Falls Church Rec Center Classes

The girls got to enjoy about 5 weeks or so of weekly classes at the Falls Church Rec Center before all classes shut down due to Covid-19.  I became a taxi shuttling the girls around, which got stressful the week I started Mandarin classes and Thomas started 2 days a week of Physical therapy along with Bri's weekly church stake meetings on Thursday nights.  It was definitely too much with only having one car trying to meet five people's needs.  Maybe the Covid slowing us down was a blessing?!  ;)

Savvy was signed up for a Mindfulness class,  WERQ dance/exercise class with her friend Eden from the ward, and a modern dance class.  She was also looking forward to a cooking class where she was going to learn how to make meals from 6 or 7 different countries.  Rhea was signed up for a sculpting class and hip hop dance class.  She was also going to do a paint class that was to start in April.  This was exciting because the girls were enjoying all of their classes, which were nothing like they've ever done before.  The girls have never taken an official dance class, so they loved the experience even though they were nervous at first.  I was so proud of Savannah because her dance class was full of girls that had obviously been dancing for years, and she felt out of place and out of her comfort zone, but she didn't quit!  And after a few weeks, she discovered that there was another girl that was new to dance as well, as she was also in our Stake at church.  Savannah definitely felt more at ease with this girl and they both supported each other through the remainder of their classes.Savannah was so glad to have Eden join with her!  One night, the teacher played songs that had a lot of language in them, and both Savvy and Eden felt like they should say something to her.  So they did, and the teacher changed the songs, and an adult attending the class commented that she was surprised by the song choice as well.  I was proud of Savannah and Eden that they were able to set the example and speak up when they felt something was inappropriate!

Rhea enjoyed her sculpting class--every class was different and she got to create unique stuff.  I loved her Salvador Dali clock that's melting on the tree.  I shared this picture with Grandpa B because he did an art project years ago that was full of Dali clocks.  Rhea also loved her hip hop dance class and the ability to express her happiness through moving her body to fun music.  We'll definitely have to try to get her into another dance class in China!  Rhea has still been able to take advantage of dance and exercise classes through Zoom as well as arts and crafts, so we feel lucky there are still resources for her to enjoy what she loves to do!

Depending on who had what class when, over the first few weeks of classes, we spent a lot of time in the Teen room at the rec center to play pool, air hockey, and ping pong.  Bri and I took turns beating each other at ping pong.  :)
It's a shame that the classes had to be canceled (and my spring tennis class was canceled!), but the stay at home order really has simplified our lives in so many ways.  Besides the increase in computer time and games, I'm glad our family has had a chance to slow down and focus more on each other and discover other areas of our personalities we've been wanting or needing to develop.