Jillian called, “Mom, I’m taking some pictures of Laud!” Lucas jumped along to help out. He loves taking pictures of his little brother.
Somewhere in their cute little thoughts, they decided our four-month-old should take a picture on each gymnastics event.
Jillian and LaudThe Tumble TrackVault! The Vault TableBars! Pull-upFloor! (Can’t walk yet)Pommel Horse! (Yippee)Parallel Bars! (Help!)Beam! (Boys don’t do this!)
First there’s Jillian and Laud. He looks happy enough.
What does she have for me to play with today? Wow, that looks interesting
Then there’s the first event – Tumble Track! Jillian is very careful as he is only four months old and not yet ready for bouncing.
Big brother, what exactly is going on here, this doesn’t feel right…
Up comes the next thing… ooh, Vault! Laud has some spotting help to stand on the vault table – although that is definitely not a parent-and-tot piece of equipment.
Mom! Can you see me, mom! I’m taller than Jillian on this thing that isn’t squishy!
Unfortunately, or maybe for the pictures, fortunately, mom is busy with the computer work and although she hears her baby yelling with happiness, it doesn’t occur to her that his big sister and brother are up to something.
Floor! Sissy, I might need to tell you I can’t walk yet… um, why is this floor moving?
At least on floor there was a tumbling mat to stand on. Laud appears to begin wondering if his brother won’t save him from his sister’s silliness, maybe he should yell for mom.
Bars! Pull-up! Lucas, why aren’t you saving me?
Jillian lets him pull up on the quad bars. Once he’s up, he doesn’t seem too sure about it.
Pommel Horse! Lucas, this is really cool dude, what can you do on this sturdy thing?
Pommel Horse is probably his favorite since he can do it with only a little side spot. Lucas zoomed straight in on his face.
Parallel bars! Wait! More Bars? What happened to the horsy thing?
Beam? Um, wait, boys don’t do this… Lucas, why don’t boys compete beam? This event has Jillian smiling!
I hope you enjoyed this series of pictures and commentary!
Jillian provided the inspiration! Lucas did the photography! Laud was the subject.
How quickly they all grow! Smile and enjoy the show!
Read that again! Wow! It’s a new year full of possibilities!
I’m always so thankful for new years. New seasons, new months, a new week every Sunday morning, a new day every sunrise… newness always reminds me of the opportunity God gives us to make a new start.
Our possibilities this year look amazing!
Laud got a tooth for Christmas (just one, two more are sitting there in the wings where we can see them but they haven’t popped through just yet). He’s growing so fast! I’m so blessed to watch this fast-moving change from totally-dependent-baby stage to exploration-baby-stage!
Thea has learned to read! She’s officially started her “schoolbooks” aka book work. We don’t really start books until they can read. Her favorite school book is “The Beginner Book of Words” – the Dr. Seuss “kid dictionary” that belonged to her dad and uncles! She announced to me, “mom, since I can read, I need real schoolbooks to do work in.” I’m not sure if I’m ready for that!
Lucas can do some crazy cool gymnastics stuff! His favorite thing is to show off his muscles – Kimberly consistently reminds him of the proper muscle names as he’ll flex and say “look at this one.” Lucas told me his favorite thing he wants to happen this year is “work with Dad and build our house.”
Jillian has her first gymnastics competition of the 2024 spring season January 13th! She’s competing Xcel Silver again this year with WGV Gymnastics and is super excited about her routines. Her confidence has grown with her strength and flexibility the past few months. Her self-discipline is growing and took a huge jump right at the end of 2023 when she decided to apply herself seriously to both gymnastics and academics. I’m so excited for what 2024 will bring in Jillian!
Jaquline has set her mind on a goal at the end of 2023 and I’m excited to see where it takes her. She’s refocused her study path toward law. She’s been devouring history, literature and debate, and the history of founding documents like our Constitution. She says she wants to learn the laws, how and why they were written, and how legal changes are made. Jaquline has been learning a lot about household management in the last bit of 2023 and says she will continue that in 2024. She’s also deepening and polishing her collegiate writing skills. She wants to write informational reports and persuasive (as she calls them, “enlightening”) papers well.
