This week has been a heavy week and when we heard Cal Poly was giving away free tickets to the homecoming football game, we decided to go. We sat behind the band, including the alumni marching band. Their shirts said "the best alumni band in the history of Cal Poly bands." It was fun to see them having so much fun, and not focus so much on how much Cal Poly was losing! Ouch! We also got free hats and enjoyed a great fireworks show after the game!
Today Mason has his first travel team volleyball tournament! Most of them will be held in the ever so exciting Fresno! This is a photo of the group talking before warming up.
A little bit of the warmup.
And a video of Mason being a force at the next, making the other team send the ball higher to get past him, which meant it went out. They played three games. They lost the first one, won the second, and they lost the third (although it was a very tight game in which they lost in the third set). They have a few weeks of practice now before their next travel event in mid October. We are excited to see this group grow in the next few months!
Anna had a football game on Friday night (the team lost by one point due to an extra point after a touch down getting missed, ouch!) that the band played during, then it was a full day of band on Saturday practicing their field show. She got a lot of steps and has some tired feet!
Olivier had a great day at jiu jitsu and we continue to be impressed with his work to learn and help other students. He also is learning to play the mellophone so he can be ready to play the national anthem with the high school band in October at one of their home football games. There is no French horn in a marching band, they all swap for mellophones.
Matt and I are just juggling in the background making sure the kids get to where they need to be and are happy and fed!
This week the kids were busy with school as things are getting into a regular routine. They also had their activities and we try to throw in something fun along the way.
On Saturday Anna had a great ride! Fun to see photos that turn out like this, showing her pushing through the hard to have a great ride!
Late in the afternoon on Saturday we headed to the beach to celebrate our sister in laws 40th birthday. Happy birthday April! We had a great time. And despite the wind the three 13 year old boys setup a volleyball net and Matt joined them! It was great to see!
Anna and I had a nice time watching and Anna saw this stick coming out of the sand that created a shadow that looked like a heart. ♡
Then a group joined Matt and the boys, Tom, April, and two of Tom's friends that he played volleyball with in high school. It was great to see them play and really made for a nice evening!
Looking forward to another busy week but the good kind of busy!
I think this week felt busier than most was because the activities that might have been spread out over five days was squeezed into four due to the holiday on Monday. It took some coordinating but we got it all sorted out!
One of the things was the band playing before back to school night at the high school and attending back to school night. Always fun to see Anna enjoying playing with the band!
On Friday night I went for a walk and saw this amazing sunset. It was really stunning and we have had a few just as stunning this week.
And this is a bit of a fun throw back photo from November 2014 when my parents got a new car, the kids enjoyed climbing in the back. And now that will be the car that Anna learns to drive with... Yes, you read that right, Anna passed her drivers permit test. Hard to believe we have reached that point. It reminds me of something that my grandma said, when asked if time slowed down as you age and retire and get down time and she said no, time just seems to pass quicker and quicker. Boy, time is passing quicker and my heart aches missing her.
Yes, you read that right, September has already arrived! And it has been full of good stuff so far! Mason found out he made the travel volleyball team, Anna was in a local parade with the band, and Olivier had a great class at jiu jitsu! And to top it off, this afternoon Matt's parents stopped by to visit! It was nice to visit and chat about our vacation and what the kids have been doing.
We are all thankful for the three day weekend and a little extra rest as we head into a long stretch of no extra days off.
