spring has sprung

Well, last weekend we were off to hamilton for another competition: starcatchers. We went up Friday night and stayed at the staybridge suites; a very nice hotel with a great breakfast. Shyla had some time to swim and us a chance to socialize before bedtime. Shyla had her solo first in the morning. She was nervous as she would rather do a group first. She did well, or so I thought. Every competition, there are different judges and different criteria. She was not against anyone in her category. She came first of course and received a gold. Now a gold in this competition was between an 80 and 84, her score average being 83 from all three judges. Normally the judges are pretty close on scoring but she received a 87 from one, 83 from another and a 80 from the third. Her first competition she received at 93.4 overall and the second competition she received a 90.3 (even missing a little part of her routine), soooooo getting a much lower mark was frustrating. But I guess it is all in the name of dance. I also found out later that as a novice you could not get the highest achievement in the competition which was a diamond award (94 or higher), so that may have something to do with it. She did however recieve a special award from the judges; special awards are awards that the judges give out on top of the regular awards. This can be a costume, something special in the choreography, something in the dancer etc. The judge names the award themselves as they see fit. About 5-10 special awards are given out each session: each session is about 2 hours long and about 25-50 routines. Shyla recieved the "tiny and talented stage presence award. Her duet scored a first and a gold (only one in age category), her tap group scored first and a platinum (the second hightest achievement award in this comp and the highest a novice group can earn) and a special award for 'precision'. Her jazz group scored a gold and a second (out of 4 groups) and a special award for 'smiles and NRG'. All in all, they did great. The next comp is at deerhurst the weekend after the long weekend. It should be a fun one with a dance party for all on the saturday night and shyla i doing two workshops with Blake Mcgrath (finalist from so you think you can dance): a lyrical and a jazz funk workshop. He will also be one of the judges.
Ryley is in full swing for baseball with an exibition game this weekend. He has been released from both AAA and AA hockey tryouts. He wasn't upset. He really wants to Play A again as it promises to be a great year with a new coach. At this point, to us it is more important that Ryley is challenged, and has fun and a great coach.
We have added on to our pool deck, hoping to buy a gazebo to put on it, for more shade and a place to put food without all the bugs. Steve and ryley also spend yesterday hauling soil to put on our grass with seed to help it come back nicely. The last couple of years have been tough on it. It may be raining today, and colder, but that is alright, we need the rain. I think this week is winters last goodbye, we hope. Then it can be nice again.
I am also excited to say that one of my best friends has been on the adoption list for china for quite some time with no end result in sight. She has just found out that they are another step closer. I am so excited for her.

BATD Scarborough and hockey

Well, Shyla and I were off to dance again on Friday. This time it was in Scarborough. We were lucky that she got to perform all four of her dances in one day. This competition is marked hard and there were many more studios. Unfortunately, they just give your your placement in your group, 1st, 2nd, 3rd but you don't get to know what mark you received (silver, gold, platium etc) unless you scored at 93 or higher from both judges, then you received a special saphire award. Shyla's jazz group placed 1st but were the only group in their category. Shyla's tap received a 1st (the only group again) but received a saphire award and scored overall novice small group. Her acro duet scored a first (only one in category). Her solo was an experience. Unfortatley she watched the girl that was against her that went first. She was very good and shyla got very nervous when she performed. Shyla actually missed a small piece of her routine. Not that anyone noticed but her and the fact there was a bit a music left at the end of her routine (i am not sure that the judges knew). she was devastated. Big crocodile tears afterwards. I guess she did so well last weekend, she expected to do the same this time. Life lessons are hard. We hugged and told her that people make mistakes and hers wasn't that big. She ended up still scoring first in her catagory out of three (they were all good). I have no idea how she ended up overall. My heart went out to her though.
On saturday, ryley started his 4 on 4 hockey. He got about 60 shots and loved every minute of it. His team ended up winning 7-6 with a shootout. then we were off to another arena for two fun exibition games against peterborough. we tied the first one 0 -0 and won the second 5-3. then pizza for all. We then went to watch a friend of ours dance in a different competition in ajax. She belonged to the adult group Grease. It was really good.
On sunday, shyla sang in the junior choir at church and then we had a nice day outdoors where it was beautiful.