Final Cross Country Competition

 Over the weekend, our entire family traveled with the MS and HS cross-country teams for the end-of-season conference.  The girls raced a 3.5km on day 1 and a 2.5km on day 2 on a gruesome course in the woods that resembled an adventure obstacle course more than a cross-country course.  Our girls were tough, though, and didn't let the course stop them from trying their best.

On day 1, Kaelia got out pretty strong to avoid getting stuck in rougher parts of the course.  By about halfway through the 1st lap of the course, she was leading the entire race and looking good.  Taelyn caught up to her during the second lap, and the two of them pushed each other all the way to the finish.  In the end, it came down to the final sprint where Taelyn edged out Kaelia and won by 1 second!

On day 2, Taelyn had a slight lead over Kaelia for the first lap.  Then a runner from Prague surprised both girls and took the lead during lap 2.  With about 300m to go, Taelyn went after her and outkicked her for her second victory of the weekend. Kaelia ended up just behind and came in 3rd.

Taelyn's final stretch, running for gold!

Overall, our school also did quite well.  We came in first place in the team competition for MS boys, MS girls, HS boys, and HS girls.  But what the students loved most was getting to know runners from the other schools and making new friends.  They had a wonderful time, and it was a fantastic end to a good season.

Next up... both girls are in the MS musical, and Kaelia will start basketball in season 2.

Cross Country Races

The girls both joined the middle school cross-country team this season and have been learning a lot about pacing and how hard they can really push their bodies to go over a distance.  Kaelia was consistently the first girl on the team until recently when Taelyn took that position as she figured out her pacing a little more.  Team Walker is a strong addition to the team this year!

I am also coaching high school cross-country, so I had the opportunity to travel with both middle and high school teams for the races which means I got to see the girls race too.  Last weekend, we traveled about 4.5 hours away to Wroclaw, Poland for the PAAC championships where we competed against two other international schools in Poland.  Taelyn won the entire middle school girls' 2.5km race in 10:52, and Kaelia came in 7th in 11:45.  

This past weekend, the girls got another shot at racing as we flew to Munich for the SCIS championships.  This meet was a much more competitive weekend than Wroclaw with teams from Vienna, Budapest, Zurich, Basel, and Munich.  The girls raced 3.5km the first day where Kaelia finished 10th to earn a ribbon for a top 10 performance and was the first girl for our team.  Taelyn struggled a bit that day with her glasses and had to stop a few times when they fell off her face from too much sweat.

The next day was a 2.5km race where Taelyn came back with a vengeance and placed 7th with a time of 11:03.  Kaelia improved her 2.5km time from last week to 11:23 and finished 12th that day.  The awards ceremony was soon after that race where both girls got their top 10 ribbons, and our teams earned overall awards: the
HS girls were 2nd, the HS boys were 5th, the MS girls were 4th, and the MS boys were 3rd.  With all four teams combined, our school came home with a 2nd place overall finish - the highest our school has ever earned at this meet.

We have had two great weekends of travel and racing.  Our next and final meet is in one month.  We are so proud of our girls for their hard work ethic and can't wait to see what they do in their next race.

Thanksgiving Getaway in Sanya

We had a long weekend for Thanksgiving, so we decided to head to Sanya - China's closest version of Hawaii.  We stayed at the Atlantis Resort which is a replica of the Atlantis in Dubai where there is an outdoor waterpark, aquarium, sea shows, and more all on-site.  There was so much to do, we never even made it to the beach.

After a huge buffet breakfast every morning, we made our way to the waterpark for some thrilling rides.  Our favorites were the 4-person tube toilet bowl, a drop slide where the tunnel goes through the middle of the shark tank, and a small slide that strolls through the middle of the aquarium where we saw large sharks, manta rays, and sea turtles.  Afterward, the girls would stick around at the wave pool while Justin and went back to the room to rest.  Each afternoon, we went to the aquarium to see a different view of the sea life and got to see a mermaid show and beluga whales.

 

In the evenings, we went to one of the great restaurants at the resort, including a Gordon Ramsey restaurant where we had the beef wellington specialty.  One night we saw the C-Show which was similar to a Cirque de Soleil show.  It was great.

The biggest highlight of the weekend, though, was the seal show and beluga experience that we did on the last day.  The girls even got to touch and kiss a beluga whale!

 

 

 

Happy Halloween from China!

 

A Week of Performances

 The girls both had their fall concert this week where their strings classes performed in front of the school community.  Kaelia has been learning the cello this year and enjoys the low sound it makes.  Taelyn is in year two of learning the violin and is able to play with much better fluency and speech this year.

To top off the week, the middle school had a lip-sync competition on Friday where students could form their own groups and volunteer to perform.  Kaelia choreographed a routine for her friends to "Your Welcome" from Moana, and they had a fun time practicing all week.

Taelyn had a vision to perform solo to "Let it Go" from Frozen but wanted a few extras to execute her plan.  Justin agreed to help out as well as her best friend, Ikki.  He is a snowflake in the background with a sign that says "snowflake" and Ikki produces snow at just the right moments.  The final performance was the showstopper and won first place without question!

We are so proud of our kiddos for their hard work and for putting themselves out there in front of all their teachers and peers.  And, of course, the girls and I are proud of Justin for his confidence and determination to be the best snowflake he could be!

Trash Wars

The girls have brought their on-screen performance to a new level to start off this school year.  Thanks to a new friend and neighbor, Penelope, who has a great vision for film, we now present...

Trash Wars! 

We Officially Have Two Middle Schoolers!

We started our first day of school for the 2021-2022 school year this week.  It was a day to celebrate because our entire family is now on one campus together as Kaelia joins her sister in the middle school - the same building where Justin and work in the high school.

Both girls had a great time seeing their friends that they missed over the summer, finding out who is in each of their classes, and getting their new schedules.  Taelyn was very excited to have all of her core classes with one of her best friends, Ikki, and Kaelia was happy to see that her core classes are with some of her buddies from her 5th-grade class as well as a new faculty kid (and our new neighbor), Peppy.

When asked about the difference between elementary school and middle school, Kaelia said she loved all the freedom in middle school and how she gets to go to different classes.

One other highlight was our school's dynasty day on Friday.  The entire secondary school (6-12) was placed into different Chinese dynasties, set up like a house system (think Harry Potter).  The girls and I were all placed in the Tang dynasty, and Justin is in Yuan.  We will see how the year goes and who will win each dynasty challenge.

We are all looking forward to a great year!

The girls get ready for the bus that is pulling up in the background.

Kaelia's 1st day of 6th grade

Taelyn's first day of 7th grade