Tweed Awards Banquet

Thursday night was the Awards Banquet for Tweed & District Figure Skating Club.  I LOVE attending the Awards Banquet - it's great to see the kids outside of skating, and they are always so excited to be together for this celebration...and the kids that win awards, to see their excitement and pride, great moment as a coach!

Our Learn to Skate kids getting their certificates from their coach Kristin.

I didn't work with this group at all this season, but I will be giving Makena private lessons during Spring skating in Belleville (she's the little one in the dress with the super serious expression!)

Me with the CanSkate girls I taught this season - Payton, Olivia, Erika and Emily (Molly was unable to attend). 

Emily was SUPER excited when her name was called as one of two winners of the CanSkate Champion award.  I was so proud of her this season - she passed two badges (Stage 2 and 3), and competed in her first skating competition.  She is also the type of skater who always has a smile on her face, and if she falls down, she laughs it off and gets up and tries again.

Our Advanced CanSkate group - Hailey, Chelsea, Mykelti, Cheyenne and Shelby (not sure why Kendal isn't in this picture?)

Cheyenne and Shelby are two of my private skaters.  Cheyenne is doing Spring skating in Belleville, so I still see her once a week...and, every time I've seen her since carnival, she's asked for her badges...but, I made her wait until the awards night.  She was so excited to get her Stage 3 and 4 badges.  And then...drum roll....I called her name as the CanSkater of the Year and she hit a whole new level of excitement!

Proudly displaying the medal she was awarded.

Not only did Cheyenne pass two badges, she also competed in her first competitions this year.  She received a Gold certificate at her very first competition, and followed that up with a Silver certificate at the second competition.

One of my private skaters, Alyssa, being awarded the Erin Palmateer Spirit of Skating award. 

Alyssa has an excellent work ethic and positive attitude - she is always working hard, and can be seen practicing a certain jump or spin over and over again, trying to get it 'just right'.  She also has a smile on her face all the time!

Leah received the Award of Merit.

Leah is one of my Senior skaters - when the coaches and I sat down to discuss the awards, we all quickly agreed that Leah deserved the Award of Merit this year.  She really matured this year, both as a skater and a young lady.  She passed two Senior Bronze dances and her Senior Bronze Skills this season, and she was a Program Assistant to our Advanced CanSkate group on Thursday nights (the kids LOVED her!).

Ella was awarded a trophy for Pre-Junior Proficiency (one of my skaters was taking pictures for me, but wasn't able to get one when Ella was being presented her trophy).

Ella passed her Stage 5 Badge this year - the most exciting thing about passed Stage 5 is that it means you no longer have to wear a helmet, Ella was VERY excited about that! 

My three Senior skaters - Jillian, Britteny and Leah. 

A group shot of me with all nine of the skaters I taught this season.  
Back Row, L-R: Jillian, Britteny, me, Leah, Alyssa, Hannah, Keegan
Front Row, L-R: Ella, Cheyenne, Shelby

And one more fun group shot!  Keegan was being difficult (which is typical, he's worse than a girl!) and wouldn't stick around for more pictures, so Travis stepped in instead!  This little guy is the younger brother of Hannah and Ella, and I just love him!  I taught him a few years ago in Learn to Skate, but he's moved on to hockey now.  But, he's still my little buddy - we have this ongoing joke where he calls me Mary Jane and I call him Trevor, he thinks it's HILARIOUS!

Whew, that was a long one...and I included a lot of pictures, maybe too many!  But, it was such a great night, I want to be able to look back at this post next year (perhaps in January when the skating season is at it's busiest, and I'm ready for it to end!) and remember how much everyone enjoyed it.  So, thanks for sticking with me until the end.

Florida - Part 2 - The Golf

My Dad and I played two rounds of golf while I was in Florida; we had hoped to play three, but, there was rain in the forecast for a few days, so we didn't bother risking it.

Our first round was at Legends Golf & Country Club - it is right up the road from where my parents stay, and although Curt and I have played it in the past, this was the first time my Dad played it. 