Kimberly has her first gymnastics competition of the 2024 Spring season January 14th. Kimberly competes Xcel Diamond with WGV Gymnastics this year. I’m so excited to see her perform with all the training she’s persevered through in the past year. This girl’s strength continues to astound me as she grows. Kimberly also starts her first official college classes this semester. She’s both excited and terrified – probably in the reverse order – about this. I love seeing her set and accomplish goals!
Rebeccah returns to her college a little early this semester for work. I’m both selfishly sad because I will miss her smile, watching her exercise patience with Thea, quietly observing as she paints (oh, by far my favorite thing to watch is someone create a masterpiece in front of my eyes – I got to watch her paint on canvas over this break), hearing her laughter, hearing her gaming; in short I will miss everything about her and there’s a Rebeccah-sized hole when she leaves home. But I love hearing her adventures and chatting with her in her tight breaks between chapel, work, study, and classes. She has such precious little free time and I’m honored when she chooses to use that time for me!
Christina will be taking steps into her career path! I’m so excited to be a part of her next adventure! Resuming flight training is only the start of her 2024 adventures. I am thankful she still shares her hopes and dreams and plans with me. (And I get to borrow her car)
As a family, we bought property and cleared it in the last few months of 2023! This is our first step toward building a home of our own! Our designs are hopefully finding an architect willing to perfect a small, compact plan; hopefully we can start utilities and building soon!
Dress-Up Meet and Impromptu Visit – Sometimes we need to reconnect and slow down! #2023 #Family #Friends #Friend #Blessings #Blessing #FriendshipIsAwesome #ILoveImpromptuVisits #GymnasticsMeet #WesleyChapelTrip #CharityChallenge2023 #GodsHandIsInEverything #SpecialVisit #IHaveTheSweetestSisters #TheaShowsOff #SistersAndCousins
March 24, 2023
Dress Up Meet And Impromptu Visit
My kids are a little strange (don’t we all think that at one point or another?). Sometimes, even my 19-year-old likes to dress up. Today’s story has my competitive gymnasts dressing up for their final meet before states!
The final meet before states was the Charity Cup Challenge. One of the longest drives, but the girls got to dress up in cute tutus and thought that was fun. Kimberly’s team of teenagers even started dancing in them – that was cute! Louis took Jillian down for Friday. I didn’t get to see their antics, but I can imagine from the pictures…
WGVG Silver Team at the 2023 Charity Challenge in Wesley Chapel, FL
Jillian came home saying the “entire place” smelled like fish nets. I couldn’t stop laughing at that!
Kimberly, Jillian, Thea, and I drove down in the wee hours of Sunday morning for Kimberly’s meet. Most of the time they slept and I listened to “My List to Joy” (a youtube mix I created ages ago).
We passed a sign that said “50 miles to this city” (where a sister lives now) early in the morning and I wondered if texting this early was a good idea. Nahhh… I’ll wait until normal nightowls have had coffee.
At the meet, Jillian found Ellie (another Silver Team member whose sister is also Platinum) and Thea got into the gym-sister encourager mode. Girls weren’t even doing anything but dressing up and Thea was like, “Marie’s got this!” and “Go Ellie!” (this made Jillian and a random team mom or grandma from another group laugh) Thea didn’t see how funny it was being a sideline cheerleader while the Platinum Team was wiggling around in their tutus.
