for the first few seconds...she had to go backwards down the flume.

Joelster? Where was he? He was back here at the Hacienda ready Frankenstein by Mary Shelly for school. He also practiced taking the truck back and forth down the street. He has to get used to the brakes and I watched him for a little while. Not bad...didn't go into anybody yard and didn't flatten any ducks.

Anyway, Gabby just poked her head in...making sure I was working on her stuff. When she saw me adding to her blog, she started reading...aloud... that's annoying so I chased her off. She'll be back..ha,ha... I can't wait.

Things are going well. It was a nice summer... good competitions, lots of fun at the rink, lots of fun to have around the house painting and flooring. Joel is getting bigger and taller and he is now sporting new glasses. I think he looks like Bono...he says he was going for the Buddy Holly look...I'm not sure he got there...I'm thinking Bono from U2. Gabby got some scissors and snipped her hair a little. I wasn't happy and yelled at her...she cried. She just cut herself some bangs...kinda. It's not as bad as when Joel got a hold of my razor and shaved off one of his eyebrows. I still laugh about that one. It took awhile to grow back... and I think... one is fuzzier then the other. (Actually, no, but I tell him it did just to freak him out).

That's what Dad's are for.

Peace and Love - enjoy your week,

Joe.