More rock climbing

Miya and I are continuing to rock climb a few times a week (two and a half months since we first started).

Yesterday, I completed my first yellow!!

Miya and I have got different climbing styles/strengths; she can do some climbs that I can't do, and vice versa.  She's got the finger strength and endurance, while I've got the arm reach and pullup strength.

Yesterday, Miya also completed a new green that I haven't yet done (I fell after just touching, but not securing, the top hold!).

The only reason Miya couldn't do the yellow one I did was that I had the long reach to the final hold at the top.  Miya's working on an extra heel hook, and is close but not quite there yet.

I think I'm right to say that Miya has completed six greens, while I've completed five greens and a yellow.

With climbing so often, Miya and I are starting to try activities and projects, rather than just turn up and climb:

1. Yesterday, we tried eliminating a limb and climbing with three limbs only.  We managed to do a blue without a leg/foot, and an orange without an arm/hand.  It was surprisingly scary, often off-balance and unsecured.
2. We're also doing more projecting.  We're currently working on a few tougher climbs (greens and yellows), breaking them down into sections and working on each section separately.  One activity we tried was to project a climb for 20 minutes, then project another climb for 20 minutes, then return to the first climb and make three attempts at it, then do the same for the second climb.
3. I'm starting to do a bit more on the campus board, working on pullups and finger strength.
4. We're sometimes doing circuits on an inclined wall.

We've booked Miya in for climbing classes in term 1.  I expect with advice from the experts she'll go beyond me very soon.

UPDATE 30/12/2020: Miya and I repeated our new climbs, this time on video.  Me doing a yellow:

And Miya on the green:

Mulan, Auckland recordholder

 We discovered today that Mulan's name is in the record-books!

Check out the Auckland Athletics senior records.  Scroll down to the bottom and there is Mulan's name, for the Under 14 Women triple jump.  9.32m on the 14th of November 2020.

AWESOME!!!

(And apparently Mulan is a woman now!)

Belmont Music Centre

 Yesterday was the final day of the year for Belmont Music Centre.

In the morning we had a concert, and a prizegiving, and a shared lunch.

Only I wasn't there as I was symptomatic and self-isolating.  My Covid-19 test came back negative the previous evening, but it's still best that symptomatic people self-isolate as much as possible.

So, Mama, Mulan and Miya enjoyed it without me, and from all reports it went very well.

Music Centres are for primary and intermediate school age children only, so this year Mulan was too old to be enrolled.  (She helped out in the String Band sometimes, but with a dislocated finger she can't play her cello at the moment.)

Miya, however, was very involved.  This year she enrolled in three instruments -- clarinet, trumpet and keyboard.  She played in the Jazz Band and also joined the String Band in the concert for one piece.

And a HUGE congratulations to Miya!!!  With all her work on so many instruments (she's also learnt recorder and violin for a few years), Miya was voted by the teachers as winner of the Senior Music Cup for Excellence.

Miya has enrolled for next year in trumpet and saxophone.  We've also arranged that she'll continue to have private lessons with the clarinet teacher.  She likes the clarinet (and the teacher is awesome!), but she'll be too advanced for the classes offered at BMC.

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On a less important note, yesterday was also the final day for me as BMC Manager (yay!!)

I offered to do it a year ago, when no one else wanted to do it and BMC was in danger of closing.  But I didn't want to do it long-term, and we worked to find someone else to take on the job.

It's all sorted, and Chris Davis has now taken over as BMC Manager.  He's very capable, and I have every confidence that things will go well next year.

Mama and I are both volunteering on the parents committee, so we'll still be helping out to some extent.

(Haha -- we've been zooming in on the photo Blade Runner style, and seeing me looking strange in the cup reflections!)

Auckland athletics relays

 Besides the ballet, last weekend we were also busy with athletics.

Saturday morning we were at the Auckland Junior Relay Champs.

Mulan was in the Takapuna 13 Girls 4x100m and 4x200m relays, and they got third in both races.

We had to leave early after the 4x200m race, to get to the ballet rehearsal, so unfortunately Mulan couldn't join the field relay.  But I hear that the girls did extremely well and got second.

Ballet

Mulan and Miya's ballet finished for the year on Sunday.

Despite the Covid-interruptions, which meant lessons online in our dining room, things went extremely well.

First up, the girls had their exams a few months ago.

Both Mulan and Miya did the contemporary dance (NZAMD) exams, and both got Honours -- Mulan in Level 4 and Miya in Preparatory.

Mulan did the RAD Intermediate ballet exam, and got Distinction.

Miya's RAD Grade 4 exam was cancelled because of Covid, but the dance school, Rowe Dance, did in-house equivalent exams.

And then we had the show over the weekend, with the dress rehearsal on Saturday and two performances on Sunday.

This year they split each show into two separate parts.  The younger classes (of which Miya was one of the oldest) performed Peter Pan, while the older classes performed Les Sylphides.  All the contemporary dance classes were involved in Peter Pan.

What can I say?!  It was thoroughly enjoyable, and the kids all did amazingly well.  Miya was Tiger Lily, and really looked the part.  Mulan is now dancing en pointe, and the senior girls were all very impressive in their strength and elegance.

As always, the girls asked me to try to pick out what I liked best.  And as always it is so hard.  But if I had to pick one, I'd say Mulan's contemporary dance, in which they were the ocean in Peter Pan, was very beautiful.

Both girls got recognition at the prizegiving.  Mulan was congratulated for getting the second highest RAD exam mark in the School (actually third, as there were two first equals).  And Miya was awarded for her potential and work ethic dedication.

Sadly, the girls' dance school is closing.  Meaghan Rowe decided (understandably!) to devote more time to her young family, and has sold Rowe Dance to Mainly Dance Studios.  Apparently they're going to try to keep the existing Rowe Dance students and teachers together, but we'll see.  Mulan and Miya have decided that they will enrol at Mainly Dance next year, and see what happens.

Miya, however, had already decided to stop doing ballet next year, and will only do contemporary dance.  She's decided to focus more on her rock climbing, and we're also going to look into horse riding.