WGVG Platinum TeamOur CharityWGVG Platinum TeamThe three travelersJust Kimmy and the mascot
We watched the girls do their amazing thing! Honestly, as my youngsters move up in skill and level, the competitions get more and more interesting to watch. Thea keeps going, “wow! I want to do that!” I had to grab this wanna-be-future-gymnast from hurting her neck as she was showing off on the awards floor trying to push up in her bridge again – she sang as she did: cartwheel, cartwheel, handstand, bridge! (but bridge arms were not straight!) It’s the mom clash between, I let my kids do stuff and I am not watching you break your neck, toddler! I pulled a protesting Thea into my lap with, “careful, your arms have to be straight first.” My just-4-going-on-teenager-attitude goes, “I know mom, I know,” with crossed arms. I heard quite a few chuckles from other random experienced moms on the benches behind me! Thea is definitely part of the entertainment wherever she goes.
On the ride home, we stopped to visit Aunt Becca and Anastasia!
I love visits when we can. It’s so easy to think things like: it would be bothering her, she’s not expecting a visit, maybe she’s not in, maybe they have plans… etc. Every one of those and many more popped into my head trying to prevent me from considering the visit – and we were literally passing by!
NO! Don’t think that way!
Text, call, or just drop by! It’s the human connection part of us that loves that!
(Yes, I did use my car’s voice-text to have almost an hour texting conversation with her letting my sister know we were coming – which was funny because my Platinum in the back seat was so engrossed in her texting with friends and totally ignoring my Silver in the front and our conversation that as we stopped she went, “wait, this isn’t a gas station, why are we stopping?”) And this is why in the wee hours when my moody teen snapped, “I don’t want you to come” to Jillian, I responded with, “well I do; she’ll talk with me instead of disappear into her phone.” I always try to stop and see family if we travel close to their home (close to me is like within an hour – more if we’re traveling far).
We chatted, Jillian ended up staying over with Anastasia (next day started Spring Break and Anastasia was coming to stay with us anyway), Kimberly, Becca, and I played a nice game of Upwords, we snacked on stuff (my sister being a chef, even her “thrown together” snacks taste amazing), and enjoyed each other’s company. I got to see the grand tour of the lovely oasis my sweet sister and niece call home. The girls played basketball – of course, as they are our children, it got competitive very quickly!
I love just being together! I love car trips because usually, the people trapped within play word games (i.e. I’m going on a trip, Famous People First-and-Last, Alphabet or Numbers game) or talk to each other. I love visits where we just “hang out” – nothing planned, nothing crazy, just board games or talking over food or watching the kids play. Becca said it was a “God-timed visit.” I love it when God lines everything up to fill our spirits with reminders of His provision. I needed the dollop of Becca time too – God knew it. We needed each other’s encouragement and smiles. The cool part was that I didn’t realize I was missing her so badly until we got to connect for those few hours, but God knew.
Sadly, a bad thunderstorm cell was coming our way and Louis warned us to “please not get stuck in that driving” so we said goodbye and Kimberly, Thea, and I headed home less one passenger. At least now, Kimberly was in a very chatty mode and we were able to talk about all kinds of stuff all the way home!
Go visit! Find or make a break in your schedule to pay a visit to someone you have been missing. There is so much work and schedule and life that sometimes we miss the part of our soul that whispers slow down and sometimes that close connection is just what we need to help us reset. It gives us a recharge to jump back into the craziness of life and makes a happy memory we cherish – and it can be so simple as a quick lunch, a brief hello, or even a phone call when visiting isn’t practical.
The Miracle of Friends – aka down to one car on a meet weekend with college and work too!! #2023 #Family #Friends #Friend #Blessings #Blessing #TheBlessingOfFriends #TheMiracleOfFriends #OpenHearts #FriendshipIsAwesome #GymnasticsMeet #SavannahTrip #Kupets2023 #GodsHandIsInEverything
March 21, 2023
The Miracle of Friends
It was Wednesday, March 1st. I was on the floor stretching with my little preschoolers and talking about what color butterflies they were pretending to be today.
My phone, however, received this from my oldest daughter who was on her way to work from college:
Car trouble rn
I am going to be late to work. I actually don’t know if I’ll get to work.
