And back to the athletics.
Mulan competed at the Auckland children's pentathlon champs yesterday, coming 4th in the 13 Girls. The results are here.
Mulan got some awesome results, including three new PBs.
And now for something completely different.
A short break from the athletics, to report on our music activities.
Miya re-started music lessons at Belmont Music Centre yesterday. She's learning saxophone and trumpet there this year (as well as clarinet private lessons).
Here's the music corner of our lounge, with a steadily growing collection of instruments.
Saxophone, trumpet, flute, clarinets (x3), violins (x2), cello, guitars (x2), ukuleles (x2), recorders (x5), keyboard. (Mulan and Miya play all of them; Mama and I play none of them!)
More athletics!
On Tuesday we had our annual HASCA homeschool athletics day at Onewa Domain, using the Takapuna Athletic Club equipment.
We had just over 100 children competing, with 12 different events happening throughout the day. It's a pretty full-on day for the kids, with many of them choosing to do eight or so events each. Some kids are familiar with the events while for others it's their first time trying it out. So, it's a mix of fun have-a-go and also pushing hard.
It's the third year we've run it, and once again I was involved in the organising. To run all the events we need a lot of parent helpers, and I feel that each year it's getting easier to manage, as families start to know what's involved and each person does their bit.
I was on microphone duties again, directing traffic and walking the field checking it was all going smoothly.
Mulan and Miya competed again, hanging out in their age groups most of the time.
A good time had by all, and we plan to run it again next year.
Mulan and I competed at the Auckland athletics championships over the weekend. The results are here.
As always, there was some good and some not so good, but on the whole it was good.
Mulan got the bad out of the way first up, when she got three no jumps in the long jump on Saturday. The jumps were very good, but unfortunately she had too much power in the runup and overstepped the board each time. This week we're going to have a look at her runup and make some adjustments.
Then it was onto the good.
Mulan got a new PB in the 80m hurdles, with 14.79sec. What's really encouraging is that she could probably get even faster, as she knocked a hurdle and stumbled a bit. Each race she does she's getting faster.
Finally, Mulan's triple jump on Sunday went perfectly. She was aiming for over 9.50m with a legal wind (she'd previously got a wind-assisted 9.73m). And she did it, jumping 9.55m (wind -1.0). This got her a silver medal!
As for me, my 5.29m long jump was the best I've done in five years. My 10.85m triple jump was the best I've done in 24 years, and bettered my Takapuna Athletic Club Veteran Men record. And my 8.30sec 60m was okay.
UPDATE 11/2/2021: We've just heard from Takapuna Athletic Club that Mulan's 9.55m triple jump is recognised as a new Under 16 club record. Well done Mulan! And she still has until the end of 2022 in this grade to get even further.
The record books will now show that I've got the Under 16 Boys triple jump record (12.51m in 1991), and exactly 30 years later Mulan has the Under 16 Girls record!
My 10.85m triple jump, while further than my 10.59m club record, is not recognised as a club record. Apparently (and weirdly!) the Veteran/Masters age group can only get club records at clubnights -- records cannot be broken at other competitions. For all other age groups (such as with Mulan) club records can be broken at other competitions. I have no idea why the club has this rule.
The new school term is starting, and we're finalising Mulan and Miya's activities. Some things have already started, and we're easing back into our normal busy routine.
Mulan:
We're thinking about Mulan going to school in 2022, for Year 11 and NCEA 1, so this may be her final year of doing multiple activities. Last chance to squeeze in lots of stuff, before the desk work gets serious!
Ballet/dance continues to be Mulan's main activity. She's got a term pass at Mainly Dance Studios, to attend as many classes as she wants. This year she's working towards the ballet Advanced Foundation exam and the contemporary Level 5 exam.
Athletics is Mulan's second activity. We've joined the Takapuna Athletic Club for the season. Her big aim this season is to be selected for the Auckland Interprovincial team, competing in Easter. The big competitions for the season are all coming up over the next several weeks. Mulan does well at all events, but especially does triple jump, 80 metre hurdles and long jump.
Music: Mulan continues to have private recorder lessons each week with Kevin Kim. After dislocating her finger a couple of months ago she took some time off cello, but is just now re-starting to play. Once she has de-rusted, and the finger strengthens up enough, she'll probably return to weekly private cello lessons. We're looking at maybe doing Grade 4 theory and Grade 5 cello exams.
Swimming: Mulan has newly signed up for classes at NZL Swim -- she has two classes each week with the Swim Fit squad.
Gymnastics: Mulan is again in the Extension 2 class at North Harbour Gymnastics, having one two-hour class each week.
Miya:
Rock climbing is Miya's main activity. She and I have got memberships at Northern Rocks, and we go there about three times each week. She's signed up for weekly classes, and we're starting to look at whether she might want to join some competitions.
Music: Miya is continuing to learn multiple instruments. She's having weekly private clarinet lessons with Brendan Dalton, and has signed up for saxophone and trumpet lessons at Belmont Music Centre. She may do the Grade 4 clarinet exam this year.
Dance: Miya decided to stop doing ballet, and this year is just having contemporary lessons at Mainly Dance Studios, working towards the Level 1 exam.
Athletics: Miya does athletics with Mulan and me, especially doing well in all the field events.
Gymnastics: Miya is again in the Extension 1 class at North Harbour Gymnastics, having one two-hour class each week.
Horse riding: We've been seriously looking into regular horse riding lessons, especially for Miya but maybe also for Mulan. It's not happening in term 1, but we'll see if we can squeeze it in after athletics has finished for the season.
We've just got back from our final summer holiday travels.
For the past five days we've been up in Kerikeri, as the girls were on a horse riding camp. It was the same as we did last year, at Kate's Riding Centre.
We dropped Mulan and Miya off at the camp midday Monday, and picked them up midday Friday.
From all reports it was again very good. Mulan and Miya continue to improve in their riding, and both are still loving it! The main downside this year was that there was about twice as many kids at the camp, and some of them were quite young (maybe too young?), so the girls didn't get as much time with the horses as they did last year.
Meanwhile, Mama and I stayed at a very comfortable airbnb flat, about 15 minutes drive from the farm.
We could lie in bed listening to the birds and watch the sun rise, and then it was a few minutes walk down through the bush to the private beach.
Mama did a couple of walks, and tried out the kayaks. I read two books.
On Thursday we checked out the site of New Zealand's first Christian mission settlement, which was set up in 1814. We had a sunny day, and it was a pleasant two-hour walk-and-sign-read, learning the history of the area. But according to the NZ History link, it is pretty bleak at other times.
On Friday we wandered around Aroha Island. If we decide to have another summer at Kate's, we may bring our tent and camp there.
Normal life is starting again tomorrow, with most of our scheduled activities starting in the next few days.
Back in Auckland, it's a normal weekend for us.
Yesterday, Mulan and I went over to Mt Smart for athletics. We both triple jumped only. Weirdly, at 13 years old Mulan is now competing in the Under 16 grade -- apparently it's based on the age at the end of 2021.
Mulan got a new PB with an awesome 9.73m! It won't be long before she's beating me!!
I had an okay 10.30m, but didn't attempt my final three jumps as the aches and pains were getting a bit too much.
The results are here.
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Today, Miya and I did a bit of rock climbing at Northern Rocks.
Miya did a review session and completed five of the green climbs that she had previously done. I did a shorter session as I knocked my hand slightly during a fall.
