The end of an era

Next week Ally begins a new phase in her gymnastics. She has been asking for a long time about the possibility of changing gyms. We like her gym, it's the closest to our house, we have made some really close friends, and Ally has been going there since she was 3 years old.

But when you daughter who rarely asks for things asks repeatedly about something you start to take her seriously. For us that meant trying out a new gym, she took some private lessons this summer and after every lesson would ask about going more, and talk about how amazing the gym was compared to her current one. So finally I asked the coach and she had Ally come in for an evaluation. They invited Ally to join! And so Becky and I made the decision to change gyms. 

It's been a hard call.

A few weeks ago we hosted Ally's 2 long time team mates for a sleep over after practice:

 

We took the girls swimming first, to cool down and clean up.

 

Then after the last last day of practice this summer we all went out for ice cream to say good bye for now:

 

We will miss Caroline and Hannah and their families a lot. But we are excited for this new adventure.

 Humoring me with a photo.

 

For the record Ally is now pain free. I sent an email to the Pain Clinic staff recently with an update on Ally. I told them about her summer and her accomplishments this summer and thanked them for everything they did to help Ally. She is certainly a success story for the Program and I wanted them to know that. We will still go in for our follow ups and continue to value all that we learned and be so grateful for Ally's healing.