We booked on GolfNow.com, and thought we were going to be matched up with another twosome - but, we ended up going out alone, and I think that was a relief for both of us considering it was our first round in months, and in my case, I was using my new clubs for the first time!  Now, having said that, we both ended up playing pretty well...I'm pretty sure my dad shot in the 80's, and I shot 102!  So I was really happy with that.  So, we played well, the course was great and the weather was amazing...it was a perfect day!

The view of the par 3, fifteenth hole, from Hwy. 27...

Dad...

A beautiful view...

Our second round was at Ridgewood Lakes Golf & Country Club in Davenport.  We played as a foursome at Ridgewood, and ended up with two men from Canada - Bill from Ontario and Glen from New Brunswick were both great guys, and Dad and I really enjoyed playing with them.

I thought this tee deck was a unique way in incorporate one of the many lakes on the course.

One of the great things about having lots of water on the course is that I got to see some gators!  I never get sick of seeing gators, weird eh?!?

Dad...

We had another great day on the course - it was a little cloudy during the back nine holes, but, the rain held off until we were done, so we were thankful for that! 

It's always so great to be able to get out and play golf in March! 

Florida - Part 1

As I mentioned in my last post, the Tweed carnival was on Saturday, March 30th.  So, what did I do on Sunday, March 31st?  I flew to Florida to spend some time with my parents.  Notice I said 'I' and not 'we'...that's right, Curt didn't come with me this year, he had his own trip booked - a few months ago, he was asked to join a group of guys on a Golf Trip/Bachelor Party to Myrtle Beach (he doesn't know the groom...but, knows the grooms brother-in-law...and, the group figured that a group of 8 was better than a group of 7, so they asked Curt to go along).  Anyway, Curt booked that trip and I was originally going to stay home; however, after looking at my work schedule, I realized I could go to Florida for the week and I would only need to use 3 vacation days, so the decision was easy!

So, Saturday after carnival, I drove to Toronto to spend the night at a hotel (I found a good 'park and stay' deal at a hotel near the airport) and then flew out at 6:30am Sunday morning.  I haven't flown out of Toronto in YEARS - I forgot how BIG that airport is!  I probably cut my timing a little too close as I arrived at my gate minutes before they started boarding the plane!  I was at the airport in plenty of time, but there was a long line for customs - I was definitely getting nervous.  When I did finally get to the customs officer, he asked where I was going and I replied 'to Florida to visit my parents'...he asked, without cracking a smile, 'would you go visit your parents at this time of year if they lived in Saskatoon?'...I laughed, he stayed stone faced and didn't even look up, just passed my passport back to me and told me to have a good trip?!?!

My parents met me at the airport, and then it was off to check out the new house they were staying at.  The house they normally stay at was already booked, so they were in a new neighbourhood this year.

Everything was great, but there were a few differences - the main one being an safety alarm on the door; because you couldn't fence off the pool within the lanai, every door that led to the pool area had an alarm that you had to press every time you went out, or came back in.  It was a little finicky, and we were a little forgetful from time to time, so it went off more than once - it sounded like a fire alarm, so to say it was annoying is an understatement!  But, we obviously still spent A LOT of time outside enjoying the pool.

Mom & Dad playing cribbage.

A blurry picture of me in the pool.  It had actually just started to rain when my mom took this picture...my dad and I had just returned home from a game of golf, so the swim and warm rain were still refreshing.

 A good ol' self-take.  This was a typical view around the pool...mom and I reading and dad doing sudoku puzzles.

 It was great to get to spend the week with my parents.  Because they live about 3 hours away, I don't get to see them as often as I'd like to...so, the trips Curt and I take with them are always special.

And, I'm not going to lie...getting to eat my mom's cooking and dad's BBQ is pretty awesome too!  And in honour of the time my parents spent doing those two things, here are some pictures :)

Mom in the kitchen...

And Dad at the BBQ...

The weather wasn't as good this year as it has been in the past - it was warm, but we had a few cloudy days and a day of rain.  But, we made the best of those days and did some shopping, so it wasn't a total loss!  Overall it was a great week, I enjoyed having lots of down time and not feeling like we had a busy schedule to follow.  A BIG THANK YOU to my parents for letting me crash one week of their two week vacation!