Middle School Volleyball has Kicked Off!

Today the middle schools in the area kicked off the boys volleyball season with a tournament!  It was an exciting way to start the season and it was even more exciting because our nephew is also playing!  He attends a different middle school in the area but all the schools where there, and it was crazy action!  I was thankful for the updates as the tournament started and went on, and Matt got there about half way through the preliminary round to get more updates too!  The boys with their dad's (note - Tom is closer to the camera so he looks taller)

A clip of Mason serving (it is a trend!) from the first game!  (Thank you April!)

And more Mason serving!  

And a good photo of Mason during a game!  

After the preliminary rounds, the top teams went on to the next round (eliminations!) and they squeaked in with a 4-4 record (tie breakers were in their favor!).  

In the first elimination game they won the set 15-11 and mason served for the last two points!  Here is the last point:

The next game they played it was out of 25 point.  Mason was in and out of the game and they won 25-15 and made it to the final round!  

The final round they won 25-18!  They hit a good grove in time for the elimination rounds and it was exciting that Mason was in for most of that play!  

The bar got set high and it will be exciting where it takes them this season!

Happy Birthday Matt!

Today we celebrated Matt's birthday!  It was a fairly normal day but we did celebrate and Anna even made his cake this year!  It was a nice evening for a family movie night too!

This week the weather has been cold!  We did get the rain that was predicted, actually we got much more than what was predicted.  We got over 3.25" on Thursday and Friday (combined) and in some of the cities around us there was actual snow that fell.  It wasn't measurable for the most part but snow is extremely rare!  More rain is coming this week but it shouldn't be much and it shouldn't be quite so cold!  Enjoy some local snow pictures!

Snow on the hills you can see from Morro rock on Thursday morning.

Outside in some cities on Saturday morning.

 

Wonderful honors band performance!

Today we enjoyed the wonderful musical performance from the County Junior and Senior Honors bands.  This was as we headed out the door!  So grown up!  

We swapped Anna and Olivier to even out their heights a bit!  

The Junior band went first.  Bang Zoom by Vince Gassi was their first piece.  Like a Mighty Stream was next by Johnnie Vinson.  There was a group that did Clap Trap, it was a non-instrumental piece (clapping, stomping, snapping).  The next piece was Reminiscence by Kathryn Salfelder.  Their final piece was a jazz piece called Feeling Good by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newly.  

They gave the parents a chance for photos by each row of students.  Here is Olivier (in the center of the photo).  

And Mason (in the center of the photo).  

Then it was onto the Senior band.  Some Treasures are Heavy with Human Tears by John Mackey was the first song.  The second was Chasing Sunlight by Cait Nishimura.  They then played Cajan Folk Songs II by Frank Ticheli.  Next was The Earl of Oxford's March from the "William Byrd Suite" by Gordon Jacob.  The final song they played was a real test and was wonderful to hear, it was Nitrous by Kevin Day.  And they did photos by row also.  Anna is a bit left of the center.   

Another parent got this cool photo from the balcony of the Junior band.  You can see Mason and Olivier playing.

 Super proud of them!  

Fun busy times!

We are all doing well.  The kids have been busy with honor band practice and their normal activities.  That has meant a bit of driving around and some weird schedules and meals but we are happy to see them enjoying all the activities!  This week they have the honors band concert we are excited to attend and hear all of their hard work!

It has been dry but it looks like that will end this week with a decent amount of rain expected on Thursday and Friday and more coming next week!  We are looking forward to more rain!

Busy regular week

This week we had a normal schedule for the most part.  The boys had another honors band practice Thursday night.  Anna got to ride yesterday.  And it rained overnight, not a lot but we are thankful for any rain we do get. The creek behind the house still has water flowing in it which is always nice to see.  The rain does mean a lot more crud in the bike lanes and unfortunately Matt got this in his tire during his Sunday ride.  Thankfully it didn't do more damage than this!

Looking forward to another regular week!

Happy 15th Birthday Anna!