Followed thirty minutes later (I still hadn’t come off the floor so hadn’t seen these) by:
Daddy has me.
I’m not gonna make it to work
Letting Thea know
Thirty minutes later (I still hadn’t seen anything):
ACTUALLY
Nvm
I will be there right on time.
I only saw her arrive at her normal time (4pm) as I was working. I didn’t even know something was up until about 7pm when I finally looked at my phone!
Our Buick decided to shut all electrical systems down on the interstate! We had a meet in Savannah that weekend! Louis and Christina took it to the closest dealership because this poor car was new when Louis got it but has spent a greater percentage of time getting fixed than any used one we’ve had! (Nice that it is still under warranty!)
Thursday arrives: at noon, the dealership still hasn’t even looked at the Buick! Christina has to go to college on Friday. Louis had requested the day off work Friday to take Jillian to her meet in Savannah. All the potential rides for Jillian weren’t able to do this one. (So many meets would have been missed without all of the amazing friends who have driven one gymnast or the other over my three years!) We looked into renting a car for the day – so far out of budget. Christina looked into staying over with a friend so she wouldn’t need a car for college but no one could get her back to work in time and she just doesn’t drop school or work. I was going to ask Jillian’s coach how to go about scratching (missing the meet, we’ve never done that), when Louis called (I was sitting at a school waiting for kiddos to get in the bus). He had contacted the dealership at 2:30 & they said they would look at the Buick on Monday. He had told his boss he didn’t need the day off because he didn’t have a way to get Jillian to Savannah – his boss loaned him a van!
Jillian didn’t even know. She didn’t know how close she came to missing her first meet. (She did hear the story through when she’s like, “wait where’d we get this van?” on Friday in the wee hours.) She and Lucas went down with Dad and had a great time!
His Best Buddy is here!Sharing the Nintendo SwitchThree Best Buddies!Photos by Louis Tart & Mikaela ReppertSilver Team at the Kupets Meet 2023
Sometimes we get busy and forget about the amazing miracle of friends. God gives us friends. People who honestly care about us and whom we care about. The miracle of friends is that they are always there. Sometimes we miss out on a blessing and being a blessing because we forget to ask. How do we know someone needs anything unless they ask us? How can friends know we need anything unless we ask? I love how children don’t have these “I shouldn’t bother them” issues because they ask friends everything! From, “your sandwich looks good, can I have half?” to “help me fix my ribbon, please!” to “I’m sad, can we sing?” and everything else in between.
A scene from an old movie makes me smile: a girl says “oh I forgot to buy a ladder!” and turns to go back inside the general store. Owner of said general store laughs, picks up his ladder leaning against the wall and says, “country folks don’t buy ladders, they borrow them.” He is trying to impress on this family that people around care about them and want to help in any way possible.
I love that God gave us the miracle of friends. Sometimes we don’t see them for a long time (ages, it always seems) and sometimes a pop-in visit is needed and God arranges that.
I’m so thankful for the friends and family around us. Our people bless us so much! I pray we can return blessings when they need them!
The Conquistador Classic is our annual local meet! It happens in Saint Augustine less than ten minutes from our gymnastics facility and most of our team parents and siblings volunteer there. The insanely long driveway from the welcoming “World Golf Village” stone marquees on either side of a beautiful bridge over a ditch across from the Costco/Bucees light is one of the most stunning natural tunnels to drive through. Large oak trees with scattered spanish moss touch branches together over the well-kept roadway. Yes, when this Florida writer pens, “tunnel,” it means treetops over the road.
Jillian is competing Xcel Silver this year. Her WGVG team took 3rd place! She loves her team sisters and gets super proud of what they do – I hear all about Olivia’s amazing floor or how straight Sera’s form was on bars. She got to volunteer after her meet as mom was carless at work & Grandma had to start work before Jillian’s meet was complete. (All Photos are thanks to my amazing fellow Silver Moms!)
Kimberly is competing Xcel Platinum this year. Her team is much smaller than it’s been in previous years. She loved volunteering at her home meet this year.
