The whole family ran the 2k. Elizabeth was persuaded to move up to the front so as to not be impeded by other slower runners and said she had a very nice jog with no one in the way. She didn't sprint as she didn't want to over do it with her 10k still to come. She still finished first out of all girls under 19.

This was after walking to the race. In retrospect we ought to have biked but we thought we could catch a bus.

The rest of the family did a more leisurely 2k. Matthew and daddy ran together but with Matthew recovering from a bit of a cold he did more walking than running. He did sprint the last stretch leaving poor daddy to actually have to work to catch him by the finish line.

Michael had a blast after he discovered that basically anyone and everyone would give him a high-five if he ran along the edge with his arm outstretched and hand ready. He was so into this that he nearly ran right off the course in the excitement. He was also very excited to see that the dinosaurs were cheering us on again.

Amelia was not nearly as keen. Amelia had been told prior to the race starting that if she didn't want to run with an adult she would need to wear an airtag but had refused on the grounds that it was "weird". So Elizabeth put it in her hair and Amelia was told she needed to stay in front of Michael. She started out fine but about thirty seconds into the race she decided she was done running, made a bit of a fuss and pulled backwards against poor mommy who was trying to keep up with Michael as he disappeared into the distance giving everyone high-fives. It was very difficult to keep Michael within sight, even though he kept stopping to look backwards and wait once in a while as mommy grimly propelled Amelia along.

Finally we got within sight of the finish line and Amelia took off. "I beat you!!! I beat you!!!" she crowed. Mommy felt extremely ill after all that effort in the extreme heat and for a moment thought she was going to throw up, but a few minutes in the cold sprinkler and some water helped enormously.

In the end everyone made it across the finish line. Amelia 17:23, Daddy 16:07, Elizabeth 10:14, Mommy 17:35, Matthew 16:07 and Michael 17:35.

Later in the evening Elizabeth and Erika ran the 10k. The girls managed to hitch a ride with our neighbour Lauren who was also running the 10k. They beat last year's time nicely coming in at 64 minutes and 58 seconds. They didn't quite make their goal of one hour but given the heat felt it was acceptable.

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First up was team forms. Elizabeth and Erika did not qualify but put out a very solid performance.

Next up was individual forms and weapons. Things felt a bit strange this year as Elizabeth was not competing in hard style or classical forms due to the fiasco at Provincials, but it was actually kind of nice to be able to relax during those two otherwise very long divisions. Elizabeth ended up 4th in traditional weapons, 4th in creative weapons, 2nd in extreme weapons and 3rd in her new open forms division. She was very pleased with her two medals as there was some very impressive competition.

It occurred to us that as she moves up age brackets the competition gets tighter. With more and more demands on one's time people tend to drop out unless they are extremely serious. As such the difference between 1st and not qualifying becomes more and more minute.

In sparring Elizabeth had two extremely close matches against the same girl and sadly lost both times (despite having beaten the same girl recently at another tournament). Elizabeth was quite disappointed not to qualify in sparring but on the plus side this means we don't need to bring sparring gear to worlds so there will be more room for souvenirs.

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Amelia and Matthew had a piano recital today.

Amelia played Auntie Joanne’s Firefly. She didn’t quite have all the notes or dynamics, lost the rhythm at one point (I guess she was nervous!). The piece calls for the use of the damper pedal which we didn’t even attempt. Despite these deficiencies it’s a really beautiful piece and I thought she played quite well.

Matthew played Variations on a Russian Folkdance by Isaak Berkovich, which is a set piece for grade three RCM. He wasn’t quite ready for the last two variations and was so nervous he failed to play the concluding note for both variation three and four (!) But although it certainly wasn’t his best performance of the piece again I thought it was a respectable effort. I was very proud of him for powering through the piece even as he got progressively more nervous and frustrated with each error.

Michael and Elizabeth both participated in the rhythm march at the beginning. I conned Élizabeth into doing it to “help Michael”. After she’s like: “Why did you make me help him? He didn’t need any help!” Really it was because now we can say Elizabeth was involved with a decade of MYC recitals. Hard to believe it’s been ten years since we started music with Shana! Apparently Elizabeth doesn’t miss participating in piano recitals though. Afterwards I thought we should have had Elizabeth take the opportunity to play one of her pieces on the beautiful Steinway when people were just noodling around. Oh well! Maybe next time.

Michael enjoyed playing a few notes at the beginning of the recital and looking at the hammers lift and fall while Matthew warmed up. He’s looking forward to starting next year.

They all enjoyed getting their goodies at the end!

Uncle Chris and Grandma Margaret both came to listen, which was very appreciated.

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We managed to sneak off to the tulip festival before the crazy large crowds this year but still close enough that most of the tulips were open and there were food vendors. The latter being the more important point as far as the children were concerned.

Amelia was at brownie/ember camp, for those wondering.

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We decided to go to the "Dame de la Marée" in the Arboretum, as the kids refer to the old tree on the little island there for the first time this year, adding 5km to our biking total of the year.

Kids enjoyed biking (and running) up and down the hill. We were surprised by how much damage was still evident everywhere from the ice storm.

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