Chloe Johnson: Hobby Hopper

We are a couple weeks away from starting a new skating season, so I thought I should dump last seasons pictures and videos here first. However, before we get to Alyssa, did you know that Chloe started skating? After her recital last June, she decided to skate just for the summer to see how she liked it. Truth be told, she didn't love it, but she was good at it. Usually they test you at the end of every 8 week session, but in Chloe's case they moved her up a level midway through her first session, and then again 4 weeks later. So, after just 8 weeks she was already in Basic 3. I think that for this reason alone, she decided to stick with it in the fall. Her hot streak continued. She has passed every level in one shot, which is pretty unusual. She is now in Basic 8 (the last of the Basic levels), and while I still think she likes to dance more, she has made so many friends in skating. She just hit her one year mark in the sport. Let's take a quick look at the years highlights and then I'll tell you what she plans to do next year.

 Jazz Dance Recital- June 2015

 
After the recital, Chloe traded her jazz shoes for skates. By Christmas she was in Basic 5, and skated with her group in the Holiday Ice Show. She skated to Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.  I was too lazy to scan pictures, but this was her professional pic.
 
A little locker room fun. I think there were 18 people in the routine. I have a pic of the full group somewhere, but whatever.

Of course, Chloe loved the gifts that were sent to the locker room and the fun with friends more than the actual skating.
 
Alyssa only skated with her synchro team in the Holiday Show, but since they were both in costume, I grabbed a picture of the two of them. Sidenote: The blue eye shadow was mandatory, but it looks like whoever did her make-up that night got a little heavy handed. 

 
For the Spring Show, Chloe was in Basic 7, but she decided to give Synchro a whirl rather than doing a number with her level. In the Spring they have a Synchro Exhibition Team that practices from February to May and then performs in the Spring Show. It is a less expensive/less time intensive way to see if they might like to try out for a competitive synchro team. They skated to Madonna's Material Girl. 
 
 
As always, Chloe loved the locker room and the team, but the skating....she could take it or leave it. 
 
This is Chloe's post, but let's dump Alyssa's Spring Show pics here as well. I had them take one together.  
 
This was Alyssa's costume for the Opening Number. You have to be in Freeskate 4 or higher to be in the Opening Number. Alyssa is in Freeskate 5, and this was the first time she qualified. She was so excited. The theme of the show was Viva Las Vegas, so they skated to a medley of Katy Perry's Waking Up in Vegas and of course, Elvis' Viva Las Vegas. 
 

 For her Freeskate Number she skated to a medley of Little Less Conversation and All Shook Up. This is literally the ugliest costume we have ever seen, but I thought she looked pretty so I bought the darn picture anyway. Alyssa also skated with her synchro team, so she was in three numbers and had to change on the ice behind the curtain. Those boot covers made the quick change quite a challenge.
 
She is the only one with her hair down. Oops! They used to require them to pull their hair back for pictures. It still has to be up when they skate, but this year they said it could be down for pictures. I have so many dance/skating pics of them looking bald, so I jumped at the chance to get pictures of them with hair.

 More Alyssa updates forthcoming...

For now, let's finish talking about Chloe. Chloe had a lot of fun skating this year and made so many new friends. When it came time to try out for synchro teams for next season, she said she wanted to give it a go. We have had many talks about what that requires. It is too expensive to do just to play with friends. She has to gain some discipline. I know, she is only 8. We don't expect ridiculous amounts of discipline and training, but we did make it clear that she can't blow off practice and that she has to commit to this for a full year. She agreed, and tried out for next season. She was placed on a Beginner 2 team, which is the same level Alyssa skated for her first year of synchro, (The NYNY routine) There are 14 people on her team, and practice starts in July. I still get sad that she quit dance, but we weren't very impressed with the studio here, and we wanted her to be able to have the kind of team experience that Alyssa has had with skating. We are excited to see her in her first competitive season.

Her first official piece of Ice Stars garb.