Gymnastics Showcase

Bentley and Jake showed off their gymnastics skills to the their brothers, their dad, and their opa at yesterday's end of semester gymnastics showcase. They did awesome. Kara and I weren't able to attend because we were at Viva's ballet recital, but from the photos opa took I can tell they've both improved their skills since last semester. Their improvement is doubly impressive when you take into account that they missed half of the fall semester of gymnastics. When Kara tried to sign the boys up for the fall semester, Jake's class was filled. (That is why she was investigating karate dojos in September.) Then in November a student dropped out of gymnastics and Kara was able to sign both boys up. It actually worked well for our family to not start gymnastics until then because of Kara's pregnancy, Evan's birth, and then Matt and the trio's trip to Mexico.

Mark wasn't able to attend last year's gymnastics' showcase so this was his first chance to see the boys work out at the gym. He said the boys were very energetic and excited. He particularly enjoyed how jubilant they were while performing. He envied them their limberness. You can see from the photos that they were indeed enjoying themselves greatly. Both Jake and Bentley said they like the parallel bars a lot. They have the right build to do well on the bars; they are lean, but have strong arm muscles.

Here's Jake:

Here's Bentley:

When I ask the boys what they most like about gymnastics, they tell me "Dodgeball!".

Dodgeball?! What does that have to do with gymnastics? At the end of class, they get to play a game and often it's some form of dodgeball. I'm not sure if dodgeball is truly the highlight of their hour at gymnastics or if they remember it best because it's the last event. In any case, the most important factor is that they really enjoy their class at Aurora Kids. It's a good mix of learning new skills and having fun.

And now one last photo from the showcase--a future gymnast: