JULY 2005

July 30, 2005:

This week has been alot of fun with hard work but also kind of sad because it was the last week of summer training camp.  We will go back to our regular training this next week. It was also the last day of our summer LTS (Learn to Skate) session.  Misha did a demonstration for the classes.   The kids (me included) also received our free lime green summer LTS T-shirts that are so cool.

I have loved training this year.  It started at Virginia Beach, then we started working back on the ice getting my program ready for Skate Detroit.  At the Detroit competition we put my program on the ice to see what needs to be changed to fit with the new judging system.  Evgeni comes in August to help us change some of these things in my long program and also to get my short program choreographed.  I'm going to be skating to Vika's old music.  It is very pretty and I feel so honored to be able to use her music.    I feel stronger each day on the ice. We have a system where we try to peak at regionals and I'm so looking forward to seeing how much I improve by October.   In September we go to Colorado Springs to put our programs on the ice and to train in altitude.  We then come down to the flat land to compete at regionals in October.   It is going to be a very expensive three months but it is so important to what I am trying to accomplish with my figure skating this year.  I am so excited for these next three months!  I love the training and hard work!

Am going to go for now.  I rented "Mean Girls" and "Series of Unfortunate Events" and I'm so looking forward to just hanging out and watching movies.  I"ll write again soon.

Love,

Sarah Kidd

July 24, 2005:

I just got back from Skate Detroit.  It was alot of fun and I had a really good skate!   Misha skated great and it was his first time at Skate Detroit.  He is only 8 years old and is skating pre preliminary with an axel.   On my day off Misha, his mom, me and my mom went to the Detroit Zoo.  It was very hot and we felt like we were going to melt.  They have a nice butterfly pavilion and the gorillas were very cool.  After the zoo we went to the mall that was by our hotel and it was huge.  WE never got through the whole thing.  I got my nails done there and also bought a cute skirt at the New York Company store.  We all went to eat dinner at Chili's.  Besides my own skating I met alot of other skaters.  Laithe-Al Zubi was there and he used to skate in Arizona at the Coyote's rink.  He is now back home in Oklahoma.  He is a junior level skater and is awesome!  His jumps are amazing.  We got our picture taken with Tatiana Totmianinan again and also with Todd Eldredge, Ryan Jahnke, Parker Pennington and some others.  Ryan Jahnke skated awesome!  So did Parker Pennington.  Alissa Czisny (am not sure on the spelling) was very good too and landed a triple lutz triple toe combo in her program!  Another skater I got my picture taken with is named Adrian Oleksyszak from Canada and he skates senior men and is a great skater in the field of dance too.  Be watching for him in dance and senior men. 

On our way home from Detroit we decided to take the bridge to Canada because I have never been there before.  It was a good thing my mom brings my birth certificate along all the time because they wanted all kinds of paperwork before letting us in.  We went to the currency exchange place and got some money switched so we could shop.  I got a Canada T-shirt and some other little things.  I really liked Canada and we were only there for a short time and didn't get to see much.  We just drove around Windsor, Ontario.  I hope we can go there for a trip someday, like for a competition or something.  It is very pretty there.  Of course the mileage signs are in kilometers instead of miles and I saw alot of signs and things in French.  I really want to learn how to speak French and my mom said we could do that this year.  I also want to learn Russian.

At the hotel we met a Russian lady named Aloma and she was the cook at the hotel.  She was so nice and brought us all kinds of goodies to eat, like bagels and yogurt and fruit.   Yelena, Misha's mom, took her out to eat for dinner and brought her to the rink to watch the senior men's short program and she loved it!   She was the sweetest lady and we all got to know her and like her so much. 

I can hardly wait to get back on the ice.  I really want to work hard this week and get my program even better.  I know what I want and need to work on and I really want to work to be a higher level skater.  Evgeni is coming in August to choreograph my new short program.  I don't know what music I'm using yet so I better get busy and pick something out.  I was planning on doing the Colorado Championships competition but my mom is thinking differently right now.  This week I'm just going to concentrate on my skating and we'll decide my competition schedule later.

July 18, 2005:

Hope everyone had a great weekend!   On Saturday we had our club picnic/swimming party.  It was so much fun!  The Nawrocki's had it at their community recreation center and pool.  Everyone brought something to eat.  It was a potluck.  Ashlie's mom brought her yummy popcorn balls. YMMMM!  They were the hit!  There was so much good food though.  There was a baby pool and a huge regular pool with a fast and curvy slide.  The baby pool had a big fountain that the little kids loved.  Most of us just swam and went down the slide.  There were so many there.  My mom took alot of pictures so I'll share them as soon as we get them back.  Vika was there too.  She is awesome!  I really like her and I hope she gets to train her full time in the future.  She is such a motivation to me.

Yesterday I had my neighborhood birthday party.  I didn't invite my skater friends because I had cake with them at Virginia Beach but I wanted to have a party for my 13th birthday so I just had the kids in the apartment complex come.  We played football in the yard, ate cake and then the girls all came in my apartment and we watched the movie, "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen".  It was one of the gifts I received.  It was so hot out that it was great that we all came in to watch the movie.  My mom just moved the chair out of the way and we all spread out in the living room watching.  We loved it! 

July 13, 2005:

Today was so cool!  Channel 7 came and did an interview of Valentin Nikolayev at our rink and they filmed alot of the skaters.  I was on the news doing a nice double flip.  It was on at 6 pm and it's going to be on again at 10 pm.  I can hardly wait to see it because it is suppose to be a longer segment at 10 pm.  I'm hoping alot of the little kids get to be seen too.  Viktoria came today.  She is so powerful of a skater.  She skates alot like Oksana Baiul.  She is so nice too. 

July 12, 2005

 I'm having very busy workouts with the on-ice classes, conditioning, jumps, ballet on and off ice, and personal training.  But, I love it!  Skate Detroit is next week and I"m so happy and excited to be going.  I get to wear my new dress!  (Thanks so much Jack!) 

July 7, 2005:

Last night there was a neighborhood birthday party for a couple of the kids in our complex.  Kat turned 7 years old and Autumn turned 11.  It was really cool!  Some of the neighborhood parents put it on.  We had hot dogs and chips and also there were two cakes.  Yummmm!  I know I'm not suppose to eat this stuff but hey, it was Kat and Autumn's birthday!  The party was outside and there were tons of kids.  Parents sat in lawn chairs talking.  Kids were playing.  It was alot of fun!  It's so cool in our complex.  Everyone is friends.  Even Max came.  He wanted to run wild and eat all the food but my mom kept him on the leash.  Coco, one of his girlfriends, was there, too.  She is a black lab.  DJ's dog was there and also a tiny dog called Kitty.  Max is friends with all the girl dogs here.

July 3, 2005:

Summer is in full swing and it is July already with the 4th of July celebrations taking place everywhere.  Today was alot of fun.  We first went to see my aunt and then went to visit my grandma and grandpa in Lincoln.  On the way home we stopped and picked up some fireworks.  When we got home my friends DJ and Jessie, me and my mom shot off fireworks together.  We weren't the only ones as it seemed like everyone in our apartment complex were shooting off fireworks tonight.  The smoke over the city looks like a war zone. It really gets us thinking about our freedom and about the guys over in Iraq standing up for that freedom.  Anyway, the entire neighbor hood was having fun shooting off beautiful fireworks.  It was so cool! Tomorrow we will go to Lincoln where my grandparents have their RV parked.  We are going to have dinner with them and then go watch the show at Oak Park.  (I think that is the name of where the show is.  It's suppose to be huge!)  Afterwards we will drive home and watch more fireworks from our yard.  I hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July celebration.  I miss my brothers and wish they could be here with us.  They would love it here because in Arizona fireworks are illegal because of the dryness and so there aren't even firework stands.  You have to go to a show to see anything and they are always too packed. 

Love,

Sarah Kidd