Easter Preparation

 The boys were very efficient dying their eggs this year, even with only one egg holder to share. :)

Ithaca

 On our way home from the State Meet, we stopped in Ithaca. It's a cute town!  It was still pretty cold, so we didn't do much in the way of outdoor activities, but we did enjoy the Science Museum (although the boys wished the outdoor playground area had been open!)

The picture where James and Mike are wearing headbands is a game that measure your brainwaves, and whoever is most relaxed wins. I was quite surprised when Mike was the victor! 

James also enjoyed the "scream as loud as you can" booth -- although his throat hurt aftewards! -- and Matthew was excited to touch a sea star. 

State Meet

James's State Meet was this weekend in Binghamton. Usually they have the morning slot, but this time they were in the evening (5:30 PM on Friday).

James had a good meet!  He did well with all his routines.  He came in third on high bar, seventh on parallel bars, fifth on rings (actually tied for third, but they use the all-around as a tiebreaker), and fifth all around. His team won first place both in his age group and overall. Yay, James!

Videos of all his routines are here (just click on the link:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Cv9kVgOTwOBfLV323

Another Ninja League

There's a new kids' Ninja league, the Ultimate Ninja Athlete Association. Our gym had a qualifying competition today (half of the male and female competitors in each age group qualify for the regionals, which will be held in June).  James was in the 6 to 9 year old age group.  It was a challenging course and the competitors were generally very good -- a bit of a change from a year or two ago when even beginners would compete! It has really become a much more organized sport.  There was a team there from a gym in Michigan and a couple others who had traveled from different states (and apparently Canada, since they also sang the Canadian anthem with the American one at the start of the competition.)

For this competition, each runner had three minutes to do the thirteen obstacles.  They got a point for each obstacle completed, and they were allowed one "do-over."

James was scheduled to be the third competitor, but ended up going second since the second person was either late or a no-show.  Overall he did a good run, but the couple obstacles that he missed were ones that he was capable of doing if he'd had another chance or a bit more practice.  (James had to use his do-over on the elevated quintuple steps -- he just tripped at the start!)

He ended up qualifying for regionals -- the last one to make the cut, but he made it!  He was delighted. :)  Since the gymnastics season is over, we should have more time for him to come to ninjas to practice.

The video is too big to upload to the blog, but if you are interested, it is here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/nufu69kz70xrTqnd2