Manhattan Classic Day 2

Competition Day! Ally's Meet time was 11:20 so we had a leisurely morning. Breakfast from room service, the girls watched Sesame Street, and we all got ready to go.

I took the picture above off Ally’s Instagram page. Because the picture the below is so typical of 13.





All lined up with teammates. The last 2 years Ally was the tallest. I kept telling her to wait. Now she is 3rd and soon she will be 4th and then 5th. But what a great team:

Katherine, Stella, Ally, Eliana, Dahlia, Autumn, Mia and Mari

I always love when they stand like this for the National Anthem. The meet had a singer who actually sand The Star Spangled Banner live.

The woman in the red sweatshirt is Svetlana Boginskaya. She is a former USSR and Ukrainian Olympic gymnast. She is friends with the owners and some of the coaches at Ally’s gym.

Ally had a good meet. She had her best scores all season on Floor 9.2, Balance Beam 8.25 and vault 8.825 and on bars she did a different routine than the other meets with a HUGE skill but did not score as well as she usually does because she replaced a basic skill with the big skill so her start value was lower. It was an error in coaching and one of her other teammates had the same issue. So her bars score was 8.6 Ally was disappointed because if her coach had known better Ally would have done both skills and scored higher. But mistakes happen. And she was proud of doing the skill. She got a medal for bars. 

After the meet it was back to the hotel to shower and rest before an early dinner and shopping in Times Square.

It is a tradition to take her picture at the Foot Locker’s athlete height chart. 

Without shoes Ally is still not yet 5’ but she was happy to appear taller than Gabby Douglas!

Ally used her Christmas money from Grandpa Frank for a new pair of sneakers. She loves them.

Then at Champs the girls started Tik Toking in new sweatshirts. 

Becky went back to the hotel to unload the bags while the girls and I walked thru Times Square.

People cheered and clapped for Ally’s handstand.

Tik Toking in Times Square!

After a successful stop at Sephora. Where Ally spent her gift card from Great Aunt Martha and Uncle Phil, they all collapsed at American Eagle. Ally used her Christmas gift card from her cousins there.  But it was exhausting all this shopping after the meet!

On the way back to the hotel Colette saw Elmo. She so wanted a picture with Elmo and was incredulous when I explained it was a racket and we had to pay for it. But I did give the guy $5.00 and they got their picture with Elmo! Which they thought was so fun since they watched Sesame Street with Elmo that morning.

It’s now a tradition to stop and get a picture with the giant stuffed bear.

And one last look at that Times Square Handstand.

Manhattan Classic 2020 Day 1

This weekend we traveled to NYC for Ally’s annual gymnastics meet the Manhattan Classic. This year we invited her friend Colette to join us.

We took the train from Boston to Penn Station. Colette has never seen a train board like this. 



They slept for a while on the train.

And were so thrilled with our hotel. The room is HUGE with 2 king beds, automated shades and the hotel has a robot!!!!

That brings things to you room. 

Her name is Alina. 

So much fun. 


Our Friday night tradition is pizza from Joe’s pizza in Times Square. Becky went and got it for us and brought it back to the room. It was late and we were all happy to eat and go to sleep.

Great first day. 

Olive's Birthday Party

Ally and Olive have been friends forever. Since they were babies and Becky and Olive's mom were in a new mom's group together. Olive and her parents live around the corner from us, they go to the same school and they have made a lot of memories together.

Ally asked for pictures of them over the year to post a birthday tribute on Instagram. Here is a selection of them (all taken from the blog):

Olive's party this year was at Boda Borg, a local escape adventure place. Ally was feeling pretty crummy and did not go to that part, but met up with everyone for pizza and cake after the activity.

 I drove many of the girls home afterwards and they took a selfie to send to their friend Maya who is in Sweden for 6 months.

 I guess when you are 13 its fun to take mirror pictures in the bathroom?

But also you humor your parents and take group pictures.

Else, Colette, Alma, Ellie, Ally, Olive and Daniela - all of the Amigos girls at the party.

That is Maya and Becky - They posed for this picture because I said they looked like twins!

Little Boston Gymnastics Meet

Ally has been dealing with an injury to her hip area - it has a fancy name called Iliac Apophysitis. 
Google says:
What is iliac apophysitis? Is a temporary condition of the iliac crest and pelvis characterized by inflammation of the growth plate, and occasionally the muscle will pull the bone away from the growth plate. 

It has been pretty painful and required a visit to the orthopedist in December and she has been doing physical therapy and at this meet her legs were also hurting. Lots of pain. But she powered thru and competed all 4 events and scored high enough to qualify for the State Meet in March. 

This meet on a Friday afternoon and was at the Convention Center in downtown Boston. Aunt Beth came to watch, and afterwards we went out to Wagamama for noodles after the meet with some team mates and their moms. 

 Ally was feeling pretty crummy before we left in our Uber for the meet. She was not happy to have me take her picture. But I told her it was a tradition - before every meet.

With her teammates after the meet. We were waiting for the awards to start. 

Ally came in 3rd place in bars with a 9.475!!!

Her team came in 2nd place.  The 8 girls on her team also competed along side 17 other girls from her gym.

 post meet picture with Mama and Aunt Beth

Please note that the sisters have identical coats - Beth's is blue and Becky's is green. This happens all the time.

Sisters

Dinner with Mia, Katherine & Eliana

New Year's Eve 2020

This year for New Year's Eve we went to dinner with our our preschool family group at Finleys house and then hosted a few of Ally's friends for a sleep over at our house.

2019 marked 10 years of friendship with these Newtowne Families. I brought our photo books from Purple Fish and Blue Otter classrooms and the kids had fun looking back at their years together.

Nick, Violet, Erik, Stella & Ally

Then Andy arrived and we got a picture of the 4 classmates:

Violet, Ally and Stella!
Ally and I left early to get home for her school friend sleepover.

We keep hoping Cloey and Daisy will start to get along.

Then the friends arrived.

Ellie, Ally, Cata, Willow and Colette laying across their laps.

Lots of fun - we all watched the ball drop of course. And toasted 2020 with sparkling cider from plastic champagne glasses. The girls were up super late and Becky and I were asleep by 1AM. IN the morning it was the usual pancake breakfast.

And a few of them met up with some boys from school later on in the day for a couple hours of Laser Tag.

Not a bad way to end one year and start a new one.