One of our observing grandpas said, “I couldn’t tell our girls apart out there with all the matching outfits and hair – they all look alike!” I love that! We have matching leotards and warmups and an absolutely stunning (and fun!) hairstyle that I think makes them all look so professional. One of my favorite parts of watching a meet is when the team steps forward and waves at their introduction – the girls are all smiles and glowing faces! (see “Introduction wave” in photos above)
I can’t help but get excited for them when meet season is on. They travel, enjoy their teammates’ company, show off what they’ve been learning, and encourage each other. Competition brings challenges that my girls have different feelings about. Jillian loves the spotlight. Kimberly gets nervous when she sees me watching her in practice. Jillian gets a little goofy in front of a crowd, she’s working on that. Kimberly overthinks and freezes, she’s working on that. Like everything in life, there are challenges to be faced: time management (like planning 15 minutes of traffic delay for every hour of travel), overcoming nervousness (no freezing and looking stern, and no goofy giggling and going limp like a noodle), encouraging others and finding joy even when you haven’t had the best day (keep smiling and no complaining or blaming), getting up and doing it again when you fall (I was so proud of Kimberly in the first meet – she got back up and finished the beam skill), always doing your best in that moment, always having fun with the breath you’ve been given!
I get to see Kimberly’s third meet! It’s a Sunday in the early morning – which means mom & Kimberly & tag-along car ride to Kissimmee. I love hanging out with my kids! Long car rides are perfect because we have nothing better to do than play road games, talk, or car karaoke along with favorite songs. (I’ve learned some newer songs this way – long car rides and PNO are the only reason I know all the words to every Descendents song)
I get to see both of their fourth and fifth meets! We’ll all be riding together for the fifth one because it’s on the same day for both of them. I’m excited to do meet hair! (Crazy, I know, but I love it!) I choose to enjoy every breath I’ve been given, wonder in every moment I get with them, and encourage them to whatever they want.
Lots of crazy off-road travel for this writer’s brain today… but back to the amazing local meet that Grandma got to watch (because, it’s local!)…
I pray for their hearts to be edified and encouraged by their coach and teammates. I pray they are the lights to encourage and edify others. I pray they always smile and enjoy what they love. Kimberly loves “being in the air” and Jillian loves anything fast and strong.
Meet Season 2023 here we come! Long car rides, friendship bonds, encouraging teammates, and even little brothers stinking up the car…
January 20, 2023
First Meet of the Season
On January 12th I was working, but Jillian was on a long car ride down to Tampa with her teammate (I love the bonds our team sisters get!) to rest up for a 7am arrival at her first meet of the season!
First off, I was coaching so my ten-year-old actually left the gym without even telling me bye! No wave, no nothing, just run out with Kate and load her stuff in her friend’s mom’s car and go. (My mom-self wasn’t sure what to think of that – but, I do raise my kids to be independent.)
Secondly, I’m so thankful for my other Silver Moms at WGV Gymnastics! Our girls practically live together and they love each other like sisters! They do so much together. We moms help look out for each other – even if its texts like “I4 is a nightmare, take xyz exit and get off” or how to navigate the strange new parking garage.
This meet, I wasn’t physically there. So two of my friends were sending me videos, pictures, and scores! Did I mention how blessed I am to have my Silver teammate moms?
Louis drove Kimberly down for her 1:30pm time. They left at 9:30 with a very exuberant Lucas. His choice was “go to gym, do open gym, then come home and hang out with Becky and play video games” or “7 or 8 hours stuck in the car.” Lucas squealed with delight and said, “7 or 8 hours in the car with you, Daddy!” (My Mom heart almost exploded on that one… although I do know he really just wanted to fart Kimberly out of the car and eat everything on any billboard he could talk Louis into stopping for.)
Jillian got to watch Kimberly (she got dropped back off at the meet for Louis to drive her home). Louis was giving me a play-by-play.