Today we celebrated Anna's 15th birthday!  It still is hard for me to get my head wrapped around the fact that we are lucky enough to be parents, and now parents to a 15 year old!  My goodness!  It was an easy morning with a few gifts.

Then it was time for lunch with friends at a local restaurant.  They had a really good time and it was fun table to have for the occasion!

After lunch they tolerated a request for a photo in front of the really cool mural nearby!  

They tried to carry Anna away...and she was happy when they put her down!  

They went to see one of their new dogs and it was a nice way to spend a slightly rainy day.  Anna was excited that it was raining on her birthday!

Then it was time for a few more gifts!  After dinner, it was time for the birthday treat, and this year it was brownies!  

She is telling the candle that she won and it didn't stay lit after all!

And this year there are answers to my silly questions, along with her prior answers.  I like that all three kids agreed this year the their favorite thing to do at school is band and their favorite place is home.  

• Favorite Color:  Pink (pink, pink, pink, pink, pink, pink, pink, pink, pink, pink) 
• Favorite book:  too many to choose! (not sure where the answers from prior years went...sorry!)
• Favorite Gift: digital frame (jewelry box, Assassins Blade book, tall boots and Harry Potter movies, Hermione wand - from Harry Potter, pen pal kit, doll scooter, roller skates, wallet, pop charm bracelets)
• What do you want to be when you grow up:  Unknown (Horse vet, Horse vet, Horse vet, Horse trainer or vet, horse trainer, horse trainer, horse hider, horse rider, librarian, librarian)
• Friends:  Lupe (Lupe, Lina and Lupe, Lina and Lupe, Lina and Lupe, Lina and Lupe, Lupe from school, Lupe from school, Lina her cousin, Sydney from Cal Poly, Sydney and Brooklyn from school)
• Favorite thing to do:  read and ride horses (ride horses, read, write and ride; read and ride, read, read, read, read, read, read books, play on the structure at school)
• Favorite thing to do at school:  band (band, sitting at a computer - a sign of COVID times!, read, science, science, science, science, write, play on the structure, write in straight lines)
• Favorite food:  Macaroni and Cheese home made (Macaroni and Cheese home made, Macaroni and Cheese home made, Macaroni and Cheese, Macaroni and Cheese and ham casserole, macaroni and cheese, macaroni and cheese, Macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni, yogurt)
• Favorite place:  home  (not sure where the answers from prior years went...sorry!)
• How old will you be when you grow up:  21 (20, 21, 21, 21, 20 because she won't be a teenager anymore, 25, 20, 53, 34 - Same age as Mom, 16)
• How old will you be when you get married:  unknown (not sure where the answers from prior years went...sorry!)
• How old will you be when you have a baby:  unknown (not sure where the answers from prior years went...sorry!)
• Anna is still growing....barely!  She grew just 1/4" and is now 5' 3.5" tall!

Otherwise the week was fairly quiet.  We found out late last Sunday that all three of the kids got into honors band!  Super exciting!  The boys had their first practice yesterday.  We had some light rain today (just under 0.25") but it was nice to just enjoy the rainy day.  And Anna was happy it was today and not yesterday because she was still able to go for a ride yesterday!  

The water has receded

This week was somewhat back to a normal schedule.  The boys didn't have school on Friday for the end of the semester which they were very happy about.  On Saturday they had auditions for the honors band and Anna got to ride again!  The horses were a little crazy after not being ridden for so long with the wet weather but thankfully she stayed on her horse!  And today Mason started the volleyball skills class for this season.  Nice to be a bit back to normal.

After volleyball we stopped by what we call the train tunnel to see what it looked like after all the rain.  This is the tunnel under the road that leads toward the train tunnel.  We have never seen it this cleared out.  

And this is what the train tunnel looks like currently.  It is clear that it got very messy but thankfully, it didn't backup enough to cause issues in our neighborhood.  

Looks like it will be a dry week.  Maybe some rain headed our way around the 1st.  That timing seems like it is good, gives us a bit of time to clean up and get things ready for more.  And we are excited to see the local lake levels rising!