A year already??

I can’t believe it has been a year since I have updated this!!!

Being a new business owner, wife, runner and taxi driver to 4 young daughters has kept me a little busy!

This year we opened up our own furniture store www.eleganteinteriors.ca  that Cassandra works at in between skating and swimming (she just passed her Bronze Medallion & CPR last week)!

Cassandra has also taken up Mom’s hobby of running and ran a 1k race in Barrie on Canada Day and 3k with the Running Room on Green Hat day!

On to the love of her life……skating! Cassandra is presently skating a couple days a week throughout the summer at Mariposa in Barrie, she loves it there. She is thrilled that Coach Amanda (who we adore) arranged to have THE Jennifer Robinson choreograph her new routine!! She picked very “cool” music and Cassandra has designed a very original outfit……..that’s my girl, swimmer, skater, soccer & skating volunteer coach, runner, cyclist, A/B student, community activist and clothing designer!! There is no stopping my girl!!

Cassandra is sooooo excited for skating this year – she has an axel, spread eagle, double jump and combination spin in her new routine and again…..she is skating with no accomodations for her vision, which best corrected is 20/200 and comes with a nystagmus……she inspires me daily.

Speaking of inspiration and lack of accomodations……at the Canada Day Run in Barrie Cassandra met someone who inspired her. His name is Rick and he is a wonderful man who is a “runner”, he has qualified for Boston and is hoping to come in under 3 hours!!! That is insane – 42.2 KILOMETRES in 3 HOURS??? I know people do it and they are all incredible but Rick is super special as he does his sport without accomodations too…..he is a runner who happens to be missing a leg! How AMAZING is that? He was also featured on A Channel news! Cassandra was a little shy when she met him but talks about him and his determination all the time. She has this up in her room…..

Here are a few of our past year……ooops…..I will update more often from now on!

Thanks for stopping by!

As we start a new season……

I’ve received some emails asking about Cassandra’s skating and I haven’t had alot of time to update here or on NOAH because we welcomed a new baby girl on June 26th!! Cassandra will be 12 in October and she now has 3 little sisters….Adriana is 4 1/2, Olivia will be 3 this week and baby Gloria is 6 weeks old!! Amazingly, the statistic for parents that can pass on Albinism is that we have a 1 in 4 chance of it occurring in our children, and in our case that is our reality.  Anyhow………..on to skating…………

Cassandra loved Spring skating and had her very first custom skate dress sewn for this coming season. I can’t wait for her to wear it, it is a beautiful deep pink adorned with hundreds of Swarovski crystals; it is stunning with her skin and hair color. I will post a pic as soon as she wears it!!

Cassandra trained up at Mariposa in Barrie again this summer. She always progresses so much up there and again, she surpassed our expectations when she landed her AXEL!!! YAY!!! I don’t know much about skating, I try to stay the “Mom” and let the “Coach” do her job knowing the details….but I do know that landing that particular jump is HUGE for her!!!

She also had the luck of having Jennifer Robinson ( six-time national champion) as her choreographer for her new routine for the 2007/2008 season!! Should be a fun season and it’s soon to start……………stay tuned!!

January – The month of GOLD!!!

What an AMAZING skating month this has been for Cassandra! She has really enjoyed being part of the Iced Energy Synchro teams (despite the 4:30am wake up time for practices). They have travelled to London, Dresden, Mississauga and North Bay and the team spirit and hotel stays are so much fun! The highlight of her Synchro experience HAS to be winning at Central Regionals last week! The girls had a phenomenal skate and they so enjoyed themselves out there, the medal was the icing on the cake!

Cassandra also won her very 1st GOLD medal individually at the FROLICS competition hosted by her home club! And a BRONZE in her first attempt at competing as part of a team doing elements!

Cassandra has also been practicing hard for her upcoming skills test, Junior Bronze which is next week and her dance test, Fourteenstep which she will test in March.  Stay tuned for results!

Loving Synchronized Skating….

I didn’t think it was possible, but Cassandra loves skating even more since she discovered Synchronized Skating! This past weekend we made the trip to London, Ontario for her to compete in her 1st synchro competition of the season and of her life! She loved staying at the hotel, hanging out with her friends and of course, the competition! They placed 6th, but none of the kids seemed to care, they had a blast and can’t wait to do it again! I have added the video link to her photo/video page.

Bronze at 1st competition of the season!

 Today Cassandra competed for the 1st time this season to a new solo, “Fame”. She has only been working on it for a few weeks and was so happy and a little suprised that she placed in the medal standings – her 1st bronze medal! She was so excited and she skated better than I have ever seen her before, she has moved up a level at competition too so bronze is AMAZING! Yay Cassandra!

(You can see her new solo by following the video page link)

Mariposa – Summer 2006

What an exciting summer it has been! Cassandra has spent some time up at Mariposa in Barrie and loved every minute of it! She has already asked if she can skate there longer next summer. Her always amazing head coach, Amanda M. (who really should have her picture posted here because we love her dearly), really saw a difference in Cassandra’s skill level and Cassandra gained alot of confidence this summer too. I wonder if it has anything to do with her 2 favorite guys being so wonderful to her?

Her jump coach from Bradford and Barrie, Olympic and World contender, Ben Ferriera (who will be moving to Edmonton with his wife this Fall and Cassandra is so sad to see go). And her inspiration, Olympic Medalist, Jeff Buttle who she watched skate every day she was there and who came off the ice always smiling and talking to her. He has a fabulous personality and a great Mom too!

Her Mariposa summer was capped off when I surprised her with tickets to the Mariposa Charity Gala! It was an amazing show that she loved and a great date night out for us!

Overall, her Mariposa experience has been so positive! She can’t wait to return next summer!

She is in the Toronto Sun!!

Cassandra makes the Synchro Team!

Cassandra is so very excited she has been asked to join the Synchro Team she tried out for! She slept with the letter under her pillow last night. This is the beginning of that letter….

ALA National Article on Cassandra

 

Silver in Thornhill…….

How exciting! It's silver!

Cassandra had a great skate! She skated first in her flight (group) and she did a beautiful job! We are so proud of you Cassandra! I guess our 6am wake up was worth it!

 

This is Cassandra and one of her coaches, Danielle. Cassandra loves her so much. She tells me that she is funny, pretty and cool! I think so too. We are lucky to have such a talented young lady so supportive of Cassandra!