Pictures because why not? (all photo credits are either Kate’s Mom or Saedi’s Mom)
Fun memories and challenges! I love the start of Meet Season! *Actually, today, Jillian and Kimberly are at the Conquistador Classic (our local meet, yippee!) one competing and the other volunteering. Jillian will finish the day volunteering after she’s done showing everyone how much she loves gymnastics. Can’t wait to see pictures from this one!
Where my crazy boy can safely do his flips and workouts #NotMyHardwoodFloor #WatchingMyLittelBoyGetStrong #WGVGymnastics #WGVG #BoyGymnastics #Flips #Fun #Family #Strength #LittleBoy #LucasLovesGymnastics
Boy Statues and Flips
June 15, 2022
At WGV Gymnastics, Lucas was begging me to let him “do the show” (aka sign him up for our “Back to the 80s” annual show) when it was still in the planning stages! Lucas loves his gymnastics. He watches routines from the Olympics and JO boy’s meets and aspires to be like them. He tells me “I’m going to do that one day!” Lucas was super excited about his show t-shirt! (When he saw the girls’ leotards, and they didn’t have the boy’s t-shirt in yet, he asked if he could wear a leotard with black gym shorts over it and “turn it into a unitard.”)
Anastasia loves the bar!Jaquline (left), Anastasia (right)Lucas’ group (Jillian is in there too)Jaquline & Anastasia’s group
Kimberly, Jaquline, Jillian, and Anastasia joined him as show gymnasts!
He said his group did “excellent listening” and when he grows up, he wants to be a trashman (shocker, I thought it was a football player or a professional gymnast). I was working the desk and as his session finished, he ran up super excited, showing me his trophy – a statue of a boy gymnast with “Lucas Tart” printed on the nameplate. “Mom! Mom! It’s a boy statue!” I’ve never seen his little eyes glittering so! He has it right next to his Olympic gold medal (from last year’s show) that shows a boy gymnast. Lucas put his medal and trophy next to his Dad’s trophies for guitar performances in high school.
He keeps showing us all the flips and his routine outside where his hands land on the bit of carpet-bonded foam Coach Paul gave him for helping one day.
I’m so thankful for his patient coaches and the fact that our gym offers the boys ability to be part of our gymnastics family!
Our focus in the last weeks in kid’s church where I am a small group leader has been resilience. We define resilience as the ability to bounce back, to get up when it appears impossible, because with Jesus in us, there is nothing that is impossible. We have been highlighting Bible stories about resilient heroes. We learn they were just like us. Sometimes scared, sometimes old, sometimes young, sometimes underappreciated, sometimes unjustly accused, sometimes hurt yet did nothing wrong… the list goes on and on. We’ve been learning that in this world, we will have trouble but through Jesus, we have overcome the world.
Read that again.
In this world, we will have trouble but through Jesus, we have overcome the world.
Resilience means standing back up when the world knocks you down.
Resilience is showing the truth even when you know it is unpopular or unsafe. A resilient disciple is one who understands they will trip and fall sometimes, make ungodly decisions, and speak unkind words, but they will also confess, ask for forgiveness, help to shine for Jesus better, and bounce back from their fall. It also means we can bounce back from difficult times.
On Saturday, our WGV Gymnastics competitive team had their banquet. The Bronze team’s coach spoke about the resilience of the Bronze girls because they had several coaches over their competition season (she was out with an injury for a while). I couldn’t help but smile because Jillian has been hearing that word in kid’s church for weeks and now from her coach whom she loves.
Resilience is something that I’m having to purposefully remind myself that I have. I continually remind myself this financial challenging time my family is in is stretching our resilience muscles. God always helps us bounce back. He always helps us keep going in the direction he wants for us.
For me, it’s easier to leave the big things like my salvation, seeing my loved ones in heaven, and health to God. It’s far harder to leave what my brain argues are “small” or “non spiritual” things like finances 100% to God; I figure He’s given us brains and opportunities to make our own way. But my actual experience with life from my first “jobs” babysitting and such, has taught me that God is always in control of everything and has a planned path He knows is best for us. He shapes and directs our path in everything if we allow it; He gives us gifts and areas of interest to shape our studying and careers resulting in our enjoyment of learning and work. He whispers to take the back roads, or to make one last move, or to look up in the rear-view mirror, or some other something that seems so trite, but when we listen, our path is shaped in a significant way.
When I think about my life, the power of how Jesus has helped me bounce back from all kinds of challenges shows up loudly.
One of my favorite keys to refocusing on Jesus is joy. Better said: Gratitude.
When I find my brain trying to focus on what is negative, what “trouble” messes with my family’s happiness, I turn my thoughts to the many blessings God has given us.
Gratitude is choosing to be thankful. From focusing on things to be grateful for, I find my joy returning.
Today, I was super excited to get a t-shirt with one of my favorite verses on it!
It reads “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on winds like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31” The front reads, “Make Resilient Disciples” and that is just what (only with Jesus’ help, thank you!) I’m doing!
What to do with bouncy kids over summer? #WGVGymnasticsCamp
Summer Plans? Gymnastics…
March 22, 2022
Do you have any summer plans?
How about spending a few days trying out a fantastic gymnastics camp? At WGV Gymnastics, our 9 weeks of summer is split into 9 individual themes starting with Super Hero week on June 6th to Wacky Water Week kicking off the final camp week of August 1st.
Fun & games, crafts, tumbling, learning new skills, making new friends! Come join us!
Most 12 o’clockers beg to stay til 3pm or even 5pm so as not to miss anything! Our gym is such a magical place that no one ever wants to leave…
Camps start at 9am and end between noon and 5pm (choose your end time when you register online) and camper ages start at 3 years old and up.
Lucas loves camp! His best-friends-on-earth-that-arent-brother-cousins go to camp. Jillian loves to practice her gymnastics skills and dance moves (there’s usually some dance party time hidden somewhere in the week!).
Check out our website, register online for camp, or join us for open gyms every Friday noon to 1pm or Parents’ Night Out every third Saturday! Summer activity, check! Lots of workout = tired kiddos, check!
New Release!! The Secret Locker, Bunnies in the Orchard Lands – come see it in person at WGV Gymnastics’ Pro Shop!
It’s Here! In Person!
March 16, 2022
“Haven’t you ever wanted to meet bunnies who can do gymnastics, especially vault?” Asks Bonnie. (from “Bunnies in the Orchard Lands“)
I am over-the-moon excited about this project I’ve been heavily working on!
Let me introduce you to “The Secret Locker,” a series of illustrated children’s books based on the wonderful imaginations of the gymnasts at my gym! (okay, not my gym, but I coach here and would like to think of it as mine) Each book follows a group of gymnasts as they explore or go on adventures.
The first one (just released!!) is “Bunnies in the Orchard Lands.” In these fun pages, we meet Jilly Beanie, Lizi, and Bonnie and follow them into an enchanted place called “The Orchard Lands” where they meet bunnies who can do gymnastics!
Can you wait to see the bunny siblings? Moon, Star, Blob, Rose, and Dally… maybe just a glimpse of hmm… The apple blossoms!
Oh yes, The Orchard Lands have apple blossoms all over! Didn’t my illustrator, Rebeccah Tart, do a great job? I love her art!
If you are close to St Augustine, Florida, come to my gym’s Pro Shop at 135 Center Place Way, Saint Augustine, FL and buy a copy (if I’m at the desk, I’ll sign it for you) and support our gym!! Otherwise, you can buy it online and still support our gym because a portion of all sales from “The Secret Locker” series goes to WGV Gymnastics!
I’m so super excited!! Rebeccah and I have two more books in “The Secret Locker” series being produced now and many more ideas coming! All thanks to little gymnasts with BIG imaginations!
